Hi guys - Hope everyone is healthy during the quarantine.

I have wanted to post this thread for a long time - but needed to get to my computer (not phone).

I have a book with some of my grandfather's memories from WW2, and always talk to my kids about their great-grandparents' sacrifices during the war. I would always get glimpses of their lives and their experiences when I was a kid, but it wasn't until much later that I appreciated the superhuman feats these men accomplished in the face of a relentless enemy.

There is a lot of knowledge and generational history on this board - think it would a great and fun way to record some of your family/neighbors' stories - things you learned from another family member, something shared at the kitchen table, or even something you just picked up along the way. The goal isn't to flame but share - you can be as detailed or vague as you want. Would love to know what your family member lived through. What War/Military Action. What theatre. What branch of the service etc.

I'll start - I have lots of amazing stories from my family and will add periodically throughout the thread - but one of my all-time favorites is actually from my wife's grandfather.

Was sitting at her grandfather's kitchen table with his whole family - they never talked a lot about his service as he had three daughters and he kept this time to himself largely. His wife had passed and his own health was beginning to fail - I think he knew his time was short and he was starting to open up about his childhood etc. He was an engineer on a B-24 in the latter half of the European war. He started as an Army Ranger and then opted for the Air Corps to try something new.

Being the family outsider - I started asking him questions about his service. Everyone looked at me like I stepped on a hornets' nest - but he was willing to engage. We learned a lot that night - like he was in the mission that firebombed Dresden and was escorted by the Tuskeegee Airmen over Italy - I also asked if he ever went up against a ME262 while over Germany. He stopped dead in his tracks, paused, and stepped away from the table walking into his room...came back with a small and very weathered notebook opening it to a marked page. He kept notes from every engagement and listed the types of fighters he shot at and shot down. Low and behold - during one mission his squadron confronted several ME262s and he recorded shooting one down (have no way to confirm). Was amazing to listen to him describe how terrifying it was to watch those planes speed through the sky and how hard it was to hit them as they made their runs on the bombers. Everyone at the table was floored - definitely a night I will never forget. He's gone now - but this is one way to keep his memory alive.

How about you guys?

Mike Emanuel received a B.A. in communications from Rutgers University where he worked as a play-by-play radio announcer for Rutgers athletics on WRSU-FM (88.7 FM). Class of 1989? Anyone remember him?

Ray Lesniak was instrumental in promoting State funding for the Barnabas Performance Center next to the Jersey Mike's Arena.

Congrats to them and the other three soon to be inductees!!

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Is my son's good buddy and we're friends with the family. Coached him on his summer travel team. Ben Rice, a lefty hitting catcher with power from Cohassett, MA. Great kid, hard worker, loves the game. Even though from MA, he's been a Yankee fan all his life. Let's hope he makes it to the Bigs wearing the pinstripes.