Thank you Capt. 11:am K.C. time, just got back from the "Pearl Harbors Survivors"

program. Most of them were Navy and a couple of Marines and Air force. I was the

only one that had the C.I.B. Made me feel pretty good. I shied away from the cameras.

Something funny happened. One guy came up to me and asked, are you Italian, or

Indian ??? I thought, damn, I said I AM AN AMERICAN OF MEXICAN DESCENT. HE SAID

I AM AN AMERICAN OF IRISH DESCENT. Few more words were said but I think I got

him straight. Oh well, lots more to tell but maybe later. I told them the difference

between Pearl Harbor and THE 442nd REGIMENTAL COMBAT TEAM. HIGHEST

DECORATED REGT. OF WW 11. Rocky

Capt: Thanks. Now you've got me drooling over the material. Just consider me a 540th junkie! Danka, gratias and merci.

I look forward to receiving your voice-overs. Things are coming together so well this month. I am a very, very happy camper.

So grateful for all the scanning you do, to bring this stuff to life for all of us. I truly wish your granddad was still with us. I'm sure you and I and your dad, would have a field day with him. What a source of information. We are lucky to have what we have though.

Rocky: Don't feel too bad about being thought of as Italian, etc. The heritage and proximity are very close. After all, we have those Mediterranean genes in our heritage. Your ancestors were originally from Spain, before being Mexican. Mine from Sicily. It's easy to make that mistake. Sometimes it's easy to mistake where someone is from.

Capt: Thanks. Now you've got me drooling over the material. Just consider me a 540th junkie! Danka, gratias and merci.

 

I look forward to receiving your voice-overs. Things are coming together so well this month. I am a very, very happy camper.

 

So grateful for all the scanning you do, to bring this stuff to life for all of us. I truly wish your granddad was still with us. I'm sure you and I and your dad, would have a field day with him. What a source of information. We are lucky to have what we have though.

 

Rocky: Don't feel too bad about being thought of as Italian, etc. The heritage and proximity are very close. After all, we have those Mediterranean genes in our heritage. Your ancestors were originally from Spain, before being Mexican. Mine from Sicily. It's easy to make that mistake. Sometimes it's easy to mistake where someone is from.

ROGER,ROGER, I READ YOU LOUD AND CLEAR,,,,WILCO-OUT rac-coon-huntin'

One of the few stories my father would tell was about waiting to go home. He was desperate to go home, so when they had filled their quota for a boat he heard someone say "Geeze we need a butcher". The only thing my father ever butchered was an occasional chicken, but he knew that by the time they got to the point where they figured out he had no idea what he was doing, they wouldnt throw him overboard. So that was how my father learned how to butcher. Anytime someone bagged a deer, they would call him and he would take his favorite knives and go. He also learned to barber while in Europe. My cousins still talk about being "treated" to one of Uncle Georges haircuts.....I was fortunate that the only thing he knew how to do was a crewcut, so I missed out....

That is a great story. We need a butcher... Think I would have volunteered too! Now pass me that knife!

You should check out some of the photos I posted of my grandfather in the WWII Engineers section, just look for Francis J Ryan. Many of the places listed in the log, like GI Joe's, are represented in the photos he left me. That log is a great keepsake, thanks for sharing.