My Grandfather drove a DUKW in the Mariana Islands during WWII - To him and all the other combat vets out there, Happy Veterans Day!
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🫡 WE’VE GOT THE BEST VETS 🪖
Those are all great stories! God bless your family for their service.
Like most combat Marines, not much. Over the years he eventually shared a few.
One was about an encounter with his DUKW. Said they rolled up on a beach that had been previously cleared. There was a lot of tropical jungle just beyond the beach. They came under heavy fire and had to abandon the DUKW and head for the trees and make their way back to camp by foot.
The next morning they went back to retrieve it. Said it was riddled with bullet holes. If I recall correctly, he said they counted something like 137 bullet holes. Said it started right up and he drove it back to camp where they patched it back up.
I'm glad he finally talked about it...some never do. What a terrifying experience! I'm not surprised it started right up. I was amazed about how fast the DUKW hauled s$$ down the French coast!
We tried to get to the Cemetery on D-Day to see POTUS speak at the Ceremony but all roads were blocked so we went to lunch on the patio at a restaurant on Omaha Beach and saw a huge convoy of Ospreys heading towards us from the Cemetery and I jumped up and told my husband, "there's Trump's convoy!" Started videotaping and EVERYONE on the patio (Americans, French, Italians, Belgians & British) ALL jumped up & down with their cellphones taking photos, waving and cheering! Don't let anyone tell you Europeans hate Trump...they LOVE him passionately and speak openly about it! A fantastic thing to witness!
great stories guys i'm jealous. all i know of my grandpas is one crewed a PBY. the other one toted a BAR and the jerries didn't like him at all.