CLOSED.... pls mod delete this thread

Hi

I have rather difficult question, I just try my luck & see if anyone knows about it.

I don't have much data, I don't even know which battlefield, as far as I guess it should be in Pacific theater, where only sand in the battlefield.

The guy had a silver mechanical pocket watch; it belonged to the father. I wasn't sure who was in the war, the father or son, but both of them had blond/light wavy hair up to their middle ears. He had a B&W portrait photo (I dont have the pic), where the father was on the (left) with his son on the (right). The boy on pic at that time was in toddler age, around 5-7 years old. It was a close up headshot portrait til shoulder more or less. Dad carried & hugged his son, so that their heads were at same height & the boy hugged dad around his neck so tighly, their faces touched each other. Similar to this pose but from front


They looked so happy, full of love. They looked into the camera with HUGE bright HAPPY smile as if both of them were saying "cheese" to take a pic. He should take this pic to the war.
Dad had moustache that seemed a bit darker than the hair.
Both hair (on the photo) looked similar to below, but up to ear only & no hair fell on the forehead.



Moustache style of the father on photo looked like below (no beards) but in light color.

The pocket watch was silver with white dial, I cant remember the exact design, but the shape looked like below

The mechanism inside maybe looked like below


High chance, he was soldier from battlefield in iwo jima or place that had dry sand. Another possibility if he was not in the iwo jima battle, He might be on an island where he could see a volcano erupted during the war. I think not many soldiers had such pocket watch, so maybe I do have the chance to find the answer.

Thank you so much

 

What are you trying to figure out? Location of sandy area in Pacifo Theater?

 

Not a lot to go on...He could have been on a beach near Naples, Italy, in 1944, watching Mt. Vesuvius erupt

 

What makes you think he was in the Pacific, specifically Iwo Jima?

 

@Takao
Due to the sand, everything seemed to be pure dry fine sand, not even a living plant I could detect, also no wild grass nor moss visible on the battlefield.The army here were wearing sort of green/camo uniform the ground fighter, the air fighter wore plain overall with pilot helmet, I wasnt sure tho abouth the clothing 100%.

I thought about 2nd battlefield possibility, where he might be, which u had posted, somewhere where the vesuvius could be seen from a far from the battlefield, but if he was from that one, there were short trees with thin branches & scarce leaves on those trees. In that battlefield only very few wild skinny trees seen. Also some of areas on battlefield, some stoned ruins visible. Type of the ground: soil with bunches of little & bulky rounded stones & some bigger rocks. The place had no villagers, pure soldiers. On this battlefield, some soldiers (not sure what kind of soldiers they were, air/ground soldiers) wore white or at least light color helmet, so no clue which country fought with which country in that battlefield. Some others seemed to wear military color.

I found something, an iwo jima survivor (no clue if still alive) that he knew someone wanted to give him the pocket watch while he was alive & handed to his dad, what I am not sure if he refered to the same person, I need to know how was the pocket watch that he saw. But if he was marine, maybe not same person. The guy was involved in air &/or ground combat.
70 years later, Marine veteran, 96, recalls battle for Iwo Jima

Thx for hint, i'll check the one u gave me

@KMZgirl
I'm trying to figure out who was in the war, him or son, his battlefield, his name, city/country of origin

 

Ok. Thanks for the explanation. I'm about to head out this morning. Hopefully we can put our heads together and come up with something. The people in this forum have been a big help to me. I'm not nearly as knowledgeable as the others, but I love a good mystery.

 

Anyone have come to something? Or know the survivor's family I mentioned above to contact to ask?

 

You seem to be describing two different photos, but describe only the photo of the boy and his father...

Have you tried matching the background of the photo ground soldier & aircrewman to known iwo jima photos.

Posting the iwo(?) photo would help.

 

Unless you can recall more info, I don't think we have enough to go on. You don't have the original pictures you described anymore?

 

Nope it was in my head

I wish i could print out from my head
Ok
I will close this thread
Thy so much everyone

PS:
Mod pls delete this thread