What did your family do in the war?

[A.Saturnus]

My paternal grandfather was a lawyer who was then commanded to fight at the Eastern Front. His brother died. He was lucky not to be killed or captured. He died 20 years ago from a heart attack. My grandmother gave birth to may father in Würzburg in the year 1943 during bombardments. She´s lucky to be alive too.

My maternal grandfather took part in the invasion in France. He was very soon captured by British troops and remained the rest of the war in a POW´s camp in England. He later said that that was the best thing that could happen to him. He died two years ago.

[Cebei]

...your granddaddy shoveled s-it in Louisiana

10 points goes to the one who knows who said this..


Turkey was not in the war, so my grandies just carried on with their job as surgeons. (can you imagine a family full of surgeons?)

[king steven]

you should all be very proud of them.

[ThijsP]

My grandfather grew tobacco in the holland during the war.

[Red Peasant]

Well, in honour of D-Day.

Paternal grandfather was an infantry SM (Highland Division), who took part in the Normandy Landings, and lost his legs to a mortar shell when his unit was ambushed near Caen. Strangely, he started his army career in the early '30s as a trooper in the 17th/21st Lancers (the 'Death or Glory' boys of Charge of the Light Brigade fame), yet ended up in an infantry regiment because of the dearth of professional NCOs. He lived a long and productive life, always cheerful despite the regular visits to hospital to pull more bits of shrapnel from his beaten up body.

Maternal grandfather, went to the bottom of the Arctic Sea in his Royal Navy 'Q' ship, whilst helping to protect the Russian convoys. Mum never knew him as she was only a tiny baby.

Rest of the family were busy dodging the Luftwaffe's finest on the streets of Liverpool, the second most consistently bombed British city after London.

Salute to them all, and everybody else's courageous forebears.

[Vlad The Impaler]

My maternal grandfather was officer and fought on eastern front in Romanian Royal Army.he was captain and commanded an unit of anti-tank guns .ge fought at stalingrad and escaped from encirclement and after that fight with his AT sqadron in Romania , Hungary , Czechoslovakia .He was decorated and after war refused an scolarship to soviet military academi Frunze .he become math teacher .he died in 2000 telling me jokes on the hospital's bed.

My parental grandfather fought as infantryman at stalingrad , some division in 3rd army and were MIA there , probably dead.my grandmother never heard of him after Stalingrad.

My maternal grandfather's brother have an interesting destiny.He was alpine troops major and fought in Caucasus.an german officer ordered him to attack an russian village.he was aware that an full attack during the day will send his men to death .he protested that he dont have artillery support even.when the night comes he aproach the russian village ant took it with almost no casualties.but he goes to martial court and go to prison.
when the russians come he get out and fought in Transilvania against horthyst and german troops.
but russian read his dossier.he was PhD in law at Sorbonne and one of the brilliant lawyers of Romania. too burgeois for the commies so he go to prison again.he get out in 1951 and worked 10 years as an construction worker.he died of pneumonia.

[scooter_the_shooter]

my grandpa was a tank commander for a while then he was an interagator for a while then a gunner on a tank and some other stuff

[shakaka36]

my maternal grandmother and her father both served in the dutch resistance during the war. my fraternal grandfather fought in the pacific theatre, and my maternal grandfather was imprisoned by the nazis

[nightcrawlerblue]

My grandfather (my father's side) was on an aircraft carrier I think. He died when I was really young and I don't know that much about him.

[Magraev]

Well in typical danish fashion my grandfather (living in a small town in the middle of nowhere) once told me, that the only change during the occupation was that you couldn't get cofee and there was a single german fellow living at the railway-station...

[Obex]

My maternal grandfather was a pilot. He spent most of his career flying B52s, but Im not sure about what he did during the war.

My paternal grandfather was an army sniper. He was 18. He refused to speak of his time in germany, and died before i was old enough to try to get him to open up.

My grandmothers were both active at home, helping with food rationing and supplying the troops with clothes and equipment.

[frogbeastegg]

My maternal grandfather was a research scientist, working on projects like rubber alternatives (this evolved into plastic) and parachute silk replacements. He's dead now, lung cancer caused by the chemicals he worked with.

My maternal grandmother worked in our city council house in the stores. She's still alive, most of what she will say about the war is civilian things like trying to find somewhere to live as a young married couple.

My paternal grandfather was in the RAF but I don't think he flew, more like ground crew or similar. He doesn't talk about the war much.

My paternal grandmother...I don't know, she died when I was so young I don't remember her, and as I said my grandad doesn't like to talk about the war.

[Bezalel]

I never met my grandfather. He survived Omaha beach, but he died 10 years later of lung cancer (damn cigs). He didn't like to talk about it at all. We still have a neat collection of the badges and medallions he aquired in Germany. My favorite would be a Panzer battalion badge.

[Lord Ovaat]

My uncle Jake (yes, I said uncle) was with the Big Red One in a rifle company. Lived all the way from Normandy to the end of the war. Wounded a couple of times, but lived. One of the few riflemen to accoplish that it seems. He's been dead for some time now. Interesting person.

[Louis de la Ferte Ste Colombe]

On my father side... My grandfather was exempt.
They start by fleeing from Paris to Southern France, were in Orleans when the Brit bombed it on their way south, my grandmother still talk about how the Brit missed the train station, bombed the cemetary, with body parts flying all over the place...
Once they arrived in Southern France they tried to keep as low a profile as possible.

On my mother side... It's more interesting. They lived in Limousin, a stronghold of french communist, with a strong resistance movement (many communist were also resistants). My Grandfather was too young to join the war in 1940, but was a FTP on D Day trying to stop the 2nd SS division Das Reich as they were going North to Normandy... He lived very close to Oradour, where, as the SS got frustrated by their slow progress North, the whole town got killed and burnt on June 10th.
He was then mobilized in the growing french regular army end of 1944 as a pioneer (well, he was making bridges, destroying minefield... this kind of thing), and ends up the war in Germany in 1945.

Louis,

[chunkynut]

My paternal Grandfather was a butcher at the time and was not drafted as it was a suppossedly needed vocation at home. My paternal Grandmother was born in 1906 and dead 2 years ago, she remembered Zeplins being shot down over Greenwich Park in WW1 and was evacuated with my uncle during WW2.

Both of my maternal Grandparents were children and endured the Blitz but their brothers were soldiers and seaman. One greatuncle died being torpedoed and another was a soldier but i don't much about him. My grandfather however was drafted just after the war as a supplies guy in Egypt with the RAF as they were pulling out.

[Dhepee]

Quote[/b] (Cebei @ June 06 2004,13:40)]...your granddaddy shoveled s-it in Louisiana

10 points goes to the one who knows who said this..

George C. Scott as Patton, in the opening speech in the film which is compiled from several speeches that the general gave to his troops during the war.

One day years from now when you have your little grandson on you knee you won't have to say 'I shoveled shit in Louisiana'.

[scooter_the_shooter]

my granpa also cracked down on a black market in the military.


one of his freinds was an indian(native american) he caught the thives red handed he was not suposed to do any thing. just tell his officer or somthing and he would take care of it. but he busted them. next day they found him with a knife in his back in a canal

[dessa14]

my paternal grandfather, fought in the Dutch underground, blowing up german equipment.
thanks, dessa

[king steven]

this might b a little off key but my grand-dad(my dads side)
was on the somme (sorry) & my mums dad was a chef.

[Lazul]

Well being swedish I have more to be ashamed for then be proud of. My grandfathers (mothers and fathers side) both hated nazis that I know. But as swedes the war ment only crappy food and that you wernt allowed to leave your light on when it was dark.

Well I can tell you this, my fathers father, was in the swedish infantry guarding the border to norway. One day after they heard that the nazis had invaded Norway they saw a company of norweigian artillery driving fast as hell with smoke all around them.
The norweigians just drove past them waving and I bet, happy that they where still alive. A few minutes after they spotted german armor raceing towards them.
Now, at that time, the swedish army was crap, my grandfather had little or no ammo for his rifle and the rest of the infatry at that spot had no AT weapons what so ever.
And at this time, they didnt know if they germans dared to drive over the border.
So theere they stod with a few trucks and some rifle, maybe a machinegun, with panzers heading straight towards them.

Luckely the germans made halt just infront of them, turned and drova back. Thank god for that.

[king steven]

Quote[/b] (Lazul @ June 09 2004,16:16)]Well I can tell you this, my fathers father, was in the swedish infantry guarding the border to norway. One day after they heard that the nazis had invaded Norway they saw a company of norweigian artillery driving fast as hell with smoke all around them.
The norweigians just drove past them waving and I bet, happy that they where still alive. A few minutes after they spotted german armor raceing towards them.
Now, at that time, the swedish army was crap, my grandfather had little or no ammo for his rifle and the rest of the infatry at that spot had no AT weapons what so ever.
And at this time, they didnt know if they germans dared to drive over the border.
So theere they stod with a few trucks and some rifle, maybe a machinegun, with panzers heading straight towards them.

Luckely the germans made halt just infront of them, turned and drova back. Thank god for that.

lucky bastards

[Lazul]

Quote[/b] (king steven @ June 09 2004,17:02)]

Quote[/b] (Lazul @ June 09 2004,16:16)]Well I can tell you this, my fathers father, was in the swedish infantry guarding the border to norway. One day after they heard that the nazis had invaded Norway they saw a company of norweigian artillery driving fast as hell with smoke all around them.
The norweigians just drove past them waving and I bet, happy that they where still alive. A few minutes after they spotted german armor raceing towards them.
Now, at that time, the swedish army was crap, my grandfather had little or no ammo for his rifle and the rest of the infatry at that spot had no AT weapons what so ever.
And at this time, they didnt know if they germans dared to drive over the border.
So theere they stod with a few trucks and some rifle, maybe a machinegun, with panzers heading straight towards them.

Luckely the germans made halt just infront of them, turned and drova back. Thank god for that.

lucky bastards

Lucky bastards?.... hmm, YEAH... hehe, they wouldnt have had any chance what so ever against a group of panzers

[rasoforos]

I know one of my great grandfathers fought in the Albanian front agaisnt the Italians ( a little known aspect of WW II). Although the army didnt even have tanks they managed to repell the invasion and occupy half of the , under italian control, Albania thus ending Mussolini's dreams of carving an empire of his own. I might be wrong but i think this was the first major victory against the axis.
The problem is that the guy , who i dont remember, was a very modest person. It seems that the only thing he ever told to my grandmother about the war was that ' It was very cold in the mountains' and about frostbite. He didnt like the idea of wars. My guess is that he was plain vanilla infantry.
I also know another great grandfather managed to get away with conscription because he had 3 children ( as much as th one who fought basically) and he had a sort of Brittish citizenship or something ( its a bit obscure since my father's side of a family are too proud or pompous to reveal more :P)