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You never know who your neighbors are


js584
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My neighbor recently passed away. I had no idea that he was a pilot until I saw all of his flight gear on display at the funeral including his leather jacket. I deleted quite a bit of the obituary and put in asterisks for names to keep any treasure hunters at bay.

 

 

 

William Frank Killion

Tuesday, March 1, 2011

 

July 26, 1924 - Feb. 28, 2011

William Frank Killion, 86, of ******* passed away on Monday, Feb. 28, 2011. He was born on July 26, 1924 in ***** to **** **** Killion and **** **** Killion.

He was a graduate of ****** High School class of 1941 and attended Bowling Green College.

 

Mr. Killion served his country in the U.S. Army Air Force during WW II. He was one of the youngest P51 Pilots on Iwo Jima, flying eleven missions over Japan.

 

Funeral Services will be held on Saturday at 10 a.m. at ****** Funeral Home with ********* and Pastor ******* officiating. Interment with honors will follow at ***** Cemetery. The family will receive friends on Friday from 4 to 8 p.m. at the funeral home.

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You are right... you never know who your neighbors are.

 

One of my friends from high school, living on my street, happened to mention his father flew B-17's during the war.

 

Years later I found out his father and his crew had flown the crippled aircraft to Switzerland and been interred. At one point the Swiss came up with the brilliant idea of putting the American POW's and the German POW's in hotels on opposite sides of the same street. Paper airplanes, among other things, used to fly between the buildings until the Swiss moved things around.

 

Even later in life I found his Dad's name in a reference book about internees in Switzerland.

 

I never had a chance to ask him about it... and he never brought it up when I did see him.

 

A less humorous story was that of a neighor up the street who had survived the Battle of the Bulge. His company was brand new and guarding a railway station... it was directly in the path of a Panzer Division. The unit never had a chance... as I recall he was one of 10 survivors. He carried one of his wounded comrades 12 miles until they found friendly lines. He was wounded at one point, and even in the 1970's he held it in an odd manner. I learned all this from his son... he never mentioned a word of it and I was never going to ask. It was not a good topic with him.

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Instead of concentrating on Stolen Valor, maybe some guys should seek out the Living Valor or Forgotten Valor, and find these quiet heroes before it to late!! :salute:

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Instead of concentrating on Stolen Valor, maybe some guys should seek out the Living Valor or Forgotten Valor, and find these quiet heroes before it to late!! :salute:

 

 

I agree, the heroes of WWII are passing away daily and unfortunately their stories are going with them. The question is, how do you broach what can be a painful subject without offending? My step-dad was a seabee in WWII and captured by the japanese and absolutely could not bring himself to talk about it. To the day he died he carried a deep hatred for the japanese.

I have considered compiling information from vets into some book form but asking about it is difficult for me. I just don't like the hurt in the man's eyes when he remembers. But thats just me.

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I agree, the heroes of WWII are passing away daily and unfortunately their stories are going with them. The question is, how do you broach what can be a painful subject without offending?

There is no easy way to bring the subject up, all one can do is ask the questions and hope the vet will answer. I believe the majority would tell their story if asked, and would appreciate that the younger generations remember and care to hear from them.

REMEMBER, so many of these guys have been ignored so long, they don't think anybody remembers, let alone cares.

 

I have worked with two brothers and a former wife who lost relatives in battle. After helping them gather government documents, and doing research for them, they were all appreciative and felt better having questions answered. These people never knew what really happened to their loved ones, and they never knew the information was available to them.

 

I feel good talking about this now. Each of them told me it was difficult to remember and talk about the trauma they felt, but each of them also are happy to have learned more about how much their loss helped others and that there are people who remember. Each of them have told me they feel closer to their special person and are no longer afraid to think about them.

 

PS - I hope I didn't 'step' on your thread.

Pardon me if I did.

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PS - I hope I didn't 'step' on your thread.

Pardon me if I did.

 

 

Not at all, your input is much appreciated.

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Yes we never know who our neighbors really are.I have alway tried to speak with vets(from any time frame)upon meeting them.One of my neighbors who lived 3 houses down from me passed away about 2 years ago.I have lived in the area for 15 years.He would walk by the house daily and was one of those quiet refrained older gentlemen.He was the correct age to be a vet but never really knew him that well.He had owned a electricl bussiness in town for years and also worked on electric motors.I saw his obituary in the paper and it stated he had served in WW2 in the Navy as a radio man and electrician....attached to the Marine Raiders on Guadalcanal. :blink:

 

The other neighbor had been in the CBI and shot down and E&E the japanese while traveling and fighting with chinese "bandits" as the story goes.Then the guy across the street from me is also a navy veteran.You never know who is in the neighborhood.

 

RD

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Its not just your neighbors. Two of my uncles on my Mom's side served during WWII and I never knew it. Both survived the war, both lived in my hometown, but nobody in my family mentioned it.

 

One uncle did mention to me in passing about the 7th Army's motto of Seven Steps to Hell, but that was the only thing he ever said. After he passed away, I found that he served as a gunner with the 9th Air Force and earned an Air Medal. My other Uncle never mentioned any service at all and it wasn't until after he died that I found that he had served with an FA unit in Europe during the war.

 

The ironic thing about this, is that I was interviewing vets, but since I didn't know that they served, I never got their stories on tape. Now, older and wiser, I have been contacting my relatives seeking copies of photos of our relatives that served.

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Got da Penny
The question is, how do you broach what can be a painful subject without offending?

 

This is what i do, I approach the "Gentleman" and the 1st thing out of my mouth is .... "Are you a Veteran"?

 

If he answers "yes", Then the 2nd thing i ask is ..... "What War were you in"?

 

This helps you to determine if he was a Vet from Korea or WW2.

 

Then you can ask him if he has "ever been interviewed" ??

at this point I get a Name and contact phone number, plus his branch of service// yrs served and unit ( for background research, before you call him back). this way, you dont put the vet "on the spot" and have time to study up on his background.

 

While not batting 100%, I usually get an interview 95% of the time.

 

** Conducting WW2 Interviews since 1995 **

 

Carey

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Its not just your neighbors. Two of my uncles on my Mom's side served during WWII and I never knew it. Both survived the war, both lived in my hometown, but nobody in my family mentioned it.

 

Beast

I agree totally.Here are two of 6 relatives with WW2 serviceVery little info was ever gotten on their service.Dick was woumded in the pacific twice.Bob flew out of Italy.Don was in the navy and I was told chased subs oof the coast of Africa

 

post-342-1301358398.jpg

 

 

post-342-1301358279.jpg

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Rest in peace William Frank Killion...

 

You find out right away if I vet will want talk about their experiences.

 

I remember asking one vet that I knew quite well as we had appeared on stage together in several theatre productions who was a WWII USMC fighter pilot. He was shot down, suffered from burns and was a POW. One time I asked him about his experiences...his eyes shifted upwards and began to fill with tears...he very, very briefly touched upon his story and only on the surface. I knew it was somewhere he didn't want to go and didn't want to talk about it and it hurt just to ask him. Another friend is a Korean War vet flat out said "no" and we moved onto a different subject.

 

My Dad was very reluctant to talk about the war...especially when I was young. I would make him take out his patches, medals and photos as a kid and he'd do that but didn't say too much. He opened up to me much more when I was an adult but only with my prodding...each time we spoke I learned a little bit more...but I'm sure I never learned everything that happened to him to this day.

 

Growing up...every Dad on my block was a WWII veteran. Most if not all are gone now. These were unassuming guys who worked and supported a family every day...at dusk, as a kid heading home, I'd walk down the street and most of them were sitting on their front steps...I can see them even now...having a beer, or a cigarette, or a cigar, or some combination thereof...and every one of them would smile and wave and say "hi"

 

My the world has changed hasn't it !?!

 

Vic

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  • 2 months later...

I still regret this one, I lived down the street from Al Schmid though I didn't know it at the time. I found out by reading his obit in the newspaper. Would have loved to meet and talk with him........Damn !

 

 

post-35406-1307494571.jpg

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Growing up...every Dad on my block was a WWII veteran. Most if not all are gone now. These were unassuming guys who worked and supported a family every day...at dusk, as a kid heading home, I'd walk down the street and most of them were sitting on their front steps...I can see them even now...having a beer, or a cigarette, or a cigar, or some combination thereof...and every one of them would smile and wave and say "hi"

 

My the world has changed hasn't it !?!

 

That was my world too. And every garage had some kind of militaria in it. A lot of tool boxes had K Bars in them and were used often. Those were better times.

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  • 1 month later...

Not only neighbors, but sometimes the men you served with! Only recently did I learn of what my former Master Chief in 1973 had done before we were stationed together.

In Viet Nam in 67 in a battle in Chu Li there were 5 injured Marines and 2 injured Corpsmen in the middle of a mine field. He was the one that went and saved them! Had he been killed he would have surely received the MOH. But, today he lives quietly, still working full time and involved in his community. The true heroes are the modest and quiet ones. I am sure his answer would be "I was doing my job"!

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