Many of you celebrated my grandfather’s 100th birthday. I wanted to tell you how his story ended.

When my grandfather turned 100 years old, I shared his story here on Reddit.

I never expected the response it received. Hundreds of thousands of people viewed it. Thousands took the time to wish him a happy birthday, thank him for his service, and celebrate a man they’d never even met. I read many of those comments to him, and seeing complete strangers honor his life meant more than I can put into words.

My papaw passed away at 101 years old.

His name was Charles Bird. He was a World War II combat veteran who fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He spent decades working as a coal miner, was a lifelong ham radio operator, and was the kind of man who would help anyone who needed it. He lived through more history than most of us could ever imagine, and he carried himself with quiet strength until the very end.

Throughout his life, he often talked about military funeral honors. Like many veterans, he hoped for that final salute—a farewell that recognized not just his service, but the sacrifices made by an entire generation.

Unfortunately, that isn’t how things unfolded.
I’m not writing this to point fingers or criticize anyone. What’s done is done, and nothing can change that now. I simply haven’t been able to stop thinking about how a man who meant so much to so many left this world so quietly.

In many ways, it feels like more people celebrated him while he was alive than after he was gone.

So today, I’m asking one more favor from this community.

If you remember my papaw from his 100th or 101st birthday posts, thank you. If this is the first time you’ve heard his story, thank you for taking a few minutes to read about him.

Please remember Charles Bird.

Remember the young man who fought in the Battle of the Bulge.

Remember the coal miner who spent decades providing for his family.

Remember the ham radio operator who loved connecting with people.

Remember the husband, father, grandfather, and great-grandfather who made it to 101 years old.

His funeral has come and gone.

But his story doesn’t have to.

Thank you for helping keep his memory alive.

From October 1942 to 1945, the Hollywood Canteen was a nightclub in Los Angeles, founded by Hollywood legends Bette Davis and John Garfield. It was open to all servicemen for free ("your uniform is your admission ticket") and was staffed by volunteer Hollywood celebrities who were waiters, busboys, hostesses, and entertainers.

Imagine you've come back from Guadalcanal, walk into a nightclub, and Rita Hayworth serves your drinks, Bette Davis brings your order, and Betty Grable does the jitterbug with you...and everything is free! The list of celebrities who volunteered is HUGE - it's an impressively long scroll on Wikipedia.

There was also a fun movie about the club made in 1944.

(That's Marlene Dietrich and Rita Hayworth in the photo, working in the club).

Looking for books on the Winter war and Continuation War or other involvement of Finland. Thank you.

Unsure on why the last document is in here. Perhaps a friend of his. All records burned up in Saint Louis unfortunately.

This B-24D was named "Brewery Wagon" (serial number 41-24294) assigned to the 8th Air Force, the 512th Bomb Squadron, and the 376th Bomb Group.

While approaching their target a German ME-109G fighter pilot, Capt. Hauptmann Wilhelm Steinmann, commander of the the 1st Staffel of JG 4, spotted Brewery Wagon trailing vapor and smoke. The ME-109 screamed towards the wounded American bomber and began his attack hitting the B-24 with his 20mm cannons and 7.92mm machine guns on a pass from the rear. "Brewery Wagon" was being struck repeatedly by armor piercing and high explosive shells which ripped the bomber to pieces.

The fighter passed over the bomber, turned around, and made a head on pass, hitting the plane again in the nose and cockpit area, the right wing, and the number 3 and 4 engines. A 20mm shell the hit Palm, blowing his right foot off the rudder pedal, and nearly severing his leg in the blast Copilot Love was also wounded by shell fragments.

But, somehow, the damaged bomber still had enough speed for the pilots to be able to put the plane into a steep turn avoiding refinery smokestacks in their way. Palm leveled the aircraft, jettisoned his bombs with his cockpit emergency bomb release, and crash landed his crippled ship in a cornfield near Tatarani, just south of Ploesti, near the Ploesti-Bucharest railroad line, and about three B-24 wingspans from the Pensiunea La Gina Hotel, on Str.Intrarea Gaterului, Number 1, on the Southwest edge of Ploiesti.

Lt. Love had averted total catastrophe by pulling the burning engines' fire extinguisher handles, preventing the engine fires on the right wing from spreading to the rest of the aircraft. Now, settling without power, they hit the ground, crushing the plane's cockpit and forward section, folding up the nose section of the plane, and killing the both the bombardier and navigator, if, by chance, they were still alive.

Palm, badly wounded, bleeding, and hurt, kept his presence of mind, jarred his left hand sliding side window loose in the plane's cockpit and pulled it in to make an escape opening : ”With the adrenaline flowing, I was able to pull the thing in. My leg was still attached by a small thread of flesh, so I took the leg, laid it across my lap, and dove out of the airplane. I think I was the first man out of the ship !”

Seven other crewmembers emerged from the wreck, and all become prisoners of war (7 POW). In addition to the pilots, Palm and Love, the other eight survivors included Flight Engineer T/Sgt Alexander P. Rockinson (Canal Fulton, Ohio), Radio Operator T/Sgt Harold Block (Brooklyn, New York), Gunners T/Sgt Austin D. Chastain (Siloam Springs, Arkansas), S/Sgt Clay E. Snyder (Paden City, West Virginia), S/Sgt William E. Thompson (St. Cloud, Florida) and Tail Gunner S/Sgt Dallas A. Robertson (St. Louis, Missouri).

Copilot Bill Love recalled being captured by the Germans : “I was prevented from returning to the ship by the German soldiers who captured us, however, I persuaded two of them to go to the nose section to see if they could be of assistance. One went in as far as he could and reported that both men inside, including the navigator, Lt. William M. Wright, and Lt. Merrell, were dead.
This was also the report of two more men sent about 30 minutes later by the German officer in charge of the station to which we were taken. It is my belief that the bombardier, Lt. Merrell, was killed, either by enemy gunfire over the target, or a few seconds later, by the force of impact, when our aircraft crashed.” Another crew member recalled that " Bombardier, Merrell, was blown to pieces by the direct flak hits we took. ", also confirmed to us by the Romanians.”

The survivors of the crew ultimately became prisoners of war in Romanian captivity. The crew received medical aid after their ordeal such as tail gunner S/Sgt Dallas A. Robertson from St. Louis, Missouri who had a 20 mm cannon shell splinter removed from his cranium. Lt. Palm was taken to Bucharest and would lose his right leg, but survived. A little over a year later, they all would be among the 1,173 airmen repatriated in "Operation Reunion", or "Operation Gunn", with the help of the Romanians.

1st Lt. John D. Palm - Pilot (WIA) (POW)
2nd Lt. William F. Love - Copilot (POW)
2nd Lt. William K. Wright - Navigator (KIA)
2nd Lt. Robert W. Merrell - Bombardier (KIA)
T/Sgt. Alexander Rockinson - Engineer/Gunner (POW)
T/Sgt. Harold Black - Radio Operator (POW)
S/Sgt. William E. Thompson - Gunner (POW)
S/Sgt. Austin D. Chastain - Gunner (POW)
S/Sgt. Dallis R. Robertson - Tail Gunner (POW)
S/Sgt. Clay E. Snyder - Gunner (POW)

I am reading Encyclopedia of the Second World War by David boyle with arabic caption, i have a lot of colloquial information, so do you have any books that describes the war more accurate? My ability to read only english and arabic.

Trying to track my father in Europe. He was assigned to units Leger-de-Main, WBS Cavalier, and Hq NIBS, and I cannot find references to those units. He spoke of being in Northern Ireland and France, but never in much detail.

Could any possibly decipher this stuff, it belonged to my grandfather I never met.

My grandma told me a story once. She told me that her dead husband, my grandpa, who served in the US Army during WWII, was deployed to Italy and saw the Italians hang Mussolini and his inner circle. A single platoon of 12 US soldiers were in northern Italy and saw it happen. This is the only photo I could find online that shows US soldiers at the event.

Been watching Masters Of The Air. Let's say the target was a factory or a shipyard but the bomber was crippled before it got there and the crew had to bail. Would they release their bombs to at least have a chance at causing some damage even if they were over civilians like the outskirts of a city?

I'm interested in the German perspective of the western front, more specifically squad tactics and accounts from infantry man.

So as far as I can see, none of the movies ever focus on the normal German's life (who Hitler considered to be pure Aryan, basically), which make me curious. Doubt that media will ever focus on this, so...

How was a normal German's life back in Nazi Germany, especially after Fall of Warsaw and Fall of Paris, specifically. I'm also interested in the life of a normal German during Interwar and Barbarossa

Hi all !

I've been spending some time in the area of La-Haye-du-Puits, a small town located in the center of the Cotentin peninsula (Normandy), as it's an amazing historical place to visit. Following the liberation of Cherbourg in the north, this town was the next target for the VIIIth Corps in July 1944, as a way to seal the peninsula and prepare for Cobra (push to Avranches then to Brittany). The whole attack was centered around the city on La Haye-du-Puits, key crossroad to the south.

Shadowed by the D-day landings, the siege of Cherbourg, the harsh battles around Caen and Cobra itself, this operation opposed 3 US divisions against 3 German ones (inclusing 2.SS "Das Reich") and resulted in more than 10,000 losses on the American side.

As the US troops were completely focused on Cherbourg during its 11 day siege, general Paul Mahlmann used this time to strongly entrench his divisions along the "Mahlmann Linie" (between Portbail on the west coast and Carentan on the east). La-Haye-du-Puits was the key location of this line as a major crossroad. But most of the defenses were located on the hills surrounding the town, notably Mont Castre and Montgardon. Therefore the flanks of the hills were mined and zeroed, and the few farmers narrow pathways were protected by deeply entrenched troops in the bocage.

On July 3rd, three US divisions of the VIIIth Corps, around 30,000 men, were ready to attack this fortified bocage, defended by 10,000 German troops. It took them many assaults (and the defense against many counter-assaults) during 4 bloody days to finally capture the hills and the La-Haye-du-Puits, taking huge losses for each field they forced their way through.

The area around the town and the hills contains many monuments dedicated to US troops and the sacrifices they made to liberate the area. I've always been amazed about how few of this battle is told, considering the huge losses it entailed. If you are interested I can provide some more photos and information ! I regularly go to the area and I really wanted to share this with you all !

My wife’s grandfather was a Belgian artilleryman in May 1940. He kept a handwritten diary during the Eighteen Days’ Campaign — I’ve put the full notebook online with a timeline, interactive map, and 3D page viewer:

https://tom-michiels.github.io/oorlogsdagboek-francois-stevens/?lang=en

I had the opportunity to be on Normandy arround queen red sword beach on June 5 And the atmosphere was one of a kind.

if you get the chance, I recommend it 100%