[RobertB]

My dad was born in 1907 and spent most of his life working on cars or selling parts. I learned a lot from him, and he gave me my first Model at at age 9. It only took me 53 years to buy another one!

Dad could take a barrel of brake shoes and sort them by application by sight, and the same with generators, starters, and even armatures.

Last summer I went to my first cousins 100th birthday party...and danced with her! She spent most of WWII in Seattle repairing torches and guages for the guys building liberty ships.

Her brother was there and told me how he landed in his Sherman tank at Normandy on D5, made it through the Battle of the Bulge (both tanks on each side of him did not) and how he made it until Germany surrendered.

But, perhaps the most interesting story was one I heard a couple of hears ago from my wife's cousin. He had gone to school before enlisting and had a bachelor's degree in metalurgy. He did his basic training in El Paso, TX (Ft. Bliss).

Upon graduation from basic, he said they were all mustered at the train siding and names were called to board the trains, eastbound for Europe, or westbound for the Pacific.

He was one of five solders left when they stopped calling names and they were told to go back to the barracks until called.

He ended up in Los Alamos, working on the Manhattan Project, as the assistant to the chief metulurgist, who took him back to CT after the war to help him get his Masters degree in metalurgy.

I wish I'd had more time to pump him for details. He passed away last year.