Jim "Pee Wee" Martin

[Gallstones]

93 yo WWII D Day Paratrooper Jumps Again into Normandy

Martin was part of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division that parachuted down over Utah Beach in their bid to retake France and, eventually, the rest of Europe from Nazi Germany. They actually touched down in enemy-controlled territory a night before what's referred to as D-Day.
Viewing WWII through a soldier's lens
Vet recalls 'Saving Private Ryan' battle

His jump Thursday in the same area was different and -- despite his being 93 years old now -- a whole lot easier.

"It didn't (compare)," Martin said, "because there wasn't anybody shooting at me today."

Got any Brits who compare? No, you don't.

Rah, Rah USA!

[Svartalf]

Is that a Tommy gun?

[mistermack]

People who go on about their war seventy years later are pathetic twats.
You do what you have to do. Now shut the fuck up.

[cronus]

A awful disrespect for the families of those who didn't come home to dress up in full military clobber ready to do battle at that age. Wear medals and a civilian jacket but show some respect for the dead. My dad came to Arnheim and saw the stinking bodies in their thousands in the fields, of the parachutists shot out the sky a few days before his arrival. I believe he'd have been disgusted by the re-enactment element and glorification angle. Most of the people involved have passed on and can't give a opinion. Being old doesn't mean being right. Sometimes the dead are the wiser ones.

[Tyrannical]

An avoidable war whose victory shouldn't be celebrated. It was an immense human tragedy that could have been solved a better way.

[Hermit]

An avoidable war whose victory shouldn't be celebrated. It was an immense human tragedy that could have been solved a better way.

Indeed. When Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies, Foch saw the Versailles Peace Treaty in 1919, he said: "This is not a peace. It is an armistice for twenty years".

[Gallstones]

^^^^Irrelevant. Jim Martin is a badass.

[laklak]

Pretty cool old dude. Svarty - yeah, it's a Thompson, either an M1 or M1A1 model. Lot of U.S. paratroopers carried them.

[Hermit]

^^^^Irrelevant. Jim Martin is a badass.

Actually, the US has no monopoly on badasses. Douglas Bader, anybody? And there are plenty more, so shove your chauvinism up your arsehole.

[piscator]

Pretty cool old dude. Svarty - yeah, it's a Thompson, either an M1 or M1A1 model. Lot of U.S. paratroopers carried them.

Prohibition-era gangsters too. And always the big drum mag in the movies.
I think our darkelven friend may have gotten misnomered by the term Tommy Gun, and Tommy Atkins.

A Thompson is definitely an American submachine gun. A Tom is a private in the British Army, who would likely be thrilled to carry a .45 Thompson if only he could afford the ammo.

.............

"I remember being 10 and showing my grandfather my new wristwatch. He said, "I got my first watch from a Nazi I had just killed.""

[mistermack]

^^^^Irrelevant. Jim Martin is a badass.

Actually, the US has no monopoly on badasses. Douglas Bader, anybody? And there are plenty more, so shove your chauvinism up your arsehole.

Apart from not giving a shit what people did in the war, I don't see what makes this old cunt a badass.
Millions of people fought in WW2. And an awful lot more risked their lives on a regular basis.
Apart from being old, I don't see what makes him any different.
He survived when a lot of people got killed. It could be he kept his head down better than others.
I wouldn't blame him.

Coincidentally, there was a documentary on the BBC a couple of days ago, about Captain ''Winkle'' Brown, described as Britain's greatest pilot. While I don't like any of this glamourising of war, he certainly did a lot more than ''Peewee''. He's VERY lucky to still be alive.
If you like that sort of shit, it's worth watching.

By the way, have I got it wrong, or does ''peewee'' mean the same as ''winkle'' ?

[laklak]

I don't think you pick peewees.

[mistermack]

I don't think you pick peewees.

You might, if it had a scab on it.

[piscator]

This one would jump up and knock the fuck out of anyone who tried to pick on him.

[mistermack]

About ''Winkle'' Brown

During his service on board the Audacity he shot down two Focke-Wulf Fw 200 "Condor" maritime patrol aircraft. The Audacity was torpedoed and sunk on 21 December 1941 by U-751, commanded by Gerhard Bigalk. Eric Brown was one of only two survivors of the squadron. The loss of life was such that 802 Squadron was disbanded until February 1942. On 10 March 1942 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for his service on Audacity, in particular "For bravery and skill in action against Enemy aircraft and in the protection of a Convoy against heavy and sustained Enemy attacks".[6]

In the documentary he described how dozens of them roped themselves together in the water and spent the night dying of the cold, one after another. In the morning, only two of them were left alive.
Must have been fairly tough.