The Time of WWII

When World War II began to take off, my grandfather, William Brown, was there to witness it.  At the time, he was only ten years old, so he never did see the battle front.  However, he was there, back at the home front.  My grandfather grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota.  He lived in a relatively small town, but through this close community, he was able to witness the progressive change in the average American lifestyle.  Originally, the community started off as fairly friendly, sometimes keeping to themselves.  As time went on, though, people began to open up and come together more.  There was a stronger sense of patriotism, and with that a nascent sense of American values evolved.  As time passed on, out of the depression and into the forties, then fifties, a new lifestyle also formed.  People began to place a lot more value in the life they had: they put an emphasis on morals that would help both their family and the nation.  For instance, people began to strive for the 'perfect' American family; one in which children respected their parents, where the father worked and the mom took care of issues at the home.  This was greatly different from the twenties, when women were much more independent.  The war also influenced their actions.  Many people went to church or temple, and put much weight on not being wasteful, especially with food.  From small aspects like food to larger ones such as the roles of a family, the war greatly impacted and altered peoples views on life.

WWII Enlistment

"Hello soldier, ready to kill more Germans?"

While my grandfather was never asked such a question, he did serve his country faithfully during WWII.  As a matter of fact, both of my grandfathers served faithfully.

Samuel W. Fancher, my paternal grandfather, served as a pilot for the Canadian Air Force, known as the RAF(Royal Air Force).  While he is no longer with us today, I was able to gain some interesting knowledge about his service via my dad.  He flew a RAF Fairey light fighter-bomber plane.  My dad doesn't know the extent of his service abroad during the war, but he was a trainer of pilots in Canada.  And if I had to guess, I'm sure served gloriously across the seas due to his experience in flying small, acrobatic airplanes at home.  

My maternal grandfather, Cyrus William "Bill" Ridenour, served in the Navy/National Guard during the Korean war.  He experienced no first hand combat, but still served his country faithfully.

The most notable of the Fancher relatives in terms of military service is my Uncle Jerome.  He was a 3 star General in the Vietnam War.  He continued his service for long after the Vietnam War too.  He was instrumental in several Vietnam battles and helped serve the US in a very troublesome war.  To this day it is easy to tell that he served in the military because of his strict personality.  

 

My family has a very honorable (like Jon Jon) history in terms of service in the military to their home country, whether it be the US or Canada.  Previous relatives have also sacrificed the most when serving in the military.  I am proud of my families' history

World War 2 Vets

I was not able to interview anyone directly who fought in World War Two because of my two relations who fought, one died in the war and the other died a number of years ago.  Instead, I asked my grandmother, who was cousin to both of them, about their war experience.

The first man, Eugene Arning, was in the Air Force and flew many combat missions in Europe, specifically over German soil.  He had just gotten married and had no intentions of going to war, but was drafted and went anyways.  He was shot down and died in 1943.

The second man, whose name I did not get, was also drafted into service, and had a wife and three children when he left.  While serving in the army, he was captured and held in a POW camp in Germany for almost a full year.  When he returned, his wife had left him and he had to restart his life, which he was able to do, and he never talked about his experiences in the camp.

In terms of the question of why they went to war, I didn't find much of an answer.  Both men led happy lives in Texas before being drafted into a war they didn't really feel like fighting in.  

My Grandpa, The Marine

"My motivation was love of country, protecting our people from defeat by Japan and other countries who hated us, pride in being a Marine with it's aura of being the best, respect, and proving my country and competence." Only a sophomore in high school in 1939 when Germany invaded Poland and other middle European countries, my grandfather describes this time in great detail. The United States was brought closer and closer to going to war to help Great Britain and France, our allies and friends. He recalls that while some demanded that we stay out of the war, others were convinced that the only way for the war to end was for the U.S. to get involved. In any case, emotions were high and news of war overwhelmed the media (radio broadcasts and newspapers) each day. 

Halfway through his senior year at a boarding school back east, Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and many other islands in the Pacific in 1941. The loss of many lives and ships were horrible and there was a great fear of the Japanese attacking the mainland next. But more than fear was a feeling of intense anger that we had been attacked. The focus was now on counterattacking the Japanese and soon the Germans and Italians, who were winning the war. 

"Unlike the Iraq war, every American was determined to defend this country's honor and defeat the aggressor nations." Conversations at school revolved around joining the war. Not only did he feel that all of America had taken part in this counterattack, but he had motivation through his family. His two brothers, who were several years older, enlisted immediately. Jack went to the Navy and was sent out to sea as an ensign. Jim went to the Army as a doctor. 

My grandpa found interest in the U.S. Marine Corps, who was fighting in the Pacific Ocean at the time. It was such a personal challenge and commitment because he learned what the Marine Corps truly was; "a very tough outfit, requiring challenging physical training, iron discipline, and the willingness to work as a team." Before graduating high school, he joined the Marines in 1942 for many reasons, including wanting to prove to himself and his family that he could do great things in the rigorous Marines setting. 

Boot camp was in Parris Island, South Carolina. "We were told by our drill instructors that we were going to learn an entirely new way of life that removed our individuality and reshape us as Marines. Motivated and inspired, he and his fellow boots did what they were told, no matter how bad the task was. He learned how to kill people with rifles, postols, bayonets, and knives in hand to hand combat. "And most important of all, we were asked if we were willing to give our lives if necessary for our country and our fellow Marines. If we weren't, we would be discharged immediately." Strictly enforced was the command to never leave a wounded Marine behind when in battle. No matter the circumstances, they had to try to rescue them. 

The biggest motivation my grandpa had was to do something with his life that was greater than his own self interests and to "prove himself in the face of danger." 

Counter Intelligence

While talking to my grandfather, an Italian American, about his experiences in the war, I found myself thinking a little bit about the book A Separate Peace that we read in English Class because when I asked him about how he got into the war, he said that he volunteered because he could have a choice of what he did instead of waiting to be drafted where he would be a "pawn," having to do anything that he was ordered to do.   In the book, the kids were pitched different jobs that they could choose for before they were drafted somewhere.  I didn't even think about that as being a true thing, but I guess that it is/was.

Anyways, he chose to enlist as a weather officer and went to Reed College in Oregon to train/work.  A weather officer was sort of like a meteorologist working in the army air force core, telling the pilots what sort of weather to expect when they are out flying.  

He didn't work there very long though and later he was transfered/went to Yale to train to be a Communication Commissions Officer.  From there he worked as a counter intelligence officer for the rest and majority of his war career. 

I have always thought it very cool that I have family who have been in the counter intelligence and while I don't know exactly what specific jobs he did, I'm not sure whether that is on purpose or due to lack of good questioning, it is still cool to know that I have relations to someone in that area.

William "Billy" Suiter

My Grandfather, William Kent Suiter was a part of the greatest war the United States has seen, and was lucky enough to tell his story. When the war broke out, my grandfather was attending college at UCLA in California (go bruins!) After he graduated, William enlisted in the Army Air Core. With his education -- something that many soldiers were deprived of when entering the war -- my grandfather was able to serve the United States without directly fighting on the battlefront. He was stationed in Guam, an island in the Pacific, where the allies were able to strategically plan attacks against Japan. William briefed pilots on their missions to Japan, where they would likely be going on bombing missions through Tokyo. On their trips back, he would debrief them via radio on how successful their sorties -- an attack made by troops coming out from a position of defense -- were, or what went wrong during the mission. The all important question: "what were his motivations for enlisting in the war?" Like most, he believed that his duty was to serve his country and to help win the war. My grandfather was a patriot, and I know that he indeed carried out his duty in flying colors. Colors of red, white, and blue.

My Family in WWII

When first given this assignment I assumed that I had no connection at all to WWII. I thought to myself there is no way my boring family has any interesting history at all. Turns out for once I was wrong. (sarcasm) I called my grandmother Marjorie Siemon, now known as Mama Midge. My family didn't follow the norms of many other families of this time. When I asked my grandmother why her fiancee and brother went to war she simply said, "To get the bad guys." It seemed to me that they were not very informed and that they simply wanted to spill Japanese blood to get revenge for Pearl Harbor. My grandmother's fiancee, my grandfather to be, enlisted as a fighter pilot. He joined the Thunderbirds for one sole reason, they were the only fighter plane that could drop bombs. (This information may be incorrect my grandmother is old and doesn't quite remember all the details.) Mama Midge moved from Chicago, Illinois to California to wait for her fiancee to return home. It turns out that he had already been shot down before she had even left for California. Mama Midge dropped out of college to live in California for her lover. The one thing that she most vividly remembered was the dances designed for the soldiers. She remembers going to them in Chicago and having a great time. I am also good friends with her brother who enlisted. His name is E.G. "Bud" Siemon. Bud tried to enlist at age 14, however his parents would not sign his enlistment papers and forced him to graduate high school. At 17 he enlisted in the Navy Airforce. He trained a few weeks until he was told that the Navy Airforce had too many pilots and that they did not need his services. Then he joined the Army Airforce to try to fulfill his dream of flying for his country. The Army Airforce required all of their pilots to have one year of college so Bud went off to school. After he finished his year of schooling he tried once again to become a pilot. When he returned to the Army Airforce they had shut down their doors to new pilots and gave their pilots in training three choices: discharge, to join the infantry, or to join the ground crew. He decided to discharge and was never able to fight the Japanese. He told me that the reason he enlisted was not because of Hitler, but because of his hatred of the Japanese. After Pearl Harbor he always wanted to get back at the Japanese. He told me that he can vividly remember V-J Day and the celebrations that went on when the war in the Pacific was finally over. I am glad that I didn't assume that I was not connected to WWII because now I feel connected to my past and I feel apart of American history.

6th grade teacher's father

During my sixth grade year I attended a club that was led by one of my favorite teachers. He loved to tell stories, especially about him and his father. He told us stories of how his father joined the army and what happened to him as told by his father. Because I could not get a hold of him this story is solely based on my memory.
My teacher’s father had just finished college when he began to think of what he was going to do with the rest of his life. He had graduated with an English degree and he didn't know how he was going to be able to put it to practice. Even though he did not have a plan, returning back home was not really something he wanted to do. He had a tense relationship with his father because his father did not approve of his decision to focus on English. One of his friends had enlisted to the air force, while his closest friend had enlisted in the army. He really enjoyed the idea of becoming a pilot and roaming the world while defending his country. However, he soon discovered he had problems with his depth perception. Because of this he was not aloud to enlist in the air force. Searching for any that aloud him to avoid home he decided to join his best friend in the army. My teacher believes that his father joined the army because of all of the hype going on about fulfilling his duty for his country and also because of peer pressure from his friends. But in reality we don’t know.

My Friend's Grandfather

While I don't have any relatives that fought in World War II, one of my friend's grandfather did. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1944. He was then deployed to the Pacific and served as an officer in the submarines. The reason he was directed to command the submarines was because he could not go on boats because he got sea sick. On the submarine, they torpedoed and sank Japanese supply ships to weaken the Japanese army and navy and to ensure that they did not get any new supplies. He also torpedoed some Japanese warships. He recalled that explosions reverberated throughout the vessel and that people smelled since they were down in the submarine for months at a time. He came back safely 1946.

My Grandpa Eli's WWII Experience

My grandfather moved from Poland to the United States in 1929 at the age of 6. He lived in Detroit, Michigan and suffered through the Great Depression living in horrible poverty. After he became the only one of his three siblings to graduate high school, he started to work at a Ford factory in Detroit. He decided that he wanted to become part of the war and attempted to join the cadet program in the Air Force. This program was to become a pilot, a navigator, or a bomber.  After flunking the test to become a cadet, he went back to work at Ford. In 1942, the year after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, one of his friends approached him saying that he was going to enlist in the army. Being a Jew, my grandfather decided that it was time to enlist as well, and fight against Germany who was killing the large amount of family that he left behind in Poland. He suspected that had he not enlisted then, he would have been drafted within the nest six months. He enlisted in the Army Air Force and they made him a teletype mechanic. He claims that he was horrible at the job, so they moved him and he once again attempted to join the cadet program. This time he was accepted into the program. The final test of the program was the physical, my grandfather flunked the depth perception part of the physical and once again could not become a pilot. They then sent him to gunnery school to become a gunner, where he learned how to shoot from the b29 planes, the type of plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Japan. When it was time for his troop to invade Japan, they decided to keep him behind to be an aerial instructor in Nebraska. Towards the end of the war, they moved him to Washington state to then deploy to Japan, but right as he was about to leave, the war ended. My grandfather fought in the war to do what he could to save as many Jews as possible. He lost almost all of his family in the war.

My Great-grandfather

My grandfather was born in Russia right after the war. When he was very little, both of his parents passed away, but he still remembered some stories that his father, my great-grandfather, told him of World War II on the Russian front. My great-grandfather was drafted into the military. My grandfather told me that his father didn’t want to leave home and go fight, but he had no other choice. Everyone that was old enough and did not have any serious medical conditions either volunteered, which few did, or were taken away. He was briefly trained and taken to the battlefield, which was in Ukraine. He first fought in Kiev and then in Kharkov.
My grandfather told me of a very interesting story that happened with my great-grandfather. One time my great-grandfather was defending some anti-air guns. He looks over the horizon and sees 20 tanks coming straight at the guns. He reports this to the higher ups and they have no idea what to do because they don’t have any amour piercing guns. They think for a while and decide to do something very drastic- to use the anti-air guns against the tanks! So they lower the guns and aim them through the barrel (looking through the barrel and aiming directly at the tanks). They load up the first gun and fire it. Since the anti-air missiles fire at greater speeds because they need to reach the planes in the sky, the tank was completely obliterated. The Germans thought that the Russians invented a new powerful gun started retreating.

My great-grandfather

I am perhaps one of the few people to have a relative who fought on both sides of the war.

My great-grandfather was living in eastern France, on the border with Germany, when war was declared. Because he had done his military service in the navy, he had to go join the navy down in Toulon, in southern France, when war was declared. The entire French navy was stationed there. Then, one day, the Germans staged a surprise attack against Toulon, and Admiral Darlan, the head of the navy, ordered that all the ships in the navy be sunk so that the Germans couldn't get them.

After that, France quickly surrendered to Germany, and northern/eastern France was annexed by Germany. Then, all the men in that part of France (including my great-grandfather) were drafted into the German army and whisked away to the Russian front. As soon as my great-grandfather got to the front, his section of the army lost a battle, and was taken as prisoners by the Russians. My great-grandfather spent the rest of the war in a prison camp, and was later returned to France in 1945.