What did you do in the war?

[sapper]

What mob was he in Lee?

[4th wilts]

i have no idea brian,but was a l.a.a regt.also remember he was part of a division.yours,lee.

[penderel]

My Dad was too young, school kid really. He remembers ships coming to Durban South Africa with soldiers and families taking them home with them for food and to hang out. His Dad was in WW I in the South African Army in France, I don't know much but he was in the trenches, I have a few pictures of him in France.

My Moms Dad, was also in the South African Army, He was a truck drive, he was posted to Egypt, come to think of it I have a picture of him in Egypt on pass. He was a POW in Italy campo 52 and in Stalag 344. I have quite a few letters from him and 6 cards from POW camps.

[dbf]

My father served as a Sergeant in Belfast in the Home Guard, joining when only 15 or 16. Later he was in the 3 Bn Irish Guards; he enlisted successfully the second time at age of 18, having used forged papers the first time when underage. He started his training in ’43 and went on to Normandy a couple of weeks after D-Day, at the age of 19. The 3 Bn fought their way to Germany, my father being wounded once. He is still telling his stories and will be 84 this year.

Post war he joined the Merchant Navy, like his cousin who was in the Irish Guards and then served during WWII in the MN.

Another cousin of his was in the RAF as ground crew.


My grandfather was also in the Micks during WWI, but in ‘39 he enlisted with the RA. He trained with them and was a sergeant serving in Belfast during the Blitz. After the war he was considered to old to go overseas with his battery. All 4 of his brothers served with British Army.

His wife was a nursing auxiliary in Belfast during WWII.

One of his brothers served with North Irish Horse and Royal Innis. Dragoon Guards during and after WWI and for WWII he served in some capacity helping with ‘troop movements’. He lived out most of his civvy life in York.

The youngest of my great uncles was a drummer/bugler in Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers during WWI, but saw action in WWII in NW Europe with the Pioneer Corps. Estranged from the family, he died alone in Manchester, with no family to bury him.

During WWII my maternal grandfather served as a fireman, until late ‘43 when at the age of 35 he was ordered to join 4. Gebirgsjaeger Division. He fought at Kuban bridgehead. He refused promotion 3 times and twice refused the Iron Cross 2nd Class. It was sent to his wife who knew nothing of his wishes. It is known that he threw other official communications in the bin, possibly the Kuban Shield. He was severely wounded in ‘45, having over 60 pieces of shrapnel in his legs. Most of the shrapnel was never removed. He only really discussed one aspect of this time - that of the mysterious disappearance of his young Polish comrade, who joined the German Army as an interpreter, after his entire family was killed by Russians. Decades of searching revealed nothing.

His brother-in-law saw service with the German Army in, I believe Norway, where he is said to have been half of a 2 man outpost. Already suffering from depression, he had a mental breakdown when his 3-year-old daughter and only child died near the end of the War. His first marriage failed as a result.


A relative of my husband’s was a Serg. Pilot in the RAFVR and died aged 20 in 1940 after his plane crashed whilst on gunnery practise. Two uncles of this man died 3 days apart during 2nd Ypres. His father was with AIF in Gallipoli. This entire branch of the family was wiped out as a result of the two Wars.

Another relative of my husband’s, his youngest great aunt, was in the ATS, serving as an ambulance driver, and was killed aged 21 in 1941 during the Belfast Blitz. Her remains were brought home for burial in a container the size of a shoe box.

A brother of hers served with the British Army and was a POW in the Far East. He survived, but returned a broken man. He became estranged from his family, married and moved to the RoI.


My husband’s grandfather enlisted twice with the British Army, lying both times about his age, and served in WWII. We know next to nothing about his service for he refused to talk about it. It has been suggested that he was evacuated at Dunkirk…

And another relative on my husband‘s side, who was awarded a VC in the Boer War, also received a WWII Defence Medal for serving with the RAF in NI. He was in his mid 60s when he was accepted by them for duty!

dbf

[Gotthard Heinrici]

DBF
No wonder you have an interest in WW2, its plastered all over your family's history.

[Auditman]

My dad was "invited" to join the RAF in 1940 in General duties. He spent the Battle of Britain period at RAF ST Athan as a Ground Gunner. His defence status meant he was part of the founding members of the RAF Regiment in 2804 Squadron. He was an armoured car driver (Humber LRC) in the AC Flight and moved to 2777 Squadron in July where Armoured Car Flights from four squadron were merged. He was in Brussels the evening of liberation, around Antwerp at the time of the V2 attacks and served through Holland and Germany, just behind the fighting but close enough to see the outcomes, spending a great deal of time escorting "Boffins" to suspected V1 & V2 sites. he was relaesed in January 1946.

My father in law was evacuated to a family farm in Essex and my mother in law was evacuated to Devon but returned home in time to "ruin her new coat when her chip shop was bombed"

[CROONAERT]

My paternal grandad joined the RA (155bty, 52nd L.A.A.regiment (TA)) in 1937 because his elder brother (who had been in for a few years) said that they had a good snooker table! Only a short war - he left home in September 1939 for France and was back home (in a hospital bed!) by the time that Op Dynamo ended, gaining his discharge due to his severe head injuries. He spent the remainder of the war ,well, 1941 onwards(after a recovery as good as could be expected) as a civilian security guard at some military installation near Birmingham. His brother went on to fight in N.Africa and the Far East and had quite a few eye-opening tales to tell!.

My maternal grandad was conscripted into the RA in 1940 and fought in N.Africa and then Italy (transferring here to the Lancashire Fusiliers and then ending the war with the Loyals). The first in my family to be cremated (after death, of course!) due to his fear of being buried after his experiences in an Italian cemetery under bombardment!

Maternal grandma was in the ATS, but I know nothing of her (and probably never will), and my paternal grandma (after the return of my grandad) probably spent the remainder of the war developing into the bitter, twisted old hag that she was to become later!

Dave

[sapper]

Tomorrow is the 64th anniversary of D DAY...And you still make me feel old! by talking about your grandfathers
Sapper

[CROONAERT]

Originally Posted by sapper

...And you still make me feel old! by talking about your grandfathers

Could be worse Brian - my 1st cousin is a grandfather himself and so his grand-daughter could tell you about the first person I mentioned in my post, but refer to him as her Great ,great Grandad!!!

[Canberra Man]

I was 9 years old when the war broke out. My father was out when the Prime Ministers message came over the radio, then the sirens went and my mother bless her, was going round the house with my year old brother in her arms, putting food into bags and taking it out again, she was shouting for Vic (thats dad) It was a false alarm and dad was home soon. He was called up in 1942, he was a spotter for the railways and docks. The authorities found there was too much time lost on the dock and shunting, so they organised training for volunteers in aircraft recognition and various posts were set up in the Grimsby area with two men and a pair of binoculars, if anything suspicious was seen or heard, they would sound an alarm and workers went to shelter. Dad went into the Royal Engineers and they were first into the docks in Belgium, they were checking wagons and still being sniped at! I became the man of the house at 12 and used to look after mum and little brother when the sirens went. Grimsby and neighbouring Cleethorpes went down in history as the first targets for the so called butterfly bombs. It wasn't news at the time because the government put a veil of secrecy over it, having no feed back Jerry didn't use them any more. I'll leave thinge for now, don't want to be boring, if anyones interested, I'll carry on later

Ken