Episode 8: California WWII Sites, Veteran Stories, and Rare WWII Artifacts | Our WWII Dad - Our WWII Dad

Episode Transcript
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(00:05):
Hello and welcome back to our World War Two death.
I'm Chris Kangela, of course, alongside my brother, Ken
Kangela. And whether you've been with us
for a while or you're joining usfor the first time, we're
thrilled that you're here. We started this podcast to honor
our father, Private First Class Louis Kangela, a replacement

(00:26):
soldier with the 99th Infantry Battalion separate, famously
known as the Viking Battalion, who served in Europe during
World War 2. But it's not just about our dad.
We're also here to share storiesof other veterans that we've
discovered along the way. In previous episodes, we spoke
with those veterans, families, sons, daughters, grandkids, even

(00:48):
nephews and nieces who keep their legacies alive, just like
we're trying to do here. We're so excited to explore even
more stories of the Greatest Generation here, today and in
future. Episodes.
That's right, Chris. And you know, as you and I have
discussed in the past, we think it's really important to
preserve this history for posterity.

(01:10):
You know, we're getting further and further away from that
generation. We're losing so many of them
that it's important to record these stories.
And I think that's the reason you and I started to do this.
It's why we're expanding it to talk to other family members
from veterans so that we can capture their stories as well.
And really, it all started with my trip to Europe in the spring

(01:32):
of 2023. You know, I was sending you
texts from Europe saying, look at this picture.
This is where Dad was and, you know, got you excited about it
too. And so when I got back, you
know, you said, hey, rather thanjust share, you know, texts and
conversations about this, let's put it down in the form of a
podcast. And I really welcome that idea
because I wanted to preserve it for our family.

(01:54):
And now it's grown even beyond that so that we can share the
places that I went to, like Versalin and Aachen in Germany.
We went to Mao Mandi and saw where Dad was during the Battle
of the Bulge and followed in hisfootsteps all the way into
Norway to see exactly where he had been in and see it through
his own eyes in a in much of a country that didn't change that

(02:16):
much since World War 2. So it was really quite a unique
experience. Yeah, it was remarkable to see
all those places and see the, you know, the the way it used to
look like and what it looks likenow.
It's just it's an incredible thing you went through.
And I'm so happy that you did agree to be on that podcast with
me. And I never, I never get tired
about chatting of all those things that you got to do.

(02:40):
But Ken, in this special episode, we're gonna turn the
spotlight on a journey of my own.
Recently I took a trip to Southern California to explore
some historic World War 2 sites and catch up with my good friend
Pat Patterson. Pat's the creator and host of
Pat Patterson's Best of California, where he takes
viewers on adventures to hidden gems and must see spots in

(03:03):
California airing every week on ME TV in Los Angeles.
But the best part can is that Pat has a World War 2 dad of his
own, and I'm excited for him to join us and swap stories about
our fathers and reminisce about the time that he and I spent in
Los Angeles looking at all thosesites.

(03:25):
That's great that you had the opportunity to do to do that,
Chris and I. I can't wait to talk to Pat
about what his experience has been like in looking into the
history of his dad in World War 2 as well.
You know, Speaking of trips, I'dhad the opportunity to go to a
special exhibit that was at the History Colorado Center.

(03:46):
I was invited by a fishing buddyof mine, Rick Cooker, who is a
Carpenter who helps build the sets where they put the
exhibits. And there was a special exhibit
taking place and was about to leave.
He said you need to get down here.
So my wife and I went down thereto visit the exhibit, and it was
an exhibit based on the 10th Mountain Division at Camp Hale.

(04:08):
And the reason I wanted to go, as you know, Chris is the 99th
Infantry Battalion, also trainedat Camp Hale, so it's near and
dear to our hearts. So we went to the museum and
Rick took us to the special section and we walked in and the
first thing we see is a very unique item that I've never seen
in any of the World War 2 history that I've studied.

(04:30):
It was a Finnish latte and sounds like a coffee.
Doesn't. It and I have one.
Wait a minute, I think I have one right here.
Yeah, yeah, it's Finnish as in Finland and it's LAHTI and a
Lottie L 3920mm anti tank rifle.And what made it unique, Chris,
is this thing is built on steel skis.

(04:52):
So talk about mountain warfare. These guys had a gun that was
designed and it looks like it becould be pulled by a man or
maybe a mule, probably fairly heavy which probably 5 feet long
and maybe 24 inches wide. So, you know, it's pretty.
Good, right. And pretty.
Yeah. Yeah, I guess you have to be,

(05:14):
I'm sorry to interrupt you. I guess I'd have to be pretty
large to take out a tank. It can't just be something small
like that, right? Right, yeah, it's 20mm, she's
20mm ammunition, so pretty, pretty good sized barrel on that
thing. And it was really unique to take
a look at that and they and theyhad one from from the war right
there in the museum, one of the first exhibits you get to see.
So really enjoyed checking that out.

(05:36):
And then the next thing you get to see is they have a ski
trooper all decked out in their winter warfare gear, which is
all in white. And you and I talked about them
wearing white when we looked at the statue up at Vail that they
have for the 10th Mountain Division.
And so they have a, a, a mannequin there that's fully
decked out. And it's got the the white on

(05:58):
got the ski poles and then the goggles to protect their eyes
from the bright sunlight that you would experience on those
sunny days with with snow all around you.
So it was neat to see that. And then they take you to kind
of how they lived. And the interesting thing about
how they lived is they had thesetwo man pup tents and once
again, they were white to blend in with the snow.

(06:19):
And they have a cut out so you can see what it looks like
inside the pup tent. And you know, it's just a white
canvas with a couple of sleepingbags in there.
It had to be brutal to survive those temperatures in the
winter. Yeah, and those white outfits
that they used, they're more like a cover, all right?
They weren't any kind of warmth to them.
They were just to help you blendin.

(06:40):
So you're going to get shot or something like that?
That's exactly right. So you just it was simply camo.
I'm sure they could take it off if conditions changed.
But yeah, it was just definitelyjust a white covering.
So the next thing that you walk over to see after the tent is
you get a witness on display, anM1 grand rifle, and it has a

(07:01):
bayonet with it. And the bayonets actually
scarred up from battle in Italy.So it was one of the 10th
Mountain Division soldiers bayonet that was actually used
in battle. And the thing I liked about
looking at that rifle again is it reminded me of the exact same
rifle Dad carried in World War 2that weighed about 8 lbs.
And he carried that on his shoulder through a number of

(07:21):
areas of Germany and Belgium that he went to.
And so to see that rifle up close was really kind of neat.
You know, it's funny that you you bring that up because a
little bit later we're going to talk about the things I
discovered when I was out in California.
And in that discovery, I talked with the gentleman who really
knew a lot about these things. And he said that rifle is huge.

(07:43):
And with dad being just 5-6, it goes from his, you know, mid
thigh over his head. And like you said, it weighs 8
lbs. It was a huge rifle for him to
carry. And what we learned is he's
pretty talented with it, too. Yeah, he was a.
Sharpshooter. That's that's that's for sure.
Yeah. So after seeing the rifle up
close, then we got into the transportation section and this

(08:04):
was really unique. So they have on display A it's
made out of plastic, I think, but it's a mule.
And at Camp Hale, the 10th Mountain Division and the 99th
worked with mules to carry theirequipment.
And they had over 5000 mules up there at Camp Hale to haul their
equipment around. And they had to get used to
working with the mules, feeding them, taking care of them,

(08:25):
getting them to do what they wanted them to do.
And you know, mules can be very stubborn.
Yeah, so and so in addition to the Mule, we went from the old
time to the more modern times, they developed a vehicle they
called the Weasel. It was the M29 Weasel.
And it's this tracked vehicle. It's like a mini tank almost,

(08:47):
but it doesn't. Have any?
Firepower you almost, but there's a good description like
a snow cat. And they were painted black and
white to defend, to blend in with the the snow and the
shadows in the snow kind of terrain.
And they had room for one driverand then about 3 passengers in
the back seat that they could transport men quickly across the
snow to get them to different areas.
And I'm sure they mounted some type of gun on there.

(09:10):
The one I saw didn't have a gun mounted on it, but I'm sure it
had the ability to mount a gun on there.
I've seen photos of those before, I think, and I think
they're made by Studebaker, which is, you know, of course, a
manufacturer back in that era ofthese large, you know, big tank
like cars. So it makes sense, yeah.
Yeah, yeah. And then moving down through the
museum after that, you get to a display that's a salute to the

(09:32):
ladies. And they had on display what the
wax wore back in the day. Oh, that is, that is so cool.
Of course, the WAC, you know, we've been talking about that.
And for those who don't know theWAC or the women that served in
the WAC, the WACC stood for Women's Army Corps and it was a
branch of the United States Armythat served during World War 2.

(09:53):
And it was created in 1943 and over 150,000 women served in the
WAC during the war. And I'm so excited to, to hear
you talk about it. And, and that exists because we
have been dying to get a family member of a whack, if you will,
a, a, a World War 2 mom or grandmother.

(10:15):
So if you have one of those, if you have a relative that was a
whack, please let us know because we got to represent the
ladies here on World War 2. Dad, what else did you see, Ken?
Yeah, so in addition to seeing the the wack mannequin and see
what the women wore was really, which was really great right
next door to that, it was a small nod.

(10:36):
But they did give a nod to the 99th Infantry Battalion because
this was really an exhibit for the the 10th Mountain Division.
And they did have a poster for the 99th Infantry Battalion
there that talked about them training there as well.
But the reason they only get a small nod is the 10th Mountain
Division was about 15,000 men compared to the 99th which was

(10:59):
under 1000 men. So the Viking Battalion was a
much smaller specialized unit. The 10th Mountain Division was
huge and they had big plans for it in Italy.
So it was nice to get a little nod for the the good old 99th
Infantry Battalion separate. Absolutely.
The next thing I saw that was really interesting that I had
never heard this story before and had no idea this took place,

(11:22):
is they actually housed some German prisoners at Camp Hale,
which by the way, is near Leadville Co.
It's halfway between, say, Vail and Leadville along Tennessee
Pass. So they would bring these German
prisoners all the way to the United States, all the way to
the mountains in Colorado. And they had German prisoners of
war there. Well, there was a an American

(11:44):
engineer that worked at the campand he was a Nazi sympathizer.
And he actually helped two of the PO WS escape from Camp Hail
and he went with them and they travelled and they got all the
way into Texas to the Mexico border.
Yeah. And they actually were about to
cross into the border when they were captured and turned over to

(12:04):
the Texas Rangers. And the Texas Rangers could not
believe these guys had come first of all, that they were
Germans and that they had come all the way from Camp Hale.
So they were returned back to Camp Hale.
The American that that helped them was sentenced to jail for
for tyranny. He was released much later after
the war, but he was sentenced tojail.
So that's an interesting Side Story to Camp Hale.

(12:26):
I just can't understand why if you captured a German soldier in
Europe, why you would go to the expense to ship them all the way
to the United States, to the middle of the United States,
truck them up to the mountains and keep them, keep them there.
That just, it doesn't make any sense.
Although it'd be very difficult to escape without help, of

(12:46):
course, because it's very cold and very snow packed.
But a German soldier might be more apt at doing that then
maybe a soldier from Japan. Right, right.
It is interesting that they tookthem that far.
I don't know if they had fear that, you know, if the country
was attacked on the coast, that they could free the prisoners if
we gave up ground there or something.
So to use the middle of the United States made sense.

(13:08):
And they even had prisoners of war camps in Greeley Co, too.
And there were German prisoners up there as well.
That's that's interesting, but you make a good point for sure.
What else you see? So from there you, you, you move
your way through the museum and they have a full display of what
the German mountain troops wore.And I don't know it because I've
seen German troops in white, butthese German troops were in

(13:30):
camouflage. So I don't know if these were
summer mountaineering type uniforms or they, they hadn't
developed the, the, the white overcloth yet, which they used
primarily in the Russia area. So it was interesting to see
what they wore and their camouflage was more advanced
than ours for sure. Yeah, it seemed like during
World War 2, as far as I can seewith all the photos, we just

(13:51):
went with green for the most part.
Maybe some shades of brown. Yeah, not like the camouflage
you see of today's era. Yeah, yeah, they were definitely
advanced in that area for sure. And then we moved on and we we
came across a 60 millimetre M2 mortar on display, which I've
never seen one of these up close.
And, and if you watch any war film, the mortar played a big

(14:13):
part in helping our troops, you know, either advance or retreat.
They could definitely seal off an area and, and give the the
troops some breathing room on the ground.
And the size of those rounds were really incredible to see
them up close. What do you think?
How big? Oh gosh, they, you know, with
the tail on the round, they wereprobably, I don't know, eight to

(14:33):
10 inches long and skinny. Football maybe?
Yeah, like a well, the the end is looks like definitely like
kind of a skinny foot football on that end.
And then the tail makes it about8 to 10 inches long, so I'll
tell. You what it's, it's interesting
and you mentioned that they use it quite a bit.
When you hear about them softening up an area, you know,

(14:54):
is that when they're using a lotof these mortar shells.
That's right, Chris, that they would often # an area with
mortar shells before they'd sendthe infantry in.
And what that would do is get the enemy to duck for cover and
not see the infantry troops moving in.
So they were a huge friend to the infantryman for sure.
Yeah, absolutely. Anything else?
Yeah. So then this was interesting.

(15:16):
They had a Nazi banner, not justa flag, but one of those long
banners that had been captured by the 10th Mountain Division.
And then the guys that captured it were from the 10th Mountain
Division, 86th Mountain InfantryRegiment, E Company, and they
signed it. So I took a closer look at the
signatures on there, Chris. And even one of the soldiers

(15:36):
from E Company was from Grand Lake Co.
So an old an old boy that could ski from Grand Lake joined the
10th Mountain Division and and got a souvenir of a Nazi banner.
That's incredible. What an experience he must have
and and the and the tales to tell, right?
Exactly. Yeah.
And then the next weapon we saw was a bazooka, an M1A1 bazooka.

(15:59):
And boy, you see a lot of bazookas in in the military
history as well. Very good at knocking out tanks
and, and, and knocking holes in buildings where when they needed
to. So it was kind of neat to see
that up close. And I learned something that I
never knew about bazookas. They're named after an
instrument that was created by acomedian named Bob Burns.

(16:20):
He invented this kind of funny looking the instrument.
It's kind of a joke. He probably took a trumpet and
modified it. He invented it and it was
popularized in the 1930s in in his act.
And the soldiers were familiar with the bazooka and this thing
looked like it. So that's how it got its name
so. It's got his nickname from a
comedian. That's incredible.
You know, it's also something that I don't think in my mind is

(16:42):
associated with any other war than World War Two.
You don't talk about bazookas inVietnam or bazookas and anything
else. And of course you got was it a
cartoon strip that used to come with candy?
Kind of like the old Gumball Bazooka Joe, right?
Yes, yes, that's right. I'd forgotten about that, so I'm
not. Sure, when that came out either.
But yeah, Bazookas is is a is a name I think is truly associated

(17:04):
with World War 2, right? Absolutely.
Yeah. So seeing one of those right
there was very interesting. And then the last thing they
take you through is more of the souvenirs that the soldiers
brought home. And that reminded me of the
souvenirs Dad brought home in his duffel bag, because there
were two things in that collection of souvenirs that
really hit home with me. One was a Nazi flag about the

(17:27):
same size as the dad, the one dad had brought home.
But the second thing that just shocked me was there was a
souvenir of a Italian Beretta pistol, Model 1935, if you can
believe that. That sounds very familiar in
things we've talked about. Because dad got a Beretta pistol

(17:48):
and that was from he like he wanted from the Crown Prince of
Austria or something like that, right?
Yeah. So the story is that when Dad
was in Regensburg at the end of the war, like it was April or
May 1945, it was real close to the end of the war.
He and two other soldiers got called up to Austria to help the
Crown Prince Joseph of Austria, because he had what they called

(18:11):
displaced persons passing through and he felt threatened
by them. So Dad and these two other
soldiers went up there to move the displaced persons along.
And the Crown Prince was was so thankful for what they had done.
He said, I want to gift you thisItalian Beretta pistol.
So they drew lots for it and dadwon it and brought it home.
And Chris, it looks identical tothe one at the museum that the

(18:34):
10th Mountain Division soldier brought home as well.
Yeah, we'll put up a side by side and it and they absolutely
look identical. So what an incredible visit you
had. And, and it's so kind of cool
because you probably went, had to travel maybe an hour to get
there, where I had to go from Chicago, fly out to Los Angeles

(18:54):
to meet up with my friend to seeall these incredible World War 2
sites in Southern California. So I'm so excited to introduce
you to another son of a World War 2 dad, my good friend Pat
Patterson. Pat.
Welcome to our World War 2, Dad.It's so good to see you again,

(19:15):
my friend. Brent, so great to see you
again. You are not hearing of the ball,
but it's great to be with you and your brother.
This great podcast. I love your podcast.
Thank you, Sir. Thanks for saying so, Pat.
It's great for me to meet you. Chris told me all about your
trip. Sounds like a wonderful time.
I wish I could have been there with you, but I'm really

(19:37):
interested in learning about your World War 2 dad.
Well, thanks. So, so my dad, Raylan Patterson,
he also went by Pat, which is myname, and he was a career
officer. So he jumped into the military
before December 7th and was in and out of the Navy.

(20:01):
We don't quite know the story there, but then he came back
into the Army and and did all that we're going to talk about.
So and and like your dad, I think of like most of his
generation. Never talked about it, you know,
and I know you come up guys, I've watched enough for the
podcast. So you come up against that time

(20:23):
and time again in terms of the story, so.
Great that Ken is able to bend, you know, a detective and put
that hat on and really kind of retrace dad's steps and learn as
much as we can because they, like you said, they didn't talk
about it that much at all. What do you know about any other
close family members? Any of those saw action during

(20:43):
World War 2? Yeah, well, you know, I'm, I'm
of an age, I was born in 1953. So it was just eight years after
the war that most of my contemporaries, fathers fought
in the war. So it was not unusual at all.
I think you guys, or at least you Chris, you know, or little
your dad was younger, you know, and so it was a little bit, I

(21:05):
don't know if it's like a 10 year difference or something
like that, but it was just enough of a difference that
it's, it's not unique. So, you know, every, virtually
every neighbor I had in our neighborhood in Orange County
fought and, and, and my aunts and uncles too.
Yeah, You know, there's ten years between Ken and I, so my

(21:26):
dad was 40. Our dad, I always do that.
Can I apologize? Our dad was 42 when he had me.
But Pat, you're a native of California too, right?
That's right, That's right. Not only am I native, but my dad
was a native, which is very unusual here in California.
And my grandfather on my mom's side came here in the 1880s.

(21:47):
So we're long, long time Californians, which is very
unusual. And that's why I started the the
show that that I work on our host because I just love the
state. But it was you, Chris, that got
me and can that got me interested in in more of the

(22:07):
World War 2 history here in California, here here again, I
kind of just lived among it, youknow, and hiding in plain sight.
You know, Pat, what always intrigues me is how World War 2
interrupted our father's lives. And so tell me what your dad was
probably doing in those years that led up to, you know, him

(22:31):
having to go out and fight. Where did he go to high school?
Was he, did he go to college? Was he working?
Do you know anything about that?I do actually, because he grew
up in Redlands, which isn't too far from Los Angeles.
We would go out there and, and what I know is he, he was raised
in very extreme poverty. They were, they were very, very

(22:55):
poor, like many families during the Depression, which is when he
came of age, born in 1914. So he was, you know, in his
teens during the Depression and went to high school, started
college, worked in the Civilian Conservation Corps, which was
one of Roosevelt's programs to get men up into the hills and

(23:19):
digging trails and whatnot. And had some great photos in,
in, in scrapbooks around that. But you're right, Ken, it's,
it's hard to just kind of think of a life disrupted here.
Again, I'm old enough that many of my friends went to Vietnam.
So I know what that was like andthat this was just the whole

(23:44):
country got disrupted versus, you know, a certain group at a
certain age. Yeah.
You know, Pat, Speaking of your dad's service and and what he
experienced, did he talk much about it?
We kind of talked about how these guys never really did.
But did he tell you much about it?
Did he bring back any mementos or anything from from the war?
Yeah, well, we we have his uniform of that are right here.

(24:06):
So you you know, we we can, we can talk about that.
The other thing he brought back,which I grabbed is, first of
all, he didn't talk about it very much.
And when he did talk about it, it would be some silly anecdote
kind of at his expense. It would be, it'd be a funny
thing. He, he talked about, you know,

(24:28):
being constipated and, you know,and just weird, you know, just
things that really had, I mean, you could just tell he wanted to
shy away from the real gore. However, my mom would talk about
the fact that he had night terrors his whole life.
You know, so he would wake up inthe middle of the night with the

(24:49):
night terrors that we weren't aware of that as kids.
But later in life, my mom sharedthat with me and a very close
friend of mine who saw action inVietnam, his wife shared the
same thing with that. He was a helicopter pilot in
Vietnam and, you know, became aninternational banker.
But his whole life, you know, he, he's had these night

(25:11):
terrors, but this is a samurai sword that he brought back from
Japan that I would play with as a little kid.
And he can't believe the the steel on this sword.
And I. Oh, yeah.
You know, and you see all these,you know, I don't know what they

(25:33):
are, you know, tourist gimmicky.Yeah.
You know, and I kind of this is heavy.
And, you know, like I said, I mean, this, this is an amazing
real deal. So just as a coincidence, when I
was an executive at Disneyland, one of the artists that worked
for me was a samurai sword collector.

(25:55):
And I said, you know, it's funny, I've got this old sword
that my dad has kicking around the house.
Can I bring it in? Joe, Joe Takahashi.
And oh, yeah, I can, I can figure it out.
And So what they do is they unbind the the wrapping here and
there's a little stone kind of marking thing in here.

(26:18):
And it turns out this sword he gave me the name is by a very
famous sword maker, and it was made in the 1660s.
No. Yeah, I would say that's a huge
memento from the war that he cut.
Holy smokes. And that's the steel is like,

(26:39):
and we've never cleaned this. We've never, you know, so and,
and yet this was just, this was a toy for me as a kid, my
brother and I, you know. Well, it's funny you say that
because, Ken, you wore Dad's Army boots that he brought home
to shovel snow in, right? Yeah, I would put those things
on and go out and shovel the snow.
And they were not very waterproof.

(27:00):
They they weren't great boots and they were not very
comfortable. So I don't know how he marched
all over Europe and those thingsand his feet, he didn't just get
destroyed. Yeah, and we and we always have
when we when we play poker as kids, it was on an army blanket
throwing on the table and and and we never thought of like,

(27:23):
oh, here's this army bike. It isn't this something.
It was just like this was cheaper than buying a new poker
cloth or whatever. So I think there was a lot of
here again, my generation, maybecloser to yours can but where
the war was still in in the system here in the States, you
know, a lot of the. You know, it's something you

(27:45):
bring up that I think is kind ofinteresting.
And I and I, you know, we went and talked to a guy that knew a
lot about uniforms when we were with each other there in
California. And we, you know, we learned
that it seems like these guys really didn't care too much
about the stuff they brought home.
They cared about some of it, like dad had pictures and some
things, but other parts that were just part of their uniform

(28:07):
and part of their gear. That was just something they had
to carry, something they had where we treasure those now, you
know, like the blanket you're talking about.
Let me ask you a little bit kindof fast forwarding to when your
dad retired from the military. What kind of impact did that
have on on your family and, and,and and him actually?

(28:27):
Well, he had a heart attack and so it was, it was a big impact
and it was actually the year I was born.
I'm not sure the two things wererelated, but they could have
been. But he had the heart attack
before I was born. So I'm I'm off the hook.
But they were, they were in Germany.
They were living in Germany at the time.
So he was part of, so he was part of two kind of post

(28:51):
occupations, which he was in Japan post during the occupation
with MacArthur. But then they also lived in
Munich, Germany. My family, my older brother
lived there. I was conceived in Munich.
And that would have been so somewhere like 48 to 52 ish.

(29:13):
So and, and he was a career. It was what he I was going to
spend the rest of his life as a career officer.
He was a captain and he had a heart attack And it was
devastating really to the family.
I mean, they, they lived kind ofa high life as officers family.
They, they had a, you know, housing, they had a Butler, they

(29:36):
had, you know, pretty, pretty amazing lifestyle.
And then suddenly he came home. He was hospitalized in the
Presidio up there in San Francisco.
He fortunately defied doctor's orders because at the time, in
1953, heart attacks were treatedwith bed rest.

(29:57):
And my dad said, screw this. He was a, he was an athlete,
football player when he was young and he got up and walked
around and exercised, which is the thing we know now is what
you do for a heart attack. So, So I think he'd lived a long
life because he defied doctor's orders.
So I'm assuming Pat that that samurai sword he picked up in

(30:20):
Japan when he was there after Japan had surrendered?
Yes, that's right. Yeah.
So he was, he was in the Battle of Okinawa.
One of the things Chris and I learned from Jack Luder, the
officer this this little Arrowhead is the symbol of
having been a part of an amphibious landing.

(30:42):
So he, you know, in Okinawa was was Okinawa was the bloodiest
battle of the Pacific theater. And so he was part of that and,
and it's amazing just before we got on just for the heck of it,
because you guys just turned me into detectives, you know,
around this World War 2 stuff. I've looked him up a couple of

(31:05):
times, you know, Okinawa, RaylanPatterson, you know, it's just
kind of and suddenly went, you know what, I'm going to put his
name and his serial number at Google.
And it was like bang and a confidential report, Army report
came up and it has a blow by blow of this battle of for the

(31:27):
I'm trying to remember the name of the island change chain Ryu Q
Ryu Q Islands, which is Okinawa.And there he is, First
Lieutenant Raylan Patterson, listed as one of ten officers
that are part of his his battalion and, and division.

(31:48):
And and it goes through the whole battle as a confidential
report internally in the Army askind of a, a post mortem.
You know, what worked, what didn't work.
We should have had more of this.And it's, I don't know if you
guys have come across any of those reports, but it's
extremely detailed did. You they're called after action

(32:10):
reports. There you go.
OK, Did you? I was shocked.
Do you think that it was recently declassified?
Do you think that you just discovered it and that's why you
haven't been able to find it? Well, no, I don't know.
I don't, I don't know the Googlealgorithm just like having that
specific serial number as opposed to a division or

(32:33):
anything else. I, I because like I say, I mean,
you guys have been doing this for a few years now, but that
was a surprise to me that it came up finally.
So your dad was in the 96th Infant Infantry Division of the
Army and he he was working in inthe artillery area.

(32:53):
Is my understanding is that correct?
Held artillery, yeah, the three 300 and 63rd Field Artillery
Battalion, so of the 96th Division.
So so he was part of and I believe you guys have a friend
that was part of the Dead Eyes. Yeah.
So this is interesting and I'm glad you mentioned the Dead Eyes
because that's what the 96 nickname is.

(33:16):
And they have a terrific websitefor anybody that is interested
in the 96. It's called Remember the Dead
eyes.com. There you go.
There's yeah. Yeah, I, I know it's interesting
that patch, I'd love to know thedesign behind it because they
had very specific reasons that of the design that was put
together for that and, and that one looks like a, you know, blue

(33:37):
diamond and maybe a yellow diamond together.
Yeah, I, I, I agree with you, Ken.
It's just, I mean, there's a whole book on the symbolism of,
of military insignias. It it would be wonderful to be a
part of this Is this is the Japanese occupation patch?

(33:59):
Oh, interesting. It almost.
Looks. Like it looks like a Maple Leaf
almost. I know, I know.
And. And those are the kind of crazy
things that until you really digin like you guys have done, I
would make something like that up, you know, like.
Oh, yeah. He he must have been in Canada
for a while. Right.
Or maybe it's a leaf from a cherry blossom because you know,

(34:20):
they have so many cherry blossoms in in Japan.
Maybe it has to do with that. It's just fascinating.
But to your point that you had mentioned, yes, we have a
connection to the 96th. My brother-in-law, his father
was in the 96th Infantry Division just like your dad, and
he was related to artillery. But the difference is he was

(34:40):
embedded with a Navy officer andhe and this Navy officer would
venture up to the front lines and they would call in the
artillery from the ships, not the field artillery, but the
ships themselves to bomb in placements.
And he was with the 593rd Jasco unit and he was attached to the

(35:01):
Third Battalion, 300 and 83rd Regiment of the 96th Division.
So he did similar work to what your dad did and, and was on the
same islands. He was on New Britain, Leyte on
in Okinawa and I imagine, I knowyour dad was on Okinawa, but he
may have been on some of those same islands.
Yeah, I know he was late tea because Jack showed us something

(35:23):
that told him that, you know, divine something in the tea
leaves. And and I looked up those
battles and just to give you a sense of how big they were.
So 12,500 killed, 49,000 casualties on our side, 150,000
civilians were killed on Okinawaand 110,000 Japanese defenders

(35:48):
were killed in that battle. I mean, when you, when you think
that you know, all of Vietnam's 50,000 men, you know, these were
single battles where half of that happened, you know, or in
the case of the Japanese, doublethat in in one battle.
So, you know, the, the scope of World War 2, I think is lost on

(36:08):
any of us that weren't there, you know, which is so, so big.
You make a huge point, Pat. I mean, it's, it's just
remarkable. And and it's so good to learn
these things about your dad. And there always seems to be a
connection with another soldier that we've read about or we've
heard about. I mean, we talked about how, you
know, our dad met their his brother, our uncle, you know,

(36:32):
when they're across the country in in Europe, in another, you
know, hold other country. And of course, these connections
that we've seen, like, you know,with the with Ken's, you know,
brother-in-law and you know, his, it was his father, right?
Ken? Yeah, it.
Was his father was in the same division as Pat's father?
It's just, it's remarkable. So Pat and we've talked about it

(36:54):
a lot, but we got an opportunityto do some incredible things in
California. We went up to Camarillo, right?
And that's where they have the SoCal Wing Museum, and that's
where we met Jack Luder, who hadall these incredible insights to
both your dad's uniform and our dad's uniform.
Yeah, yeah. Well, that was really one of my

(37:17):
favorite things we did when you came out for us and I
appreciated you making that effort.
And, and so, yeah, the CAF Commemorative Air Force SoCal
wing really is devoted to World War 2 history.
So Jack, I ran into what I filmed the previous segment up
there and we went up into in APT19, the trainers we can go out.

(37:39):
For those of your listeners and viewers that might come to
California, this is a place you can go actually fly in these
planes. But yeah, Jack is a an expert
on, you know, what all this means.
I mean, when you realize, you know, you look at the olden
days, all their metals would have been these big chunks of

(38:02):
metal hanging off their chests. You know, at some point,
somebody went, yeah, you know what?
Let's color code these just turnthem into little bars, you know?
And so they've always been a mystery to me, but every one of
them, this is the good service medal.
I remember he said this. This is because my dad was in
the service before December 7th,1941.

(38:24):
I guess they wanted to call out the guys that were already
defending. I think it was American defense.
You know, these were the guys that were defending the country
before there was even a war. Like I said, that's the
amphibious one. This is, this is military star
action * And we noticed that there's a little hole here and

(38:49):
so Jack said there's probably another one of these that
belongs here. And I and I said, so Jack, do
you apply to the Army or? He said he goes eBay go.
Buy it on eBay. Yeah, that's crazy.
You know what I learned? I learned so much about Dad's
stuff, too. I mean, it was just so amazing.

(39:12):
And to give Jack credit and everybody's like, what is this
all about? You can watch this episode
coming out soon. And Pat will go over where
people can find that at the end of our chat here.
But Jack was talking about how dad was really quite tough,
being not a tall man. We talked about this already in

(39:32):
the podcast, carrying a huge rifle and being a really great
shot. Something that caught me when
Jack said your dad was a killer.He was.
Tough he was one of the best outthere and I just was so amazing
to me because I thought he just had this boring job of driving
his, you know, his commanding officer around in the Jeep,
right, Ken? Right.

(39:53):
Yeah. When he said that, it really
kind of sent a shiver down my spine that, you know, Dad held
back just like you said, Pat. He always told the light
stories. You know, he talked about, oh,
he went up to Norway and the sundidn't set till 2:00 in the
morning. But, you know, he skipped over
the Battle of the Bulge and the battle in Burslin when they
captured the first German city. But he, you know, he talked

(40:14):
about the lighter things and he had pictures of himself not in
action, but he was short. So he took a picture of himself
standing next to this 6 foot 2 Norwegian guy.
Stuff like that. But you know, to hear Jack say
your dad was a killer really kind of struck home with me.
Yeah, absolutely. And and it is amazing that
because they didn't talk about it and you can see why.

(40:37):
I mean, you know, it was not something I mean, we we're proud
of them now. But you know, my dad would talk
about, you know, he he was a killer.
But did you who did you kill? Did you kill?
You know, those are the obvious questions that I, I don't think
I'd want my kids to pride me on either.
So I I totally understand it. Yeah.

(40:59):
By the way, I I haven't killed anybody.
So we appreciate that and you, you know, we, you got to
appreciate that. And I think it's, it was a
different time. They wanted to protect us from
everything that could hurt us inone way.
And I think maybe that's what our dads did.
Yeah, and, and one of the thingstoo, I think does go back to the
fact that it was such a common experience for that generation,

(41:23):
you know, that that you know, the, the the usual male one
upsmanship that's sometimes going to happen just seem to not
be there, you know, because theyjust all, you know, there was
there was nothing funny or braggadocio about this
experience of, of, you know, fighting fascism and and Europe

(41:47):
and and fascism and, and Japan. You make such a great point,
Pat, because if you think about it, that whole generation, each
one of them served. So it wasn't special.
It was something they did. It was only special to us that
didn't serve, that really appreciates what they did,
right? So we put them up on this
pedestal and justifiably so. And they didn't put themselves

(42:09):
up there. So it was no big deal.
It's what they did and talk about it.
Plus I don't know if I'd want togo over some of those things if
if I were them too. All right, we saw some other.
Go ahead. We'll be talking to our kids
about it. Can you imagine shooting ATV
show where you have, you know, the lights aren't working?
It was. So scary.
I was so worried about my safetywhen that camera didn't record.

(42:31):
I still have night terrors. Yes, exactly.
Just just to finish up on that point though, 'cause I think
this is an interesting story to what you guys are saying about
them not talking about it. So Woody Martin, who was in the
96 same same division as your dad, Woody Martin first worked
at a gas station after the war and then he owned a bar.
And one of the stories I read that his son Tom wrote was that

(42:53):
a man that knew Woody said that when people would come in,
either it was either the gas station or the bar, I can't
remember, people would these soldiers would come in and
they'd start talking about theirwar experience and kind of
bragging and things like that. Woody would just busy himself
either sweeping up or doing something else and just walk
away. And this man always thought that
Woody walked away like that because he hadn't served and he

(43:17):
had no stories. And the truth behind it was that
Woody had seen so much raw action that he didn't want to
have anything to do with it. And he thought those men were
braggarts and they should not really be talking about it.
And so he would just walk away from it and distance himself.
Isn't that interesting? That's great.
Yeah. I love hearing that.
You know, as you, as you're talking Ted, too.

(43:39):
One of one of the stories that Ihave that I'm very proud of was
not in the World War 2, but during the Korean conflict.
My dad was stationed in Korea. And one of the things that
really happened during World War2 and during this action was
integration. You know, Truman integrated the

(44:01):
forces. There was a blending of classes,
rich people, poor people, you know, all different colors
eventually, you know, and, and my dad told the story of these
guys, some some soldiers destroying a bike of a Korean

(44:24):
gentleman just just for fun, just just for spite.
And my dad was their, their commanding officer and he made
him go down the group of them apologize to this Korean
gentleman and, and repair his bike, you know, and, and I would
hear that story as a young man and it, it really would, would

(44:45):
make me understand. And my dad came from a, a
redneck Okie background. And in terms of how that did my,
my girlfriend's dad fought at the Battle of the Bulge.
And, and she's Jewish. She's Jewish.
She had a, he had a Star David on his dog tag.

(45:07):
And there was, you know, extra, extra evil done to those
gentlemen if they were caught bythe Germans.
And, you know, these stories that I would hear that were like
that, you know, really implanteda sense of, of, of honor and

(45:28):
pride in me around my dad, even though he didn't, you know,
after the, after the, his time in the service, The big benefit
we had is that we went to the military bases.
I, I was born in a military base.
My sister was, my brother was, we, we shot at the PXI used to
get my Marine haircut done at, at the Marine base $0.25.

(45:53):
You know, it'd be me and my brother sitting in a lineup of
active duty Marines with these two little kids with these big
Marines and the guy at the, and it was literally maybe 20 Barber
chairs. And you'd hear the guy at the
end next, you know, and you'd run down here, you know?
But I was always so proud of my dad's experiences, life

(46:17):
experiences that came out of thewar that kind of made you feel
like, you know, nobody's better,nobody's worse, You know, we're
just all dog paddling the best we can in this deal.
Yeah, absolutely. And in doing this podcast, I
know for myself, and I think Kentoo, is we've come to a better
understanding of who our dad wasand, you know, as grown men now,

(46:40):
a better appreciation of what hewent through.
And, you know, surprised that hedidn't smack us around more
because we were a little creeps and we didn't respect the what
he did. And so, yeah, he he was.
And it's like most of these guysincredible strong and patient
men when it comes to, you know, trying to do what's right.

(47:00):
So let's switch gears a little bit.
We saw some incredible things and I want to get into them
because oh sure, it was amazing.So one of the best and one of
the coolest places you took me to was Tustin that had these old
blimp hangers. And I didn't even know that
these blimps were used during World War 2.
And you said, I think that you kind of remember growing up with

(47:23):
those hangers there. Can you give us a little?
Back Well, yeah. So these were on the lighter
than air base, lighter than air base blimps and LTA Tustin.
And they are two of the they were two of the world's biggest
wooden structures in the world. And they are big enough make
one, they say 17 stories. Wasn't it something, something

(47:46):
ridiculous? You know, you, you can't get
close enough to them so you can see the scale.
But when I was young and that was one of the places we'd get
my haircut for $0.25 you we would pull on that base.
So all of that area we went to Chris, that road that we
shouted, that was all part of the base at the time.

(48:06):
So those were very far away. You got to realize Orange County
when I was growing up was, was orange Groves and ranches, you
know. And so I, I remember very well
those bases and one of them burned down not too many years
ago. So it's very, very sad that we

(48:27):
lost one of these pieces of history.
But yeah, it's an amazing structure.
It's, they use it for film locations now and it's one of
those hidden and plain sight things that that I'm glad our
show can educate people, particularly this new generation
that really, you know, you see how quickly stuff gets lost, you

(48:52):
know, I mean, it's, it's amazingthat we don't retain more of
this history better. So that's that's part of our
goal. So, Pat, the Tustin hangar
fires. What was that like?
You because you were living during that time.
I was, and it's not that long ago.
I think it was maybe 3 or 4 years ago.

(49:12):
Oh. That recent?
That recent and, and it was a big, big story and it for the
unfortunately for the wrong reasons that that we lost this
incredible piece of World War 2 history.
But because of the time, the toxic materials that came off of
this giant hanger, they had to evacuate neighborhoods that were

(49:36):
downwind from the hanger. So it and it was it was one of
those things that reminded me really of the fire there at
Notre Dame, you know, where, youknow, you're burning something
so old that there's no, you know, flame retardant, there's
no, you know, it's old, old, oldchemically soaked materials.
And so they couldn't put it out for a long, long, long time.

(49:59):
So it was, it was a big, it was a big story here.
I bet you can see that from miles away.
You could. Yeah, You could.
Yeah. It was.
It was very sad because those were two mementos from my
childhood that, you know, one ofthem's gone.
And. They're just, it's just, it is,
it is like driving by a common day stadium, you know, like you

(50:22):
drive by an indoor stadium and it's this huge complex.
That's what these these hangers are like.
It's amazing. Supposedly it had its own
weather that would be clouds would condense in this thing and
it they would they would drip. It was so big, you.
Know and the marine layer would actually build up in the inside
the hangers actually. Wow.
One other thing I want to circleback on Pat was when you visited

(50:44):
with Jack, he mentioned to you or you had shown him an
Arrowhead pin on your dad's jacket that even stumped Jack.
And so I'm really curious about that Arrowhead pin.
So yeah, so Jack found that it was actually a pin I had loose,
not the one that the one on thisjacket is the amphibious
landing. OK, so.

(51:04):
This is a separate Arrowhead pin.
My dad had some loose pins and and this was one of them and it
has a little triangle in it. So it and if your viewers, if
you know what the Arrowhead withthe triangle is and I'll post it
on Best of California because that's my next detective job.
And I know you guys have done quite a bit of this as well,

(51:26):
right, Ken? Yeah, and I, and I hope one of
your viewers responds because that's the way we solve these
things and I bet you somebody out there knows that.
But on my dad's jacket, he had he he, we have his Eisenhower
jacket. I think your dad's jacket was a
little bit different model that he that you have there with you.
His was one of the short waistedcoats, the Eisenhower jacket,

(51:47):
and he had on his lapel a pin that was the French flag, and
it's the Free French Forces pin,which he was not allowed to wear
when he was in the army, but he attached it to his jacket later.
We don't know how we got it. The Free French Forces were the
resistance troops. So did he aid them in some way?

(52:08):
Did he meet a, you know, a man or a woman that was part of that
resistance? We still haven't figured it out.
I don't know that we ever will. But it's one of those
fascinating things to think about that our dads brought home
from the war, didn't talk about,and yet we still can't quite
figure out what it's all about. It's a mystery and you think
about it. I mean, did they trade?
Did he run into a French soldierand they traded pins or?

(52:31):
They did so they like, yeah. Exactly.
I mean, I remember when my kid played travel baseball and you
would trade pins with the opposing team.
It was a big deal. So maybe it was something along
those lines. But yeah, I I love these
mysteries. And it's, I mean, we talked
about it and I know Pat, you sawit as my favorite part is that
Dad came home with this prayer card that he made little tick

(52:55):
marks at certain dates. And we didn't know what that
was. And Ken did the research and
found out that those tick marks represented places that Dad's
infantry battalion separate the 99th was.
And so he did this whole detective work and it's amazing.
He just unpacked this whole Pandora's box.
Like you said, it was a Rosetta Stone, if you will, to find out

(53:17):
all these things about where ourdad might be.
So it was these mysteries are are very cool, right?
Well, I did realize that each one of them probably from the
outset had been trained to to keep secrets, to do things in
code. You know, if anybody got
captured, if something got lost,if somebody stole this thing and
said we're attacking on this day, you know, you know, instead

(53:40):
it was little ticks or little things that, you know, he could
do in retrospect without saying giving away any information.
It was. It was pretty amazing.
Yeah, absolutely. And, and thinking about our
special trip and my special tripand our time together in
California, one of the most remarkable places, is something
I didn't really know too much about until I talked with you.

(54:03):
Was this site in Goleta right where a Japanese sub attacked
the continental United States? Yeah, I think it's easy,
particularly people that don't live on the West Coast to not,
you know, what you think of the war in Europe and you think of
Britain being attacked. You know, there wasn't too much
of A thought that New York was going to get attacked, you know,

(54:26):
but being where we are on the West Coast and the fact that,
you know, Japan made it halfway to us by hitting the wine
islands, there was a very real concern that that would that's
why they were blimps, because they would, they were patrolling
the West Coast in the lighter air base.
But this place in Goleta happened a few months after

(54:49):
Pearl Harbor and submarine surfaced.
I can't remember the number of the submarine.
I think it's in the segment we did and, and shelled an oil
field. I mean, it was a strategic
shelling. It was a going after oil
supplies and there was an oil field there.
And Goleta still is a functioning oil field in Goleta,

(55:11):
like a lot of the coast of California.
And it blew up a pier and some derricks and the whole city lit
up, you know, and people were upon their roads trying to, you
know, 'cause I mean, you think about this, you know, it, it
feels almost silly. And there was that great, there

(55:31):
was that silly movie 1941 that, oh, you know, Oh my God.
But it was a very, very real fear that, you know, and, and
part of why the internment campshappened, you know, was this
idea of the other coming to get us, you know.
You speak of that movie, you know, and, and that was John

(55:51):
Belushi, if I'm if I'm recallingthe correct movie.
And yeah, it was a farcical kindof movie.
But that was one of the only representations of what they
call the Battle of Los Angeles when we talk about that on your
show as well, where they were scared, you know, and so I think
a meteorological balloon was flying by and they didn't know

(56:12):
what it was. And they opened up fire and this
battery shot and it and they spent all these shells on there.
And it turned out, you know, like it was just this balloon.
Yeah. A.
Couple people got killed I believe.
Yeah, it was, it was horrible. And you think about that, you
know, and we, the only way that we can, you know, come to terms
with that is probably how scaredwe were, you know, on no, you

(56:36):
know, on September 12th, you know, the day after 911 in 2001
where we didn't know what was going to happen next, you know,
shortly thereafter. And we were fearful.
So I can only imagine what the West Coast was thinking about
because, you know, being somebody that's from Colorado
now, I live in the Midwest, we don't realize how close, you

(56:56):
know, that whole West Coast was to being a big part of the war.
Yeah. So that was the the whole attack
on continental United States. I believe there's there are some
ships N that were also sunk by one of the submarines.
So there's some offshore casualties and not human
casualties, but some boats that are still out there off of

(57:21):
Cayucas. The damage wasn't too great to
to that, but they had to, you know, of course, tear a lot of
that down and some amazing things happened to some of the
remnants, right? So this was, and this is kind of
how the whole thing unfolded. This is why I love this
detective work, is that I went in to this place for my show

(57:44):
called the Timbers Roadhouse. And I was having lunch there.
And the guy started talking to me and he said, you know, I see
those burn marks up there in thein the wood.
And I said, yeah, he said, well,that's from the Japanese attack.
And I said, wait a minute, that Japanese attack is close to
here. So oh, yeah, Golita Beach, it's

(58:05):
right right down the street here.
And I just went, Oh my gosh, youknow, and and that was what I
connect. I knew about the attack, but I
didn't know where it was and that it was it was this place.
So can it was fun to take Chris from the actual battlefield and

(58:25):
say, Hey, you want to go and have lunch and see some vendors
of that battlefield. And he's like, what are you
talking about? They did the same thing, put it
up into the rafters and and there are these burn Marks and
it's whatnot. It's, it's incredible,
incredible. Well, I have to ask you, Pat,
and this is really important formy next trip to California.

(58:46):
How is the food at the Timber Roadhouse?
The most important thing? See.
See this oil boomer generation, You know, we're talking about
all this horrible stuff. And you know, my latte wasn't
quite to my liking, kid. No, I'm kidding.
Now as good food as I recall, I I think I had a salad or what?

(59:07):
What did you have? I had like a fried chicken
sandwich that was really tasty. And yeah, we had, we had a good
time there. And it's just kind of weird to
be part, you know, you're in this historical kind of place
with these things that were, youknow, destroyed and then then
they reclaimed it. And then there's a great story

(59:27):
behind it with the owners and whatnot.
So, yeah, it was it was just it was a wonderful trip.
And Pat, I can't thank you enough for inviting me out.
I know that we kind of connectedworking on your show.
And then, you know, we talked about both having World War 2
dads and, and how much, you know, that meant to you.
And I said, you know, you got tomeet Ken, my brother.

(59:49):
We do this whole podcast and we just kind of spun it all into
this whole thing. You know, Ken got the, you know,
the bonus of going and retracingdad steps to, you know, Europe
and looking at all that kind of stuff.
I got to go on my own and see the stuff in California.
So I'm getting there, just not as fast as can and not as far
just yet. Well, I don't know.

(01:00:10):
Thank you so much, Chris. It was so great for you to come
out and thank both of you for reigniting my interest.
I'm, I'm a history buff, but it tends to be California history.
But when you can attach history to a person, particularly if
it's a family member, what a difference it makes.
And I, I don't know if both of you have the same regret, but my

(01:00:32):
regret is that, you know, this travel didn't happen while they
were alive, you know, and that, that, you know, I think about it
now. I think about all the places I
traveled all over the world in my career and I couldn't.
I grabbed my dad, throwing him on a plane and taken him to OAK
an hour, you know, and I didn't do it, you know?

(01:00:52):
You know, Pat, it's so funny yousay that because Chris and I
talk about that a lot, how we missed the opportunity to talk
to Dad about these experiences because, you know, when we were
younger, we were so busy starting our own lives.
We didn't stop and think about their lives.
And now that we're older and they're gone, we're starting to
do that. And unfortunately, they're not

(01:01:14):
here to speak to them, but with our detective work, we can
figure those things out. And, and I have to say, Pat,
from one son of a World War 2 dad to another, it's been great
to learn about your World War 2 dad and hear about his history
and the connections it has to mybrother in law's dad that was in

(01:01:34):
the same division. It's just such a small world.
Well, the fact that both of our fathers but in two of the worst
battles star the biggest battles, European theatre,
Battle of the Bulge, Pacific Theatre, Okinawa is saying a
lot. You know, I mean, we, we were
raised by some pretty tough guys.

(01:01:56):
We feel proud. We do feel proud.
You're absolutely right. Ken and Pat, please share with
us where people can see Best of California.
Sure. So we air all over the place
nationally. We're here in Los Angeles on
BTVKAZA and up and down California CW affiliates.

(01:02:17):
But probably the best thing to do is to go to bestofcal.tv
where they can kind of see wherethey can air it in their own
area. I also just tell people anymore,
just put go into their whatever their cable services or whatever
they're watching and do the search.
Pat Patterson Best of Californiaand it'll come up.
It's on Roku Tubi so you know. And you have a website too with

(01:02:41):
some past episodes, is that correct?
Yes, you can go to YouTube and and here again go to Best of
California, Pat Patterson's Bestof California.
Yeah, thanks. Terrific time.
No my friend, it was wonderful. You had this great thought and I
really enjoyed our time togetherand maybe if he's nice to me,
I'll bring the older brother with me the next.

(01:03:03):
Time I'll do it and a heartbeat can you got to come out to and
be a ball. Yeah, I'd love it.
That's a lot of fun. And he had me run him around
Hollywood, too. We did a little Hollywood.
Scene. Hollywood forever.
So it was a lot of fun. Good times.
Thanks again, Pat. We'll talk to you soon.
Thanks, Pat. It was so great to talk to Pat

(01:03:23):
and learn about his World War 2 dad, and it was amazing to me
that he felt the same way we didabout the regret we had that we
didn't ask these questions of our fathers when they were still
alive. But also the urge we also have
to learn about their World War 2history.

(01:03:44):
Yeah, it's driven us to do what this is our 8th episode of this
podcast where we're striving to learn more about our own father
and then in the course of that, learning about other World War 2
dads out there. So it has really given us this
fire, right, That we have to learn as much as we can because
there's a little bit of regret that we didn't do it when these

(01:04:04):
great men were alive, right? Right.
That's exactly right, Chris. So one other thing, Ken, that I
didn't get to share with you, and I wish Pat and I would have
an opportunity to kind of explore this a little bit more,
but some of the research and some of the information on
balloon bombs. A a balloon bomb.
What's a balloon bomb? Balloon Bombs.

(01:04:26):
So back I learned this is prettycool.
Back in November of 1944, Japan started launching what were
called Fugo balloon bombs, whichwere filled with hydrogen and,
and they're more like a paper like material because the rubber
that we use for a balloon of this sort, you know, think of a

(01:04:46):
weather balloon was so scarce back in that that time.
So they filled these paper and some other material with
hydrogen and they had these balloons that carried a payload
of £411.00 incendiary devices and 133 LB high explosive anti
personnel bomb. And they would put these bombs

(01:05:09):
up into the, you know, the jet stream and they would be carried
over hopefully in their mind to the United States.
And I guess some of the things that they were looking to do is
start forest fires with them. Isn't that crazy?
That's incredible. So they weren't able to steer
them at all. They just launched them and
hoped something would happen. Yeah, it was, you know, there's

(01:05:33):
no controls and they just wantedto either start, you know,
forest fires or, or just create panic that this could happen to
you. And, you know, a couple of them
were found after the war, I think in North America.
They had about 330 that they discovered, which was more than
you'd ever think because I neverheard about this, right, these

(01:05:55):
remnants of these bombs. And unfortunately, there was one
that was lethal that happened upin Oregon.
And if you think about it, that was probably only the fatalities
on the continental United Statescaused by an enemy combatant
because, you know, no, not that I know of other than Pearl
Harbor or any Americans, you know, Nets not even continent of

(01:06:17):
the United States. And it wasn't the United States
at that point, right, But the continent of the United States
with these balloon bombs that caused, you know, casualties
like that. So it was incredible.
Some of them, I guess, were shotdown and they were even found.
These remnants of these balloonswere found like up until 1970,
they were still discovering thembecause if you think about it,

(01:06:38):
they put them up in the jet stream.
They have no idea where they're going.
They went all over North America.
So they, you know, land in forests or deserts or wherever.
And some of those places haven'tbeen really, you know, too
inhabited, so. That's really interesting.
I I didn't know that story aboutWorld War 2 and that we were
attacked here in the continentalUnited States and we and we
actually lost lives. I'm assuming they were civilians

(01:06:59):
just. By hazard stance, yeah, there's
no way to direct these things. They couldn't put them to a
military base or any kind of they just kind of they're
somewhat terrorists of the day if you think about it, where
they didn't really care where itwent.
So it isn't pretty incredible. So about this California trip,
I, I just thought it was, was really cool.

(01:07:20):
I have to tell you, I was amazedat how California really wasn't
prepared for this war. And if you think about it, they
maybe should have been because of how close they were to Japan.
But I think the events of Pearl Harbor really just woke them up
quickly. And we talked about it with Pat,

(01:07:42):
how that, you know, in Galita with the I-17 Japanese sub
attack that happened, you know, couple months after that.
We also talked about how, you know, I discovered when I was
with Pat that in like Christmas Eve, right after three weeks
after Pearl Harbor, there's a planned attack on the San Diego

(01:08:02):
Bay because, you know, that was a big naval base been too.
So what I thought was remarkable, and that was called
off, thank God, about 20 miles outside of the Bay.
But what I think is remarkable is that they weren't prepared.
But boy, did California get geared up quickly.
You know, those blimp hangers were built.
They built up such an incredibleresponse and got so ready that

(01:08:26):
it's, you know, it spurred on a whole new industry that still
exists today. I mean, California is so well
known for aerospace and aviationand defense research and R&D and
manufacturing. And you got to think that's
credited to, you know, how they had to get ready for World War
Two in a hurry. Yeah, it is fascinating to think

(01:08:46):
about and the California's such a strategic location relative to
the Pacific and the the defense we have to have from there, as
well as the offensive things we can do launching out of there
and and having so much military along that coastline ready to
react to any kind of situation in the world.

(01:09:07):
Yeah, it's, it was amazing. And I was so thankful to Pat and
the ability to go out and and see those things.
And I know there's probably somefuture trips for you and I to go
investigate these things becauseit, it's a passion of ours.
And as we discovered, everywherewe go, there's a story of
another great soldier from this Greatest Generation in World War

(01:09:29):
2, right? Yeah.
Well, Kent, you know, we are at the end of another episode
episode. They just seem to go by so fast
when we do these things. So I know you as well as I
really are so grateful to our viewers and listeners for, you
know, enjoying the journey with us, right?

(01:09:50):
Absolutely. We're so thankful to have folks
tell us their stories and we'd love to hear from you.
So don't forget to drop a comment below on YouTube, leave
a review on the audio podcast, or send us a message at our
World War twodad@gmail.com. That's our WW2 dad@gmail.com.

(01:10:16):
Yeah, we really appreciate it and we want to continue our
journey and finding out more about World War 2.
Dads, moms. I talked about the wax and we
really like to learn more about everybody that served because
they're always, like we said, a story out there.
And before we go, we got something incredibly special
lined up for our next episode. We have a powerful conversation

(01:10:39):
with a World War 2 doctor's son and grandson as they share
incredible stories of their father and grandfather's
service. And this doctor was serving with
our World War 2 dad in the same small 99th Infantry Battalion
separate. So you really don't want to miss
that episode. I'm so looking forward to that.

(01:11:00):
So for my brother, Ken Canjella,I'm Chris Canjella, and we thank
you for joining us for our WorldWar 2 Dad.
Thanks for watching and listening to our World War 2
Dad. Please remember to like and
subscribe and turn on that notification bell so you don't

(01:11:20):
miss an episode. And if you're just listening to
the podcast, please leave us a five star review.
We would really appreciate it.

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Episode 8: California WWII Sites, Veteran Stories, and Rare WWII Artifacts | Our WWII Dad

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Episode 8: California WWII Sites, Veteran Stories, and Rare WWII Artifacts | Our WWII Dad