what did your relations do during ww2

[PeteB]

Mum's Dad ran a Post Office and was the ARP Warden but was a sniper at Ypres in WW1 where he met his future wife who was a nurse.

 

Dad's Dad was in the Sherwood Foresters Regiment and walked across Africa then back and then up Italy and back before getting injured in a truck accident. He is 103 this year.....

 

Dad was a Pilot for the RAF from the late 1950s upto the late 1980s. One of his postings was flying a Valiant or Victor bomber with a nuclear payload and insufficient fuel to get back from Russia during the Cuban Missile Crisis on the Quck Reaction Force. He also flew a spy plane around the Mediterranean, Africa, the Near and Far East. He was on the Ops Wing to get the Vulcan to Port Stanley and back in the Falklands Conflict and was days short from that campaign medal.

[Brooklandsbob]

Mum's Dad ran a Post Office and was the ARP Warden but was a sniper at Ypres in WW1 where he met his future wife who was a nurse.

 

Dad's Dad was in the Sherwood Foresters Regiment and walked across Africa then back and then up Italy and back before getting injured in a truck accident. He is 103 this year.....

 

Dad was a Pilot for the RAF from the late 1950s upto the late 1980s. One of his postings was flying a Valiant or Victor bomber with a nuclear payload and insufficient fuel to get back from Russia during the Cuban Missile Crisis on the Quck Reaction Force. He also flew a spy plane around the Mediterranean, Africa, the Near and Far East. He was on the Ops Wing to get the Vulcan to Port Stanley and back in the Falklands Conflict and was days short from that campaign medal.

 

Saw that documentary about the Stanley raid something else eh?

[Arbtech Tree Services]

Interesting thread.

 

My (maternal) Grandfather was RN and was sunk but survived. To this day i wish i could find out the name of the ship so i could dive the wreck. He passed over twenty years ago. When my Grandmother passed eighteen months ago we found that all his memorabilia/medals/history was gone, possibly taken by a carer? At my Grandmother's funeral i found out that one of her older sisters flew spitfires out to the bases once they were built (was she the first female to do so?) It's prompted me to reread her eulogy - what a life she lived, as did so many of our predecessors.

 

So sad that it's only now i'm in my forties i take an interest in all this:thumbdown:

[Brooklandsbob]

What a generation they were and still are! The hardships they withstood and survived and their kind are still with us, serving in our armed forces and public services only let down by politics and poor management!

[AHPP]

No Messerschmidtt pilots mentioned yet...

 

My lot were all involved in agriculture so no particular heroics. A close family friend (all 5' of him) landed at Normandy with a Bren gun. Got injured a couple of weeks before close of play. He's pretty quiet about it but when asked has some mindblowing stories.

[daveatdave]

my dad was in the r/e missed d day by four days (due to age) got assigned to a Canadian regiment went across a fortnight later through Belgium Holland then Germany building pontoon bridges across the Rhine at Colon he said Churchill was in the next pontoon one day when they came under attack, wife farther was in the navy then the black watch, her uncles one in Sisely another in Africa another was a pow on the Burma railway

[Peasgood]

I am eternally grateful it was them rather than me.

 

One grandfather was a scientist and the other a farmer, both reserved occupations.

The one that was a farmer was in "Dads Army" as it was referred to earlier in the thread. I don't know about heroics but I do believe they played an important role nonetheless.

He was awarded a medal for his services and it was presented at Buck palace I believe.

I do know he was provided with a free rail pass to get there but had to take his own food.

They also provided overnight accommodation, in Wormwood Scrubs!

 

My ex's grandfather was a Navy Captain in the Atlantic convoys, he told me a few tales!

As I said, I am glad I wasn't there. No wonder so many refused to talk about it.

[JimM]

Paternal grandfather was in the Royal Signals. Did Africa, Italy, France, Germany. The YMCA they had tea in in Cairo is still there.

Got bombed in Caen, we think mistakenly by the RAF (the lines were very fluid then). He died before I was born. Luckily we have all his medals, a tiny Spitfire made out of Messerschmitt plexiglass, and his letters to my grandma.

My maternal grandfather was in a reserved occupation in the railways at the Springburn works in Glasgow.

[easy-lift guy]

My Father served in the USAAC rank of Tech Sergeant. He was stationed at Fort Mead Maryland. I have some where a picture of him posing with another flyer in front of his Piper Cub. I have been told he would patrol the Eastern Seaboard coastline looking for U-Boats for Bombers to finish off. My Twin Uncles Leo and Joe both served in the ETO and landed on Normandy first day of D-Day. Both held the rank of Sergeant in the US Army. My Uncle John was a Medic and also landed at Normandy. During action he was hit by a shell fragment in the throat and was sent home with a medical discharge. My Uncle Al also served in the US Army and was another Sergeant. He did serve in the ETO,however I do not have as much information about him.

My Uncle Henry served in the US Coast Guard and was stationed state side.

The most interesting Uncle was my Uncle Stub. Actual name"Aubrey" Uncle Stub was a runner and Motorcycle Dispatch Rider for General Patten. One story I have been told was when my Uncle Stub was sent to a forward operating base with a specific message for a Major. Seems my Uncle made it to the encampment without any issues and the guards in front of the Majors tent check his id and let him pass. A Captain met my Uncle just inside of the tent and asked him what he wanted?. My Uncle said I have a message for Major. The Captain said I will take that message to the Major. My uncle said No Sir.

Understand that my Uncle was to hand deliver the message with a reply from the Major. Seems the Captain was a little pissed off that this Sergeant was not willing to budge. The Captain told my Uncle you will hand me that message or I will have you arrested. My uncle took a step back and said No Sir this message is for Major only.

 

The Captain ordered the Two MP's in front of the tent in and told them to arrest my Uncle. My Uncle pulled his carbine up in front of the Captains nose and said, with all do respect Sir, if you take this message away from my I will be forced to blow your brains out. Within a few seconds the Major entered from his portion of the tent/office and asked what was the meaning of this. My Uncle lowered his carbine and asked the officer if he was Major and the Major said yes I am. My Uncle told him he had a message from Division for him and only him to read, reply. The Major told the Captain and the Two MP's they were dismissed. My Uncle was told by the Major to follow him and after he had read the message and prepared a reply told my Uncle what happened tonight did not happen, is that clear?. My Uncle followed orders and went back to his CO's HQ. O by the way the Captain from what I have been told was some guy in intelligence named Henry Kissinger. My Uncles lived through WW II and returned to America to merry and raise future generations.

easy-lift guy

[tarzan]

My grandad was in the 8 armerd division in Africa fighting Rommel then he was drafted in to the first SAS regiment. my family didn't find out that until 5 years ago and still he's war records are top secret till this day. He passed a way in 1965 and my aunty said that he never spoke about his time in the Amy to no one. And the only story we have about him was he went for a **** some were and nearly done a **** on tank mine. And my nan was a air raid warden for hither green.