what did your relations do during ww2

[Taupotreeman]

Awesome thread. Managed to speak to a few old guys who's property we worked on before I left the UK. When you could get them talking they had some Great War stories. Just like this thread; all very personal. I'm forever sorry that I really wasn't interested or didn't fully understand the wars when I had the chance to talk more with my relatives. It is too late now and even my dad and his siblings are only just founding out the real stories about their father.

 

 

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[Old Mill Tree Care]

My Grandad (mothers side) was a General in the Polish Cavalry.

Horse back in WW1 and then mechanised in WW2.

 

He and his men were captured by the Germans and sent across the North Sea in German uniforms as a decoy.

They put their hands up when they arrived and spent the rest of the war in a camp near Edinburgh.

My grandad never returned to Poland and while cycling to his job as a gardener, he was killed by a milk lorry in 1974.

 

 

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Edited December 27, 2013 by Old Mill Tree Care

[djbobbins]

My grandparents were all farmers so reserved occupation, my grandad on my father's side was in the Royal Observer Core spotting German bombers flying up over the edge of the Peak District to bomb Manchester and Liverpool. The post he was based at was about 200m up the road from the farm where my father grew up and is still fairly intact today, thanks to volunteers and the fact it was kept in service until 1991 as a Cold War post. It was marked on maps as a reservoir when I was a kid and I remember vividly during the mid-80s our school teachers insisting that's what it was, even though most of the kids in the village had seen people in forces uniform attending there at some point.

 

http://www.28dayslater.co.uk/forums/roc-posts/33203-rushton-spencer-roc-post-cheshire-group-september-08-a.html

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-20070903

 

 

 

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[Treemon]

Not WW2 related but my great uncle Jim was mentioned in dispatches twice for taking out machine guns . I've got these mounted on the wall , they are signed by the then minister for war Winston Churchill.

 

 

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[Pete Hart]

One grandpa fought the japs (never spoke about it/apparently wouldn't ever buy anything made by the Japanese!) only thing we know is he was sent to Hiroshima to help rebuild after the a bomb, he died young of cancer (no doubt there was a connection) so I never met him.

 

Other other grandpa was an aeronautical engineer and worked on designing supermarine then de haviland planes, so he never saw 'action' but he went on to design the TSR2 and then was project director for Concorde.

 

Great uncle was in sherwood foresters as was great grandpa but both died in combat somewhere in France (we've been trying to establish more details lately).

 

My uncles father fought the Germans at monte casino and couldn't ever speak about it. If asked about it he would burst into tears. He seemed completely traumatised by it poor old boy.

 

Makes you realise just how lucky we are when you read all these amazing accounts of bravery and sacrifice.

They should never be forgotten.

[Frankie Lawrence]

My grandparents actually meet in the line for the army.. My nan who was seeing an Irishman ( she's predominately English with an Irish parent) accidentally went in the quee for the welsh guards as opposed to an Irish regiment... My grandad obviously showed his charm and married her after the war and remained together for ever... He was very well respected in the welsh guards and while I've never meet him ( passed away) was real character! As was she when my mum asked what she'll give up for lent she said "sex" shed been widowed for 20 years and was 85!

[LGP Eddie]

What a brilliant thread, I could read these all day!

 

My late Father was an anti aircraft gunner on HMS London, and I'd like to get the new Arctic Star medal that was released as he served on the Atlantic Convoys, but sadly my Mum won't really speak about it.

My late brother passed his medals to his son, and I'm still furious about it. I'm my fathers surviving son and they mean an awful lot to me.

 

I also had an Uncle who was always a bit of a hero to me, absolutely huge guy who gained your respect the second he set foot in the room. He was heavily into large construction plant (big Dozers etc) which obviously fascinated me.

Sadly he passed away all too soon, but I'd like to find out more of him after being told by my Mum he was a shadow of the lad who went to war.

He drove a Dozer in the war and ended up burying bodies at Belsen with one, which obviously had a massive effect on him.

[daveindales]

What a brilliant thread, I could read these all day!

 

My late Father was an anti aircraft gunner on HMS London, and I'd like to get the new Arctic Star medal that was released as he served on the Atlantic Convoys, but sadly my Mum won't really speak about it.

My late brother passed his medals to his son, and I'm still furious about it. I'm my fathers surviving son and they mean an awful lot to me.

 

I also had an Uncle who was always a bit of a hero to me, absolutely huge guy who gained your respect the second he set foot in the room. He was heavily into large construction plant (big Dozers etc) which obviously fascinated me.

Sadly he passed away all too soon, but I'd like to find out more of him after being told by my Mum he was a shadow of the lad who went to war.

He drove a Dozer in the war and ended up burying bodies at Belsen with one, which obviously had a massive effect on him.

 

I also knew a bloke who buried the bodies at Belson with a bulldozer. I thought he was the only one. Things must have been that bad, that they needed a few to bury them all.

[daveindales]

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:

 

It should be quite easy to find your grandfathers service record. Next of kin can apply to have it sent to them. You should be then able to find out which ship he was on when it got sunk. I got my grandfathers service record quite easily. Takes a few months though.

[onyx landscaping/fencing]

The sad thing is though that for every amazing story that we have been told there are hundreds that never got to tell there story.

 

R.I.P to all those that didn't get to share there story