Any ww2 vets who are o gauge trains?

I hope one replies to you, but if a gi was the 18 in 1945 he would be 91 now.  

"Old soldiers never die; they just fade away." 

After those gentlemen returned home to America, they definitely were responsible in launching Lionel, Flyer, Marx, and others to new heights; it is their foundation that we stand on today as we enjoy this hobby.

kinda late to be asking this now......your about 40 years too late......

I only knew of two WWII vets personally, and neither was involved in the hobby. One died and the other I lost contact with when I moved. I know there's vets still alive as I see them time from time in the news.

We're coming up on the 75th anniversary of D-day, Market Garden, and the Battle of the Bulge, and many other battles in the European theatre of operations. I am planning a commemorative Battle of the Bulge display in 1:50 scale.

I don't mean to diminish the service of vets who served in Pacific theatre battles, which were hellacious and ferocious as well.

Personally know only two WWII vets still living, both age 94 now and age 18 when they enlisted.  One is in a nursing home and the other in hospice.  Only one of the two ever purchased an O-gauge train, for his 10-year-old son in 1963.

What, me worry? 

I have been reading a lot about ww2 at lonesentry.com. There is no doubt that they were America’s greatest generation. Look at any of the cemetery’s in Europe loaded with white crosses, each one was someone’s son or daughter. Each one gave up everything for us. 

We get to enjoy our hobby and our life because of them. 

All of my uncles (5) were in WWII but only one was into trains.  When I was 6 yrs old in 1950 he gave his standard gauge Ives trains along with his pre war Lionel.

My father was a WW2 US Army veteran. Served in Europe 1944-45. A few years after he returned home, he bought me a Lionel steam set and, in 1953, a 2207W Santa Fe F-3 freight set. Then, he set me up with a table on which I built my first layout. So, I know how I became interested in model trains. In recent years, I have realized that he liked model trains well before I came on the scene. But, in those days, his parents could not afford such luxuries. So, he waited until I came along.

MELGAR

My late grandfather was in the war and got me into trains, he also briefly worked at the Lionel in Irvington NJ. Many of the trains he collected after he retired were what he wished he could have afforded growing up.

My deceased dad was in the army from 1942-45 and a D Day vet.  He  bought me the 2026 freight train in 1948.  Still have it.  I don't know how many vets you'll find still alive from WWII.  My dad would be 98 this year.  He's gone 36 years.

My dad was a WWII veteran ETO, part of a tank killer battalion that landed D day +10 and fought in all the way across including the Bulge, ended up with purple heart with oak leaf and a silver star. If he were alive today, he would be 96 this month. 

My dad loved lionel trains, one of the pieces of family lore was my dad, a child of the depression, never had trains growing up and my mom thought that was terrible. The first year they were married (1952) my mom's brother, a WWII navy vet  as well (USS Yorktown, the replacement one), was buying a bunch of trains and such for my cousin (who was all of 9 months old!), and my mom told him to double whatever he bought, and that was her gift to my dad that year. Those original trains came down to my older brother and I, and I still have them. My dad wasn't an active hobbyist, but he loved that I was into them, and later on he would go with me to train open houses and the like and enjoyed them a lot. He passed away 38 years ago. 

My Mom is still with us …. a very young, US Army Nurse during the final years of the war, had to spend a year in a full body cast when the jeep she was riding in overturned in France …. insisted on, with my WWII combat wounded late Father, buying a 2046 set for my two much older brothers around 1951.

That set now runs under my Christmas tree each year.

My late uncle was in the 1st Infantry Division and fought in North Africa, Anzio and  Normandy. He was wounded several times. He often presented me with gifts of engines and accessories for my Gilbert AF layout! He was a bachelor uncle and lived in our house. I dearly miss Uncle Hubert!

Jim Berger posted:

kinda late to be asking this now......your about 40 years too late......

 

Look it was just something that came to my mind.Should I have asked much sooner?Yes but you know what they say about hindsight.BTW I have family that where in that war.My granddad and two uncles who where in the army and navy.I take my hat off to all who fought in that war.

Tinplate Art posted:

My late uncle was in the 1st Infantry Division and fought in North Africa, Anzio and  Normandy. He was wounded several times. He often presented me with gifts of engines and accessories for my Gilbert AF layout! He was a bachelor uncle and lived in our house. I dearly miss Uncle Hubert!

He sounds like a cool guy.I had a few uncles like that.They did not buy me trains but they where still pretty cool.

bigkid posted:

My dad was a WWII veteran ETO, part of a tank killer battalion that landed D day +10 and fought in all the way across including the Bulge, ended up with purple heart with oak leaf and a silver star. If he were alive today, he would be 96 this month. 

My dad loved lionel trains, one of the pieces of family lore was my dad, a child of the depression, never had trains growing up and my mom thought that was terrible. The first year they were married (1952) my mom's brother, a WWII navy vet  as well (USS Yorktown, the replacement one), was buying a bunch of trains and such for my cousin (who was all of 9 months old!), and my mom told him to double whatever he bought, and that was her gift to my dad that year. Those original trains came down to my older brother and I, and I still have them. My dad wasn't an active hobbyist, but he loved that I was into them, and later on he would go with me to train open houses and the like and enjoyed them a lot. He passed away 38 years ago. 

 

 

Wow!Very cool man.Sounds like you two had fun and that is what its all about.

POTRZBE posted:

My deceased dad was in the army from 1942-45 and a D Day vet.  He  bought me the 2026 freight train in 1948.  Still have it.  I don't know how many vets you'll find still alive from WWII.  My dad would be 98 this year.  He's gone 36 years.

I should have thought about this a little more.Before posting this but your dad was really nice to buy that for you.

Ironically just yester I received a thank you for donating to the Honor Flights. He told me that one WW2 Veteran was 91 like JTH ? said. And ONE WAS 100.

He also told me due to age and the ability to make a flight like that they were starting to get into Vietnam Veterans in additions to  the Korean Veterans.

I have several deceased family members including my Dad and Father in Law that were in WW2 .

But, sadly  I don't know anyone personally around me.

That's one reason I donate to those type of Honor Flights when I can.

Larry

This train belonged to my Grandfather, who was a WWII veteran and would be 105 this year. My Grandmother bought it for him as a wedding gift because he never had one growing up. One of my recent projects was restoring it.

My father was a technical vet of WW II, never involved in combat other than the receiving end when in England and an airplane crash getting there. He was involved with jet engine development for the USAAF and US Navy. He didn't participate in running trains when I was a kid but was an avid supporter technically, construction wise, and most certainly financially.

My mother's only brother (born into a family of girls) was a B-17 driver in Europe. As I kid when ever he and I walked the block he would point out those houses with blue or gold stars in the window to relate how that was a family with members in the service or family's that lost members in service. The man who lived next-door to my grandparents you could hear hideously coughing every morning, my uncle's comment was "he was in the merchant marine on the Murmansk run; his lungs are shot from the cold".

Today  I realize that my uncle had PTSD very bad. In spite of having a law degree and had passed the bar before the war, he was unable to hold any kind of a job or keep a marriage going. He lived at home with his parents till they died then went to hospice for the remainder of his life. I, as a youngster, remember my mother and aunts going to visit him in the veterans hospital, I never was able to see him but had to remain under adult supervision in the waiting room with one aunt or my mother as they took terns visiting him while he recovered from the combat wounds received over Germany and a crash landing upon return to England. Funny, what I remember from these visits was men in gray and black striped clothing with the huge black letters on their back "POW" tending the gardens. My uncle had a huge love for the B-17; as he said "it'll get you home under the most dire of circumstances".

It is no wonder these people are called the "Greatest Generation". The world is more struggling place without their understanding, strength, determination, and compassion.

Bogie

All my WW 2 vet; friends, Uncles, colleagues have all unfortunately passed on... I sure miss them

Dad was with the 82nd in N. Africa, Sicily, and Normandy, and his unit was shifted into the 101st just in time to be trucked into Bastogne.  He was born in 1920 and passed on in 2002.

He was not into trains himself, having grown up as a sharecropper whose family had no money, but my older brothers had trains in the '50s; I had them (in part because of my grandfather) in the '60s. 

My oldest surviving brother and I still have our trains.

My Dad is 92 and a WWII vet. He was one of the first to land in Japan for the occupation. He also served during Korea. My Grandfather was with Pershing when Pancho Villa was around. My Grandfather bought this engine for my Dad when he was in high school. Its older than me and moves as good as 70 years ago. I took my Dad to The NJ Highrailers a few years ago and he still talks about it. It is his "2nd" favorite layout. I have sons and grandaughters so don't know where the trains will eventually go.

Ray Marion

My Dad was Navy and taught enemy aircraft identification in NYC before being sent out on a destroyer (still teaching onboard) from the Brooklyn Naval Yard down the Atlantic Coast. I was born a week after D-Day in the Brooklyn Navy Hospital and then he was sent to the Philippines for the final 10 months before the bomb. He had a pre war Lionel that disappeared while he was away and he bought me an American Flyer PRR K5 set for Christmas 1949. Santa evidently liked the 2 rail trains better...

WOW!!!  Some really great stories here.  Thanks SEABOARD for starting this topic.

 I did many long forum TV shows with Vets. We took about twenty Vets back to Guadalcanal for one show. I was hard to get many of them to talk about it and even harder to get them to talk on film. They had never even talked to their wives about their experiences. Must have been twenty years ago now. Often think of them and wonder if any of those wonderful guys are still alive. A friend just finished a documentary film about WW Two and had a heck of a time finding many to interview. We are loosing all of them much to fast. Don

Tomorrow I take the train from RI to NJ to see my 97 year old WWII Veteran dad. 

Dad enlisted like so many others right after Pearl Harbor. He was quickly in the infantry fighting his way across France and Germany, including the Battle of the Bulge, under Gen. George Patton. He left from, and arrived back after the war was over in Brooklyn - his hometown.

Dad is still sharp, enjoys going out to dinner and having a scotch or three, and loves to tell stories of clubbing and dancing with my Mom in NYC during the 1940's. Although it was he and my Moms sister Aunt Rose who won the Lindy contest at Coney Island.  To tie it all together....

When Dad came home after the War and he and Mom had their first child in 1947, Dad was working for a company that supplied, amongst other things, model trains to department stores. Christmas Eve his boss says "Arthur, you can have all the trains you want for $25. But you have to take them home now! So Dad piles literally five sets of trains in two large boxes and drags them down the stairs to the subway to get home. Another GI helped him up the stairs at his stop. All this in the snow (think Godfather scene when Tom is asked to go for a ride). My oldest brother got the first train set that year. The others were added the following years.

When I was fourteen, Dad chartered me with the task of dividing the five train sets so that each of the five kids could have their own set. The catch - I would have to agree to any of the five sets. So with great determination and debate I put together what I thought were five equally "even" sets including accessories like the log loader, coal loader, 116 station and others. When I was finished, Dad inspected my five carefully crafted sets, smiled and said "pick whichever one you want". I took the 671 "Set" I had put together and the rest were given to my three brothers and sister.

However before they were distributed, I had one fun pool table layout for about a year.

71 years from that initial subway ride, there sitting in my hallway is the 671 and Tender and select freight cars from that night. In Dads living room sits the Turbine with about 6 postwar freight cars and caboose on a piece of display track. I also have the Santa Fe F3's while my Godson now has the 2332 GG1.

A large salute and thanks to every single remaining WWII Veteran, and to all who have served our country in any capacity.

Thanks Dad.

Paul

My dad was in the Navy in the Pacific from 1944-1946 then stayed in the Naval Reserve until 1957.  He ran away from home twice and tried fibbing about his age in order to enlist; getting caught and sent back home both times.  My grandfather finally relented and signed the papers so dad could enlist at 17.  

My father-in-law was in the “Bloody Bucket”; the 28th Division; a national guard outfit from Pennsylvania that was mobilized early in the war.  He was wounded in the fighting in the Hurtgen Forest just prior to the Battle of the Bulge and spent the remainder of his time in Europe in military hospitals in France and England.

Also had two uncles who served in WWII; one in the Navy and the other in the Army Air Corp.  Both stayed in the military following the war and made it their careers.

Dad liked trains and made sure I had a new Lionel my first Christmas on earth.  After I returned to the hobby in 1989; dad, my father in law and my uncles would occasionally buy trains at estate sales and gift them to me.

Both uncles passed away within the past 15 years.  Dad passed away back in January but; my father in law is still kicking at age 93.

Curt

My Dad had a minor foot deformity that kept him out of both the SeaBees and the Army. He ended as a migratory war worker at the Glenn L. Martin plant in Baltimore helping to build bombers. Mother was a Rosie the Riveter at the same plant. They had been married in Worcester, MA years before and came to Baltimore for the war work on the recommendation of two of his brothers who were civilian federal employees.

POTRZBE posted:

My deceased dad was in the army from 1942-45 and a D Day vet.  He  bought me the 2026 freight train in 1948.  Still have it.  I don't know how many vets you'll find still alive from WWII.  My dad would be 98 this year.  He's gone 36 years.

Your story is similar to mine.  Dad was in the AAC during WWII, and bought me my 2026 freight set in 1951.  He crossed over ten years ago.

MELGAR posted:

My father was a WW2 US Army veteran. Served in Europe 1944-45. A few years after he returned home, he bought me a Lionel steam set and, in 1953, a 2207W Santa Fe F-3 freight set. Then, he set me up with a table on which I built my first layout. So, I know how I became interested in model trains. In recent years, I have realized that he liked model trains well before I came on the scene. But, in those days, his parents could not afford such luxuries. So, he waited until I came along.

MELGAR

MELGAR my dad was also a WW2 vet,  US navy-both atlantic and pacific theaters 1942-45.  Like you lionel steam set then a 2191W Santa Fe F-3 freight set.  He then built a great looking layout as I was only 4 at the time. Being a child of the depression, his family could not afford expensive model trains. I wish I had kept my old trains.  Fendermain

I recall being with my grand parents one day main street.Early on that day we watched a war picture on tv.While walking my grand dad pointed out a man.He said "You see that man over there.Well he fought in that war the movie was about."To me he did not look like jhon wayne.And he really did not look all that old ether.Then again nether did my grand parents.We said hello and talked some.Well my grand parents did most of the talking.But I was impressed he fought in that war.So I hold ww2 vets in high respect.In fact I bet I walked by or talked to some and did not even know it.

God Bless ALL our vets.

  Gramps was definately already a Lionel man prewar. 

  In service he was one of the first soldiers to do a jumping jacks vs just hiking with a pack during his basic training and set some hiking time/distance records too. He got 8 jump medals total with the 101st and 82cnd. A "******* of Bastonge" with a clustered up silver star in his case.

A train from him awaited me at my birth. Plenty more followed, incuding a HUGE Mercury set that often has me wondering if I am "Automotive", the largest X set recipient on record. The way I got it explains the mystery of the sets paper trail at the TCA too.  As a kid, I always left the VFW by yelling "Cur rah hee" then opening and jumping out of the door. It brought tears and chears alike. The vets all chipped in to surprise me with it. I heard the order being made, but didn't know that I  was going to be the one to get it. It was picked up at Lionel by a UAW vet, and delivered to a Mason or two (he was a 32cnd Scottish), then though various union guys till it got back to the vets on the south side, and eventually to the local VFW where they gave it to me.

     I played the set to death, but quite a few pieces of it are still in use today, including the "red,white,&blue" rocket launch car, black small missle carrier, gantry crane and launching pad, the flat for the mobile launcher, Marine sub flat, and gondola. While I wish it was all still here and "mint"; I'm not too sorry because I had so much fun with them.

I was spoiled rotten by my access to his layouts and extensive collection too 

I miss him daily.

  This was printed by our troops while the town was surrounded, & under seige that December. I'm not sure why the question mark was used. Maybe disinformation in case one was intercepted?; or because they weren't sure they wouldn't still be right there in a year?; or so it could be sent out for the following year as well ...  ?  At one time I knew the answer. Maybe even 5 years ago; but my good memory seems to be fading kinda fast. (Could be early onset Alzheimer's... it's hard to say , But chances are good, and I sure wouldn't be the first in the family to not know their own names by 60.)

I'm looking forward to seeing The Bulge  in a layout scene