Your WW 2 role model

Discussion in 'General' started by T. A. Gardner, Feb 15, 2007.

  1. Amisuk

    Amisuk Member

    I was fortunate to meet Bill Foxley a few times, who was an ex-RAF Wellington pilot, and a member of the Guinea Pig Club.

    To go through the ordeals that he suffered, including over 29 operations, and still be so pleasent to take time to talk too a young teenager (as I was then in a small villiage in Norfolk) regarding his experiences.
     
  2. jhor9

    jhor9 WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    All those youg men who enlisted the day after Pearl Harbor (americans)and who were able to last through the rigorous training. Who then flew the hodtile skies to beat the enemy.
     
  3. Patton

    Patton Member

    I am actually tied between Erwin Rommel and George Patton they are both great military geniuses that deserve more attention than what they got at the time. Patton was very agressive which got him in trouble alot. Rommel was a trater to Germany by being in the assasination attempt on Hitler. But in the end they both only wanted what was best for there countries.
     
  4. 4th wilts

    4th wilts Discharged

    my mate who i used to snare rabbits with.fought with 43 wessex right through in a rifle platoon.4th wilts.
     
  5. Ferdrik

    Ferdrik Junior Member

    Mostly my Dad, who was in the USAAF on a B-24J; one uncle, who was in the US Army Europe; and my other uncle, who was in the US Navy S. Pacific.
     
  6. sapper

    sapper WW2 Veteran WW2 Veteran

    Now I can stop smiling. Let me put this to you. The man I put forward is Lt Arthur Heal RE. CdG. Of my Company in Normandy.
    He was undoubtedly the bravest man, with the greatest deed, on the whole of the Normandy Invasion coast. It is unlikely you will have heard of him so I bring him to you now.
    Any one that visits Normandy and goes inland from Sword beach, will come across a huge German defensive position named "HILLMAN" it was big! 650 meters by 450 meters covered with barbed wire, and mines of every description. With that whole area covered in enfilade machine gun fire. It could not be bypassed, it was too big and too dangerous.
    Lt Arthur Heal was asked "in the nicest possible way" to provide a mine clear Sheep track into the heart of the defenses, Lt Heal and his two Sappers, laying on their stomachs slowly worked their way through the mines under very heavy enemy fire. taking out the mines as the went. At last they got a path into Hillman. Then, after all that heroism they then opened up another path through for tanks.

    He was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French. and nothing from the British, the two Sappers got MMs. That man should have got the VC..If he had been an American he would have had films about him, and probably run for president.

    Lt Arthur Heal RE. CdG. Of my company 246 Field Company RE. Monty's Ironsides. I expect that very few will have heard about him...You should have done.
    Parts of the Hillman sire are still there. But it is difficult to imagine what it was like in June 1944. This was a man of immense courage, and one that made the drive inland possible. How in heavens name he was never given the recognition that he so richly deserved I could never understand....It was a VC job then, and it still is today.

    That begs the question: Anyone heard about him??
    Sapper
     
  7. Cpl Rootes

    Cpl Rootes Senior Member

    My Grandad. How he could physically and mentally spend almost every night for 3 years in a metal tube 30,000 ft in the air with 6 other men and flak going off around him is quite beyond me.

    He also has the amazing ability to hear the word 'Whiskey' if said within a 5 mile radius ;)
     
  8. Ali Hollington

    Ali Hollington Senior Member

    Field Marshal Bill Slim. Sydney Jary of "18 Platoon".

    Ali
     
  9. pzjgr

    pzjgr Member

    I have based my leadership experience on Sepp Dietrich. Always take care of those you command. Provide them with the necessary equipment, training and resources to get the job done. Surround yourself with those who have experience and knowledge that you can tap on. Treat everyone based upon their own merits. Following these principles, I have become a successful leader, manager and director in my field. To this day, I still have former subordinates contact me, after they have moved on, for advice. This actually conflicts with today's corporate mode of ethics where productivity is the key word, not quality. But I have been saved many a time with written letters of appreciation, client surveys and the such because of the excellent work my staff has performed. So, Sepp may not have been a military genius, but he did know how to make decisions and how to get his men to follow him.
     
  10. Moggy C

    Moggy C Junior Member

    George Screwball Beurling

    A superb pilot, total loner, disrespectful of authority, doing things his way but getting the job done.

    31.5 confirmed kills, nine claimed damaged. DSO, DFC and a DFM and bar

    Moggy
     
  11. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    George Screwball Beurling

    A superb pilot, total loner, disrespectful of authority, doing things his way but getting the job done.

    31.5 confirmed kills, nine claimed damaged. DSO, DFC and a DFM and bar

    Moggy
    I'd never heard of him, aircraft not being my thing, so thank you very much Moggy as I've just thoroughly enjoyed this page:
    Buzz Beurling

    Cheers,
    Adam.
     
  12. AnnaK82305

    AnnaK82305 Junior Member

    I admire many great men and women of WWII, both famous and little known, but I would have to say that I really look up to my Great Grandfather.
     
  13. WHITLEYMAN

    WHITLEYMAN Junior Member

    Sir Edward'weary'Dunlop,Douglas Bader,Leonard Cheshire,Rawdon Middleton,Erwin Rommel,Claus von stauffenberg
     
  14. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    I still find myself wondering why on earth he retired to France...
    I remember reading his biography VP and in it he stated that he got no peace in Germany at all. He was considered a bit of a pariah, no-one wanted anything to do with him. I feel a bit amibvalent towards him. His death was awful, but then again he wasnt the most angelic of characters as his war records show.
     
  15. von Poop

    von Poop Adaministrator Admin

    The ATB article on him was rather good, chap on ww2f (strangely) has this as a signature:
    "I was a Nazi and I remain one...The Germany of today is no longer a great nation, it has become a province of Europe"-Joachim Peiper
    If it's a genuine quote It fits in with some theorising I was indulging in as to an ideological disgust with Germany, & Germans, losing the war.
     
  16. Gerard

    Gerard Seelow/Prora

    Yeah I wold imagine its something that Peiper and other members of HIAG would believe in alright.
     

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