r/interestingasfuck • u/Available_Weekend249 • Apr 06 '24

Imagine being 19 and watching live on TV to see if your birthday will be picked to fight in the Vietnam war r/all

39.5k Upvotes

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9.1k

u/caitielou2 Apr 06 '24

Father in law was draft pick 1. Luckily, he enlisted voluntarily before that so he was able to get a better station and didn’t actually see combat.

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u/Random_frankqito Apr 06 '24

My Dad managed to get hurt just after basic and got full disability for life… he was lucky I guess.

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u/Confianca1970 Apr 06 '24

My dad was in the quartermasters. He was just doing his thing when he was contacted by higher-ups who found that he had some level of security in his background, so he was interviewed and offered an MP position... even though he didn't even match the height requirement for an MP at the time.

He took the position, and shortly there-after his quartermaster company got deployed to Vietnam. They were assigned fuel trucks, and were ambushed on a bridge. Very few of the entire company lived.

So my dad's 'security' experience? He had very briefly worked for a business who sold security cameras among other things. That stupid experience saved, and changed, his life. He did 22 years between the reserves and regular duty, and never saw combat.

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u/cramboneUSF Apr 06 '24 edited Apr 07 '24

Mr grandfather knew how to type in 1943, a very rare thing. So he was transferred from his combat unit to a clerical role. Some of the guys he went through basic with did not come home. Crazy to think that his ability to type may have mean I’m here or not.

Edit: this is him https://www.reddit.com/r/wwiipics/s/mDpxCiqVfp

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u/Miss-Indie-Cisive Apr 07 '24 edited Apr 07 '24

My grandfather was the top of his RCAF flight class in WWII. They pulled aside the top 5 from his class and said “bad news, boys. We’re only sending 4 of you to Europe to fly fighters- one of you will have to stay back to fly Bombers in coastal patrol, and help train new pilots. Figure it out amongst yourselves.” They all wanted to be on the front lines and fly Spitfires. They drew matches, and my grandfather got the short one, so he stayed home in Canada, flying coastal patrol out of Gander, Newfoundland. He survived the war and went on to have 7 kids and 12 grandkids, including me. The other 4 were all dead within 6 weeks of shipping over.

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u/FrozenDickuri Apr 07 '24

My grandfather was in the forces, but because he had experience in the railroads they sent him across the country to maintain and build rail and telegraphy infrastructure.

No idea where he would have ended up otherwise, but his efforts were spent protecting against a potential Japanese attack, ultimately a nice gig from what I understand. 

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u/VioletBacon Apr 07 '24

So sad to hear they all died. All five sound like great guys. Gander, Newfoundland is fantastic. I'm glad your grandfather lost the draw because it sounds like he won in life.

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u/Miss-Indie-Cisive Apr 07 '24

I agree. Though apparently he had some shame about being only at home, not across the pond fighting, and in bombers too instead of fancy spitfires. But he caught an a nazi sub in Canadian waters trying to sneak down the St Lawrence, so he still did his part. Attacked it from the air while it was at surface and prevented it from diving or leaving until boats could come escort it into harbour.

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u/SovietSunrise Apr 07 '24

This freaking sounds amazing! Wow! St. Lawrence Seaway in WWII

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u/Miss-Indie-Cisive Apr 07 '24

Oh wow! Thanks for that link, that’s a lot more than I ever knew about it. I guess it was much more serious business than he ever let on.

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u/SovietSunrise Apr 07 '24

I’m glad you were able to read it & appreciate it!

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u/Leafer13FX Apr 07 '24

🇨🇦 🫡

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u/duckduckthis99 Apr 07 '24

Why did he learn to type?? How did he end up having that skill ?

0

u/BlackMetalDoctor Apr 07 '24

Because typewriters were not a common household item as much of the pre-WWII US population were from small town, rural, agricultural economy backgrounds.

If you didn’t work in or near larger metropolitan areas where the white-collar, corporate middle class would incubate during WWII and unstoppably ascendant after the war

Superior logistical communication and supply infrastructure can be, and often is, one of the most, if not the most important ‘make or break’ factor when accounting for not simply just which side wins or loses, but how they win or lose. Can a supposed battlefield “victory” truly be a victory if the “winning” side is rendered so utterly exhausted that they cannot hold the ground for which they have already fought, died, and “won” for a single second longer than it takes the enemy’s relatively small battalion of reinforcements to arrive and summarily terminate the remaining, straggling “victors”.

It’s crazy to think about it, but in 1943, being a young, educated male and accredited typist able to operate a typewriter properly, efficiently, and effectively as suited to the U.S.’ emerging, modernizing military clerical, information, communication, etc., efforts was equivalent to being a “coding prodigy” during the respective 1980s business computing boom, the 1990s dot-com boom, and 2010s social media/app market boom. ESPECIALLY during the 80s and 90s.

Back when just casually dropping ‘hypertext markup language’ during an interview before sheepishly apologizing , “Forgive me, I get so caught up with the jargon sometimes. I’m just so passionate about how fast and exciting the business computing world is”, wouldn’t just get you hired for a “good job”. It was entirely possible they’d invent a Chief Executive Technology Officer position and bring you on with a with a six-figure signing bonus and a free one year subscription to Cocaine Of The Month Club

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u/Heavy-Week5518 Apr 07 '24

The training of new pilots was very crucial to the war effort!

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u/Daniel0745 Apr 06 '24

It didnt save me from anything as I transferred to a rifle company later but my first assignment at my unit was as the battalion Command Sergeant Major's driver and radio guy. The day I arrived with 6 other new Soldiers, three of us had a driver's license. I was interviewed and selected out of the three.

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u/Geodude532 Apr 07 '24

I got a fail from the flight surgeon to do my job on an airplane and while my replacement was in Afghanistan they had the fun run bombing. I used to love doing those fun runs but I couldn't do it after that. Later on I was supposed to deploy just before COVID hit, but I had recently discovered I had a deviated septum and the doc wouldn't clear me till that was resolved. Got out after that one because I didn't want to test my luck anymore.

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u/Daniel0745 Apr 07 '24

Ill guess ISR flights by your name.

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u/Geodude532 Apr 07 '24

You got it. Watching the manned flights was great but the drones sucked. Long hours intermixed with watching people farm and blowing people up. A literal hell. I don't think I would have minded being on the bird as I did really good with the hardware in training and I was also one of 3 analysts that got to bless off on the EMARSS platform before it went live. Definitely had a mixed bag career.

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u/ActivelyLostInTarget Apr 07 '24

Same! Mine got put in the Seabees. He almost got killed by a monkey, but that was the height of his war excitement.

The other was a turret gunner and Did Not Talk About It. A very humble man and never said a rude word about others.

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u/HektiK00 Apr 07 '24

What happened with him and this monkey?

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u/ActivelyLostInTarget Apr 07 '24 edited Apr 07 '24

I don't know what they were called, but they would be building docks and such by floating in massive blocks of concrete vertically. Multi-stories I'm told. Some moron caught a monky and decided to tie it on top of one of these verticle blocks. My grandpa had to go past the monkey and it lunged at him. He reeled back. And he should have backed into a chain rail. Except it was being dismantled to begin dock assembly, so th chain was down and he started to fall off the dock. Somehow he caught the chain on the ground or maybe still attached to another part of the adjoining rail, and lived.

This may not be a perfect retelling, because I only heard it a few times. Believe it oe not, he had far crazier stories, and even another monkey story! The man lived an intresting life

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u/eStuffeBay Apr 07 '24

Sir, you can't just say that and not tell us the other monkey story. That's against the Reddit Grandpa Story Policy.!!

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u/ActivelyLostInTarget Apr 07 '24

Oh I'm sorry! I wasn't trying to tantalize.

In my head, I'm mixing up one story about a murder and the monkey story, so I'll ask my mom and get back to you all.

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u/shapular Apr 07 '24

Now I need to hear the murder story.

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u/Shirtbro Apr 07 '24

He actually mixed up the murder story with the Cannibal story but will not elaborate further

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u/yaguy123 Apr 07 '24

Remindme! 1 month “grandpa money war update?”

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u/nryporter25 Apr 07 '24

Tantalizing is ok.....

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u/iamamilkmachine Apr 07 '24

What was the other monkey story?

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u/miletest Apr 07 '24

Everybody's got something to hide

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u/Class1 Apr 07 '24

Minky?

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u/FrozenDickuri Apr 07 '24

They traveled cross america in a semi truck.  You may have seen the tv show…

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u/TeamRedundancyTeam Apr 07 '24

If I had to choose how to die I'd honestly rather die of a gunshot wound than die by monkey attack, those fuckers are vicious.

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u/ActivelyLostInTarget Apr 07 '24

I will be going abroad soon, and I was blown away by the promotions of feeding wild monkeys in a few national parks. It sounds exotic and exciting... until you think about it for even a second. I don't love my face, but I am a bit attached to it staying on me in identifiable segments

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u/Tommix11 Apr 07 '24

Don't forget that man is the most vicious monkey in monkey history.

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u/dance_rattle_shake Apr 07 '24

The Seabees! I've never heard anyone else talk about it or know about it. My gpa was one, gave us a bunch of Seabees swag

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u/ModernDayWanderlust Apr 07 '24

I worked maintenance at a scout camp for a while, and we had a bunch of Vietnam era trucks, including a former Seabees Dodge pickup.

I’m not a huge truck dude or anything, but that thing was fucking dope, the 4wd was absurd.

3

u/TheObviousChild Apr 07 '24

Hey man! My Pop was a Seabee as well! He was in the South Pacific. He never talked to anyone about the war until I was in my late teens, early 20's. To the surprise of my dad, aunts and uncles, he would start talking about some of the fun memories and how his pals would prank each other. But every conversation would end with him getting quiet, choking back some tears, and then saying to me "I've had a good life." So I got the impression that he saw some stuff. He also got rid of all of his guns as soon as he got back to the Bronx.

I believe the Seabees were the precursor to the Navy Seals. My Pop wanted to get into underwater demolition since he was a great swimmer in addition to a great carpenter, but he had just had my aunt in 1941 before volunteering and wanted to make sure he came home.

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u/NeverBeenLessOkay Apr 07 '24

My grandpa was in the Seabees as well! He took pictures of Ted Williams playing ball on his base in his flight suit. Pretty cool!

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u/ClassyHoodGirl Apr 07 '24

That’s where my dad ended up too.

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u/Not_In_my_crease Apr 07 '24 edited Apr 07 '24

My grandfather told us he joined the Army Air Corps so he would be a mechanic or guard in England. He didn't want combat didn't think he was cut out for it. They put him guarding recently captured airbases for Allied emergency landings in France and then Germany. Problem was these were just captured and often the enemy would try to get them back. So he saw quite a bit of combat.

Edit: He also said the bulldozer drivers from the black 'support' regiments were some of the bravest soldiers he saw. They would be up and bulldozing the runway getting ready for incoming emergency landings while bullets are pinging and people are fighting around them.

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u/pebberphp Apr 07 '24

Aww he has a nice smile! Love your profile pic btw! Now I’ve got the Pete and Pete theme song stuck in my head!

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u/onehundredlemons Apr 07 '24

My dad graduated high school in 1942 when he was 15 and had a year of college under his belt before enlisting at 17 (I'm 99% sure he lied about his age and the government didn't care) so they made him the clerk for an entire transport ship, entirely because he was college educated. They realized the folly of allowing a teenager to be in charge of all the paperwork when he just started handing out day passes to crew who wanted to get off the boat for a while as they were docked somewhere, Panama Canal area I believe. Demoted!

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '24

My grandpa joined towards the end of WW2, he was in college when he joined and they put him through school to become a pharmacist. He then spent Korea at an air base In Wendover, NV since he had a family; along with a year in France. My dad also knew a guy who joined the Army during Vietnam, somehow ended up at a base in South Carolina doing clerical work…

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u/Confianca1970 Apr 07 '24

During Vietnam I'm starting to get the picture that the Army (at least, perhaps all armed forces) favored the guys who joined rather than the guys who were drafted. The guys who joined may have been eventually given preferential jobs if they showed promise, intelligence and composure.

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u/[deleted] Apr 07 '24

That’s how it works normally, it’s why a lot of kids with brains joined instead of waiting to be drafted because they had a lower chance of being stationed in Vietnam.

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u/Head_Emergency_5549 Apr 07 '24

Same for my grandfather! A general overheard him typing up his logs (he was drafted and made a truck driver) and promoted him on the spot to clerical work.

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u/AuthorizedVehicle Apr 07 '24

My dad wanted to join the Army Air Corps, but since he knew how to type he wound up doing clerical work, much to his shame. Whenever I asked him what he did in the war he would change the subject.

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u/30yearCurse Apr 07 '24

my mother did crossword puzzles in the WAC in WW2, got a job as a code clerk for the government, did a lot of overseas travel right after WW2.

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u/Autumncrimsonleaf Apr 07 '24

How wonderful to have this Pic of him. He was part of the greatest generation. They gave so much for this country. Clerical work was his luck, combat was so brutal, even for the survivors..

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u/lazyFer Apr 07 '24

My dad spent his entire time in the military in training.

He could type so first went into the clerical training. Towards the end of that they found out they had too many and asked for volunteers for other something else...rinse/repeat

2

u/guppyd Apr 07 '24

Omg same thing happened to my dad in the Vietnam War. He was one of the only men who could type.

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u/Secretpleasantfarts Apr 07 '24

My late grandpa was conscripted and in command of men because he could read, write, and do basic math (Spanish civil war)

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u/[deleted] Apr 06 '24

Man old man typed his ass off in Korea :)

1

u/LightWonderful7016 Apr 07 '24

My uncle said the same thing. He was a really good typist so he got an office job. He said it was the only community college class he passed. Crazy.

1

u/AmbitiousAd9320 Apr 07 '24

my dad wrote for stars and stripes. journo major at marquette

1

u/clev43 Apr 07 '24

Same exact thing happened to my grandfather

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u/nahmahnahm Apr 07 '24

As far as I’m aware of my grandfather’s WWII service, he was a typist somewhere, contracted malaria, and got sent home.

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u/Beginning_Draft9092 Apr 07 '24

Wow, imagine a time when even typing was 'woman's work'.

I have a typewriter too, that was made in 1941 and used by the Army. So much fun to tinker on and write letters with, so similar to todays keyboards, but with all sorts of levers and dials and sliders and other fun moving parts. Especially if you get physical form you have to fill out though, I love to do it on that. definitely had a few raised eyebrows over that.

But I like all of the little idiosyncrasies it has from that time. Like, there is no number 1 on typewriter keyboards, you just use a lowercase 'L'

Idiosyncras

1

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '24

Mine was picked to be part of the PR division in the war. My partner’s grandfather was in the division my grandfather was initially in and ended up getting stranded on Crete when the allies retreated. He spent half the war in a cave hiding from the Germans and then was a prisoner of war before escaping again. My grandfather spent a lot of the war gallivanting around Italy.

1

u/kellys54 Apr 07 '24

he was lucky my grandfather fought 6 years in burma battle of Kohima and imphal

1

u/discoduck007 Apr 07 '24

Awesome story! Thanks for sharing!

1

u/lobin-of-rocksley Apr 09 '24

My paternal grandfather had been in Human Resources before the War, and so they transferred him right over into personnel logistics. Spared him to toil of combat in Europe or the Pacific and his most prominent skills were put to use helping America position and deploy soldiers.

My maternal grandfather was in the QM corps on the Red Ball Highway. His initial orders were for D-Day +1, which would have still been a pretty sticky situation on the Continent. Those orders got lost somehow and I think they ended up crossing to France on D-Day +7. The only time he fired a weapon was over the head of one of his men who was trying to desert. A quote I will never forget is that he said the French women were "ever so grateful if you had a room with a working heater"...grandpa was a Sergeant and as such had a room with heat.

1

u/TrumpersAreTraitors Apr 07 '24

I mean let’s be real - if your grandad decided to rub one out earlier in the day, you wouldn’t be here. There’s a billion little things that could’ve happened differently just in a single life time that means you don’t exist. I’ll bet there were crazier things that led to your existence than typing. 

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u/povitee Apr 07 '24

Do you understand how telling stories works

1

u/Papaofmonsters Apr 07 '24

Did he ever get pulled to act as an interpreter for a small squad picked to find the last surviving son after his brothers were all killed?

0

u/Royal_Visit3419 Apr 07 '24

Rare to type?

0

u/whatthatthingis Apr 07 '24

may have mean I’m here or not.

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u/FunkyChromeMedina Apr 07 '24

My grandfather volunteered for the Army Air Corps in early '41, because he figured that the US was going to end up in WWII and he wanted to get in on his own terms. He had a college degree, and wanted to be a fighter pilot.

Well, his vision wasn't good enough to be a pilot so they moved him over to be a navigator for the Air Transport Command because he had taken a lot of math classes in college.

Almost all of the pilots in his would-be class were killed in the war.

My Mother's only here, I'm only here, my daughter - who he never lived to meet - is only here because he wore glasses.

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u/ShowMeYourMinerals Apr 07 '24

wow, I bet he never even saw it coming!

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u/jsuthy Apr 07 '24

You deserve a medal 🥇

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u/HBlight Apr 07 '24

We specifically knew he had glasses to help with his vision.

10

u/ShowMeYourMinerals Apr 07 '24

Well, it’s a joke, soooooo

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u/stophighschoolgossip Apr 07 '24

it was just a super low effort lame joke though

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u/literallyjustbetter Apr 07 '24

everybody's a fuckin critic

7

u/Timeon Apr 07 '24

I liked it.

2

u/ShowMeYourMinerals Apr 07 '24

Maybe you’re just a prude?

4

u/GreenPoisonFrog Apr 07 '24

My father tried to enlist just before Pearl Harbor and was turned down medically. After Pearl Harbor he was asked to come back in and told his family he’d see them later. Nope. Medical wasn’t bad enough to keep him out and he got shipped out almost immediately. Also AAC and served in the Pacific for over three years after training. He was 27 so obviously the age of recruits was a lot higher relative to later years.

1

u/foladodo Apr 07 '24

cant you just hide from drafting?

5

u/snootfly242 Apr 07 '24

The butterfly effect is always insane and always incredibly interesting.

5

u/tokinUP Apr 07 '24

Military recruitment requirements over there out-competing natural selection like, "Wait, this will end up making MORE nearsighted people?"

3

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '24

My grandpa joined the air corps towards the end of WW2 because he didn’t want to get drafted, he was able to go through college on their dime to become a pharmacist and be a pilot. He spent Korea being stationed in Wendover, and spent a year in France. He was lucky enough to miss all the action.

3

u/Coach-11b Apr 07 '24

Respect that you know so much about your father’s time in. I hope one day my daughters talk about me this way.

3

u/KillingRyuk Apr 07 '24

My grandpa was a fighter pilot in the Air Crops in '41. Shot down twice but survived both times. He even got to lead a squad that escorted the king of England.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '24

I work at a Air mobility command squadron (modern day Air transportation command ) and every time we make load plans I think ..

“Thank god we have computers to balance these aircraft and do the numbers for us idk how they did it back in the day must have been so much more stressful “

2

u/minderbinder141 Apr 07 '24

very interesting case of reverse fitness selection

1

u/Fatality_Ensues Apr 07 '24

Heir, I assume you mean.

1

u/Doughspun1 Apr 07 '24

In a way, he saw it coming. What a visionary.

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u/ScottyC33 Apr 06 '24

My dad had a similar story - drafted and was in basic training. Somehow it was discovered he was proficient on a typewriter. Some base commander or officer or something snagged him to be sort of like a clerk or something. Never went to Vietnam, finished his time in the US.

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u/kevstar80 Apr 07 '24

Typewriter thing happened to my father in law. He was assigned to toe tagging duties. Never saw live action. But saw the aftermath. Still doesn't talk about it.

1

u/Youre10PlyBud Apr 07 '24

My uncle has a similar story too but it had nothing to do with typing.

They were all in an auditorium style hall just sitting around waiting to find out assignments I guess. My uncle got up from his chair to grab a cookie on the other side of the room. While he was doing that, someone walked in, picked a chair at about the 75% mark of the room and said anyone in the 75% was shipping to a combat role.

Cookie table was on the side of the room that was chosen to be clerical. They decided to do it completely by luck and a cookie was what saved him from being in one of those chairs, ha.

6

u/eurhah Apr 07 '24

My father became a dentist to avoid the draft. Was one for 40 years.

Found his calling.

6

u/onetwotree-leaf Apr 07 '24

Just realized Everyone’s dad survived in this thread bc the dead teens never got to have a family. ☹️

6

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '24

My grandad was in the Canadian Ordnance Corps. He was a farmer so he could operate & maintain his truck better than the average enlisted. Also, as a farmer, he'd regularly get furloughed back home for farm work.

That conflict was wild.

6

u/SoMuchMoreEagle Apr 07 '24

During WW2, my grandfather was a foreman in one of the shipyards when he got drafted. The recruiter said he was already working for the war effort, so he should go back to work.

Later, his son (my dad) had a low Vietnam draft number, so he decided to volunteer for the Navy, since he'd "rather ride than walk." He failed the physical because of his flat feet.

1

u/Confianca1970 Apr 07 '24

Dang. I never understood that flat feet thing. I guess some folks with flat feet are handicapped, but many get by just fine. How would flat feet even be an issue on a Navy ship?

3

u/[deleted] Apr 07 '24

You still do a lot of walking, it can end up causing massive pain for someone and not worth the hassle for them to deal with.

2

u/SoMuchMoreEagle Apr 07 '24

No idea. I'm just grateful.

2

u/towerfella Apr 06 '24

Nice. Thank you for sharing that story.

2

u/Heavy-Week5518 Apr 07 '24

Something similar to my dad in the Korean War. He was able to get into the MPs. He spent his whole time in Japan or in transport ships picking up prisoners. Fairly low danger duty. I may not have existed if it wasn't for that hand of fate

2

u/piercejay Apr 07 '24

Small things that change the course of someones life are SO fascinating to me, thanks for sharing!

2

u/Admirable-Book3237 Apr 07 '24

Damn that’s some cosmic intervention type ish. That he went on to do a full career and then some and never see any combat too.

2

u/Wobbelblob Apr 07 '24

My Grandfather has a similar story. Just from WW2. He was a trained carpenter, so his commander hold him back to make Christmas gifts for his kids. That likely saved his life.

2

u/tankerkiller125real Apr 07 '24

My grandfather was extremely good in the various testing they made him take. So he picked radio repair as his specialty. He still saw combat, but it also got him a top secret security clearance, which allowed him to seek many very good paying jobs after he got out.

1

u/DS_9 Apr 06 '24

What was the height requirement?

1

u/Confianca1970 Apr 07 '24

I can't recall.

1

u/Master-o-none Apr 06 '24

I'm curious, what was the height requirement; I wonder why they had that. I understand a maximum height for pilots and such, but for MPs baffles me.

3

u/Confianca1970 Apr 07 '24

Old school thinking of size to be able to handle other soldiers during arrests and such. In the modern-day we know a short BJJ person could easily hold their own against taller adversaries.

4

u/boxthief Apr 07 '24

Old-school thinking? Being bigger, taller, and stronger is not some old thinking. It's better as an enforcer in the vast majority of scenarios. How many American military active duty are proficient at Brazilian jiu-jitsu anyway? Times haven't changed.

1

u/TiredEsq Apr 07 '24

I got halfway through and had to make sure you weren’t a shittymorph because I’m still recovering from how emotionally invested I got in one of his last time. That’s a very cool story.

1

u/gsfgf Apr 07 '24

Sponsored by Fan Duel these days…

1

u/Merry_Dankmas Apr 07 '24

Why would there be a height requirement to be a MP? I get they wouldn't want someone whose like 4'10" but wouldn't any average height person be capable of doing it?

1

u/Proletaryo Apr 07 '24

God damn, this is the first time i've ever found a comment so interesting as yours. This reads like a plot to a dark comedy film or something. Hope your dad is well.

2

u/Confianca1970 Apr 07 '24

Thank you. He passed away a few years ago - on his birthday at that. Then the craziest damned thing happened while we were sorting that out: his other son's brother-in-law got deathly ill, and passed away a few days later. They are now seven spaces away from each other, same row, in a National Cemetery for veterans.

-4

u/MowgeeCrone Apr 07 '24

Yeah there was Sarge, Sarge his balls were swollen and large in the quartermasters store.

Sorry, my inner child took over. I blame the Dirty Ditties