Taken by my stepfather in 1945. Odd that the missile nose-cone has the word "danger" written in both English and German.
Even the most advanced rocket currently lifting into outer space is nothing more than glorified V2, over 70 years since Hitler's Vergeltungswaffe 2 first lifted off the pad at Peenemünde. The basic rocket was designed by a team that included Wernher Van Braun, who later went to NASA and built the Saturn boosters.
While the V2 was a terrifying new weapon, more people were actually killed building the rockets than by any bombings conducted with them.
Photo was printed on NEVR-FADE paper on July, 30, 1945.

Tags:   1945 Britain German V2 London V2 WWII World War II bomb missile Fred Fred (Joseph Alfredo) Wernher Von Braun rocket explore nevr-fade Aggregat-4 Vergeltungswaffe German Second World War ballistic missile drone

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This photo will be part of an exhibition in Pisa that will begin the 9th of October and will continue until the 15th of November 2014. Information should be available here:
acquariodellamemoria.it/

My stepfather in Italy during WW II; the one on the right.
He joined the Navy as soon as he was eligible. And the war turned out to be the great adventure of his life. He served for two years on a Liberty ship -- these were prefabricated cargo ships often built in less than a month. Noted for their ugliness, FDR called the Liberty ship "a dreadful looking object."
Fred was the gunner. However, since the guns rarely worked -- "We were sitting ducks," he'd say -- he helped out in other areas. He was often put on ice-cream detail
Born in the tiny town of Carolei in Calabria, he came to America when he was two years old. Imagine his emotions on returning to Italy, only sixteen-years later, as an American sailor.
On my last visit, my stepfather did not remember me. But the war and every port-of-call, along with my mother, will surely be the last memories to vanish from his memory.

Tags:   1945 Fred Fred (Joseph Alfredo) Italia Italian-Americans Pisa Sicilia WWII leaning tower sailors World War II Italy guerra marinai Americana Italo-americani explore

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Fred and Rudy ran off and joined the Navy during WWII. Frankie, in the middle, joined the army and ended up in Patton's brigade, fighting his way up the Italian coast. There was always something a little shell-shocked about Frankie.
For my stepfather, those years were among the happiest -- certainly the most interesting -- years of his life. His memories always returned back to that time.
His father owned a bar on 116th Street in Harlem. Fred also worked there as a kid. The war was their great escape, the great adventure of their lives, as odd as that may seem to us now.
Top row: Rudy, Frank, Fred (Joseph Alfredo). He was Fred most of his life and then later took up Joseph.
Bottom row: Lena, Evelyn and Vincenzo.
Except for Rudy and Evelyn, they were all born in Carolei, Calabria.

The sign behind time reads: BACK UP THE BOYS, FLATTEN YOUR . . . ? Any ideas about the missing words?

Tags:   1940's Evelyn Frank Fred (Joseph Alfredo) Italian-Americans Italians Lena Vincenzo Vintage World War II

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He joined the Navy as soon as he was eligible. Served for two years on a Liberty ship -- these were prefabricated cargo ships often built in less than a month. Noted for their ugliness, FDR called the Liberty ship "a dreadful looking object."
Fred was the gunner. However, since the cannons rarely worked -- "We were sitting ducks," he'd say -- he helped out in other areas. He even made ice-cream.
On my last visit, just a few weeks ago, my stepfather did not remember me. But the war and every port-of-call, along with my mother, will surely be the last memories to vanish from the oblivion of his memory.

Tags:   Bronx Fred (Joseph Alfredo) Italian-Americans NYC New York Sicilia Vintage WWII World War II foto d'epoca sailor stepfather

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My stepfather took this in 1945. I'm guessing that this is Antwerp. The V1, ancestor of the drone and cruise missile, was fired principally at Antwerp towards the end of the war, and the sign in the photo is in Dutch and French. My stepfather was a sailor and so all the photos are in port towns.
The V1 was notoriously inaccurate, so the German woman pilot, Hanna Reitsch, proposed pilot guided suicide missions. She was the first to volunteer. The Luftwaffe, however, didn't think kamikaze missions were a good idea and even Hitler was lukewarm about the project.

Tags:   German V1 V1 World War II missile rocket Fred (Joseph Alfredo) Fred 1945 Antwerp WW II bomb Vergeltungswaffe flying bomb drone buzz-bomb doodlebug Peenemunde

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