Seeking Interesting Military Stories
May 13, 2011 2:56 PM Subscribe
Looking for military stories, but that do not center solely around combat. These can be from any military excursion (humanitarian aid, covert ops, etc....) from WWII until today.
basically looking for stories, anecdotes of people in any branch of the US military, in any place in the world, that aren't play by plays of combat missions. perhaps interactions with locals where soldiers would be stationed, or conflict between soldiers of a more personal nature, or things that soldiers could get involved with that are not directly associated with their jobs. remember the movie "Three Kings"? How they were going to try and steal Saddam's gold? stuff like that too. But also smaller more personal, This American Life type stories too. Any suggestions of where to find such stories would be great appreciated.
basically looking for stories, anecdotes of people in any branch of the US military, in any place in the world, that aren't play by plays of combat missions. perhaps interactions with locals where soldiers would be stationed, or conflict between soldiers of a more personal nature, or things that soldiers could get involved with that are not directly associated with their jobs. remember the movie "Three Kings"? How they were going to try and steal Saddam's gold? stuff like that too. But also smaller more personal, This American Life type stories too. Any suggestions of where to find such stories would be great appreciated.
My grandfather wrote about his experiences in the Spanish Civil War, if you're willing to count that as part of WWII (he was an American dealing with German bad guys in the 1930s...) He did an album and the liner notes are free (it's about forty pages of first-hand experiences.) It's a very large PDF, though. Mostly about his time in a prison camp, like how they had a little university going and the guys taught each other how to play chess and sang a Christmas show for the guards and stuff.
I am the Sarah it's dedicated to on page 2.
posted by SMPA at 3:12 PM on May 13, 2011
I am the Sarah it's dedicated to on page 2.
posted by SMPA at 3:12 PM on May 13, 2011
Andrew Carroll's Legacy Project might be up your alley, as well as his "War Letters: Extraordinary Correspondence from American Wars."
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:13 PM on May 13, 2011
posted by MonkeyToes at 3:13 PM on May 13, 2011
I've always liked this story that involved my grandfather's plane (he was co-pilot) in World War II:
"Sep 28 was our last mission in The All American Girl. We were hit over the target and lost our No. 2 engine. A fire started but Lloyd [Delaney, the pilot] managed to put it out. Due to loss of oil, we couldn't feather the engine so it was wind milling and the vibration was alarming. Then the prop shaft burned through so the engine stopped turning but the prop still was.
Lloyd tried to shake it off by some violent maneuvers but to no avail. Due to the vibration and wind resistance we could fly at barely over stalling speed and by now the group was long out of sight and we were alone over Germany. More by good luck than by management we avoided any flak areas and did not attract the attention of some Jerry fighter. We were losing altitude all the while and debated whether we should try to make it to a field in the American area of northern France or keep on toward home. The majority voted to go on as long as we could as we wanted to get back for the 200th mission party soon to be held.
Fortunately, things held together and we were able to land at Thorpe Abbots almost out of fuel and with the engine catching fire again as we landed almost half an hour after the rest of the group had landed. Needless to say, we were out of it as soon as it came to a stop and the fire was soon extinguished. When we finally got back to our hut we found our hut mates had already been through our things and sorted out some things they thought they could use, such as bottles of Scotch, cigarettes, chewing gum, chocolate, etc."
(from here)
posted by Lucinda at 3:14 PM on May 13, 2011
"Sep 28 was our last mission in The All American Girl. We were hit over the target and lost our No. 2 engine. A fire started but Lloyd [Delaney, the pilot] managed to put it out. Due to loss of oil, we couldn't feather the engine so it was wind milling and the vibration was alarming. Then the prop shaft burned through so the engine stopped turning but the prop still was.
Lloyd tried to shake it off by some violent maneuvers but to no avail. Due to the vibration and wind resistance we could fly at barely over stalling speed and by now the group was long out of sight and we were alone over Germany. More by good luck than by management we avoided any flak areas and did not attract the attention of some Jerry fighter. We were losing altitude all the while and debated whether we should try to make it to a field in the American area of northern France or keep on toward home. The majority voted to go on as long as we could as we wanted to get back for the 200th mission party soon to be held.
Fortunately, things held together and we were able to land at Thorpe Abbots almost out of fuel and with the engine catching fire again as we landed almost half an hour after the rest of the group had landed. Needless to say, we were out of it as soon as it came to a stop and the fire was soon extinguished. When we finally got back to our hut we found our hut mates had already been through our things and sorted out some things they thought they could use, such as bottles of Scotch, cigarettes, chewing gum, chocolate, etc."
(from here)
posted by Lucinda at 3:14 PM on May 13, 2011
I really enjoyed Brave Men, Gentle Heroes -- parallel memoirs of fathers in WWII and their sons in Vietnam. It was more thoughtful than I'd expected, with an emphasis on personal experiences as well as on combat, so it might be right up your alley.
posted by vorfeed at 3:34 PM on May 13, 2011
posted by vorfeed at 3:34 PM on May 13, 2011
One of my favorite stories is that of the Monuments Men who helped to recover precious artworks and cultural artifacts stolen and pillaged by Hitler. Fantastic book is right over here.
posted by theartandsound at 4:01 PM on May 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by theartandsound at 4:01 PM on May 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
There's a great story in Breakout about two soldiers who take refuge in a house on the North Korean side. One of them starts whistling a hymn to keep calm, and the head of the family instantly perks up, digs down to the bottom of a sack of potatoes to produce a hidden hymnal, and the family all sing the song together in Korean.
You might also enjoy Roald Dahl's second autobiographical book, Going Solo. Dahl was a fighter pilot and ended up in Greece, but his journey there was fascinating.
posted by circular at 4:21 PM on May 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
You might also enjoy Roald Dahl's second autobiographical book, Going Solo. Dahl was a fighter pilot and ended up in Greece, but his journey there was fascinating.
posted by circular at 4:21 PM on May 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
My favorite are the SR-71 Blackbird stories. I'm sure there is a book of them somewhere, but I find the following two to be my favorite. These are plastered all over the internets. Both have been questioned in validity, but entertaining nonetheless.
How slow can the SR-71 Blackbird go?
"Los Angeles Center, Aspen 20, can you give us a ground speed check?"
posted by Mister Fabulous at 5:04 PM on May 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
How slow can the SR-71 Blackbird go?
"Los Angeles Center, Aspen 20, can you give us a ground speed check?"
posted by Mister Fabulous at 5:04 PM on May 13, 2011 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: first let me say that I finally joined metafilter, this is my first question, and I am amazed at how generous and helpful all your answers are. So thank you. I am going to start going through these tonight and get back to you all.
posted by JonesVery at 6:50 PM on May 13, 2011
posted by JonesVery at 6:50 PM on May 13, 2011
You should check out the Veteran's History Project, which is an oral history project sponsored by the Library of Congress. And for those of you like toofewshoes who know veterans that like to tell their stories and might be interested in participating, they have information on site about how to contribute oral histories to the project.
posted by kaybdc at 7:33 PM on May 13, 2011
posted by kaybdc at 7:33 PM on May 13, 2011
One of my students who just returned from duty in the Gulf war gave me his copy of Generation Kill, which shows the more mundane side of modern war life. Very enjoyable.
posted by effluvia at 8:13 PM on May 13, 2011
posted by effluvia at 8:13 PM on May 13, 2011
The Things They Carried is one of the best books that I know of, period.
posted by -->NMN.80.418 at 8:50 PM on May 13, 2011
posted by -->NMN.80.418 at 8:50 PM on May 13, 2011
I enjoyed the direct narrative of "Scratch One Messerschmitt", which is basically the story of an average GI who went to the European theater and ended up not seeing much direct combat. Many of his stories are about the things he and his buddies get up to in the quest for better lodgings or food. The title comes from the time he and his anti-aircraft gun section mistakenly shoot down a P-51:
"Scratch one Messerschmitt!" cried a voice coming in from one of our gun sections. The pride in his voice was obvious. I pushed the butterfly switch on the phone and said, "This is Gallagher, gun section number one, and we just picked up the canopy from that downed plane. For all of you idiots out there who identified it as a Messerschmitt, how do you figure that stenciled on the inside of the canopy are a lot of serial numbers and the words 'Made by the North American Aviation Company.' The last I heard, that is not a German Company." I released the butterfly switch so I could listen but there was a long pause as nobody spoke.posted by lantius at 12:30 AM on May 14, 2011
Best answer: Ah. pretty much exactly what you want is Imperial Grunts, by Robert D. Kaplan. Here's an excerpt from The Atlanic.
posted by timsteil at 7:58 AM on May 14, 2011
posted by timsteil at 7:58 AM on May 14, 2011
Also, the radio documentray "Listening at the Border. "Here's a transcript.
posted by timsteil at 8:05 AM on May 14, 2011
posted by timsteil at 8:05 AM on May 14, 2011
Don't forget about women! My grandmother was a member of the US Army Nurse Corps in World War II and she was stationed in Papua New Guinea during the war. She obviously didn't see combat, but she was stationed on the Pacific Front and had all the anxieties and adventures that go along with that. There are some amazing stories that come out of that experience.
You may want to track down the stories of members of the US Cadet Nurses Corps. Here's one link with stories. But hurry: these women are leaving us just as rapidly as the men of World War II; my grandmother died this past December.
posted by librarylis at 1:47 PM on May 14, 2011
You may want to track down the stories of members of the US Cadet Nurses Corps. Here's one link with stories. But hurry: these women are leaving us just as rapidly as the men of World War II; my grandmother died this past December.
posted by librarylis at 1:47 PM on May 14, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
I'm sure there are tons of Veterans who would do the same thing. Why don't you go down to the local VA Hospital during visiting hours and ask if anyone would be willing to be interviewed? Or are you looking for stories that have already been printed?
posted by TooFewShoes at 3:03 PM on May 13, 2011 [2 favorites]