WWII heroes you didn't even know were

Edouard Jacques

If you're interested in WWII, I suggest you watch this video.

As a kid, I delivered newspapers to this especially fine gentleman, Edouard Jacques, from 1957 to 1966 and had no idea of his history. All I knew was that he sold life insurance for Metropolitan. But I recently learned of his Army Air Corp service as bombardier on a B-24 during WWII and I was really amazed. I had no idea he served and that he was a DFC recipient. That is astounding to me. I talked to this guy every day for nine years and had no clue. And a book has been written about his accomplishments. So that begs the question ... do any of you have similar stories?

No war heroes or WW2, but I work with some cool people from time to time: (TLDR at the end)

Hung Phan

My friend Hung Phan was born in North Vietnam before communism. His dad was the President of Pan Am in Vietnam. As such he and his brothers (he is the youngest of 4 surviving children) all spoke English to some degree. Their family fled south, as refugees, when the north fell to communism.

When the American involvement in the war started his eldest brother (died age 73) volunteered to assist the American Army's Delta Force as a translator. He spent the entire war fighting the NVA and VC along side the US's special forces.

When he turned 17, he voluntarily enlisted in the South Vietnamese Army in a signal brigade. I never did get the details of his duty assignment but he said his English just wasn't good enough at the time to do what his brother did.

Having a brother in such a position, Hung's family knew months ahead that the US would withdraw from Vietnam. They spent those months practicing jungle survival under his brother's guidance (pack your stuff in plastic bags because it'll float down the river with you...). He tells me when he heard the radio start playing a sequence of songs, they knew it was time to beat feet.

The eldest brother stayed behind (he immigrates later). Hung, and another brother of his (Lives in Long Beach, CA now) boarded a vessel with their parents (The parents were 65+ at the time. Hung was born when his mom was 48) that was supposed to be headed out to sea. I don't have all the details straight, but Hung tells me something happened and everyone had to jump off the ship (it either was headed north, or the ship wasn't leaving at all). Hung's parents couldn't make the jump, they were just too old. They urged their children to go and the parents said they would be fine. Hung jumped, but his brother stayed to care for the elders.

Hung tells me he was able to swim to another boat that was already packed with people and was severely listing. Worse yet the engines wouldn't stay running. He was mechanically inclined so he took turns with the other mechanically minded refugees and they got the ship running enough and often enough that they made it out of the river and within sight of a US Navy battle group.

They were able to get the battle group on the radio and were invited to follow, but the engines wouldn't cooperate. The ship died, and they drifted back to the river's inlet. Again they took turns working on the engine, but it was too late and the Navy was gone.

The engines eventually started again and the next time they stalled they got lucky because it happened to be in international shipping lanes. It wasn't long before a Dutch boat pulled into view. Except the people on board the Vietnamese boat didn't know it was Dutch. Hung tells me it was pretty intense. He had smuggled two grenades in his bag, he had them out and planned to jump aboard the vessel and detonate them should it turn out the vessel was sympathetic to the north.

He said the Dutch really didn't want to take on board the refugees, but did anyways. The Dutch ship of 212 people didn't have enough food for the 4000 Vietnamese that they inherited so only the women and children ate and drank. He also tells me of the people who were cut in half at the rails when the ships collided, the boy he saved from being trampled when the gangway was dropped, and how he carried that boy up a ladder (held on to his back) after 4 days of no food or water. .

The dutch ship was headed to Hong Kong, then a British colony. The port authority wasn't letting the ship land because of the refugees. They already had a mainland Chinese immigration problem on their hands, and didn't want the Vietnamese adding to it. Fortunately for those aboard the Queen was visiting and said "Bring that boat in, send Britain the bill". Hung said when they got to the building there were sandwiches, water, and cigarettes. Everyone else ran to the food and water, Phan wanted a smoke.

From there it was a series of refugee camps where Hung and the others sold what they had so they could buy stamps, envelopes, and paper. With those he wrote letters to everyone he knew before some of his family in the United States answered. In time he would travel to Seattle.

That was 1975. In 1980 he was able to pay for his parents trip across the ocean, and after their arrival they took care of the cooking and cleaning around his house so he could work and go to school. He took night classes and eventually became an A&P licensed aircraft mechanic. Unfortunately he was making $10 an hour as a "photo finisher", and aircraft repair only paid $5.

Kodak bought the company he worked for and paid the employees $7k in severance pay. With no job and a pocket full of money he moved to California and through a series of work connections at a Vietnamese restaurant, he ended up working for McDonnell Douglas where he worked his way on to the C-17 program.

Now he's back in Washington state where he works as a C-17 Recovery and Modifications Specialist. He repairs problems with the C-17 that are deemed "too difficult" or extensive for the enlisted members of our Air Force to repair (like a field depot team). The USAF might work on the jet for weeks, his team can solve their problems in days.

He's traveled to Afghanistan twice to recover stricken aircraft (one hit by a rocket, one landed with the gear up) both are back in service.

He's a huge supporter of our military because of our action in Vietnam. He donates money to veterans benefit funds, he has a paver at Veterans Memorial Park in Auburn ($500), and if he sees someone wearing "Vietnam Veteran" memorabilia (hat, jacket, etc) he'll approach, say thanks, ask about the tour(s), and give them a souvenir. He mentioned once he was on a flight somewhere and forgot to bring something to give, so he ripped a C-17 patch off his jacket when he saw another passenger with a Vietnam Vet hat on.

Still reading!?! wow, thanks!

I also have a friend named "Christine Meas". She lived through Pol Pot's Cambodia as a young girl (age 9?). She was sent to a farm, survived on bugs, help from the elders, and the ration of 1-cup of rice soup a day (I cant remember if it was one cup of rice in soup, or if it was really one cup of rice soup). She works on the same program doing the same thing as Hung Phan, but on a different air base in California.

Neither get to pay for beer when I'm around

Good times

TLDR? Friend was in South Vietnamese army. Fled Vietnam. Other friend was in Pol Pot's Cambodia. I like to buy them beer.

My father was born in occupied Europe in 1942, in a country that would end up behind the Iron Curtain. Needless to say, he has stories (not many children grow up these days regularly fishing with German potato masher hand grenades, for example). Got out in 1961.

Head custodian at my high school was a MOH winner - served in in the Army in WW2, Korea, and Vietnam. At the dedication of the school's Vietnam memorial (in my senior year) he showed up in his dress blues with an astonishing array of hardware.

I work for the VA. Every day is a parade of amazing stories. I've met MOH winners and Bataan survivors. People who were shot out of the sky over Europe and people who fought ashore in the South Pacific. People who dug themselves out of the rubble at the barracks in Lebanon and once, early in my career, a gentleman who rode with Blackjack Pershing after Pancho Villa

If you have a bit of time in your schedule I highly recommend volunteering a little piece of it at your nearest VA. Just spend some time pushing someone in a wheelchair to make their day easier and maybe you'll hear their story. From the courageous to the banal, each one is worth listening to.

02Pilot wrote: Head custodian at my high school was a MOH winner - served in in the Army in WW2, Korea, and Vietnam. At the dedication of the school's Vietnam memorial (in my senior year) he showed up in his dress blues with an astonishing array of hardware.

I love that.

You can know someone's face, name, position, and still not know their story. Sometimes you find yourself picking your jaw up off the floor.

My best high school friend's parents got out of Hungary in 1956, just ahead of Soviet tanks. And I do mean just. I never got the opportunity to really dig into that with them, unfortunately, and they weren't real forthcoming with it.

My middle school gym teacher was a B-24 pilot who flew on some very famous raids. I didn't like him much until I learned that.

An R/C airplane friend of my dad's was a very quiet, unassuming guy. Just a friendly older gentleman in the background. Turns out he was a P-51 pilot who had fought against Me-163s and had confirmed kills of an FW-190 and an Me-262.

Being a bit older than most posters here I grew up with 4 WW II vets. My father & 1 uncle served in the navy. Both saw combat. Two other uncles served in the army in Europe. I have also run into a few vets over the years that served in combat.

While I admire those that were recognized for their actions so many were not since they were killed, the witnesses were killed, or since those actions were more common among them not seen as "special".

I feel that anyone who served honorably in any war the US fought should be honored the same.

I have read a book written about the "Medal of Honor" winners from various wars and it seems to be universal among those winner who survived to receive it, that they accepted it for those that didn't survive or were not so honored despite their actions being equal or greater then the winners.

My brother as in the AF. After A&E school, he was sent to Boeing to learn the B-29. He was sent to Guam as ground crew. He had a friend who was a B-17 pilot out of England. Taking off for a bomb run, an engine caught fire. They turned back. The crew didn't want to bail out into the winter water of the Channel. By then they were too close to land to dump the bomb load. Only choice, return to base and land with a full load of bombs and fuel. He landed successfully. The crew got out safely after which the plane blew up. He made the news in the US. He took me for a ride in a Cub once.

When I was in High School the next door neighbor and best friend of my future FIL was in the Army during WWII. He was an engineer and helped build the buildings that became White Sands Missile Range.

A friend of my fathers was a helicopter pilot in Vietnam. He had bad scars on his face and was missing a few fingers from a crash coming back from picking up some wounded guys, he was the only one to make it out. Bill will always hold a special place in my heart because I blame him for my sports car problem. He had a 1967 Lotus Super 7 that he and his wife restored. One summer morning of my Senior year in HS he brought the 7 over to the house and he let me take it for a drive, it was heaven. A few weeks later he went TDY for a month and let me use the 7 the whole time he was gone. Who lets a teenager loose with an original 7? Thank you Bill.

I've got another one. I had just come from France to visit my English relatives. We were sitting in the local pub with a friend of theirs enjoying a pint. I was talking about having been in Normandy, and specifically how the British monuments all had evidence of recent visits in the form of wreaths of poppies. I mentioned this was true even of the more remote sites, such as the marker for Hill 112. Bill pipes up with "oh, I was in that battle..." Turns out he was in the 43rd (Wessex) Division, landing on D+3 at Arromanches, fighting until he was wounded in Holland. By the time he'd recovered the war was over.

In the intervening 57 years, he'd never returned to Normandy. The next summer, I flew to England, collected Bill, and escorted him around his old stomping grounds in Normandy. Hearing him tell the stories of the places we were in and driving through was, to say the least, evocative.

Oh, and I forgot: another good HS friend's dad was a quiet, polite geologist. Drove a '70 Catalina wagon that he special ordered with a 3-speed on the column manual.

He was also skipper of PT-163 in WWII, saw a bunch of action, and got a Bronze Star for it.

Moored to starboard of PT-171:

I met a guy during a funeral that was a door gunner in vietnam. He lost both his legs and then murdered a protester when he got back to the united states. He told us that the awards were useless and he would trade them all for the friends he lost back.

He went back to prison after the funeral and i never seen him again.

I completely forgot (this time WW2 related, but not combat related) TLDR at the end

My Grandmother, Masako YamaE36 M3a:

She was born in a small family before WW2. She tells me she her Uncle was a Japanese Naval officer who was apparently pretty highly decorated for actions in China (Order of the Golden Kite is my suspicion based on her stories, but she thinks "something golden hawk") and a Japanese enlisted soldier (also her uncle).

Due to illnesses and one drowning, she was the only surviving child in her family and her father passed away before the outset of WW2. Which was good, in a way, because that lead to her and her mom moving to Korea where they spent all of WW2.

Her mom was a teacher and Korea, a Japanese colony at the time, had a shortage of teachers and engineers. At the time it was a good opportunity for people without many options. After Japan surrendered the remaining Japanese in the area lived in constant fear of their lives and rightfully so, I'm told.

Given my great grandmother's position, she had a better relationship with the locals than most. I'm told that while parents of her students looked out for their family's safety, they weren't exactly allowed to leave.

One night they were woken up when one of the Japanese engineers came and knocked on their door "We've stolen a train, grab everything you can"

They did. They rode the stolen train from wherever they were to whatever port those tracks went to. Once there they were able to buy passage on a boat that would take them back to Japan. She said that once they were on the boat and in the middle of the water the engines shut off and the crew demanded everything of value. Apparently the group had enough to satisfy the demands because eventually they made it back to Japan where my grandmother later met my grandfather, a sailor in the US Navy (He was enlisted during WW2, but I think they met around the Korean war...)

Good times

TLDR? My Grandmother is old and Japanese

YamaE36 M3a: Second best filter catch ever

Two of my uncles island hopped in the Pacific during WWII. I know that one had a box full of medals that I accidentally found one day while visiting. He took it away and refused to talk about them. The other one would never talk about the war at all.

When I graduated from high school, I went off to college. A large number of my classmates went off to Vietnam. Some of them didn't make it back and the ones that did are reluctant to talk about their experience.

Duke wrote: My best high school friend's parents got out of Hungary in 1956, just ahead of Soviet tanks. And I do mean *just*. I never got the opportunity to really dig into that with them, unfortunately, and they weren't real forthcoming with it.

I always thought it was a shame I didn't learn about the Hungarian Revolution until I moved to Hungary. Short and sweet? In October of 1956, a student protest turns into a fight that pushed the Russian army into retreat.

My grandfather served, and I interviewed him about it while I was in school. I need to find my report, but he definitely got around: the Philippines, North Africa and Italy, if I remember correctly. (He said that he was one of the few to serve in both theaters.)

The other day I listened to an interview with Max Brooks. He mentioned that his dad served in World War II. Mel Brooks in WWII? So I looked it up and, yep, he served as a combat engineer defusing land mines.

Hal wrote: Two of my uncles island hopped in the Pacific during WWII. I know that one had a box full of medals that I accidentally found one day while visiting. He took it away and refused to talk about them. The other one would never talk about the war at all. When I graduated from high school, I went off to college. A large number of my classmates went off to Vietnam. Some of them didn't make it back and the ones that did are reluctant to talk about their experience.

A lot of combat vets don't talk about their experiences. My Dad was in N. Africa & Italy. I knew about his 2 Purple Hearts because of his disability (lost an eye), but never knew he had Bronze Star until after he died. He never talked about the war but did support my decision to be a CO during Viet Nam.

There were a couple guys from my little home town I was acquainted with. One flew fighter jets in Korea, then went on to become a U-2 pilot and then after that flew the SR-71. The other fought in WWII and was in the first group of American soldiers to liberate Auschwitz (if you look through those old Time Life books, there's a picture of him in there.) Finally, there was a farmer I knew pretty well who immigrated after the war; he had a serial number tattooed on his wrist, so you know what that meant. None of them talked about their experiences.

My Uncle was a Cal Berkley Graduate with a degree in Structural Engineering. In school he meet a guy named Oppenheimer. During the development program for the "Ultimate Solution" my uncle signed off on lots of construction projects and test stands that no one talks about.

His brother-in law, also my uncle, was a landing craft skipper in the South Pacific. Having survived numerous campaigns on the island hopping tour he found him self being readied for the push onto the home islands. Out of the blue my Uncle finds his brother in law and tells him, " I can't tell you how or when, but it's almost over".

There was an elderly local couple I met several years ago doing PC work. The husband had suffered a stroke, but still had most of his faculties, other than a bit of speech loss. The wife was tiny, although still quite sharp. While I was fixing whatever problem their PC had, we were chatting and she mentioned her husband had flown transport planes out of Burma during WWII - "Flying the Hump" IIRC. She was the press secretary(or whatever the exact title was) for the USAF Thunderbirds.

David S. Wallens wrote: The other day I listened to an interview with Max Brooks. He mentioned that his dad served in World War II. Mel Brooks in WWII?

Heck, for WWII, it seems everybody who could serve did, and a few that were not supposed to serve (due to age or other factors) went ahead and served, too.

Brett_Murphy wrote:

David S. Wallens wrote: The other day I listened to an interview with Max Brooks. He mentioned that his dad served in World War II. Mel Brooks in WWII?

Heck, for WWII, it seems everybody who *could* serve did, and a few that were not supposed to serve (due to age or other factors) went ahead and served, too.

Yes, true. A lot of my uncles also served. Then they came back and go going on their lives.