美国江湖轶事：从大萧条到二战，祖父辈们的传奇人生（下）

1、During World War II, every thing was heavily rationed so, even though many people had jobs, most consumer goods were unavailable at any price. However, my great-grandfather would travel to El Paso, TX every year to help process cotton at a cotton gin. They were right across the border from Juarez, Mexico so they would cross the border and buy enough of everything that was unavailable due to rationing - such as shoes, tires, coffee, and sugar - that they wouldn't need to buy any more for several months.

（路易斯安那）在二战期间，每样东西都严重依赖配给，尽管很多人都有自己的工作，但大部分消费品有钱都买不到。然而，我的曾祖父每年都要前往德克萨斯州的厄尔巴索帮着用轧棉机加工棉花。当时他们在边境线上，对面就是墨西哥的华雷斯城，所以他们会穿过边境，把每一样因为配给制而买不到的东西买足买够，比如鞋子、轮胎、咖啡和糖，结果他们好几个月都不用再出去买了。

2、My Mom recently told me a story about her Uncle, who had served a in Vietnam. I don't remember a ton of details, but enough. He was doing foot patrol and his squad were patrolling small villages looking for enemy camps. He was very homesick at the time, feeling very low in spirit, with nothing to lift him up. They had came across a small camp seemingly filled with peaceful families, some of them cooking. One of the families offered him and his soldiers to eat some of the rice dish they were having. They were wary at first, but ended up eating with the locals who seemed beyond grateful to have them...he described it as the best tasting meal he ever had, the rice just perfect...warmed his spirit. The mother figure who served them was kind and warm to them, reminded him of his own home, his mother. Even embraced them as they left. As they continued the patrol they came across a hidden hut built into a cluster of trees...filled with the apparent enemy. Several young men were shot and killed by the soldiers, my second Uncle being one of the shooters. It was common practice to leave the bodies and watch them from afar, to see who claimed them...who would then be questioned/apprehended as enemies as well. After a few hours, family members would appear to see if the dead belonged to them. Well...as you can probably predict, my uncle recognized the crying grieving face of the kind woman who served them rice hours before, sobbing over one of the dead men. I'm not sure what happened to the woman, and my uncle was never sure if the woman was an enemy setting a trap or a generous soul with a son lost in war. It messed with him, along with I'm sure a lot of other things he never said.

我妈最近告诉了我一个有关她叔叔的故事，他曾去越南服过役。很多细节我都不记得了，但记得的也够多了。当时他正在步行巡逻，而他那个班正在巡查一些小村庄，为的是找到敌人的营地。那时候他思乡心切，情绪很是低落，没有任何东西能让他振奋起来。他们已经碰到了一个小型营地，住满了貌似爱好和平的家庭，其中有些人在做饭。有一个家庭把他们正在吃的米饭主动给了他和他的战友们吃。一开始他们很警惕，到最后还是和那些当地人一起吃了，后者貌似还挺开心他们加入的…他把这顿饭说成是他这辈子吃过的最美味的一餐，那米饭简直完美…暖到了他的心。那个给他们上饭上菜、扮演妈妈的女人心地善良，对他们的态度也很温暖，让他想起来他自己的家和自己的母亲。在他们离开时甚至还拥抱了他们。就在他们继续巡逻时，碰到一个很隐蔽的小木屋，建在一堆丛生的树中间…里头挤满了明晃晃的敌军。好几个年轻人被这些士兵射杀了，开枪的人中间就有我二叔。留下尸体不管然后在远处观察，看看谁会来认领尸体，这在当时是通行的做法，而来认领的人之后就会被盘问，或是以敌人论处。几个小时以后，家庭成员们为了查看尸体是否是他们家的，就会现身。好吧，正如你可能已经预料到的那样，我的叔叔认出了那张哭泣的悲痛欲绝的脸，正是之前那个送他们饭吃的好心女人，她正在其中一具男尸旁抽泣。我不太确定那女人后来发生了什么，而我叔叔也一直无法确定这女人是暗设陷阱的敌人，还是一个慷慨大方的、在战争中失去了儿子的人。这事儿困扰过他，我敢肯定还有其他很多他从未说出口的事情。

Another story...my grandfather served in WW2, he was the radio operator for his crew. He didn't tell many stories, but he did talk a little about the day they marched through Berlin as the Allies began taking control...and how all the street signs were vandalized by the Nazis to confuse invasions, they were pointing in the wrong directions or destroyed, making navigation tough in the city, and they got repeatedly lost.

还有个故事…我爷爷参加过二战。当时他是他那个班组的无线电话务员。他讲过的故事并不多，但他确实小谈过他们行军穿过柏林的那天，因为当时盟军已经控制了局面…还有就是，街上所有的路标都被纳粹刻意破坏了，为的是迷惑入侵者，它们要么指向的是错误的方向，要么被毁掉了，想在这座城中找到方向非常困难，而且他们不断地迷路。

3、My grandpa, who is korean, tried to defect from south korea to north korea right before the korean war because he was a cigarette smoking socialist intellectual. in all the pictures we have of him he's wearing black turtleneck shirts and dark shades. he got shot as he was trying to cross the dmz and was nursed back to health by a farmer. then he went back home raised a family and had my mom and a bunch of other kids. my mom said she remembered seeing a huge indentation in his shoulder where the bullet hit him when he would bathe. she said you could pour water in it like a bowl.

（南德克萨斯）我爷爷是韩国人，就在朝鲜战争爆发前夕，他曾设法从韩国叛逃到朝鲜，因为他是一个认同社会主义、好抽烟的知识分子。在我们手头所有有他的照片里，他都穿着黑色的长颈外套，戴着黑墨镜。他在试图穿过非军事区的时候被人开枪打了，然后在一个农民的救助下恢复了健康。然后他就回到了家里，成了家，接着就有了我妈以及一大堆孩子。我妈说过，她记得在她爸洗澡时，见过他肩膀上的一处巨大的凹陷，那是被子弹击中的地方。她还说过，你可以往那凹陷里倒水，活像个碗。

4、One of my granddads told a story about how he was in a baboon hunting squad because they would wreck the local farms (South Africa)

（匹兹堡）我其中一个祖父讲过一个故事，说的是他曾加入过一个猎杀狒狒小队，因为它们会破坏当地的农场（那里是南非）。

My other one has more stories. He went to Virginia Tech (VMI at the time) and him and his ROTC buddies pulled a prank by bringing a cow from the local farms into the dormitories and giving it laxatives

我另一个祖父的故事就更多了。他去上了弗吉尼亚理工大学（当时还叫VMI），他和陆军预备役军官训练营里的那些哥们搞了个恶作剧，从当地农场里拐走一头牛牵进了宿舍，然后喂它吃了泻药。

He was also in the Korean War and has told me about how they were given really shitty beer and a lot of liquor. But the British, they had Heineken. So they traded their liquor for Heineken and somehow used some part of a plane - he was in the Air Force - to make it into a cooler which they put the beer in so they could have ice cold beer

他也参加了朝鲜战争，而且告诉过我，当时发给他们喝的啤酒和烈酒有多烂。但那些英国人，他们有喜力啤酒喝。于是他们就拿着烈酒去交换喜力，不知怎么的还用飞机的某些部件（当时他在空军）做成了冰镇器，他们会把啤酒倒进去，这样就能喝到冰镇啤酒了。

He was then discharged dishonorably from the Air Force for landing a plane belly down...

之后他以很不光彩的方式被踢出了空军，就因为他用机腹着陆…

5、Dont have the details since I'm in bed, but one of my great granpa served on a submarine, became a moonshine gangster during prohibition, and then rejoined the navy

（北卡）我没法给出细节，因为我在床上，我的其中一个曾祖父曾在一艘潜艇上服役，他在禁酒令期间变身为一个酿私酒的匪徒，之后再次加入了海军。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

6、My grandpa was drafted into the Army in the late 50s and was stationed in Germany where he served with Elvis. Apparently they would get Elvis to sing when they would go to bars and stuff. He says that even then a lot of Germany was still bombed out and some towns were so bad they just moved the whole village several miles down the road instead of trying to rebuild. Apparently even then a lot of the older Germans still hated Americans, especially ones that had kids die in the war.

（肯塔基州）我爷爷在五十年代末被征召入伍（陆军），然后被派驻德国，他在那里和埃尔维斯（猫王）一起服役。显然，他们在去酒吧或是之类的活动中会让猫王唱歌。他说，尽管那个时候德国很多地区仍然是被炸成废墟的状态，有些城镇被毁得太过彻底，他们就干脆把整个村子沿着路搬到了几英里以外的地方，而不是设法就地重建。显然，即使到了那时，还是有很多老一辈的德国人恨美国人，自己的孩子死于战争的那些人就更是如此了。
原创翻译：龙腾网 https://www.ltaaa.cn 转载请注明出处

7、My grandpa was in the Navy in WW2.

二战的时候，我爷爷在海军服役。

When he was stationed in port somewhere in Africa he paid a rediclous amount money, like half a weeks wages, for a cucumber and tomato salad. He was just so sick of the food on the ship and he wanted something fresh.

当时他驻扎在非洲的某个地方，他砸下一大笔钱，相当于半个星期的薪水，就为了买一份黄瓜番茄沙拉。那时，军舰上的伙食他实在是吃得快吐了，就想吃点新鲜的。

He also came across some German POWs when in port in Europe. He traded a chocolate bar for one of their Nazi armbands. He had it in a display case and placed a wooden hand in front of it flipping it off

他在欧洲的港口碰到过一些德国战俘。他用一根巧克力棒和他们换了一枚纳粹臂章。他把它陈列在一个展示柜里，还在它前面装了个用来翻转它的木把手

8、My grandfather worked for Al Capone when he was a child, smuggling alcohol. Soon after that he joined the U.S Navy and was in world war 2, whilst he was there a Japanese submarine attacked the ship he was on and the area that exploded he was right next to. He had hearing problems for the rest of his life but he stayed in the Navy for about 10 years, long enough to be a Korean war vet too.

（印第安纳州）我爷爷还是个小孩的时候，曾为阿尔·卡彭工作，干的是偷运酒的工作。之后不久，他就加入了美国海军，也参加了二战，那时有一艘日本潜艇攻击了他所在的军舰，发生爆炸的区域正和他相邻。他在余生里都要忍受听力问题，但他一直都待在海军中，约有十年的时间，这时长让他又成了朝鲜战争的老兵。
（译注：阿尔·卡彭（Al Capone，1899年-1947年），系二十世纪二三十年代最有影响力的黑手党领导人，根据地在芝加哥）

9、I recently learned that my great great grandmother was involved in a family scandal and that we have an entire second family we never knew about.

（纽约）我最近了解到，我的曾曾祖母被卷进了一桩家族丑闻，我们从来都不知道她还有第二个家庭。

My mom’s mom was from an Irish family who immigrated to the states after the potato famine. My grandma’s grandmother (my great grandmother) married this guy in Ireland who happened to have the same last name. Nobody thought this unusual since it was a pretty common name in Ireland. They had an son (my great grandfather). However, the marriage was annulled because the church discovered that they were actually first cousins. My great great grandma took the son to the States and remarried and had 4 kids.

我妈妈的妈妈出身于一个爱尔兰家庭，他们在马铃薯饥荒（即爱尔兰大饥荒）后移民到了美国。我祖母的祖母曾嫁给一个爱尔兰男人，他的姓氏碰巧和她一样。没有人会觉得这很反常，因为这是一个在爱尔兰烂大街的名字。他们育有一个儿子（也就是我的曾祖父）。然而，这桩婚姻被取消了，因为教会发现他们实际上是表兄妹。我的曾曾祖母便带着她儿子去了美国，然后再婚，并生了四个孩子。

10、My fathers father served in the Navy in the Pacific Theater. Apparently his boat had a homosexuality problem. 2 gay (and apparently quite good looking too) guys apparently convinced a straight guy to try butt stuff. All 3 were dishonorably discharged.

（纽约州）我爷爷在太平洋战区的海军中服役。显然他的军舰出现了同性恋问题。似乎有两个弯的（显然颜值相当高）说服了一个直的去尝试屁股活动。这三人全都被很不光彩地开除了。

My mother’s father served about 10 years later in West Germany in some sort of engineer role. Basically to rebuild infrastructure I think. His last name is of Polish / German origin. So the locals would pronounce like how it would be pronounced in German. According to him the locals were quite respectful and favorable to him. He says he had a lot of meals and drinks bought for him in his time there. This culminated in one night at the bar. His commanding officer said there’ll be physical punishment if he finds in the morning that someone went to the bar that night. So of course my grandfather and his buddy went to the bar. A guy notices his last name on his uniform, he ends up eating and drinking for free that night. Him and his buddy get back to the barracks perfectly without any issues or disturbances. The next morning goes off without a hitch. However in the afternoon the sergeant tells him, “I know you went out last night” and he’s absolutely dumbfounded as to how he was discovered. Sergeant goes on “I’ve got dinner with the mayor tonight and he said he met you at the bar last night and he requested you join me.” In the end he gets two nights in a row of free food and drink

大约十年后，我外公在西德服役，担任某种工程师。我感觉，基本上搞的就是基础设施重建。他有个源出波兰/德国的姓氏。所以当地人会用德语念出它的正确发音。根据他的说法，那些当地人相当尊敬他，也很挺他。他说，他在驻扎此地的时段内，别人请他吃了很多顿饭，也请他喝了很多酒。这种盛情款待，在酒吧的某一个晚上达到了高潮。他的指挥官说过，如果他早上发现有人在那天晚上去了那家酒吧，就要受到体罚。所以，我外公和他的哥们当然就去了那家酒吧。有个家伙注意到了印在他制服上的姓氏，结果他那天晚上的吃喝全部免单。他和他哥们神不知鬼不觉地溜回了营房。第二天早上也非常顺利地离开了。然而，到下午的时候，中士告诉他说，“我知道你昨天晚上去了。我今晚要和市长共进晚餐，他告诉我说，昨晚他在那家酒吧里碰到你了，他还要求你今晚一起来。”到最后，他获得了连续两个晚上免费吃喝的待遇。