George's War

"Now, I was the youngest of my brothers," Grandpa tells me. "And each of them was in the Navy during World War 2. My brother George started out the war as the deck gunner on a supply ship. His ship was carrying ammunition across the North Atlantic. Now, the German U-Boats were sinking ships all over there, so George was pretty eager to get off that boat. In fact, I remember that he wrote a story for my school's newspaper, titled 'Around the world on a Keg of Powder'. Well, George wanted off that boat bad. So, when they came to his unit, and said, 'We're putting together a new outfit. Anybody who volunteers will get 30 days leave, but we can't tell you what you'll be doing, or where you'll be.' well, George volunteered right away. He figured that he couldn't do worse than being on the Atlantic, on a ship that might explode without the Germans needing to help it. So, George went home and got married. He spent his 30 days with his wife, and went back to report for duty. George spent the rest of the war behind enemy lines in Burma, getting out information. He got malaria the first week he was there, but had to stay on for the rest of the war, malaria or no."

Geoff's note: I have no way to verify the accuracy of any of Grandpa's statements, and take no responsibility for their historical accuracy. The History Channel seems to only interrupt its war documentaries for the occasional episode of "Ice Road Trucker", and might be a better place for a history of WW2.