An abandoned WW1 underground hospital

[tamrock]

I was just emailed this link. Even though it's from back in March, I think it's very interesting. How this remained so well preserved all these years fascinates me.

MIND BLOWING: An abandoned WW1 underground hospital - Carriere Suzanne


My granddad was over in the trenches of France and I'm glad to have been at the age to hear his stories of that time in his life. I'll post a couple pic's of my dear old granddad. In 1918 he was 27 yrs. old and over in France and then again at 86 or 7 ? at the VA hospital or the place he called the Solders home where he died with his fellow American solders. I still remember him bouncing me on his knee and singing Goober Peas. I asked why he sang that song and he said it was his favorite marching tune when he was in the Army. He's the fella second on the left of the 1st pic. I have a silver ring he wore that he told me he made in the trenches out of a silver french coin of some kind by beating the rim of the coin with a spoon and carving the center out with his jack knife. Thanks for meeting my dear old granddad. I just loved that man and the stories he told me of his time here on this earth.

 

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[Bullet:Mich.]

That was a good article. Thanks for posting. It did bring back a lot of memories of the stories my Grandfather used to tell me about being in the trenches and the enemy throwing the gas canisters into the trenches. The gas in the trenches caused my grandfather a breathing problem his whole live. He was drafted into the army after he left the Amish Settlement when he was 18 yrs old. The reason the army drafted him so quick was because he was a Blacksmith and he could speak and write the German language fluently.

 

[tamrock]

That was a good article. Thanks for posting. It did bring back a lot of memories of the stories my Grandfather used to tell me about being in the trenches and the enemy throwing the gas canisters into the trenches. The gas in the trenches caused my grandfather a breathing problem his whole live. He was drafted into the army after he left the Amish Settlement when he was 18 yrs old. The reason the army drafted him so quick was because he was a Blacksmith and he could speak and write the German language fluently.

Thanks Bullet. Grandpa's are great. This one was the only granddad I really ever got to know. Most of the men of their generation had to weather the great depression on top of all the other hell the men of power put them through in their time... Funny how some generation fare over others. Now you get a no cost cell phone courtesy of the "find a job" with it, paid by the tax payers and government programs for those who can't find a job, Like a free cell phones going to add motivation to look. Mine and your granddads could only find a job by getting out and showing their willingness to do what ever it take to put food on the table.

 

[Bullet:Mich.]

Back in my early years the family's were a lot bigger and it took a lot of work to feed and raise a family. I was young when it was time for my Grandfather to step down or retire from his regular work so even though he was still busy all the time my Grandfather always took the time to set down and explain to me and my brothers the answer to our questions in life or how to do things that we hadn't learned yet because our Father worked off the farm a lot and he wasn't there to help us. Now that I have stepped down I have tried to do the same for my Grandsons.

 

[huntsman53]

Thanks Tamrock for the link and for telling about your Grandfather! My Grandfather on my mom's side is the only grandfather I ever knew and wish that I had been able to spend more time with him but my Grandmother would not ever let that happen. I don't know if she hated my Dad or her daughter who was my Mom but every time we would would visit, we would barely get in the door and she would ask when are you leaving. My Grandpa served in the Spanish-American War, I recently found that he also worked on the Manhattan Project in Oak Ridge, Tennessee building the first Atomic Bomb but I do not know if he also served in WWI but I would imagine that he may have. The Letter we have for his' service for work on the Manhattan Project dated 6 August 1945 (see pic below) plus his' service during the Spanish-American War spans a period of 47 years. I only knew him as my Grandpa who was a retired Barber that taught Barbering at the (I believe) Knoxville Barber College, that he served in the Spanish-American War and loved to grow Grapes, Muscadines, Peaches and Apples!


Frank

 

[Charlie P. (NY)]

My Grandad was too, but he never talked about it - at least to whipper-snapper me. I'd love to be able to sit down with him as an adult and learn about his time there. Lt in the Sixth Inf. Co., Fifth Div.



Taught me about fishing and gardening, though. At least he tried to. ;-)

 

[tamrock]

Interesting stuff on your Grandfather Huntsman. I wonder if the Atom Bomb will ever be used again in the future?. A involvement in the Manhattan Project does certainly put your Grandfather in one of the most pivotal points in the history of mankind and his ability to war against his enemies. I grew up thinking I'm glade we have such weapons in my Country. I miss my brother who died in 1972 and the studies we would do together at designing our fallout shelter that we never did get around to ever building. We were kids, but the research we did made us believe we wanted it to be lead lined concrete for the most effectiveness. We'd a never had that bond to work as brothers together on something if it wasn't for the involvement of the work your Grandfather and others succeeded at... My Great Granddad enlisted the service when he was 31 during the Spanish American War. I know little of where he was in it all and I never knew him. His name was Charles Cooper and my middle name Charles was given to me in his memory. He was my dads grandfather. I've only have the one photo of him and my great Grandmother Maude (Seeley) Cooper. Their son Robert Cooper would be shot down and lost in the North sea on April 15 1943 in a B17 Name Spare Ball, flying with the 511th BS, 351st BG out of Polebrook England. No one on the B17 Spare Ball was ever recovered.

 

[huntsman53]

Great post Tamrock and thanks for sharing! I would hope that your Great Grandfather and my Grandfather knew each other and were not only friends but comrades in that War! Oh, if all of us could only go back in time, sit down with our ancestors and talk about their experiences and gain some of their knowledge, things might actually be better than they are now and in the past 100 years. Through genealogy research done by my cousins and others and online information, we have found that in our family, some of my Great Great Grandfathers, some of their brothers and family members were lost in the Civil War, family members were lost in both Great Wars and my Great Grandfather about 5 times removed, was a First Sergeant and Minuteman in the Revolutionary War. While we will likely learn all about them when we pass on, it sure would be nice if we had the opportunity to go back and visit them in this life! I often wonder what they would think if they actually got to meet their Great Great Great Great Great Grandsons/Granddaughters!!?? There is quite a bit we know about my Dads family and a little on my Moms family but there is so much more to research, learn and contemplate!


Frank

 

[tamrock]

I watched this series on the PBS channel called First Peoples. All I can say is we'd be surprised at who all and how it ended up being who you and I are. These scientist on the show, believe that we today are a high-bread of some folks living today and some who are extinct. Makes me wonder what the descendants of you and I will wonder about us? I thinking they'll refer to use as the pre human enhanced GMO culture. When I was young I could not stop thinking of what the future will be like. Now I just want to ignore it. Just like my Granddad did. He had a TV but always listen to the baseball games on the radio, til he past. I do the same with the NFL games because I'm a lot of times driving for work. Some how I can understand and feel why he liked it his way and from his time following sports or walking to the store. He didn't like automobile and never had one or a drivers licence. He either walked to town, took a bus or train when he came to visit.

 

[tamrock]

My granddad told me a lot about trench warfare, goose step'n Germans, mustard gas and the weapons he used in WWI . He'd tell me how he'd pass the time in the trench and when he went to take a dump and came back to his position and another US solder stole his blanket and he bust the guy in the nose to get it back. Maybe a lot of his stories were fictional, but I sure enjoyed them. When I worked in the mines the old timers would start with stories of war time and some other old timer would always comment, with Aw hell!, here we go again with another one of your war story's. Some of those were pretty outlandish, but they sure enjoyed telling then to us younger fellas. I'll never forget some of those. My dad on the other hand never spoke of his time in Korea.

 

[huggis]

Love the story of you and your grandfather. My dad was in Italy world war 2. I still have his uniform and hold his stories in my head. Thanks for sharing.