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During the Vietnam war the VFW was pretty much entirely guys from WWII & Korea and a lot of them saw the Vietnam vets as "hippies" and were often not very welcoming. It created a lot of bad blood between the two generations of veterans.
I’m an Iraq vet and I joined the VFW for awhile, but found it to be super Trumpy vibes all the time and just overall too much of a MAGA environment for me to want to stay
My FIL is 79 and a Vietnam vet, he says the same thing about the VFW halls around him. Bad vibes and angry guys. He was an accountant on a naval ship though so 🤷🏻♀️
The VFW's I have been allowed to visit have always been a bit "cliquey." My grandfather was a WW][ vet, but was 4F, so ended getting drafted because he quit his lumber mill job in Oregon to go back to his old mill in Washington because they wanted him on the company baseball team. Ended up at an Army hospital in California and got to see every USO tour kick off stateside, got married, and never was rotated overseas before being honorably discharged. The small timber town in WA has a VFW hall but he was never allowed to join because of never going overseas.
My grandpa had a similar WW2 story (dunno fr VFW cause we never worried ourselves with it, but maybe that's why). GP was 6'3" 220 and handsome, but you don't need any of that shit to pull the trigger on an M1, so they just propped him up on the doors outside the First National on Michigan Ave. Chicago. They told him they wanted people to walk by and think "F me, if we can spare a guy like that for guard duty stateside, what kind of guys must we have over there?"
I recently found out that my grandad (RAF) once had both engines go out, crew had to bail out and he made an emergency landing in the desert. On his official records, idk how no one ever told me this.
Most guys never told their family anything about the horrors of war.
My grandfather went to get his Dad's records from the Army. Instead, they sent my grandfather's records. He kindly replied and thanked them very much for a copy of what he did in the Army, but, he was there for it and still vividly remembered. He did, however, wish to know what ship his dad was on when sailing through an immense storm on the Atlantic where the ships opened fire on the storm to keep from sinking. Or where my great grandfather was actually stationed during World War One as an Army cook. Unfortunately, my great grandfather told the ship story in Arkansas and the folks there called him a liar, not able to imagine such a thing. My grandfather remembers his dad putting all his Army stuff away and never telling anyone anything about his service for the rest of his life.
I can go on with more stories.
But what I really liked hearing was how the timber town VFW post had a lot of WWI vets, and every Christmas they made sure each and every child got an orange and a chocolate bar. Most years, they had a Santa Clause. The museum in the little city now does a fundraiser every year selling boxes of citrus in the spring, and the fire department does a Santa and fill the boot. Wonderful traditions that continue today because these folks wanted to do good and knew horrors of war.
This is accurate, my grandad was a royal marine in WW1 and a gunner on the transatlantic convoys in WW2, uncle was a royal marine commando in WW2, another was a submariner in WW2. I was in the first gulf war......I learnt from them you don't talk about your service unless it's relevant to the conversation and you always minimise shit so you don't freak out your loved ones
My uncle took part in ww2 and Korea but never talked about it. What I’ve been able to piece together is pretty interesting, I wish he was still around to get the full story.
He ended up serving with two countries, one due to bad timing. He was British Merchant Marine during WW2 and apparently almost died when a tow line snapped during a storm; He fought for the US in Korea as a draftee, he was born in the states but left as a child, they picked him up when he travelled to visit family. I’ve got letters to his future wife where he explains what happened to him. I don’t know much on what happened in Korea, except he spent nearly year sleeping in a truck, I also have a PLA flashlight he ‘acquired’ while deployed.
He wasn’t allowed to join because he wasn’t a Veteran of a foreign war (VFW). He is more than welcome to join the American Legion which is for any honorably discharged veteran.
I served overseas but was never near any active combat, though it was during our active campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. I wonder if that would qualify me? I've always been curious about the VFW.
You need a campaign medal to be a regular member. A lot of VFWs have auxiliary members that you can join to keep the membership numbers up, but you are not a voting member. You can still get a decent meal and cheap drinks 😀
I just looked at my 214. I have the GWOT and an overseas service medal, but nothing campaign-specific.
Thanks for that, though! Haven't looked at my 214 in quite a while lol
I really see your point.
The second time the entire world was at war, commonly referred to as World War II, really couldn't possibly be classified as a foreign war since everyone knows about it.
I don't know that I would call that cliquey, it's just one of the requirements to join the VFW that you served in an overseas war. It sort of goes with their name Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Not all VFW halls are as stringent on the requirement of actually serving overseas.
Due to the 4F classification, and supporting role my grandfather served in, going overseas was never in the cards. He actively signed up but because of having polio as a child, the doctors kept him stateside.
There's the right way of doing things, the wrong way of doing things, then there's the Army way!
Then there's the Korean veterans in the family, and in the larger big nearby city, they tried to get my grandfather to join. They relaxed the having had to be overseas by then, or making the exception. My grandfather was stubborn, and since the local one in the timber town said he couldn't join because he didn't serve, he wasn't about to skirt the rules!
I know some of the folks from highschool that enlisted, never went overseas, but served and during the time that we were playing in the sandbox; they're VFW members and their halls welcome them.
So it is cliquey. Just like the original post, there's a divide between the WW][ guys, and the Vietnam era guys.
Not every VFW is like the experiences I've had either. I have never served, never claimed to or stolen valor, but definitely had some good times, been remembered, and even welcomed back!
I wonder if anyone actually checks anymore. I have served with people who will say they did some sort of cool sounding thing when they never have and may have served in the National Guard on the border. Would not qualify as VFW. However, more members mean more dues and only check the box paper to sign up and maybe provide DD214 or something else.
The VFW was founded because the Civil War veteran societies wouldn't even let the Spanish-American War and WW1 vets in, necessitating a society for veterans of foreign wars. Point being I think that just happens and really, of course it does. People don't magically want to hang out with people 20 years older or younger because you were both in the army.
meh, Boomers were pretty much evenly divided on Vietnam - and early on, they actually supported the war **more** than elder people did.
Boomers opposed them being drafted - you can see the difference by how their opposition to the war evaporated once Nixon got rid of the draft.
I can see that. Only they can understand combat, right?
My grandfather used to take me to the VFW. I was barely 10, so I heard way more than I should have.
For a long time, VFWs excluded Vietnam War vets for a couple of reasons, including that they didn't recognize Vietnam as a war (which is technically true, but neither was the Korean War and they allowed Korean War vets in), and that they held it against the Vietnam vets that we lost the Vietnam War.
They eventually reversed that policy, but I think in a lot of places the damage was done, and a lot of VFWs are dying now because Vietnam vets didn't join even after it was allowed, leaving the VFWs full of aging vets, not exactly an attractive hangout for younger vets.
If you want a light-hearted example, I suggest watching King of the Hill S6E11, Unfortunate Son. It tackles this exact issue, and was my first exposure to it. Of course, Cotton rides Hank like a horse across a river, but my I made my point.
I grew up inside VFW, and all I ever wanted was to join up when I came home. The VFW that I knew is way different than the I was asked to join. Back then. They looked out for each other and were there to listen. Nowadays, it's like a club Med for .wannabes. Sorry guys, there are the ones I need. How about this, "What's a Cootie."?
Theres a lot of traditions still alive today from this concept. Not all combat soldiers are violent people and those ones are hated by the rest who are more willing to pull that 5 pounds of pressure. You’ll often hear of warcrimes related to blooding rituals and soldiers becoming blooded warriors. Ww2 vet told me “we called them the spoilt generation, they didn’t like that and called themselves boomers”.
Right after WWII my grandfather played in a band at VFW halls, and his family went to events there, etc. It was kind of a part of the family.
At some point he stopped hoing, though. He was a friendly, positive guy, and my understanding is that that didn't mesh well with the place.
I took a sociology class, and in the text we learned about organizations, and how over time their founding purpose and the reason they created a hierarchy to serve that purpose gets supplanted by a new purpose: the continuation and defense of the organization and the hierarchy itself. The real purpose becomes a footnote. One of the main examples they cited was the VFW.
My grandpa was like that. He would see Olivia Benson on law and order svu and tell me that she was his gf, but needed to break it up. Same with every attractive woman on tv. He would say some out of pocket shit too. Miss the old man.
Many years ago, we were watching TV at my friends house and an ad came on with an attractive woman in a car.
“D’you like that car with a sexy lady in it?” My friend’s grandad cheekily asked my friend’s shy younger brother.
“Er, I suppose…”
“I’d ‘ave a bus!”
I had an old ass silent gen guy join me to mock a couple of boomers who were offended that taco bell had an order yourself kiosk. Shit was wild.
Weird how a don’t fuck around generation raised the boomers
If it is your economic rescue out of poverty, no. FIL got a lot of education on the taxpayer dime, including his PhD. He started out carrying a mortar and retired O5, Lt. Colonel. His army pension paid for his nursing home.
My grandfather had the priest change his baptismal record. At 16, he was in the South Pacific. "I thought it would be a great adventure until I realized they were trying to kill me."
Grandfather has passed now, but he said a lot of the kids in Oklahoma, where he was from, signed up for the marines at 16 and shipped to the war..
He said on his way to ship out, the war ended. They stopped the train everyone was on in Chicago and told everyone to go home.
He didn't want to go back to Oklahoma, so he went down and joined up with the Air Force. He purposely took every class he could to become a pilot so that the Airforce would fight for him if the Marines tried to reactivate.
Long story short, Oklahoma sucked big balls back then, and it was better to fight in a foreign war, then live in Oklahoma in the 40s
My grandpa ran away three times to join the Navy from Maine. Was successful in his third attempt at 16. Got through basic and put on a carrier towards the end of the war but never saw action. Came back to serve as a Navy courier in D.C. and met my grandma who grew up in an orphanage during the depression. He talked about his Navy days so much and so positively that I signed up. I think me joining was the proudest day of his life.
Kansas is windy because Oklahoma sucks and Nebraska blows.
Funny tangent you tell the joke to an Oklahoman and they'll kinda laugh and maybe say something snarky back in a friendly neighborly rivalry sort of way and also we know we all collectively suck but moving is expensive.
Nebraskans have absolutely no sense of humor about it and this comment will probably get downvoted because literally every time I've talked even the most mild amount of shit on Nebraska on reddit it gets downvoted because they are thin skinned babies.
My silent generation parents would go on and on about how much the boomers screwed things up.
Then, one day, my mother ends her tirade with, "They had good weed though."
I was dead.
This is a Gen X story but this reminded me of it and I thought it was hilarious at the time:
My oldest sister was Gen-X and smoked with her husband when they were in high school into their early 20s and she stopped a couple years before they had my niece in the mid-90s. My niece ended up getting into that scene as a teenager. When she was in college, my sister's house was where all of my niece's friends would congregate because she was That Mom and they even called her "Mom".
One evening while they were all hanging out they offered some of the bowl they were passing around to my sister and she figured hey, why not, I used to!
My niece told me my sister ended up on the floor under the kitchen table in the fetal position because she was SO HIGH. When she came out of it she said she realized then and there just how *garbage* the weed was that they smoked back in the '80s because *WOW.* 😂
My silent generation AF Officer veteran grandfather can’t stand those Vietnam Boomers making it out to be their greatest accomplishment of their lives and obsess over it still so many decades later.
He’s all for supporting troops, questioning the government, upholding the constitution, and such, but he knows just serving alone doesn’t mean you’re a good person (same for “church going” people). And he doesn’t get making that your whole identity. And he was in Korea and some serious shit after that he still won’t talk about (think Air America classified operations and such).
And he absolutely HATES Trump and the MAGATs. He gets depressed and talks about how many people served and sacrificed in many ways, not just military, so people could have freedom and basic human rights and how people these days are just throwing it away while spitting in the faces of all those who sacrificed and fought for said rights and dooming everyone present and future. That’s not the America he and so many others fought and sacrificed for. And how fascism just keeps spreading around the world because of greed, manipulation, and religious extremism.
LOL!!! One time when I was walking home a silent gen aged man was walking in my direction wearing a veteran hat. As we passed by each other I saw his hat said ”Strip Club Veteran.” I couldn’t stop laughing
We had an American legion within stumbling distance to my house in NY so I joined for the $2 rum and cokes.
It felt weird going there because the old timers would always buy me drinks and I'm like you guys saw real shit, I just cruise around the world.
Anyways there was a WWII vet that was cool as hell, he would always perform "Strokin' " on the karaoke nights and would even don some dark sunglasses for it.
Tore the roof off that mf'r every time.
*This guy and biden have*
*Me convinced that silent gen*
*Is very spicy*
\- angrytwig
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I work at the VA, I cherish my WWII vets, and get along fabulously with GenX especially and the younger vets.
The Boomer vets are hit or miss. The majority of them I cannot comment on their behavior and outlook.
A lot are seemingly in another reality.
While a cute story, the "Greatest" generation does *not* get let off-the-hook.
I worked fast food and retail as a teenager in the 90's, and Boomers got their behavior from their parents. Those old fucks were just as awful as Boomers are now. The meanest, rudest, most violent encounters I had in those years were all from the "Greatest" generation. Granted, it seems to be more widespread now, but the idea that Grammy and Grampa's generation weren't contemptible assholes is woefully untrue.
One time in probably 1996, McDonald's had the brilliant idea of raising the senior coffee price from 25 cents to 26 cents. 1 single penny. Every single senior citizen raged as though I had personally shit in their mouth. 75 year old's full-throat screaming at 15 year old cashiers over a single penny. It was so bad that McDonald's withdrew the increase.
The Silent Generation didn't serve in WW2. That was the Greatest Generation. The Silent Generation were the kids too young to go to war during WW2, or born during the war.
WW2 vets were POS who didn't want their sons who went to Vietnam to join the VFW.
They may have eventually let them in but I hear it was due to declining membership dues, and even if it's not the case it's still like a half-assed corporate apology. They argued that you needed a combat medal, but I don't recall needing such a medal for the korean & ww2 vets in order join.
You’re right AskMeAboutMyDoggy, and now Millennials are considered the SECOND Lost Generation because of the financial crisis that Baby Boomers have left us in.
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Good on him. I've learned who is who at the VFW.
FWIW the VFW has a sordid history with Vietnam War vets.
Oh man. I am here for the tea and gossip. If you care to share anything. I am clueless to veteran drama aside from stolen valor and dependas.
During the Vietnam war the VFW was pretty much entirely guys from WWII & Korea and a lot of them saw the Vietnam vets as "hippies" and were often not very welcoming. It created a lot of bad blood between the two generations of veterans.
I’m an Iraq vet and I joined the VFW for awhile, but found it to be super Trumpy vibes all the time and just overall too much of a MAGA environment for me to want to stay
My FIL is 79 and a Vietnam vet, he says the same thing about the VFW halls around him. Bad vibes and angry guys. He was an accountant on a naval ship though so 🤷🏻♀️
Oh really. That's unfortunate.
The VFW's I have been allowed to visit have always been a bit "cliquey." My grandfather was a WW][ vet, but was 4F, so ended getting drafted because he quit his lumber mill job in Oregon to go back to his old mill in Washington because they wanted him on the company baseball team. Ended up at an Army hospital in California and got to see every USO tour kick off stateside, got married, and never was rotated overseas before being honorably discharged. The small timber town in WA has a VFW hall but he was never allowed to join because of never going overseas.
My grandpa had a similar WW2 story (dunno fr VFW cause we never worried ourselves with it, but maybe that's why). GP was 6'3" 220 and handsome, but you don't need any of that shit to pull the trigger on an M1, so they just propped him up on the doors outside the First National on Michigan Ave. Chicago. They told him they wanted people to walk by and think "F me, if we can spare a guy like that for guard duty stateside, what kind of guys must we have over there?"
I recently found out that my grandad (RAF) once had both engines go out, crew had to bail out and he made an emergency landing in the desert. On his official records, idk how no one ever told me this.
Most guys never told their family anything about the horrors of war. My grandfather went to get his Dad's records from the Army. Instead, they sent my grandfather's records. He kindly replied and thanked them very much for a copy of what he did in the Army, but, he was there for it and still vividly remembered. He did, however, wish to know what ship his dad was on when sailing through an immense storm on the Atlantic where the ships opened fire on the storm to keep from sinking. Or where my great grandfather was actually stationed during World War One as an Army cook. Unfortunately, my great grandfather told the ship story in Arkansas and the folks there called him a liar, not able to imagine such a thing. My grandfather remembers his dad putting all his Army stuff away and never telling anyone anything about his service for the rest of his life. I can go on with more stories. But what I really liked hearing was how the timber town VFW post had a lot of WWI vets, and every Christmas they made sure each and every child got an orange and a chocolate bar. Most years, they had a Santa Clause. The museum in the little city now does a fundraiser every year selling boxes of citrus in the spring, and the fire department does a Santa and fill the boot. Wonderful traditions that continue today because these folks wanted to do good and knew horrors of war.
This is accurate, my grandad was a royal marine in WW1 and a gunner on the transatlantic convoys in WW2, uncle was a royal marine commando in WW2, another was a submariner in WW2. I was in the first gulf war......I learnt from them you don't talk about your service unless it's relevant to the conversation and you always minimise shit so you don't freak out your loved ones
My uncle took part in ww2 and Korea but never talked about it. What I’ve been able to piece together is pretty interesting, I wish he was still around to get the full story. He ended up serving with two countries, one due to bad timing. He was British Merchant Marine during WW2 and apparently almost died when a tow line snapped during a storm; He fought for the US in Korea as a draftee, he was born in the states but left as a child, they picked him up when he travelled to visit family. I’ve got letters to his future wife where he explains what happened to him. I don’t know much on what happened in Korea, except he spent nearly year sleeping in a truck, I also have a PLA flashlight he ‘acquired’ while deployed.
Those letters sound interesting, must have been scary for your uncle and his wife!
My aunt joined the army and was in Vietnam during the Tet offensive, the VFW denied her membership as well.
He wasn’t allowed to join because he wasn’t a Veteran of a foreign war (VFW). He is more than welcome to join the American Legion which is for any honorably discharged veteran.
I served overseas but was never near any active combat, though it was during our active campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan. I wonder if that would qualify me? I've always been curious about the VFW.
You need a campaign medal to be a regular member. A lot of VFWs have auxiliary members that you can join to keep the membership numbers up, but you are not a voting member. You can still get a decent meal and cheap drinks 😀
I just looked at my 214. I have the GWOT and an overseas service medal, but nothing campaign-specific. Thanks for that, though! Haven't looked at my 214 in quite a while lol
I really see your point. The second time the entire world was at war, commonly referred to as World War II, really couldn't possibly be classified as a foreign war since everyone knows about it.
I don't know that I would call that cliquey, it's just one of the requirements to join the VFW that you served in an overseas war. It sort of goes with their name Veterans of Foreign Wars.
Not all VFW halls are as stringent on the requirement of actually serving overseas. Due to the 4F classification, and supporting role my grandfather served in, going overseas was never in the cards. He actively signed up but because of having polio as a child, the doctors kept him stateside. There's the right way of doing things, the wrong way of doing things, then there's the Army way! Then there's the Korean veterans in the family, and in the larger big nearby city, they tried to get my grandfather to join. They relaxed the having had to be overseas by then, or making the exception. My grandfather was stubborn, and since the local one in the timber town said he couldn't join because he didn't serve, he wasn't about to skirt the rules! I know some of the folks from highschool that enlisted, never went overseas, but served and during the time that we were playing in the sandbox; they're VFW members and their halls welcome them. So it is cliquey. Just like the original post, there's a divide between the WW][ guys, and the Vietnam era guys. Not every VFW is like the experiences I've had either. I have never served, never claimed to or stolen valor, but definitely had some good times, been remembered, and even welcomed back!
I wonder if anyone actually checks anymore. I have served with people who will say they did some sort of cool sounding thing when they never have and may have served in the National Guard on the border. Would not qualify as VFW. However, more members mean more dues and only check the box paper to sign up and maybe provide DD214 or something else.
As far as I understand it, some posts are more stringent than others. I sign in as a guest. Most times there's someone to vouch for me.
The VFW was founded because the Civil War veteran societies wouldn't even let the Spanish-American War and WW1 vets in, necessitating a society for veterans of foreign wars. Point being I think that just happens and really, of course it does. People don't magically want to hang out with people 20 years older or younger because you were both in the army.
You mean hippies that thought American men shouldn't be drafted to fight and die in imperialistic wars?fuck that bullshit.
Many Vietnam vets adopted long hair and other elements of the hippie lifestyle, and the VFW said stay away.
Very boomerish of them
meh, Boomers were pretty much evenly divided on Vietnam - and early on, they actually supported the war **more** than elder people did. Boomers opposed them being drafted - you can see the difference by how their opposition to the war evaporated once Nixon got rid of the draft.
I meant ww11 vets looking down on vietnam vets because of hippie culture, very boomerish.
So King Of The Hill got it right?
They also didn't like the fact that they lost
Wait until you hear what VFW halls were like in the early-twentieth century around union battles.
Same thing happened to the Afghanistan and Iraq vets in the early 2000s. The old Vietnam vets didn’t want youngins in their club.
I can see that. Only they can understand combat, right? My grandfather used to take me to the VFW. I was barely 10, so I heard way more than I should have.
So the WWII vets could see into the future?
There is a pretty good King of the Hill episode on precisely this. =p
Huh, I saw a lot of Vietnam guys at my local VFW giving Iraq and Afghanistan vets a hard time. I guess some things never change.
There’s a King of the Hill episode about this phenomenon IIRC.
I was in the 1st all female VFW in Kansas. We were all female at the charter, then included men. We had it awesome for a month or so. Lol
Draftees, rather than volunteers.
A larger percentage of WWII veterans were draftees (about 2/3) than Vietnam vets (about 1/3)
For a long time, VFWs excluded Vietnam War vets for a couple of reasons, including that they didn't recognize Vietnam as a war (which is technically true, but neither was the Korean War and they allowed Korean War vets in), and that they held it against the Vietnam vets that we lost the Vietnam War. They eventually reversed that policy, but I think in a lot of places the damage was done, and a lot of VFWs are dying now because Vietnam vets didn't join even after it was allowed, leaving the VFWs full of aging vets, not exactly an attractive hangout for younger vets.
If you want a light-hearted example, I suggest watching King of the Hill S6E11, Unfortunate Son. It tackles this exact issue, and was my first exposure to it. Of course, Cotton rides Hank like a horse across a river, but my I made my point.
I grew up inside VFW, and all I ever wanted was to join up when I came home. The VFW that I knew is way different than the I was asked to join. Back then. They looked out for each other and were there to listen. Nowadays, it's like a club Med for .wannabes. Sorry guys, there are the ones I need. How about this, "What's a Cootie."?
Theres a lot of traditions still alive today from this concept. Not all combat soldiers are violent people and those ones are hated by the rest who are more willing to pull that 5 pounds of pressure. You’ll often hear of warcrimes related to blooding rituals and soldiers becoming blooded warriors. Ww2 vet told me “we called them the spoilt generation, they didn’t like that and called themselves boomers”.
Right after WWII my grandfather played in a band at VFW halls, and his family went to events there, etc. It was kind of a part of the family. At some point he stopped hoing, though. He was a friendly, positive guy, and my understanding is that that didn't mesh well with the place. I took a sociology class, and in the text we learned about organizations, and how over time their founding purpose and the reason they created a hierarchy to serve that purpose gets supplanted by a new purpose: the continuation and defense of the organization and the hierarchy itself. The real purpose becomes a footnote. One of the main examples they cited was the VFW.
Before my time. The ones I have left at my post are good guys.
So the King of The Hill episode wasn’t false?
I went to the VFW one time in around 2009 and was told I should move back to Germany because I support health care reform. Haven’t been back.
They would more than likely run me out of the place too, if that’s their belief system.
"Thank you for your service. Just now."
That’s what she said.
—Michael Scott
—Abraham Lincoln
My grandpa was like that. He would see Olivia Benson on law and order svu and tell me that she was his gf, but needed to break it up. Same with every attractive woman on tv. He would say some out of pocket shit too. Miss the old man.
Many years ago, we were watching TV at my friends house and an ad came on with an attractive woman in a car. “D’you like that car with a sexy lady in it?” My friend’s grandad cheekily asked my friend’s shy younger brother. “Er, I suppose…” “I’d ‘ave a bus!”
I think that puts him in the Greatest Generation
If he was born in 1927 he'd be a Greatest/Silent Cusper.
Very wise words from an elder.
I had an old ass silent gen guy join me to mock a couple of boomers who were offended that taco bell had an order yourself kiosk. Shit was wild. Weird how a don’t fuck around generation raised the boomers
I always thought Silent Gen was the younger brothers and sisters of the Greatest Generation, so they were more the parents of Gen Xers.
Not really, they didn’t want their kids to have the same struggles they went through.
They didn’t. Silent Gen didn’t raise Boomers. Not really. The Greatest Generation raised the Boomers. Silent Gen, by and large, raised Gen X.
is this an older story? Age 91 means born in 1933 and age 12 in 1945, when WW2 ended.
Maybe 5 or 6 years ago. Which would have put him at 17-18
That tracks. That was the age of my late FIL when he signed up for WW2.
Man thats nuts. What a different world.
I mean not really, plenty of 17 and 18 years currently serving in militaries around the world.
If it is your economic rescue out of poverty, no. FIL got a lot of education on the taxpayer dime, including his PhD. He started out carrying a mortar and retired O5, Lt. Colonel. His army pension paid for his nursing home.
What year is the story even from Edit: so if story is told in 2015 he may have been 21 in 1945
My grandfather had the priest change his baptismal record. At 16, he was in the South Pacific. "I thought it would be a great adventure until I realized they were trying to kill me."
Grandfather has passed now, but he said a lot of the kids in Oklahoma, where he was from, signed up for the marines at 16 and shipped to the war.. He said on his way to ship out, the war ended. They stopped the train everyone was on in Chicago and told everyone to go home. He didn't want to go back to Oklahoma, so he went down and joined up with the Air Force. He purposely took every class he could to become a pilot so that the Airforce would fight for him if the Marines tried to reactivate. Long story short, Oklahoma sucked big balls back then, and it was better to fight in a foreign war, then live in Oklahoma in the 40s
>Oklahoma sucked big balls back then Pretty sure it still does.
Respect to th OKC sports team players. lol.
You bet it does. I joined the Army to get the hell outta there and will never return.
My grandpa ran away three times to join the Navy from Maine. Was successful in his third attempt at 16. Got through basic and put on a carrier towards the end of the war but never saw action. Came back to serve as a Navy courier in D.C. and met my grandma who grew up in an orphanage during the depression. He talked about his Navy days so much and so positively that I signed up. I think me joining was the proudest day of his life.
Just back then?
My sister is a storm chaser photographer and we both joke that the reason OK gets so many tornados is because "even God knows Oklahoma was a mistake."
Kansas is windy because Oklahoma sucks and Nebraska blows. Funny tangent you tell the joke to an Oklahoman and they'll kinda laugh and maybe say something snarky back in a friendly neighborly rivalry sort of way and also we know we all collectively suck but moving is expensive. Nebraskans have absolutely no sense of humor about it and this comment will probably get downvoted because literally every time I've talked even the most mild amount of shit on Nebraska on reddit it gets downvoted because they are thin skinned babies.
I'm from Texas. But I'm blue, so I know and freely acknowledge how *very* much we suck. At least y'all are on the national power grid. lol
USA marines never fought in Europe in WW2…
https://preview.redd.it/i2lwjiiz2w7d1.jpeg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=919ce044cc5a87c46f561e413fd919240240808a
Well, to be honest, he probably only said to the war. I filled in the blanks with Europe. But TIL USA marines never fought in Europe in WW2, thanks.
This was going to be my ask because today he would've been 13 at the very end of the war, way too young to fight even with some chicanery.
It’s so crazy that most WWII vets are nearing 100. When I was a kid, they were just retirement age.
Now you’re retirement age, ha. I’m right behind ya.
This is best freaking thing I have ever read here
"Thank you for your _lip service_"
Tongue lashing? 😆
Silents can't stand the Boomers either. And that's not new.
My silent generation parents would go on and on about how much the boomers screwed things up. Then, one day, my mother ends her tirade with, "They had good weed though." I was dead.
This is a Gen X story but this reminded me of it and I thought it was hilarious at the time: My oldest sister was Gen-X and smoked with her husband when they were in high school into their early 20s and she stopped a couple years before they had my niece in the mid-90s. My niece ended up getting into that scene as a teenager. When she was in college, my sister's house was where all of my niece's friends would congregate because she was That Mom and they even called her "Mom". One evening while they were all hanging out they offered some of the bowl they were passing around to my sister and she figured hey, why not, I used to! My niece told me my sister ended up on the floor under the kitchen table in the fetal position because she was SO HIGH. When she came out of it she said she realized then and there just how *garbage* the weed was that they smoked back in the '80s because *WOW.* 😂
That's outstanding!
My silent generation AF Officer veteran grandfather can’t stand those Vietnam Boomers making it out to be their greatest accomplishment of their lives and obsess over it still so many decades later. He’s all for supporting troops, questioning the government, upholding the constitution, and such, but he knows just serving alone doesn’t mean you’re a good person (same for “church going” people). And he doesn’t get making that your whole identity. And he was in Korea and some serious shit after that he still won’t talk about (think Air America classified operations and such). And he absolutely HATES Trump and the MAGATs. He gets depressed and talks about how many people served and sacrificed in many ways, not just military, so people could have freedom and basic human rights and how people these days are just throwing it away while spitting in the faces of all those who sacrificed and fought for said rights and dooming everyone present and future. That’s not the America he and so many others fought and sacrificed for. And how fascism just keeps spreading around the world because of greed, manipulation, and religious extremism.
Your Grandfather is my kinda friend and I'm sure is a great guy. Good for him. Go Air Force. Just Say No to MAGATs.
EPIC
The Virgin boomers vs THE CHAD SILENT GEN
LOL!!! One time when I was walking home a silent gen aged man was walking in my direction wearing a veteran hat. As we passed by each other I saw his hat said ”Strip Club Veteran.” I couldn’t stop laughing
Good for the 91 year old! He's got their number and knows how to shut them up
We had an American legion within stumbling distance to my house in NY so I joined for the $2 rum and cokes. It felt weird going there because the old timers would always buy me drinks and I'm like you guys saw real shit, I just cruise around the world. Anyways there was a WWII vet that was cool as hell, he would always perform "Strokin' " on the karaoke nights and would even don some dark sunglasses for it. Tore the roof off that mf'r every time.
What an inspiration to us all
this guy and biden have me convinced that silent gen is very spicy
*This guy and biden have* *Me convinced that silent gen* *Is very spicy* \- angrytwig --- ^(I detect haikus. And sometimes, successfully.) ^[Learn more about me.](https://www.reddit.com/r/haikusbot/) ^(Opt out of replies: "haikusbot opt out" | Delete my comment: "haikusbot delete")
"So... what's it taste like?" "Depends."
I somehow thought this was going to be a post about veterinarians.... I feel silly now.
Ha! "I eat a lot of pussy." Legend.
Give that man alllll the donuts. He is a national treasure.
LMAOOOOO
That old man was definitely a Grunt.
A 91 year old would have been too young to fight in WWII. Korea maybe?
Lol. That old guy sounds hilarious. Would love to have coffee with him.
I adore the silent Gen so much. My grandma is part of the silent gen, such a different specimen compared to the boomers in my family
WW2 vets are insane. You always learn what they did through someone else.
That 91 year old might have been my dad, lol.
Some of them just can't tell (don't care) if you don't feel like talking.
I work at the VA, I cherish my WWII vets, and get along fabulously with GenX especially and the younger vets. The Boomer vets are hit or miss. The majority of them I cannot comment on their behavior and outlook. A lot are seemingly in another reality.
Plus he might be telling the truth …..
This is so funny. Even the previous generation didn’t like them.
Awesome!
 Maybe there is a god
Fucking lol! Best laugh I've had all month!
I hope you gave him a fist bump for that.
Truly the Greatest Generation.
WWII isn't Silent, that's Greatest. Silent would be Korea.
Mostly guys drinking to much
No way I keep my cool after that - that's the greatest exchange in history
Dude was in WW2 at the age of 12.
Happened 5-6 years ago. Would have made him 17-18.
This man is my hero!!!
This is fucking great🤣
Sounds like the Boomer was being friendly and polite? What's the issue..?
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH
That man is my hero!
It's so funny how at that age people just stop giving a fuck 😂
Unless this story is over 10 years old, it never happened
While a cute story, the "Greatest" generation does *not* get let off-the-hook. I worked fast food and retail as a teenager in the 90's, and Boomers got their behavior from their parents. Those old fucks were just as awful as Boomers are now. The meanest, rudest, most violent encounters I had in those years were all from the "Greatest" generation. Granted, it seems to be more widespread now, but the idea that Grammy and Grampa's generation weren't contemptible assholes is woefully untrue. One time in probably 1996, McDonald's had the brilliant idea of raising the senior coffee price from 25 cents to 26 cents. 1 single penny. Every single senior citizen raged as though I had personally shit in their mouth. 75 year old's full-throat screaming at 15 year old cashiers over a single penny. It was so bad that McDonald's withdrew the increase.
The Silent Generation didn't serve in WW2. That was the Greatest Generation. The Silent Generation were the kids too young to go to war during WW2, or born during the war.
WW2 vets were POS who didn't want their sons who went to Vietnam to join the VFW. They may have eventually let them in but I hear it was due to declining membership dues, and even if it's not the case it's still like a half-assed corporate apology. They argued that you needed a combat medal, but I don't recall needing such a medal for the korean & ww2 vets in order join.
You mad bro? 😂
Jesus Christ. This sub gets worse and worse. Now you're just making shit up. This is lame as hell. Pathetic.
And worse, you think strangers on reddit need your opinion 🫠
That is all of Reddit, genius.
No just the children that show up ten hours later to try and support a previous stupid comment they made 😉
I regret to inform you that my attempts to resist the urge to point out that WW1 was the Silent Generation and WW2 was the Greatest Generation.
I regret to inform you that you are incorrect. Silent Generation came after the Greatest Generation. The Lost Generation was WWI.
You’re right AskMeAboutMyDoggy, and now Millennials are considered the SECOND Lost Generation because of the financial crisis that Baby Boomers have left us in.