My cousin passed away a couple of days ago . A really interesting guy ..

[dantheman]

Everybody called him " Pope " . That was his last name . I was a grown man before I knew he had a first name . After my father's funeral , we were sitting at the table at my Mom's house drinking coffee . The TV was on and there was some kind of news story about Cuba and Castro . Nobody was paying any attention to it but apparently Pope saw it . I always knew that Pope had been a Navy diver , but apparently there was a lot more to that story . While watching the news story Pope told us that during the Bay of Pigs invasion he had gone ashore with a UDT team . Their mission was to locate Castro and take him out if ordered . He said they basically had him in the crosshairs but the order never came obviously .
There was so much going on that day and I didn't get to discuss it any more with him . I'll bet it was a fascinating story .

 

[puritanize]

Sorry for your loss.

I wish I had asked my grandpa more about his time in WWII.

However, he just did not talk about it with anyone. My dad even knew very little, something I guess he just wanted to leave in the past.

 

[Cheesy Lasagna]

My father was in WWII. He rarely spoke of it either. I guess that was the norm back then.

Condolences on your loss.

 

[Fordfella]

RIP Mister Pope. The only time Grandpa spoke about his service in WWII he was telling me a story about when he was in Africa near the Sahara Forest. He was always in Italy. When Grandma challenged him about the Sahara Forest comment, he claimed he had gotten a chainsaw that year for Christmas, and now it's known as the Sahara Desert. About 2 years ago, more than a decade after Grandma's death, and over 2 decades after Grandpas, my aunt gave me this photo of the crew Grandpa trained with. The Tuscon photographer's name still stamped on the back.

 

[MOTOR51]

It’s always nice hearing old stories from the people who were there vs in a book. Sorry to hear about Mr Pope


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

 

[Creoleman]

Sorry for your loss. My old Paw Paw was in Saipan in WW2, but wouldn't talk much about it. As a grown man I looked it up, and now see why.

 

[MotorBoy]

It's very important that we listen to these story's before they are gone for good-my father was an aircraft designer in 1937 working on the P38 at Lockheed-he would tell me story's about every time they would change the nose gun platform they would have to redo the front wheel landing gear-- and this is where it gets good in 1943 after the P38 was completed they asked for single ( non married) volunteers for a secret project he was part of the Manhattan project not the bomb itself but the tower it hung on and he saw the first blast a total of 150 men saw it and they were all to close nobody really knew what if anything it would do even though the Govt always said 10 witnessed the blast at his funeral in 1/64 he was 48 the govt was there and talked to me I was 13 they thanked me for my father sacrifice in shorting the war and that all 150 died early from the exposure and my father was the last one-he died of skin cancer-me and my mom that to sign papers stating we would not talk about this- to this day I suffer from many birth defects that comes from my fathers altered DNA it killed my sister in 1962 she was 10(heart defect)-there is alot more to this but you get the picture-you will not see any of this in any history book-just makes you wonder what else is not written down

 

[AustinBR]

Will have a shot of nice bourbon tonight in his honor. Cheers to your friend and condolences to his family.

 

[Core]

Sorry for your loss. This generation of sailors had honor, courage, and commitment to duty and service and held their sworn oath in high regard. The cowards directing the Fed these days need to be held to the same standard. But you can't teach morals, you have to enculturate then. They knew the consequences of discussing sensitive subjects and opsec as the Germans and Soviets had spies everywhere. Now the Chinese are deeply imbedded in our communities and in media. War is hell, when you discuss war it brings out dark and painful memories of loss and hate. I have found myself drifting outside social norms when people ask me about my war/combat experiences. You sound like a lunatic because every warrior lights up when they remember the thrill of battle, and is shaken by the remembrance of loss, and haunted by decisions made in the fog of war. I try to share the madness so people think twice before glamorizing war and express the appreciation to honor those who have sacrificed themselves, and their bodies to defend freedom. I also openly share my observations of a cowardly leadership who takes and leverages our young service members to fight wars for selfish means and nation building the very same that sparked war in Ukraine. The same powers who got us into Afghanistan and left so many unprotected and so ill prepared. I hope youth are intelligent enough to see through the cat and mouse games these evil tyrants subject citizens to in order to position themselves in new markets. The WWII generation knew this but seldom spoke out openly, we need to keep our communities engaged and refuse them the blood of our children for their nation building fantasies.

 

[Hermit]

Too bad he didn't take the shot. RIP

 

[enigmedic]

What was his name?

 

[dantheman]

What was his name?

Let it go .

 

[enigmedic]

I apologize; based on the fact that you posted your account of such a significant event in our nation's history, I guess that I incorrectly assumed that you wanted to honor his service to our great nation by with his personal and unit documentation.
The overwhelming majority of surviving family enthusiastically supports the organization's efforts to recognize their their loved one's service. While cases of family not being interested in telling their story are rare, they do exist. It is even rarer among those who took the time to post it to social media, so hopefully you can understand how I made the incorrect assumption that you would want his records.
It is totally free of charge, which is the least that we can do to protect the honor of those who served, particularly with the recent influx of exaggerations and deception that steal the valor of legitimate veterans like him. Message anytime if you have a change of heart, the offer to provide a detailed record of his career still stands. We are all veteran history buffs who enjoy researching to the smallest of details, and take pride in our record of 100% accuracy, with all credit due to DOD and VA support. Let me know if I can help; I feel like I owe it to you, him, and everyone who donned the uniform.

 

[J. W. Harris]

I had a great uncle who served in WW1. I'm 73 years old now, and he, with his memories of the War died with him. At the time, I didn't know that you didn't ask those kind of questions. At 8 or 10 years old, I thought war was fun and glory. I thank every one of you guys who served .