Jobs That Would Get You Killed During WWII

Men were lining up to serve their country during WWII, but when it came time to be assigned a particular job, some were way more dangerous than others. Check out the jobs everyone wanted to avoid getting while fighting in World War 2.

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[jag]

Mu grandfather was a B-17 ball turret gunner. He made it through the war, but it messed him up so bad he died of stomach cancer at 50

[m.anthonyc.]

The safest position to be in WW2 would be not existing at all during like all of us

[shawnb]

My father signed up for the Merchant Marine at 15 years old and spent most of his time on the SS Christy Payne. There is an article online about that ship being stalked by German submarines. When he turned 18 yrs old in 1945, he was drafted into the Army and ended up in Nagasaki, Japan. He took a few grizzly pics of the damage, including a shadow imprinted on a wall of a person running as the bomb detonated and incinerated him. I hope that never happens again. Dad enlisted in the reserves after WW 2, probably thinking he was done with war. He ended up in Korea.
He couldn't discourage me anymore than he did from enlisting.

[matthewoneill]

My grandpa was a B-17 ball gunner shot down over Germany and survived pov camp. Frank Bartak.

[ives]

"War's tragedy is that it uses man's best to do man's worst." - Harry Emerson Fosdick

[nschlaak]

I heard a WW2 bomber pilot say that usually the Turret Gunners were removed from the aircraft with a firehose after taking hits from flack and aircraft guns.

[Pegas]

My Grandfather served on the subs during the war, the Navy would put through you various psych tests before you qualify for sub duty.

[GM-twel]

The luftwaffe weren't just attacking England. Glasgow and Belfast were severely bombed due to their ship yards. Britain isn't just England.

[SeanBZA]

My father was a pilot for the RAF, and got shot down over Austria, and escaped. Later on, he was delayed getting to his squadron going to Burma, and when he landed he found he had been battlefield promoted to Wing Commander, seeing as his plane was the sole surviving member of the entire squadron.

[williampage]

FLAK did not identify the 88mm gun, it refers to any weapon that fired timed controlled explosive ammunition. The ball turret was the position with the lowest mortality of any position on the bomber.

[PairyHeeen]

Statistically ball turret gunners had the highest survival rate of any seat on the plane. People assume they had it worst because of the tight quarters and the exposed nature of the ball. Pilots and navigators had it far worse

[leonb]

Thank you for also bringing up the Merchant Mariners. Indeed they are often forgotten for their important and dangerous roles.

[Chronodr-qnvu]

There are very few safe jobs in WW2 though so the title applies to pretty much every role. My great grandfathers (one from each side of the family) were both involved in WW2 and played very different roles, with one being a Morter man and the other a paratrooper. Thankfully they both survived the war and were able to tell their story of their time in the military, it was very interesting and the one who was a paratrooper actually went from North Africa, to Sicily, to mainland Italy, to France, to the Netherlands, and finally to Germany.

[MentalMachine]

Ironically, medics were well protected on the Battlefield.

[charlesjessie]

So the question is this...why did Kamakazi pilots wear crash helmets?

[penguinogaming]

My great grand father was a ball turret gunner In the B-17 he did make it through the war but he was just very messed up person after and he was horrible to his wife he would pass on from cancer at the age of 78. Funny side note his wife lived to 97

[Damdam-ymnt]

you’ve really helped me understand this better, thank you!

[BlenderStudy]

Thank you for the update, The Infographics Show..!! Amazing narration and animation as usual..!!

[ARCtrooperJules]

And this kids, is why you should respect vets and not making fun of them.

[minnesotasquad]

I’ve been binge watching a lot of these since discovering the channel, and I LOVE the content!!

Surprised I’m this early lol