For my 8th grade social studies project, I interviewed a Navy Corpsman on the initial wave of landings to Nagasaki post surrender. He was an Okinawa veteran. The smell of the post atomic living dead was unbearable. He treated many and both Marines and civilians who knew they were goners and all he could do was comfort them. These living stories need to be captured before they are gone. I am glad this gentleman’s is!
I had a HS teacher who was marine in WWII. He said that right after the war he was on some island in the south pacific watching a comedy movie outdoors with other marines. During the movie a Japanese soldier came out of the jungle and sat down with the audience and started watching the movie and laughing along with the Marines. Needless to say, the marines were startled when they noticed him.
This is a dying generation. These war vets have the most interesting stories. Hopefully enough of their stories are and have been recorded for posterity.
My thoughts exactly. It is so easy and cheap to make video and audio recordings these days. My father was in ww2 and I listened to hours of these stories...I remember many of them.
I think so. I think there's tons of "lost" recordings that will be uncovered as we look for more and more new tidbits of info to learn and things to hear. But it is sad as these great folks are becoming more and more scarce.
Hence the reason why we need to listen to them very closely and be very patient when speaking with them. I have had the privilege to know and help care for a few of these men and being a Veteran myself have developed a bond with them. Many of these guys do not paint a pretty picture of what it was like for them returning home from the war and 70 years later they are willing to talk about it if you listen closely.
when I was a young teen working in a retail store this gentleman would come in , lines in his face, looked old for his age , after he left one day a customer told me , you know who that is ? No I said , He survived the Bataan Death march. From that day on when he came in, I was in complete awe of that man. Wow! Incredible!
My grandfather survived that as well. He and another captured soldier were helping a wounded fellow soldier along the march. When he became too slow and could not walk one of the Japanese guards executed him right there on the spot. Tossed his body to the side of the trail. I remember once as a kid finding him sitting in a kitchen chair he'd placed a few feet in front of the T.V. . There was a WW2 movie on with a battle scene. He was hunched over with his eyes fixed not noticing I walked into the room....tears rolling down his face while he cussed under his breath. I thank God he came to America after the war.
@@nurburgflip1188 If I could only express my love and respect for your grandfather and his fellow comrades ! I wish there were more people like these WW2 vets around these days but sadly, it's been over 70 years since that war. I salute your grandfather and any member in your family that is bravely serving our country.
When I was a kid back in the 50's I would go with my father to the VFW and the men would tell stories about the war. They were always funny and I loved going out there as these men were my heroes. They never spoke about the bad things that happened to them, only the funny things. I miss these old boys.
Same here. My dad worked with a man Phillip Schmidt, an American! He was a paratrooper in WW II. There was a scare of Germans in American uniforms. Phil "blew off course" and landed in the American lines and was taken prisoner by the Americans. He was held prisoner with German POWs for 3 days until they sorted out he was in fact an American!
I love how the US soldiers on the truck simply rolled up, picked up the precious payroll and then buggered off leaving the flight crew and the aircraft surrounded by armed Japanese soldiers!
My grandfather was a Sargent in WW2 fighting the Japanese in the Australian Army. From all accounts he saw more than any soldier should. He never forgave the Japanese of his generation. It is wonderful to see this veteran's experience for me.
The Aussies and US Marines proved that the Japanese could be beat (beginning of the war). God bless them all and give them rest for what they saw and had to do.
My dad, who's been gone since 2001, was an Air Corp pilot in Pacific. He brought back several souvenirs, of which one was a late war model Japanese pistol. According to my father's account, he taken the gun off the body of an officer while watching several corpses pushed by tractor into a burial ditch. The gun had some very clear writing (Japanese ), crudely scratched into it. After about a month of research, I found the daughter of the man whose name and I.D number were etched on the pistol. She was, is, a grandmother living in Osaka Japan. She, her mother, and her elder brother ( mother and brother deceased at time I found daughter) never knew what had happen to their dad. They had received a final letter from him in the Spring of "44, saying he'd been "honored with the officers rank of lieutenant". Until my letters, and ultimate phone calls, they'd never heard another word of this lady's dad. A sweet woman from Tokyo, who had written a book on Japanese side arms made during the war, helped me find this soldier's family. The pistol was in quite poor shape. My dad never fired or even cleaned it. Having been manufactured late in the war, these guns were quite often dangerous to fire. Really what it all did was made me feel a bit close to MY dad again. He had spoken to me once concerning the origins of the three weapons he's returned from war with., said he'd sometimes dreamed of the "horrible grimace on the face of the dead soldier whose gun he'd taken". I packed and sent the pistol to this soldier's daughter, and asked me if my dad had told of the circumstances of his receiving the gun. I of course told her he had not. This man in the video brought back all those memories....He's a hero from a generation of men and women who as twenty-somethings had no doubt that they lived in a nation that could do anything, and that it absolutely was the greatest country on earth, worth dying for even. Now, can their/ our grandchildren and great grandchildren say that? I wonder. Thanks for the video. It's priceless.
Hermann2416 .... You're kidding right? Do you really want to know, or is it your way of saying I just typed all that to pass the time making up stories to nobody? I'll tell you what, I got a lot of help from the Japanese Cousel in Chicago, office called like Japanese Information Center I think. But you can Google it.
Truly the Greatest Generation. So brave. My dad was a rifleman in Patton's Third Army, 5th Division, 2nd Infantry Regiment. He fought in Normandy, Northern France, Central Europe, the Battle of the Bulge, and into Germany. He was wounded fighting the Waffen SS in Metz, France. Dad didn't like to speak about the war. But when he turned 90, I sold my house and moved back in with him to keep a closer eye on him, and was able to get stories I had never heard before he passed away at 93. Mom had passed 11 years earlier. She was Filipino and survived the Japanese occupation of Manila. What she experienced was horrific and she witnessed many atrocities. She was liberated by Ohio troops of the 37th Buckeye Division. Several years later, she married an Ohio guy, my dad.
My grandfather was a "Tin Can Warrior" in the Pacific theater he had some incredible stories and was present at the last Great Naval Battle, saw the mighty Yamato sink and endured Typhoons. I love and miss that man.
I'm more of an army guy, but an amazing book I read was entitled "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors". I highly recommend it, and maybe your Grandfather is mentioned in it, or his ship. Another one is "Shadow Divers". Check them both out. Mark
My father was 13 months in combat, South Pacific theatre of action. His and his friend's stories were fascinating. Not embellished, more just matter of fact. I wish I could ask him more now, I miss him everyday.
I love these stories. I always admired how American Soldiers always had great sense of humor, and my father, who served with them during the Korean conflict, always told me not to piss them off.
I wish I could have recored my fathers stories from WW2. He served in the Navy aboard the USS ST. Paul CA-73. That ship was the last one to fire her guns in anger at the end of the war. The movie In Harms Way with John Wayne was filmed on this ship. Dads brother was killed aboard the USS Arizona during the attack on Dec.7, 1941. He is still aboard the ship. My father never forgave the Japanese for that attack and took it to his grave in 1994. I went on to serve in the Navy out in San Diego aboard the carrier USS Constellation CV-64. My brother retired from the Air Force. Military service runs in our family.
He was in WW2. Served on the USS ST. Paul CA-73. You can Google that ship's history in WW2. She was the last ship in the war to fire her guns in anger. His older brother, my uncle is entombed on the USS Arizona, He died during the attack on Dec. 7, 1941. My father went on to serve as a chief of police in Virginia for 30 years. 1 as a patrolman and 29 as the chief. From age 17 up to his death he served this country. I have so many stories that he told me it would take weeks to list them all.
+U TELL ME MAN I ONLY WORK HERE >> How did you come to this decision? What makes them greater then the men who fought in WW1? How are they better then their brothers who fought in any previous war, or for that matter any war. Are they owed a debt of gratitude and recognition, absolutely yes. All of them are!
my dad was a ww2 pilot in the euro theater --crashed landed in france on d day-he,his crew walked from crash-he had a thompson machine gun which he gave to sgt who was helping them get to the lines--dad was no combat guy--the sgt shot a unarmed german troop who was running away with the thompson-dad regretted giving the guy the gun-dad died in '68-lots of his history went with him
My dad was on a ship in Tokyo bay during the surrender. They got shore leave. Many got haircuts from local barbers. No one trusted them to shave them with straight razors.
Thinking back my father loved to tell his WWII stories and back in high school(late 1980s) I used to say he was like Higgins off the old Magum PI show who talked day and night about the war... I wish now he was still around so I could record his stories...he was with the Flying Tigers in WWII....passed away in 1991..
Your father is a hero for so many reasons. Cherish your memories, you might not be able to remember every single story he told or all the details involved but you will always remember the feelings associated with each tale and that's worth more than all the stories combined. Even though he's gone I'd still like to say thank you to him for his service.
+The Patriot I saw someone who works for Obama bought the house that was used for the show. It is in really rough shape. There are videos on RUclips showing it.
+The Patriot My mother used to host a large number of WWII vets at our home after church. It got to be such a scene that many of the guys who came over for coffee and corn bread never attended the church, they just had pals tell them to come over. You should have seen it - all these guys laughing and telling stories. Mother asked if the guys minded if she recorded the stories, nobody did and pretty much they all forgot about the recorder. She had piles of tapes filled with their experiences This all happened in the 1970's. Before they ever could be transcribed they were lost when our house burned. We lost a lot but man...losing all those stories. Gone forever.
What your channel has done, I have always felt should have been done many years ago by every state; that is, to record the stories of aging war veterans, from all conflicts, so that their experiences and thoughts may live forever. The time has come, and will continue, when their voices will eternally be silenced by their passing. The shame will be ours that we had, not, the aforethought to do this very same thing in our state. As a child of history, I thank you, for your vanguard endeavor, sir.
The National World War II Museum in New Orleans has recorded veterans since the inception of the museum and even before its official opening in 2000. Today the effort continues but as you noted, time is running short and we lose many of the veterans of WWII everyday and one day soon they will be no more.
My future daughter-in-law did a vetern history project in college and interviewer me, a vietnam era vetern and several WWII vets. Sadly my D Day vetern uncle had died a year earlier. I think work of her class is in the Virginia State Library
Thank you so much for taking the time to sit and record Retired Lt Col James Methven’s experience in post war Japan. First person histories are so interesting and educational especially for the generations born after the WWII era. As Retired Lt Col Methven mentions in this video, “Nobody’s going to believe it!” His experience really puts us in his shoes as he visualizes for us the Japanese soldiers, with guns, standing at attention near his plane while their Commander communicates through an interpreter that the Commander didn’t know the war was over! I hope that History teachers in schools and universities utilize personal history videos like these in their classrooms. Thank you for posting this veteran’s story!
What an amazing story. Thank you for sharing this story. I cant imagine what was going through everyone's minds at that moment !!! Thank you Lt. Col. James N. Methven for your service.
Great story. I'm 43 years old.. My grandfather on my pops side retired a full bird in the us army. Landed in north Africa in nov 1942, over onto Sicily, up Italy, and landed in France on d day +4. He worked with the OSS and then after the war was the commanding Officer at White Sands New Mexico when Werner Von Braun was working on the rocketry program. This gentle man reminds me of him with his story telling. God bless him. My Grandfather on my mom side was in bastone and wounded there. Came home and was a successful carpenter.... with cool stories also. I miss seeing this generation everywhere. We are losing a tough amazing generation. Still some Korea vets ,and also the most underrated generation the boys that Went to Vietnam and fought a dirty war started on a lie by LBJ... Ike was correct in keeping ground troops out.. Gulf of Tonkin was LBJ's way in... I do believe that JFK if not assassinated in 63 and won a 2nd term he would of pulled us out (Advisers) of Vietnam..
I actually had a teacher who was in ww1 when I was a little kid in the 70's in England. His stories opened my eyes alot to the world and also gave me a love of history
With all but a small handfull of WWII Veterans left alive today, these kind of stories are all but lost. I often sat and talked with WWII Vererans, and was priveledged to hear them talk about their experiences of the war. It is the little jewels like this that give you a different perspective about the lesser instances that occured. R.I.P. Sir, and thank you for not only your service, but a great story...
Once upon a time we would only hear these stories by chance if we knew this guy and guys like him or happened across them in pubs, glad a lot or a few or their stories are being recorded for prosperity.... RIP, the free world thanks you and your generation 🇬🇧🇺🇸
Great story! Thanks for sharing it with us, you made me feel more of what my Dad went through, but on another area. Lots of odd things can happen to a man in 4 years of combat.
Thank you for this upload / contribution to history. It is, to me, more meaningful to experience the stories from a diverse group of people who have had a shared experience than to experience an "official" report or history deemed accurate and correct by publishers.
Nobody tells stories better than seniors. They tend to be very descriptive and accurate especially about events from their youth/early adult years. My father passed away in 2011 and we really wish we would have recorded his marvelous stories. Thanks heaps for upload.
My grandfather was a medic in Europe. he used a baseball stitch when stitches were needed. Was a pen pall with a German soldier they treated. His letters stopped sometime in the 1960s. We lost Grampa in the 1980s. He was haunted more by a childhood trauma than his war experiences. Grandma told me because his twin brother died when they were swimming in a pond on the farm. That was his nightmare through the years.
A wonderful story by Mr. Methven. He's laughing now but it could have all gone badly by the sound of it. And I imagine war is full of stories of confusion with people just trying to make sensible decisions and survive at the same time.
My Dad was an ex pacific theatre vet. After the war he ended up being the sales director of a company that imported Brother sewing machines and office equipment directly from Japan. One day the Japanese trade fair ship "Sakura Maru" came into our port and Brother had a display on it. (About 1969 - 70) We as a family were invited to come on before it opened to the public to meet the Export Manager of Brother and another guy with him and I cannot remember their names now. I was about 12 -13 then. I also remember seeing the first Kawasaki 500 triple on display in jet black on board. It looked magnificent to me... The guys were quite small and friendly and we all enjoyed meeting them. A lot of chuckles and politeness all around. Later Dad told us that the Brother rep and him were about the same age. Dad had met him before and said they inevitably got around to discussing the war and it turns out the Jap guy was once a Kamikaze pilot. Going into the story further dad said he was told the guy was 19 at the time and was "volunteered" for this duty, meaning to say he really had no choice or say in it. He had his funeral and was bolted into his glider bomb which was attached to the mothership plane and off they went. They got about halfway to the target and Japan surrendered, so they had to turn back. How close can you get?
+Les Fox Thank you very much for your amazing story. Probably you`re almost the same age as mine. When I was a primary and middle school student, many teachers were war veterans of World War II, and they used to tell me about their traumatic experiences. One of them was a crew of Battleship "Musashi", and told how he survived at Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944. None of school teachers have war experiences, and tell their students about their ordeal anymore. We have never experienced wars at all since 1945.
I love these. Both my grandads were in WW2 but one died before I was born and the other one didn't like to talk about his time in WW2 and scarcely did before he died. I really cherish these. Even just the hum drum everyday experiences in the time of the war.
It's always helpful to remember ... these vets were once among the most vital, energetic, youthful creatures to ever walk the Earth. And they saved the world when the outcome was anything but clear. I can only imagine ... except when we hear stories such as these. Thanks for posting.
It was 1968 and the location was the Nuclear Storage site at Guam where I was standing guard in the concrete tower in the far corner, away from the flight line. One is always startled at the first round fired at them that misses, and I looked around wondering what the heck happened, then a second one hit right above my head. It dawned on this inexperienced security guard, someone is shooting at you. I called it in, listened for the next one and sent a full mag in the direction it came. Never saw who fired at me but when they sent a team down the side (the tower sat on the edge of a cliff over looking a drop of about 60 or 70 feet down and then a gradual incline down to the ocean), they found empty shell casings and blood. When that last Japanese soldier turned himself in I would have loved to have been there to ask him if it had been him. If it had been you might say those were the last shots fired in WWII.
@@brandicook7709 "Shōichi Yokoi was a sergeant in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second World War, and was among the last three Japanese holdouts to be found after the end of hostilities in 1945. He was discovered in the jungles of Guam on 24 January 1972, almost 28 years after U.S. forces had regained control of the island in 1944."
@@brandicook7709 There were many Japanese soldiers hiding in the jungles fighting the war. Their orders were to never surrender. Well after 1945, they continued to fight, not knowing the war was over. When told, they didn't believe it. To them, the war was still on, even in the 60s.
xxBEASTITxx my great uncle was a marine in vietnam he never really talks about the actual war but he talks about the shit that happened at his boot camp
Personally, I feel somewhat disconnected from the majority of the men of my family... Most of them served in the military since WWII. I feel this way even about my dad who served though saw no combat despite enlisting during Desert Storm in 91', hell, my brothers and I went to see some family during Thanksgiving and one brother who served in the Corps, said to our uncle who served aboard the USS Chicago something like we've probably been to the same bars!
My grandfather survived the Philippine invasion, Bataan Death March, death ships, medical expierments, the coal mines of Manchuria. He told my brother a story of what happened during the invasion. He said at one point he became separated from his group that he was in command of, he decided since he was close to Corregidor to swim over. Said he got his shoes off and was wading out when the moon broke through the clouds and he said he saw multiple shark fins out between him and the fortress. Said turned around waded back to shore , slept till morning and found a group of Japanese soldiers and surrendered. Thus began his 4 years of captivity
my uncle was a WWII POW MIA for over a year in Germany. in a rare case, he was released to the Swiss but only because he assisted in caring for german wounded during that time. he never spoke of any details except for that fact. he would absolutely shut down and go dark about it except to say, "they let me go." and that was it. I was 7 or 8 in the early 70's. Godspeed Uncle John.
This is gold! Thanks for sharing this story - hope to see it replicated in a movie scene one day. What an event - how things could have gone different...
I had an uncle who fought in WW II in Europe and saw the worst of the worst of it. After returning home he suffered terrible nightmares and would have many long bouts of depression being incommunicative with everyone. He only said very little about his experiences. His 5 children seemed not to expect much from him and didn't want to press him for his stories. I, his nephew; loved to get him talking about his life as he experienced the deprsession, moving to California, about our ancestors anything but I knew to stay away from talking about the war. I was afraid of what I could trigger. He lived well into his 80's. The last time I saw him I drove him home and went in to talk for a while and IT ALL CAME GUSHING OUT! He told me of so many horrors he saw it is difficult to remember them. About a month later he was sitting in his livingroom talking to his son and mid-sentence bowed his head and was dead. Later I told the family what he told me and no one was surprised. They knew he had been through the thick of it. One of the last sentences he said to me, as I was sitting there in shock but eating up every word and reveling in his success in surviving, was that no human should ever have to see what he saw because they will never stop reliving it. He hated every war America went thru since then saying it was never worth it.
@@nathanielrossi9659 understand the sentiment, but would argue WWII was one of the few, if not only war "worth it" of course if the WWI allies (entente) hadn't screwed up the peace at Versailles, there would have probably not BEEN a WWII (Hitler's ravings would have been ignored, and he not been voted chancellor)...
@@sethkimmel7312 yeah you are right ive thought the same about ww2 it is pretty much the only one " worth it " so i completely know what you mean an agree i guess there wasn't much avoiding hitler.
he sentiment was only personal , because in a general sense , it was worth it , i mourn his passing , and i mourn the horrors he endured so that myself and billions of others could be free from tyranny .
Curly Q. Link Or was it their parents who fought in WWI in youth, went through the Roaring Twenties (if a US farmer the depression in commodity prices), plodded through the Great Depression (if a US farmer in the west, the drought), only to fight in WWII in middle age and have another horror to endure?
The generation of Americans that existed during the American War of Independence were greater. Those Americans fought a more powerful foe while having far fewer resources, suffered more in the process, and established a government for themselves with near universal respect for human rights.
+Jason Voorheese Get off social media and read a legitimate history book. Japanese at that time behaved liked anyone who wasn't Japanese wasnt human including their own race.
@Happy Man You mean the Japanese Imperial Army who raped and murdered hundreds of thousands of Chinese and other Asian civilians? Who kept "comfort women" and tortured prisoners? The government that refused to even consider the Geneva Conventions? Yes, indeed.
I worked with a vet at Mcdonnell Douglas Tulsa in late 1970's, he said he arrived in Germany six days before the end of the war. All he did was take in surrendering Germans who preferred to give up to the US Army rather than the Russians.
I've heard during the Korean war if you were US/ UN Forces that were captured/ surrendered you were much better-off if the Chinese got you instead of the N. Koreans. The N. Koreans just wanted to torture/ kill you... The Chinese treated you okay because they were trying to get info out of you or get you to do propaganda for them (confess various war crimes).
Alot of Chinese let American run back to regroup with their army. They just didn't know they had to capture Americans, after they won the battle they let the Americans walk. Quite a sight.
If I had a grandfather like this, he would probably dread having me around because I would want to hear so much about the Pacific. I would have so many questions. And Im not sure how much Veterans like to talk about it. Probably brings back painful memories
My moms dad was killed in Italy in 1945 when she was 6 months old, it would of been neat to hear all those stories he probably had. my dads father worked in a munitions factory in Illinois so he never went over seas, plus I never liked him anyways so I would of never asked him about the war..
Well I am a Pilot by trade been flying for 40 years now, early in my Career, I flew as a co pilot on a Beech -18 and the Capt was a guy who flew the Hump during World War II then For CAT( China Air Transport) then Air America, He taught me every thing he knew and then some, he ended up in a Nursing home, I was just about the only one that would come and visit, you see every body that he knew was gone, He is remembered because I remember, I have since pass on what I know to others in my profession, its how its done, now I would have loved to spend some time flying with Lt. Col. Methven and learn some more useful stuff, I am sure he would have been all to happy to do so! You get to learn all kinds of interesting things by asking people who know, If your want to know something fine a person that knows most will be very happy to answer your question or mentor you, I was mentored by some really great pilots over the years, even one that flew for the Luftwaffe!
I had some great-uncles who were WW2 vets. A couple were stationed in rear areas and were happy to talk while a couple who were on the front lines refused to talk. Of course, us kids would pester them to tell us their war stories but it never did any good. One finally got pissed off at us and said something like "I saw things and did things over there so that you would never have to experience them."
My uncle was in Holland during the occupation. He never talked about that time in his life until he was old. We were at the super table. My aunt and uncle my grandmother. My mom and dad and my two brothers. Out of the clear blue my uncle started to talk about that time in his life. He said that they were so hungry that they ate bark from certain trees. They ate burning nettles. They ate dandelion stems. They were malnourished. He talked about how cruel the Nazis were with many stories. Everyone in the room had tears streaming down their face when they realized how hard his life had been.
My stepfather told me a lot about his life in Holland during the war. He was only 11 in 1939, lived with his mother. Towards the end of the war he said his mum was cooking grass to eat as there was nothing else. His older brother was in the resistance and one day he brought a german major home with him to visit. They stayed awhile then left. Later on his brother told them he brought him around to back up a story he'd told him. Creepy...
I remember seeing a documentary on TV a few years ago , this person who was only a child at the time told the story of how a group of German soldiers beckoned a group of kids over because they had food and when the kids got there the soldiers pissed on the food and laughed at them.
I could listen to WWII warriors everyday. True American Heroes. My deepest thanks to all of them, especially MSGT Bruce C. Green, my grandma's little brother, who didn't make it home.
had the honor and privilege of talking to Col. Richard "Dick" Cole, Doolittle's co-pilot on Flight 1 a few years ago. One of The Last Man Standing club members. I also had the same with Charlie Lindberg, and his buddy Ralo Malm one of the 1st flag raisers on Iwo, when they stopped at my VFW a short time before Charlie passed(Ralo was a life member, past Commander-RIP). I also serve on the rifle squad with a decorated Marine who was wounded at Hue City at the battle of Hue. I have memories of some things in life that come and go. but I will never forget these men and their living history that they found I was worthy, they shared with me. them, along with a few others including my uncles who fought and died during WWII.
My father served in the USN in the Pacific during WWII. He absolutely would not speak of it but, I did find out how very badly he hated and would not forgive the Japanese. He is gone now, I miss him dearly....may he RIP God Bless
My Grandfather the same. And now his grandson (me) still only buys American ( at least as American as we can get). The nation as a whole and the people who blindly followed their emperor-god got what justice demanded. And thank God American lives were spared from not having to hunt, find, and burn em all out in a land invasion. Bushido might sound cool and romantic but it lead to evil and was no match for American financial might, just spirit, and technological superiority. Theirs was culture of death while ours was a culture of life
Mr. Methven passed away in 2009. May he rest in peace. Thank you for your service.
Thank you for telling that, I was going to research to see if he was still alive
God bless him
www.findagrave.com/memorial/49260510/james-nairn-methven
RIP Soldier
@@meteor-or2gd Thank you meteor1033 for the grave info on Mr. Methven who was a true hero.
The most forbidden documentary in history:
“Europa The Last Battle” at archive dot org
Im 75 years old and been listening to war stories my whole life, this is one of the most funniest and happy ones,
Good for you sir and thank you for your comment. We could take a lesson from you folks and you are apart of the greatest generation ever.
I love that. You care about the stories that matter in life! Same here
I'm a 38 year old historian. Thanks for inspiring me not to waste as much time as you have.
Same, not as long mind you, but loved this.
The most forbidden documentary in history:
archive.org/details/EUROPATheLastBattle
For my 8th grade social studies project, I interviewed a Navy Corpsman on the initial wave of landings to Nagasaki post surrender. He was an Okinawa veteran. The smell of the post atomic living dead was unbearable. He treated many and both Marines and civilians who knew they were goners and all he could do was comfort them. These living stories need to be captured before they are gone. I am glad this gentleman’s is!
I had a HS teacher who was marine in WWII. He said that right after the war he was on some island in the south pacific watching a comedy movie outdoors with other marines. During the movie a Japanese soldier came out of the jungle and sat down with the audience and started watching the movie and laughing along with the Marines. Needless to say, the marines were startled when they noticed him.
Interesting
The Japanese soldier probably thought that he should watch a comedy movie before he surrenders...
That's awesome
wonderbee100 surrender? Then it wasn't a Japanese soldier.
+Polish Sausage surrender was very uncommon amongst the Japanese soldiers but it did happen every so often
This is a dying generation. These war vets have the most interesting stories. Hopefully enough of their stories are and have been recorded for posterity.
My thoughts exactly. It is so easy and cheap to make video and audio recordings these days. My father was in ww2 and I listened to hours of these stories...I remember many of them.
I think so. I think there's tons of "lost" recordings that will be uncovered as we look for more and more new tidbits of info to learn and things to hear.
But it is sad as these great folks are becoming more and more scarce.
David Greer ....shame on the the NFL
falling for the anti American leftist crap..
no more NFL never watch or support
again.......
Hence the reason why we need to listen to them very closely and be very patient when speaking with them. I have had the privilege to know and help care for a few of these men and being a Veteran myself have developed a bond with them. Many of these guys do not paint a pretty picture of what it was like for them returning home from the war and 70 years later they are willing to talk about it if you listen closely.
hopefully
when I was a young teen working in a retail store this gentleman would come in , lines in his face, looked old for his age , after he left one day a customer told me , you know who that is ? No I said , He survived the Bataan Death march. From that day on when he came in, I was in complete awe of that man. Wow! Incredible!
My grandfather survived that as well. He and another captured soldier were helping a wounded fellow soldier along the march. When he became too slow and could not walk one of the Japanese guards executed him right there on the spot. Tossed his body to the side of the trail. I remember once as a kid finding him sitting in a kitchen chair he'd placed a few feet in front of the T.V. . There was a WW2 movie on with a battle scene. He was hunched over with his eyes fixed not noticing I walked into the room....tears rolling down his face while he cussed under his breath. I thank God he came to America after the war.
My Uncle was also a survivor of Bataan...
WOW just WOW!
@@nurburgflip1188 If I could only express my love and respect for your grandfather and his fellow comrades ! I wish there were more people like these WW2 vets around these days but sadly, it's been over 70 years since that war. I salute your grandfather and any member in your family that is bravely serving our country.
This man's generation never fail to humble me.
Definitely the greatest generation ever.
How sad we don't have the character to make America work any more - too many younger generation without a foundation.
@@dennishassler605 cup half empty much?
More likeable than the boomers that's for sure
@Red Summer ain't that the truth 😭😭😭
Thank you vets...thank you very much, I appreciate you all!!
So what are really trying to say?
I can appreciate the value of their sacrifice....your turn...
Your assuming I have an arm chair and no vets in my family...a job could not help you...
"Only the dead know the end of war" Plato
Rest easy squad..rest easy...
When I was a kid back in the 50's I would go with my father to the VFW and the men would tell stories about the war.
They were always funny and I loved going out there as these men were my heroes. They never spoke about the bad
things that happened to them, only the funny things. I miss these old boys.
We always tell the funny stories
Same here. My dad worked with a man Phillip Schmidt, an American! He was a paratrooper in WW II. There was a scare of Germans in American uniforms. Phil "blew off course" and landed in the American lines and was taken prisoner by the Americans. He was held prisoner with German POWs for 3 days until they sorted out he was in fact an American!
Elizabeth Brower They only spoke of the funny things, never about the combat. I only understood after me second tour in
Viet Nam.
They didn't have to talk about the bad because they all knew .Unless you were a combat vet you never understand.
I love how the US soldiers on the truck simply rolled up, picked up the precious payroll and then buggered off leaving the flight crew and the aircraft surrounded by armed Japanese soldiers!
Priorities man. Priorities.
@@BUSTRCHERRI ain't that the truth. They'd have done the same thing if the aircraft had been carrying beer ....
My grandfather was a Sargent in WW2 fighting the Japanese in the Australian Army. From all accounts he saw more than any soldier should. He never forgave the Japanese of his generation. It is wonderful to see this veteran's experience for me.
The Aussies and US Marines proved that the Japanese could be beat (beginning of the war). God bless them all and give them rest for what they saw and had to do.
My dad, who's been gone since 2001, was an Air Corp pilot in Pacific. He brought back several souvenirs, of which one was a late war model Japanese pistol. According to my father's account, he taken the gun off the body of an officer while watching several corpses pushed by tractor into a burial ditch. The gun had some very clear writing (Japanese ), crudely scratched into it. After about a month of research, I found the daughter of the man whose name and I.D number were etched on the pistol. She was, is, a grandmother living in Osaka Japan. She, her mother, and her elder brother ( mother and brother deceased at time I found daughter) never knew what had happen to their dad. They had received a final letter from him in the Spring of "44, saying he'd been "honored with the officers rank of lieutenant". Until my letters, and ultimate phone calls, they'd never heard another word of this lady's dad.
A sweet woman from Tokyo, who had written a book on Japanese side arms made during the war, helped me find this soldier's family. The pistol was in quite poor shape. My dad never fired or even cleaned it. Having been manufactured late in the war, these guns were quite often dangerous to fire.
Really what it all did was made me feel a bit close to MY dad again. He had spoken to me once concerning the origins of the three weapons he's returned from war with., said he'd sometimes dreamed of the "horrible grimace on the face of the dead soldier whose gun he'd taken".
I packed and sent the pistol to this soldier's daughter, and asked me if my dad had told of the circumstances of his receiving the gun. I of course told her he had not.
This man in the video brought back all those memories....He's a hero from a generation of men and women who as twenty-somethings had no doubt that they lived in a nation that could do anything, and that it absolutely was the greatest country on earth, worth dying for even. Now, can their/ our grandchildren and great grandchildren say that? I wonder.
Thanks for the video. It's priceless.
Dave Crockett how did you mail a pistol to Japan?
I would suggest you tell them what happened to their father and that your father found the gun. You do not need to be gory but at least tell them.
Hermann2416 .... You're kidding right? Do you really want to know, or is it your way of saying I just typed all that to pass the time making up stories to nobody? I'll tell you what, I got a lot of help from the Japanese Cousel in Chicago, office called like Japanese Information Center I think. But you can Google it.
Dave Crockett n
@@dannycrockett9878 You are a good man with a great big heart. Thank You for your story. It's folks like you who reaffirm my faith in humanity.🇺🇸❤
Truly the Greatest Generation. So brave. My dad was a rifleman in Patton's Third Army, 5th Division, 2nd Infantry Regiment. He fought in Normandy, Northern France, Central Europe, the Battle of the Bulge, and into Germany. He was wounded fighting the Waffen SS in Metz, France. Dad didn't like to speak about the war. But when he turned 90, I sold my house and moved back in with him to keep a closer eye on him, and was able to get stories I had never heard before he passed away at 93. Mom had passed 11 years earlier. She was Filipino and survived the Japanese occupation of Manila. What she experienced was horrific and she witnessed many atrocities. She was liberated by Ohio troops of the 37th Buckeye Division. Several years later, she married an Ohio guy, my dad.
My grandfather was a "Tin Can Warrior" in the Pacific theater he had some incredible stories and was present at the last Great Naval Battle, saw the mighty Yamato sink and endured Typhoons. I love and miss that man.
Great men those days!
I'm more of an army guy, but an amazing book I read was entitled "Last Stand of the Tin Can Sailors". I highly recommend it, and maybe your Grandfather is mentioned in it, or his ship. Another one is "Shadow Divers". Check them both out.
Mark
I believe he passed away April 5, 2009. RIP
+Withab BJ I feel bad :P on April 1, 09, i said in 4 days on April 5th a WWII veteran will die. How tf does this sht happen?
what?
There were probably a lot of vets that died on 4-5-09
The "greatest generation" is passing on. Quite soon there will be none left.
@@samuelalt6520 because people die all the time.
My father was 13 months in combat, South Pacific theatre of action. His and his friend's stories were fascinating. Not embellished, more just matter of fact. I wish I could ask him more now, I miss him everyday.
I love these stories. I always admired how American Soldiers always had great sense of humor, and my father, who served with them during the Korean conflict, always told me not to piss them off.
BRUCE JEANDUC is your profile picture of teddy Roosevelt?
ROMULUS OF THE WOLF yeah, you got me curious on that one
Honor, my friend ... honor.
I love this guy! What a great story, and he tells it well!
I think he meant you had to not 'piss them off' but to not 'piss on them'
I wish I could have recored my fathers stories from WW2. He served in the Navy aboard the USS ST. Paul CA-73. That ship was the last one to fire her guns in anger at the end of the war. The movie In Harms Way with John Wayne was filmed on this ship.
Dads brother was killed aboard the USS Arizona during the attack on Dec.7, 1941. He is still aboard the ship.
My father never forgave the Japanese for that attack and took it to his grave in 1994. I went on to serve in the Navy out in San Diego aboard the carrier USS Constellation CV-64. My brother retired from the Air Force. Military service runs in our family.
+TheJer1963 i wish that i had a grandfather or dad that could tell me awsome stories!
I do miss my father so much. Been 21 years now.
what stories did he tell you?
He was in WW2. Served on the USS ST. Paul CA-73. You can Google that ship's history in WW2. She was the last ship in the war to fire her guns in anger.
His older brother, my uncle is entombed on the USS Arizona, He died during the attack on Dec. 7, 1941.
My father went on to serve as a chief of police in Virginia for 30 years. 1 as a patrolman and 29 as the chief. From age 17 up to his death he served this country. I have so many stories that he told me it would take weeks to list them all.
TheJer1963
Thank you for your service! Long live the Greatest Generation!
+S74... all generations have had their moments of greatness and their moments of stupidity. There is no "greatest generation"....
Steve T No, the men who fought WW2 were definitely the greatest generation.
+U TELL ME MAN I ONLY WORK HERE >> How did you come to this decision? What makes them greater then the men who fought in WW1? How are they better then their brothers who fought in any previous war, or for that matter any war. Are they owed a debt of gratitude and recognition, absolutely yes. All of them are!
Steve T
Their generation is named the Greatest Generation, just like the baby boomers are the baby boomers. Just stop.
the greatest generation that saw what war is and then sent their kids off to spill their guts in Vietnam.
Good that his story was recorded. These guys were something else.
my dad was a ww2 pilot in the euro theater --crashed landed in france on d day-he,his crew walked from crash-he had a thompson machine gun which he gave to sgt who was helping them get to the lines--dad was no combat guy--the sgt shot a unarmed german troop who was running away with the thompson-dad regretted giving the guy the gun-dad died in '68-lots of his history went with him
My dad was on a ship in Tokyo bay during the surrender. They got shore leave. Many got haircuts from local barbers. No one trusted them to shave them with straight razors.
Thinking back my father loved to tell his WWII stories and back in high school(late 1980s) I used to say he was like Higgins off the old Magum PI show who talked day and night about the war... I wish now he was still around so I could record his stories...he was with the Flying Tigers in WWII....passed away in 1991..
Your father is a hero for so many reasons. Cherish your memories, you might not be able to remember every single story he told or all the details involved but you will always remember the feelings associated with each tale and that's worth more than all the stories combined. Even though he's gone I'd still like to say thank you to him for his service.
I know he is grateful for your words pal.... He was a patriot and an inspiration in my life. :)
Just start writing them down. as you work on them, much of it will come back to yoy
+The Patriot I saw someone who works for Obama bought the house that was used for the show. It is in really rough shape. There are videos on RUclips showing it.
+The Patriot My mother used to host a large number of WWII vets at our home after church. It got to be such a scene that many of the guys who came over for coffee and corn bread never attended the church, they just had pals tell them to come over. You should have seen it - all these guys laughing and telling stories. Mother asked if the guys minded if she recorded the stories, nobody did and pretty much they all forgot about the recorder. She had piles of tapes filled with their experiences This all happened in the 1970's. Before they ever could be transcribed they were lost when our house burned. We lost a lot but man...losing all those stories. Gone forever.
What your channel has done, I have always felt should have been done many years ago by every state; that is, to record the stories of aging war veterans, from all conflicts, so that their experiences and thoughts may live forever. The time has come, and will continue, when their voices will eternally be silenced by their passing. The shame will be ours that we had, not, the aforethought to do this very same thing in our state. As a child of history, I thank you, for your vanguard endeavor, sir.
True! I never thought of this! RUclips got here in time for Americans to do a mass recording of innumerable WW2 vets. Just in time.
UniqueLifter205# “”
The National World War II Museum in New Orleans has recorded veterans since the inception of the museum and even before its official opening in 2000. Today the effort continues but as you noted, time is running short and we lose many of the veterans of WWII everyday and one day soon they will be no more.
My future daughter-in-law did a vetern history project in college and interviewer me, a vietnam era vetern and several WWII vets. Sadly my D Day vetern uncle had died a year earlier.
I think work of her class is in the Virginia State Library
Thank you so much for taking the time to sit and record Retired Lt Col James Methven’s experience in post war Japan. First person histories are so interesting and educational especially for the generations born after the WWII era. As Retired Lt Col Methven mentions in this video, “Nobody’s going to believe it!” His experience really puts us in his shoes as he visualizes for us the Japanese soldiers, with guns, standing at attention near his plane while their Commander communicates through an interpreter that the Commander didn’t know the war was over! I hope that History teachers in schools and universities utilize personal history videos like these in their classrooms. Thank you for posting this veteran’s story!
This made my day. Thank you so much for sharing this with us. Bless his heart..
What an amazing story. Thank you for sharing this story. I cant imagine what was going through everyone's minds at that moment !!! Thank you Lt. Col. James N. Methven for your service.
Great story. I'm 43 years old.. My grandfather on my pops side retired a full bird in the us army. Landed in north Africa in nov 1942, over onto Sicily, up Italy, and landed in France on d day +4. He worked with the OSS and then after the war was the commanding Officer at White Sands New Mexico when Werner Von Braun was working on the rocketry program. This gentle man reminds me of him with his story telling. God bless him. My Grandfather on my mom side was in bastone and wounded there. Came home and was a successful carpenter.... with cool stories also. I miss seeing this generation everywhere. We are losing a tough amazing generation. Still some Korea vets ,and also the most underrated generation the boys that Went to Vietnam and fought a dirty war started on a lie by LBJ... Ike was correct in keeping ground troops out.. Gulf of Tonkin was LBJ's way in... I do believe that JFK if not assassinated in 63 and won a 2nd term he would of pulled us out (Advisers) of Vietnam..
I actually had a teacher who was in ww1 when I was a little kid in the 70's in England. His stories opened my eyes alot to the world and also gave me a love of history
"They were supposed to be warned"
"That's nice."
lol
Thank you Sir, what a great interview and a well-spoken man
With all but a small handfull of WWII Veterans left alive today, these kind of stories are all but lost. I often sat and talked with WWII Vererans, and was priveledged to hear them talk about their experiences of the war. It is the little jewels like this that give you a different perspective about the lesser instances that occured. R.I.P. Sir, and thank you for not only your service, but a great story...
About 20 years ago when I would see a guy in his 80's shuffling around town I would think where were you 65 years ago Mr. and tilt my hat.
Once upon a time we would only hear these stories by chance if we knew this guy and guys like him or happened across them in pubs, glad a lot or a few or their stories are being recorded for prosperity.... RIP, the free world thanks you and your generation 🇬🇧🇺🇸
Thank you to the person or persons that sat this hero down and recorded his memories.. pure gold.
Please keep interviewing these Vets! Thank you for your service!♥️
Great story! Thanks for sharing it with us, you made me feel more of what my Dad went through, but on another area. Lots of odd things can happen to a man in 4 years of combat.
Thank you for recording this and providing it for us to view. Thank you sir for your service.
Wow! This recording is absolutely priceless. Blessings.
Thank you for posting this. I used to love to hear WWII stories from this generation. Damn few left. Rest in peace Lt. Col. We have the watch.
Thank you for this upload / contribution to history. It is, to me, more meaningful to experience the stories from a diverse group of people who have had a shared experience than to experience an "official" report or history deemed accurate and correct by publishers.
Nobody tells stories better than seniors. They tend to be very descriptive and accurate especially about events from their youth/early adult years. My father passed away in 2011 and we really wish we would have recorded his marvelous stories.
Thanks heaps for upload.
12yrs later and the whole 10minutes is worth listening to😊...THANK YOU😢
My grandfather was a medic in Europe. he used a baseball stitch when stitches were needed. Was a pen pall with a German soldier they treated. His letters stopped sometime in the 1960s. We lost Grampa in the 1980s. He was haunted more by a childhood trauma than his war experiences. Grandma told me because his twin brother died when they were swimming in a pond on the farm. That was his nightmare through the years.
A wonderful story by Mr. Methven. He's laughing now but it could have all gone badly by the sound of it. And I imagine war is full of stories of confusion with people just trying to make sensible decisions and survive at the same time.
Thank you for posting this irreplaceable treasure.
I'm glad I had the pleasure of talking to one of these guys. It really changes your perspective of the war when you do.
Man I loved listening to my grandfathers story's about the war.. Wish I would've recorded them. Great story!
My Dad was an ex pacific theatre vet. After the war he ended up being the sales director of a company that imported Brother sewing machines and office equipment directly from Japan.
One day the Japanese trade fair ship "Sakura Maru" came into our port and Brother had a display on it. (About 1969 - 70)
We as a family were invited to come on before it opened to the public to meet the Export Manager of Brother and another guy with him and I cannot remember their names now. I was about 12 -13 then. I also remember seeing the first Kawasaki 500 triple on display in jet black on board. It looked magnificent to me...
The guys were quite small and friendly and we all enjoyed meeting them. A lot of chuckles and politeness all around.
Later Dad told us that the Brother rep and him were about the same age. Dad had met him before and said they inevitably got around to discussing the war and it turns out the Jap guy was once a Kamikaze pilot.
Going into the story further dad said he was told the guy was 19 at the time and was "volunteered" for this duty, meaning to say he really had no choice or say in it. He had his funeral and was bolted into his glider bomb which was attached to the mothership plane and off they went.
They got about halfway to the target and Japan surrendered, so they had to turn back.
How close can you get?
Les Fox .So the guys flying career was cut short.No job satisfaction!
had a 1973 H2 750 2 stroke purple cow talk about shake & bake
+Les Fox
Thank you very much for your amazing story. Probably you`re almost the same age as mine. When I was a primary and middle school student, many teachers were war veterans of World War II, and they used to tell me about their traumatic experiences. One of them was a crew of Battleship "Musashi", and told how he survived at Battle of Leyte Gulf in 1944. None of school teachers have war experiences, and tell their students about their ordeal anymore. We have never experienced wars at all since 1945.
Les Fox That an amazing story.
Whew😆
Wonderful. I could listen to his stories all day.
Great interview, thanks for posting.
Thanks for your service. and your time recalling the past I enjoyed it!!!
Great story, I am glad he shared it with us!!
Great story, I wish you all the best sir.
+Lobster A shame, i do thanks youtube to keep this kind of videos around for the future generations
Thank you for posting this.
thank you for preserving this story.
God bless him....truly the greatest generation....my dad, uncles, etc...wonderful people.
thank you for sharing this story with us. i enjoy hear these stories, in almost all cases these stories are better then the book.
“Than” the book.
I love these. Both my grandads were in WW2 but one died before I was born and the other one didn't like to talk about his time in WW2 and scarcely did before he died. I really cherish these. Even just the hum drum everyday experiences in the time of the war.
It's always helpful to remember ... these vets were once among the most vital, energetic, youthful creatures to ever walk the Earth. And they saved the world when the outcome was anything but clear. I can only imagine ... except when we hear stories such as these. Thanks for posting.
Amazing story, wow. Thank you.
God bless thank you for your service!
Thanks for this video, awesome story and thanks posthumously for your service Sir from Canada.
Great story , Sir! Thank you for your service!
It was 1968 and the location was the Nuclear Storage site at Guam where I was standing guard in the concrete tower in the far corner, away from the flight line. One is always startled at the first round fired at them that misses, and I looked around wondering what the heck happened, then a second one hit right above my head. It dawned on this inexperienced security guard, someone is shooting at you. I called it in, listened for the next one and sent a full mag in the direction it came. Never saw who fired at me but when they sent a team down the side (the tower sat on the edge of a cliff over looking a drop of about 60 or 70 feet down and then a gradual incline down to the ocean), they found empty shell casings and blood. When that last Japanese soldier turned himself in I would have loved to have been there to ask him if it had been him. If it had been you might say those were the last shots fired in WWII.
Thank you for sharing this I just told your story to my kids
Was doing security on a heavy equipment compound at Rose valley, only "side arm" I carried was a foot long piece of broom stick😂😋
Forgive my ignorance but what do you mean it could have the last shots fired if it was 1968?
@@brandicook7709 "Shōichi Yokoi was a sergeant in the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second World War, and was among the last three Japanese holdouts to be found after the end of hostilities in 1945. He was discovered in the jungles of Guam on 24 January 1972, almost 28 years after U.S. forces had regained control of the island in 1944."
@@brandicook7709 There were many Japanese soldiers hiding in the jungles fighting the war. Their orders were to never surrender. Well after 1945, they continued to fight, not knowing the war was over. When told, they didn't believe it. To them, the war was still on, even in the 60s.
i wish more people would have made videos just like this BRAVO!!!!!!!
Thank you for this. He reminds me so much of my own grandpa. It was like I was in the room with him again listening to his old war stories again.
an amazing story sir. those had to be interesting times for sure...thanks for this interview sir !
I could listen to his man tell stories all day.
only wished I had the smarts to do this with my grandfather very good video
xxBEASTITxx my great uncle was a marine in vietnam he never really talks about the actual war but he talks about the shit that happened at his boot camp
Personally, I feel somewhat disconnected from the majority of the men of my family... Most of them served in the military since WWII.
I feel this way even about my dad who served though saw no combat despite enlisting during Desert Storm in 91', hell, my brothers and I went to see some family during Thanksgiving and one brother who served in the Corps, said to our uncle who served aboard the USS Chicago something like we've probably been to the same bars!
thanks for sharing with us.
I'm glad you could capture this story. Thanks!
Great story, and much thanks to Lt. Col. Methven, for his service. His generation made this world a better place, and they are greatly missed.
My dad was a pow. He never talked about that or his experiences on Corregidor in 1941.
My sympathies to your dad. He and those who survived the Bataan death march and went into the Japanese POW camps suffered hell many times over.
My grandfather survived the Philippine invasion, Bataan Death March, death ships, medical expierments, the coal mines of Manchuria. He told my brother a story of what happened during the invasion. He said at one point he became separated from his group that he was in command of, he decided since he was close to Corregidor to swim over. Said he got his shoes off and was wading out when the moon broke through the clouds and he said he saw multiple shark fins out between him and the fortress. Said turned around waded back to shore , slept till morning and found a group of Japanese soldiers and surrendered. Thus began his 4 years of captivity
@@blank557 I should have followed up. Him and about 10 others didn't surrender but were. captured in 1944.
I have a family member, who I believe is my Great Grandmas cousin who was killed during the Bataan death March.
War is truly Hell.
my uncle was a WWII POW MIA for over a year in Germany. in a rare case, he was released to the Swiss but only because he assisted in caring for german wounded during that time. he never spoke of any details except for that fact. he would absolutely shut down and go dark about it except to say, "they let me go." and that was it. I was 7 or 8 in the early 70's.
Godspeed Uncle John.
This is gold! Thanks for sharing this story - hope to see it replicated in a movie scene one day. What an event - how things could have gone different...
BRAVO! HERO! AND THANK YOU FOR SHARING THIS IMPORTANT DOCUMENT.
I had an uncle who fought in WW II in Europe and saw the worst of the worst of it. After returning home he suffered terrible nightmares and would have many long bouts of depression being incommunicative with everyone. He only said very little about his experiences. His 5 children seemed not to expect much from him and didn't want to press him for his stories. I, his nephew; loved to get him talking about his life as he experienced the deprsession, moving to California, about our ancestors anything but I knew to stay away from talking about the war. I was afraid of what I could trigger. He lived well into his 80's. The last time I saw him I drove him home and went in to talk for a while and IT ALL CAME GUSHING OUT! He told me of so many horrors he saw it is difficult to remember them. About a month later he was sitting in his livingroom talking to his son and mid-sentence bowed his head and was dead. Later I told the family what he told me and no one was surprised. They knew he had been through the thick of it. One of the last sentences he said to me, as I was sitting there in shock but eating up every word and reveling in his success in surviving, was that no human should ever have to see what he saw because they will never stop reliving it. He hated every war America went thru since then saying it was never worth it.
Sh*t....
Sorry about your loss friend. I agree with him it aint worth it.
@@nathanielrossi9659 understand the sentiment, but would argue WWII was one of the few, if not only war "worth it" of course if the WWI allies (entente) hadn't screwed up the peace at Versailles, there would have probably not BEEN a WWII (Hitler's ravings would have been ignored, and he not been voted chancellor)...
@@sethkimmel7312 yeah you are right ive thought the same about ww2 it is pretty much the only one " worth it " so i completely know what you mean an agree i guess there wasn't much avoiding hitler.
he sentiment was only personal , because in a general sense , it was worth it , i mourn his passing , and i mourn the horrors he endured so that myself and billions of others could be free from tyranny .
The Greatest Generation.
Curly Q. Link Or was it their parents who fought in WWI in youth, went through the Roaring Twenties (if a US farmer the depression in commodity prices), plodded through the Great Depression (if a US farmer in the west, the drought), only to fight in WWII in middle age and have another horror to endure?
The generation of Americans that existed during the American War of Independence were greater. Those Americans fought a more powerful foe while having far fewer resources, suffered more in the process, and established a government for themselves with near universal respect for human rights.
+Happy huWhite Man How? Were they supposed to just let Japan wipe us out?
+Jason Voorheese Get off social media and read a legitimate history book. Japanese at that time behaved liked anyone who wasn't Japanese wasnt human including their own race.
@Happy Man You mean the Japanese Imperial Army who raped and murdered hundreds of thousands of Chinese and other Asian civilians? Who kept "comfort women" and tortured prisoners? The government that refused to even consider the Geneva Conventions? Yes, indeed.
Amazing interview. So real.
Thank you, so much, for your service to our country, sir. You, and all the other men and women too. Great story.
I worked with a vet at Mcdonnell Douglas Tulsa in late 1970's, he said he arrived in Germany six days before the end of the war. All he did was take in surrendering Germans who preferred to give up to the US Army rather than the Russians.
Yeah the nazis may have been pretty damn bad but the Soviets made there crimes look like a joke and were far worse than the nazis could ever be
I've heard during the Korean war if you were US/ UN Forces that were captured/ surrendered you were much better-off if the Chinese got you instead of the N. Koreans.
The N. Koreans just wanted to torture/ kill you... The Chinese treated you okay because they were trying to get info out of you or get you to do propaganda for them (confess various war crimes).
Pezfeo nazis atleast treated you like a human the russians didnt give a shiy
You do realize the Russians lost 21 million people to Nazi aggression. So completely understandable.
Alot of Chinese let American run back to regroup with their army. They just didn't know they had to capture Americans, after they won the battle they let the Americans walk. Quite a sight.
If I had a grandfather like this, he would probably dread having me around because I would want to hear so much about the Pacific. I would have so many questions. And Im not sure how much Veterans like to talk about it. Probably brings back painful memories
My moms dad was killed in Italy in 1945 when she was 6 months old, it would of been neat to hear all those stories he probably had. my dads father worked in a munitions factory in Illinois so he never went over seas, plus I never liked him anyways so I would of never asked him about the war..
Well I am a Pilot by trade been flying for 40 years now, early in my Career, I flew as a co pilot on a Beech -18 and the Capt was a guy who flew the Hump during World War II then For CAT( China Air Transport) then Air America, He taught me every thing he knew and then some, he ended up in a Nursing home, I was just about the only one that would come and visit, you see every body that he knew was gone, He is remembered because I remember, I have since pass on what I know to others in my profession, its how its done, now I would have loved to spend some time flying with Lt. Col. Methven and learn some more useful stuff, I am sure he would have been all to happy to do so! You get to learn all kinds of interesting things by asking people who know, If your want to know something fine a person that knows most will be very happy to answer your question or mentor you, I was mentored by some really great pilots over the years, even one that flew for the Luftwaffe!
My dad is an Iraq and Afghanistan war vet and he talks about that stuff
I had some great-uncles who were WW2 vets. A couple were stationed in rear areas and were happy to talk while a couple who were on the front lines refused to talk. Of course, us kids would pester them to tell us their war stories but it never did any good. One finally got pissed off at us and said something like "I saw things and did things over there so that you would never have to experience them."
Most who have been in combat don't like to talk about it.
All these stories matter so much. Thank you for sharing.
Good on you for getting this veteran's account. We need to hear everything they have to say about that time.
Great story really enjoyed this old pilot reliving such a moment.
Such a great story!
Great story sir.Thank you for your service.
great story boss...thank you a million times...
If only America could still be as strong as his generation.
My uncle was in Holland during the occupation. He never talked about that time in his life until he was old. We were at the super table. My aunt and uncle my grandmother. My mom and dad and my two brothers. Out of the clear blue my uncle started to talk about that time in his life. He said that they were so hungry that they ate bark from certain trees. They ate burning nettles. They ate dandelion stems. They were malnourished. He talked about how cruel the Nazis were with many stories. Everyone in the room had tears streaming down their face when they realized how hard his life had been.
That's a great story of your uncle he's in my prayers
God bless him ..
My stepfather told me a lot about his life in Holland during the war. He was only 11 in 1939, lived with his mother. Towards the end of the war he said his mum was cooking grass to eat as there was nothing else. His older brother was in the resistance and one day he brought a german major home with him to visit. They stayed awhile then left. Later on his brother told them he brought him around to back up a story he'd told him. Creepy...
I remember seeing a documentary on TV a few years ago , this person who was only a child at the time told the story of how a group of German soldiers beckoned a group of kids over because they had food and when the kids got there the soldiers pissed on the food and laughed at them.
Insert random, generic hardships and you get a "Nazis Bad!" story.
Respect Old Man. And Thank You. I pray when times come. I have you and yours beside me. Respect.
Great story. Thanks for posting.
I could listen to WWII warriors everyday. True American Heroes. My deepest thanks to all of them, especially MSGT Bruce C. Green, my grandma's little brother, who didn't make it home.
A wonderful man. I wish I could have known him. Funny story about the ammo and the hydraulic fluid.
I could listen to this guy for days! These old vet’s they don’t make um like that anymore!
Thank You for your service and God BlessYou Mr Methven.
I love hearing stories like this, and thank u for your service my man!
had the honor and privilege of talking to Col. Richard "Dick" Cole, Doolittle's co-pilot on Flight 1 a few years ago. One of The Last Man Standing club members. I also had the same with Charlie Lindberg, and his buddy Ralo Malm one of the 1st flag raisers on Iwo, when they stopped at my VFW a short time before Charlie passed(Ralo was a life member, past Commander-RIP). I also serve on the rifle squad with a decorated Marine who was wounded at Hue City at the battle of Hue. I have memories of some things in life that come and go. but I will never forget these men and their living history that they found I was worthy, they shared with me. them, along with a few others including my uncles who fought and died during WWII.
My father served in the USN in the Pacific during WWII. He absolutely would not speak of it but, I did find out how very badly he hated and would not forgive the Japanese.
He is gone now, I miss him dearly....may he RIP
God Bless
a lot of old vets would not buy Japanese cars in the 70 and so when they were being introduced then
My father was the same.
My Grandfather the same. And now his grandson (me) still only buys American ( at least as American as we can get). The nation as a whole and the people who blindly followed their emperor-god got what justice demanded. And thank God American lives were spared from not having to hunt, find, and burn em all out in a land invasion. Bushido might sound cool and romantic but it lead to evil and was no match for American financial might, just spirit, and technological superiority. Theirs was culture of death while ours was a culture of life
THANKS for sharing your time in history!!!!!
Great stuff. These stories are priceless and lost forever except for people who took the time to record them.