Your Relatives in WW2

My Grandfather was called up as he was serving in the Territorial Army when the war broke out as an Infantry Private in an anti-tank company. His unit was hastily mobilised and narrowly missed being sent to France, which he considered probably saved his life since they were only armed with 2pdr guns and he didn't think they would have stood much of a chance.

He fought through North Africa and Italy, although I don't know what Regiment he was with and he is reluctant to talk about the war, I do know that he was personally on the recieving end of German 88mm fire, which he described as terrifying and MG42 fire which he described as sounding just like a constant drone rather than gun fire.

At the end of the war he was a Sargeant, he stayed in the Army and retired in the 1980s as a Lieutenant Colonel. It still amuses him that of his medals the one that is worth the most is his TA long service medal, not his regular ones.

My grand mother on that side served as a signals despatch rider.

My grandfather on my mum's side was a Merchant Seaman although he died long before I was born, and my Grandmother an auxiliary firefighter in Newcastle.

Unfortunately my Grandmothers are both dead now.

 

I had a grandfather who was a gunner in the canadian tank corps , im not sure what kind of tank he was in , most likely some kind of Sherman . I had another reletive, im not sure what the relation is , but he fought with the americans in North africa , Hurtgen Forest in Belgium , and D-day. One died before i was born , i hardely knew the other one , but from what i hear , they never liked to recall war stories , you'll find that with a lot of veterans . I'll scan some pictures onto my computer and post them here , when i can

 

My uncle got to the ETO just before the Remagen bridge was captured.
I had a Grandfather who fought in Burma.
My other Grandfather was in the ETO as well.He stayed in the Army and was killed in Korea and later awarded the Medal of Honor.

 

My grandmother's brother was a B-17 pilot in ETO. Don't know much as he lived too far away for me to ever meet him before he died.

 

Thanks for the input guys, we owe our grandparents a lot.
Hey, canadiansuperpatriot, I look forward to those pictures.

 

my grandfather was a professional soldier, joined the army in 1919 aged 16.

he was a regimental sergeant major in the welsh guards at the outbreak of war in 1939.
i know that he fought in france in 1940 not 100% sure if he was at dunkirk or was evacuated via brittany later in june 1940.

spent time in north africa in 1941 -42 before returning as an instructor in preperation for the D Day landings.
he then fought in normandy in june and july 1944, before he was shot in the head just outside of caen in the middle of july.
Fortunately he survived and had a metal plate inserted in his forehead and took no further part in the war thereafter.

when i was a boy he used to show me the scar on his head where the bullet had entered.
he never talked about his experiences during the war and died in 1993 aged 91.
he was buried with full military honours with the union jack draped on his coffin and a guard of honour from the welsh guards.

 

i never knew much abt my grandfather...he died when i was very young...although i do know that he is an spy or inteeligent officer in the KMT while my greatgrandfather was a bridager general in KMT...

 

My paternal Grandfather was a captain in Soviet 35th armored division, stationed in south-eastern Poand, just east of Lvov when Barbarossa started. He had a batallion of BT-7s. The whole story of his battles in June is too long to be told here. The army, RKKA, was not prepared for defence. No maneouvers and no training in defensive fighting was done. There were no fortifications on the border. Everybody were expecting an order to attack the Germans very soon. Intelligence about German formations on the other side was gathered.
He described it as one great chaos with constant orders from above to counterattack, instead of forming a defence line first. He was not a devout bolshevik and was very bitter telling about carnagies that took place. . However, he scored some German targets in the chaotic time, including some PzKwIIIs and lateer became a major as a result.
He was able to save some of his BTs and some crews. The BTs were later abandoned altogether, as they were designed to attack in western Europe and use good roads and not Russian mud. Later he led various formations of T-34s and KVs. He described them as superior to German panzer in all respects. However, he was always full of praise for quality of German production and German tactics. He was extremely lucky because he only once had to flee from a burning T-34.
In 1943 he became a colonel and trained young tank crews in the rear. After the war he was sent with equipment to Palestine as a Soviet “advisor” with arms from USSR and Czechoslovakia. The mission was very secret. Being a Jew, he deserted and joined the forming IDF. He did not have to be afraid of persecution of his family, as he had no one left.
His son, my Father was an officer in IDFs panzer force and, funny enough, shot at Soviet built tanks in 1967 and ´73 wars.
My maternal Grandparents survived the war and settled in Palestine, later Israel. They were Polish citizens and as “bourgeois elements” were sent to Kasachstan. They left the USSR with the Polish troops of Gen. Anders and reached Palestine (exactly the same story as Menachem Begin).

 

WOW!
That is story that could be turned into a book, a well-sellin' book!

 

He, he. I´ve no time for it, nor the talent. The facts are also scarce, ´cause Grandpa is dead and only his handwritten, scarce notes are left. Besides, I am a doc, not a writer, but thanks.

 

My great grandfather was in partisans.
Well he was killed by italian so called "soldiers".
He and his guys (he was squad leader) were going to some house to some meeting with other partisans. Man that owned this house called italian troops that partisans commed to his house (he was traitor ) So italians came and killed all of them. :cry:

 

My grandfathers were not involved in fighting. My paternal grandfather was forced laborer in Saltzburg. One of his brothers was PoW ( Royal Yugoslav Army - Captain) in Germany for the entire war. He worked on some farm as labourer. He said that war was not tough on him as germany was short of men ( as he said food was good and women were plenty) He was also teaching local kids mathemathics.
My maternal grandfather managed to dodge forced mobilisation into wermacht as he was classified as non aryan. He was lucky not to be shot as hostage. he was mobilised into wermanshaft ( kind of teritorials ) in late war. He was on Fala hydro-plant ( near Maribor) when it was bombed by allies. His brothers were classified as aryans ( go figure this out) and forcibly mobilised into wermacht. One was killed on Eastern front, other returned and never talked about his experiances. He died before i was born.

 

I'll have pics on here in a day or so.

 

My Grandfather fought in Africa during the war and he was captured and was a POW until the war was over. My Grandpa is 85 now .

 

My father was an enlisted Marine in the Pacific during WW II. He served in the Okinawa campaign. He died in 1983 of heart problems at only 59 years of age.

 

Thought I'd add to this. My father was a Police messenger boy in Aberdeen during the war as he was not old enough to serve in the forces. (no pay but he did get a bicycle allowance )
My Grandfather ( a veteran of WW1 - Sherwood Foresters) was a line trawler man sailing out of Aberdeen and my great grandfather who had been retired was recalled to Hall Russel shipyard in Aberdeen as a shipwright and was involved in the building of small inshore escort vessels and converting trawlers etc as minesweepers.

Both dad and my great grandfather were in Hall Russel's the day it was bombed, dad had cycled down with great grandads sandwich. They were lucky enough to be on the right side of a wall when the bombs fell in the main throughway to the entrance of the yard. Unfortunately the raid had happened as a lot of workers were heading out of the yard to local cafes etc. so there were a number caught in the bombing. Seems the alarms went more or less as the raid came in

 

So young!

Both his enlistment and his death.

Cholbert: I guess you have a lucky family...

 

My maternal grandmother was 12 when World War 2 broke out. My other grandparents were alive during the war too but they're most unfortunately dead.

Her only recollection from that period recounted to me thus far was about a bunch of flirtitous Japanese soldiers beckoning towards a (most probably pretty) young lady.

BTW not too long ago a group of former Korean "comfort women" tried to get compensation from the Japanese government, which, unlike the German government, still refuses to admit to quite a number of war crimes/atrocities or accept any responsibility for the Pacific War, although admittedly they weren't the sole cause of the war either.

 

My mothers uncle Dick was a right gunner on a B-29 Superfortress during the war. His crew was among the very first hand picked crews chosen for B-29's when production was begining. His plane was shot down on August 20th 1944 during a raid (the aircrafts second mission, but the crews first) on the Imperial Iron and Steel Works in Yawata Japan. He spent the rest of the war in a japanese prison camp where a guard smashed his face in with a rifle butt.

Mother also had a cousin who died during the landings on Iwo Jima, though I do not know the details.

 

One of my uncles was a light machine gunner in the 3rd ID in eastern France near Germany. He was in the front about 3 months, had some interesting stories to tell - said he had a lot of respect for German fallschirmjagers, didn't like officers (!). In Jan 45, he was badly wounded by SMG fire (across his waist) while on patrol, left behind in the snow, crawled back, and was sent to aid station and eventually evacuated to a hospital, which finished his overseas service. Another uncle served in an artillery unit during the Bulge. His gun position was hit by German fire, and he was the only survivor from his crew (sadly, don't have any details about his service). My father and other uncles served in non-combat roles. But what's important to realize is that all of the men on both sides of my familiy (as well as my wife's family) all served - the war effort touched everyone.