• Pardon the dust while the boys rebuild the site.

    The board will be in a state of disarray as I get things sorted out, for a little while at least.

    The new incarnation is using Xenforo as the system software. It is much like what we are used to, with a few differences. I will see about making a FAQ to help point out the differences for the members.

     

    One IMPORTANT difference for all of us old timers is that the 'mail' system is replaced with what are called 'conversations'/

    There is no 'Inbox' or 'Out box' or 'Sent' folders anymore.

    Think of Conversations as private 'threads' or topics that don't exist in a forum, that you start with another member. NOTE: Conversations can include more than one member if you or someone else in the conversaion, likes.
    Takes a little getting used to but I am sure you all can get a hang of it.

     

    Only a slightly modified default default Xenforo style is available for now. Once the new SAG style is ready it will be available.

    All existing users should be able to login with their usernames and passwords once the site goes up.

     

    If anyone has difficulties logging in please contact me at sixthvanguard@gmail.com.

     

    Thank you for your support and patience. I know it has been a loooong road.

Frank Perconte of Band of Brothers passes

Always sad to see those guys go to the great battlefield in the sky. It is hard to believe that the young men that saved the world are in their 90's. Wouldn't it have been great to sit with him for a couple of hours just to hear him tell his war stories? Somebody needs to create a 1/6 scale seven man figure animation that we could fire off when when one of these legends pass.
 
Yes it would have been nice to sit and chat with him, but I have found some vets don't like to talk about their war time service. I guess there are too many bad times they went through.
 
I agree about their hesitation, but I have found that when they recognize your genuine interest in WWII they open up. I recently had a conversation with a woman that was in a city in the Ukraine (can't remember the name of the city) during a Russian parachute drop. She told me about the fear that her family experienced watching them drop from the sky. Her father smuggled her and her sister into the farmlands and eventually out of the country. Her family was shocked when I told them her story. She told me more in a 1/2 hour than she had told them during their entire lifetimes.
 
In all my chats with my best friend and uboat vet Edgar I have never asked how many ships his subs(u650 & u901) had sunk. Also when talking to other vets I never ask how many or if they had taken anyone's life in combat.
 
Movies and TV make war look approachable and they never show how bad it really is. Even the horrific D-Day landing that opens Saving Private Ryan (as good as it is) doesn't conjure up the actual terror that exists when you are under fire and are scared that an unheard thing is going to slam into you and end, or alter your life. Add to that the carnage happening to your buddies around you and it is enough to make you want, no need, to forget the details. You can't keep the memories out of your dreams, but, while you are awake, you can do other things to pretend those experiences didn't happen, or at least suppress them. When an idle question rips away that shield of forgetfulness, it is very hard.
 
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