New Member Hello from Central VA

[Tdennis]

Hello,

USMF Members,

My name is Dennis Glazener and I live in central VA and am a new USMF member. I am 82 and have a small collection of WWII items that I would love to find more about. I also have a father that was stationed in at a motor pool Liverpool England during WWII, he used to tell me about road testing Jeeps assigned to Officers i.e. Generals, colonels etc. Or road testing motorcycles and enjoying the open road!

 

I also had 1 uncle that was in a artillery Company in the South Pacific, his hearing was damaged from the big guns he helped fire. Another Uncle that drove a supply truck during combat. he used to tell me about driving through the mountains at night with no lights on. Another uncle that was in Patton's army and fought in all but one of the battles after landing on D-day, his company was trapped behind German lines during the Battle of the Bulge they stayed with local Belgium villagers until a German Panzer Division was spotted coming into town.  One of his duties was as a dog handler while clearing the town of hidden Germans and also locating dead and wounded soldiers after a town were taken, he had severe "battle fatigue" for the rest of his life. Another uncle that was in the US Air Corp right at the end of the war, I remember him telling about finding dead Japanese bodies in caves after the treaty was signed. Another uncle that was an MP just after the war was over. One of his duties was helping guard the underground locations where Hitlers rockets and missiles were stored, all with no fuel to propel them. He always said that if Hitler had petrol that the war may have turned out differently!   Lastly a cousin, a B-17 pilot that flew one of the last B-17's to have been shot down in the European theater.

 

I would like to find out more of their WWII records, so far very little except for the cousin that flew the B-17 that was shot down right at the end of the war, I found information that one of his descendants posted online. The rest no records available. I do have my dad and one uncles dog tags.Hopefully some one here might lead me in my search for more information on these me.

Dennis

 

[GWS]

Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you have a lot of research in your future. This certainly is a good place to start. My father was in a B-17(BTG) from 12-44 until the end. Please tell us more about your cousin who was shot down and his experiences. It helps a lot to know what outfit each man was in during the war and a service number is a real plus for research. Any pictures you might have are always appreciated too!  I would suggest researching one person at a time just to help keep everything straight and simple. Look forward to hearing more about your relatives and their service.

 

 

Steve

[Tdennis]

On 11/1/2025 at 11:22 AM, GWS said:

Welcome to the forum! It sounds like you have a lot of research in your future. This certainly is a good place to start. My father was in a B-17(BTG) from 12-44 until the end. Please tell us more about your cousin who was shot down and his experiences. It helps a lot to know what outfit each man was in during the war and a service number is a real plus for research. Any pictures you might have are always appreciated too!  I would suggest researching one person at a time just to help keep everything straight and simple. Look forward to hearing more about your relatives and their service.

Steve

Steve,

Here is the URL to the forum I posted the info about my cousin's B-17G being shot down : 

Dennis