美國江湖軼事：從大蕭條到二戰，祖父輩們的傳奇人生（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）在二戰期間，每樣東西都嚴重依賴配給，盡管很多人都有自己的工作，但大部分消費品有錢都買不到。然而，我的曾祖父每年都要前往德克薩斯州的厄爾巴索幫著用軋棉機加工棉花。當時他們在邊境線上，對面就是墨西哥的華雷斯城，所以他們會穿過邊境，把每一樣因為配給制而買不到的東西買足買夠，比如鞋子、輪胎、咖啡和糖，結果他們好幾個月都不用再出去買了。

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.

我媽最近告訴了我一個有關她叔叔的故事，他曾去越南服過役。很多細節我都不記得了，但記得的也夠多了。當時他正在步行巡邏，而他那個班正在巡查一些小村莊，為的是找到敵人的營地。那時候他思鄉心切，情緒很是低落，沒有任何東西能讓他振奮起來。他們已經碰到了一個小型營地，住滿了貌似愛好和平的家庭，其中有些人在做飯。有一個家庭把他們正在吃的米飯主動給了他和他的戰友們吃。一開始他們很警惕，到最后還是和那些當地人一起吃了，后者貌似還挺開心他們加入的…他把這頓飯說成是他這輩子吃過的最美味的一餐，那米飯簡直完美…暖到了他的心。那個給他們上飯上菜、扮演媽媽的女人心地善良，對他們的態度也很溫暖，讓他想起來他自己的家和自己的母親。在他們離開時甚至還擁抱了他們。就在他們繼續巡邏時，碰到一個很隱蔽的小木屋，建在一堆叢生的樹中間…里頭擠滿了明晃晃的敵軍。好幾個年輕人被這些士兵射殺了，開槍的人中間就有我二叔。留下尸體不管然后在遠處觀察，看看誰會來認領尸體，這在當時是通行的做法，而來認領的人之后就會被盤問，或是以敵人論處。幾個小時以后，家庭成員們為了查看尸體是否是他們家的，就會現身。好吧，正如你可能已經預料到的那樣，我的叔叔認出了那張哭泣的悲痛欲絕的臉，正是之前那個送他們飯吃的好心女人，她正在其中一具男尸旁抽泣。我不太確定那女人后來發生了什么，而我叔叔也一直無法確定這女人是暗設陷阱的敵人，還是一個慷慨大方的、在戰爭中失去了兒子的人。這事兒困擾過他，我敢肯定還有其他很多他從未說出口的事情。
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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.

還有個故事…我爺爺參加過二戰。當時他是他那個班組的無線電話務員。他講過的故事并不多，但他確實小談過他們行軍穿過柏林的那天，因為當時盟軍已經控制了局面…還有就是，街上所有的路標都被納粹刻意破壞了，為的是迷惑入侵者，它們要么指向的是錯誤的方向，要么被毀掉了，想在這座城中找到方向非常困難，而且他們不斷地迷路。

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.

（南德克薩斯）我爺爺是韓國人，就在朝鮮戰爭爆發前夕，他曾設法從韓國叛逃到朝鮮，因為他是一個認同社會主義、好抽煙的知識分子。在我們手頭所有有他的照片里，他都穿著黑色的長頸外套，戴著黑墨鏡。他在試圖穿過非軍事區的時候被人開槍打了，然后在一個農民的救助下恢復了健康。然后他就回到了家里，成了家，接著就有了我媽以及一大堆孩子。我媽說過，她記得在她爸洗澡時，見過他肩膀上的一處巨大的凹陷，那是被子彈擊中的地方。她還說過，你可以往那凹陷里倒水，活像個碗。
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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)

（匹茲堡）我其中一個祖父講過一個故事，說的是他曾加入過一個獵殺狒狒小隊，因為它們會破壞當地的農場（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

我另一個祖父的故事就更多了。他去上了弗吉尼亞理工大學（當時還叫VMI），他和陸軍預備役軍官訓練營里的那些哥們搞了個惡作劇，從當地農場里拐走一頭牛牽進了宿舍，然后喂它吃了瀉藥。

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

他也參加了朝鮮戰爭，而且告訴過我，當時發給他們喝的啤酒和烈酒有多爛。但那些英國人，他們有喜力啤酒喝。于是他們就拿著烈酒去交換喜力，不知怎么的還用飛機的某些部件（當時他在空軍）做成了冰鎮器，他們會把啤酒倒進去，這樣就能喝到冰鎮啤酒了。

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軍，就因為他用機腹著陸…

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）我沒法給出細節，因為我在床上，我的其中一個曾祖父曾在一艘潛艇上服役，他在禁酒令期間變身為一個釀私酒的匪徒，之后再次加入了海軍。

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）我爺爺在五十年代末被征召入伍（陸軍），然后被派駐德國，他在那里和埃爾維斯（貓王）一起服役。顯然，他們在去酒吧或是之類的活動中會讓貓王唱歌。他說，盡管那個時候德國很多地區仍然是被炸成廢墟的狀態，有些城鎮被毀得太過徹底，他們就干脆把整個村子沿著路搬到了幾英里以外的地方，而不是設法就地重建。顯然，即使到了那時，還是有很多老一輩的德國人恨美國人，自己的孩子死于戰爭的那些人就更是如此了。

7、My grandpa was in the Navy in WW2.

二戰的時候，我爺爺在海軍服役。

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.

當時他駐扎在非洲的某個地方，他砸下一大筆錢，相當于半個星期的薪水，就為了買一份黃瓜番茄沙拉。那時，軍艦上的伙食他實在是吃得快吐了，就想吃點新鮮的。

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

他在歐洲的港口碰到過一些德國戰俘。他用一根巧克力棒和他們換了一枚納粹臂章。他把它陳列在一個展示柜里，還在它前面裝了個用來翻轉它的木把手

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.

（印第安納州）我爺爺還是個小孩的時候，曾為阿爾·卡彭工作，干的是偷運酒的工作。之后不久，他就加入了美國海軍，也參加了二戰，那時有一艘日本潛艇攻擊了他所在的軍艦，發生爆炸的區域正和他相鄰。他在余生里都要忍受聽力問題，但他一直都待在海軍中，約有十年的時間，這時長讓他又成了朝鮮戰爭的老兵。
（譯注：阿爾·卡彭（Al Capone，1899年-1947年），系二十世紀二三十年代最有影響力的黑手黨領導人，根據地在芝加哥）

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.

（紐約）我最近了解到，我的曾曾祖母被卷進了一樁家族丑聞，我們從來都不知道她還有第二個家庭。

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.

我媽媽的媽媽出身于一個愛爾蘭家庭，他們在馬鈴薯饑荒（即愛爾蘭大饑荒）后移民到了美國。我祖母的祖母曾嫁給一個愛爾蘭男人，他的姓氏碰巧和她一樣。沒有人會覺得這很反常，因為這是一個在愛爾蘭爛大街的名字。他們育有一個兒子（也就是我的曾祖父）。然而，這樁婚姻被取消了，因為教會發現他們實際上是表兄妹。我的曾曾祖母便帶著她兒子去了美國，然后再婚，并生了四個孩子。
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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.

（紐約州）我爺爺在太平洋戰區的海軍中服役。顯然他的軍艦出現了同性戀問題。似乎有兩個彎的（顯然顏值相當高）說服了一個直的去嘗試屁股活動。這三人全都被很不光彩地開除了。

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

大約十年后，我外公在西德服役，擔任某種工程師。我感覺，基本上搞的就是基礎設施重建。他有個源出波蘭/德國的姓氏。所以當地人會用德語念出它的正確發音。根據他的說法，那些當地人相當尊敬他，也很挺他。他說，他在駐扎此地的時段內，別人請他吃了很多頓飯，也請他喝了很多酒。這種盛情款待，在酒吧的某一個晚上達到了高潮。他的指揮官說過，如果他早上發現有人在那天晚上去了那家酒吧，就要受到體罰。所以，我外公和他的哥們當然就去了那家酒吧。有個家伙注意到了印在他制服上的姓氏，結果他那天晚上的吃喝全部免單。他和他哥們神不知鬼不覺地溜回了營房。第二天早上也非常順利地離開了。然而，到下午的時候，中士告訴他說，“我知道你昨天晚上去了。我今晚要和市長共進晚餐，他告訴我說，昨晚他在那家酒吧里碰到你了，他還要求你今晚一起來?！钡阶詈?，他獲得了連續兩個晚上免費吃喝的待遇。