Little Big Man MT Chris
Well-known member
A little backstory , my job allows me to meet new people all the time , and I had seen this older gentleman before over the last year walking and or driving when I was in his neighborhood, no cane or walker , moved somewhat fluidly and still drives , I thought he was late 70’s early 80’s
He had veteran plates which are very common, except I noticed an old faded white sticker on the bumper that said WWII veteran, my initial thoughts were bull crap , that’s just an old sticker from when he got the car . Until today when he came walking up to me with a baseball cap that said NORMANDY .... I did a quick double take and said in disbelief you were in WWII , he replied with a smile ya , I’m 95 there ain’t many of us left . I said it’s an honor to meet you as I stuck out my hand and said thank you for your service.
I told him that my grandfather had fought in World War II in the Philippines, and had passed along time ago . He said that he got to pick where you wanted to go and he choose Europe and then he looked at me and said I landed in Normandy on Utah beach, I almost fell over , Went all the way through Europe to Bastogne and then ended up in Czechoslovakia where we bumped into the Russian Army .
I said UTAH BEACH ??? And he said yes but I was not in the initial D DAY invasion, But came ashore later , But he did tell me that he fought at Bastogne during the battle of the bulge and was on the outer perimeter lines protecting the city I don’t think he was airborne but he did tell me that eight or nine years ago him and some guys from the airborne that were still alive were flown back to Belgium and honored by the Belgian government for their service during WWII ..
At this point I was in total awe and couldn’t believe how well and how sharp he was for his age and again thanked him for his service and asked him if I could get a picture with him to which he replied of course and he said let me get my hat and then he walked in his house and got his hat with his combat service medals from World War II , I am still in disbelief and just thinking how special today was for getting to meet this man , who fought at Bastogne
I hope to in the future as I talk to him I will get to find out his unit and I’m hoping to take him out and buy him breakfast or lunch and just get to listen to him and get to know about him as a person and listen to him share his story because he wanted to talk more but I didn’t have time
Here’s me and my new friend BUD , WWII combat veteran from BASTOGNE ..... WOW
He had veteran plates which are very common, except I noticed an old faded white sticker on the bumper that said WWII veteran, my initial thoughts were bull crap , that’s just an old sticker from when he got the car . Until today when he came walking up to me with a baseball cap that said NORMANDY .... I did a quick double take and said in disbelief you were in WWII , he replied with a smile ya , I’m 95 there ain’t many of us left . I said it’s an honor to meet you as I stuck out my hand and said thank you for your service.
I told him that my grandfather had fought in World War II in the Philippines, and had passed along time ago . He said that he got to pick where you wanted to go and he choose Europe and then he looked at me and said I landed in Normandy on Utah beach, I almost fell over , Went all the way through Europe to Bastogne and then ended up in Czechoslovakia where we bumped into the Russian Army .
I said UTAH BEACH ??? And he said yes but I was not in the initial D DAY invasion, But came ashore later , But he did tell me that he fought at Bastogne during the battle of the bulge and was on the outer perimeter lines protecting the city I don’t think he was airborne but he did tell me that eight or nine years ago him and some guys from the airborne that were still alive were flown back to Belgium and honored by the Belgian government for their service during WWII ..
At this point I was in total awe and couldn’t believe how well and how sharp he was for his age and again thanked him for his service and asked him if I could get a picture with him to which he replied of course and he said let me get my hat and then he walked in his house and got his hat with his combat service medals from World War II , I am still in disbelief and just thinking how special today was for getting to meet this man , who fought at Bastogne
I hope to in the future as I talk to him I will get to find out his unit and I’m hoping to take him out and buy him breakfast or lunch and just get to listen to him and get to know about him as a person and listen to him share his story because he wanted to talk more but I didn’t have time
Here’s me and my new friend BUD , WWII combat veteran from BASTOGNE ..... WOW
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