What did your family do in the war?

[Mount Suribachi]

With it being the D-Day anniversary and all, I thought I would start a thread to honour our Fathers and Grandparents and the sacrifices of their generation.

My paternal grandfather joined the RAF aged 15 as an engine mechanic in 1935. He worked on Spitfires during the Battle of Britain and went on to Typhoons, Spitfires again and finished the war in Germany working on Meteors. After the war he was on Meteors, Hunters, Javelins and Canberras, before retiring in 1970 after 35 years distinguished service. He died in 1991 of Alzheimers.

My maternal Grandfather was an MP - a dreaded redcap He was killed in the 50s when he was hit by a bus, so I never knew him.

My wifes grandfather was a concientious objector on religious grounds. He believed, to quote John Stott that he couldn't see Jesus wielding a machine gun. I respect & understand his position, but I think I would have done what many other Christians in Britain & America did and join as a medic. Both during, and for many years after the war he was poorly regarded by the local community as they felt that he had not done his bit.

So what did your family do?

And finally heres a model I made of a Hellcat Mk l of 800 squadron Fleet Air Arm in D-Day markings

[Monk]

My paternal grandfather i never knew, he died a few years after i was born, and my father never liked to talk about him so i know very little. Though, I do know he fought in the pacific because he brought back a few things that are now in the family.

One was a sword with about a 12 inch blade, it's sheave looks like it was made in the wilderness, pieced together from different types of bark and branches. My father told me he took it off a Japanese officer that had been killed in the fighting. More than that i couldn't say, as i said he passed away when i was very young.


My maternal grandfather fought in the Philippines, though i never got much information out of him, he never liked to talk about it. From what he did tell me he was a rifleman after the war he was discharged and he returned home. He died last December of cancer.

[hrvojej]

Both of my grandfathers were mostly in prison, first because they were opposing the nazi occupation, and later because they opposed the communists. Such is life.

[Ja'chyra]

My papa served in the far east as a driver where he was presented with a photo album by the locals for saving one of the children.

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

My Maternal Grandfather served in the Merchant Navy as a First Mate.

[BDC]

One of my grandads was an RAF engineer mechanic chappie too, in charge of wirelesses. He had such poor coordination he was eventually assigned to a radar post at the far north of Scotland (where he couldn't do any damage I guess lol).

My other grandad was too young, and went down the pits for his national service.

[Teutonic Knight]

My Paternal grandfather served in the U.S. 507th airborne(IIRC) and fought in the battle of the bulge and was in Germany actively until the fall of Berlin.

My Maternal grandfather was a fireman 1st class on a little heavy cruiser called the U.S.S. Indianapolis which delivered the atomic bomb to the island of Tinnian. The ship was sunk on the return trip by a Japanese submarine and my grandfather was killed instantly as he was in the engine room when the torpedo hit.

His name is on this page under SITZLAR, William C., F1

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Quote[/b] (Teutonic Knight @ June 04 2004,22:38)]My Paternal grandfather served in the U.S. 507th airborne(IIRC) and fought in the battle of the bulge and was in Germany actively until the fall of Berlin.

My Maternal grandfather was a fireman 1st class on a little heavy cruiser called the U.S.S. Indianapolis which delivered the atomic bomb to the island of Tinnian. The ship was sunk on the return trip by a Japanese submarine and my grandfather was killed instantly as he was in the engine room when the torpedo hit.

His name is on this page under SITZLAR, William C., F1

At least he wasn't around when the sharks attacked...

[Teutonic Knight]

yeah, I spent an incredible amount of time researching that to find if he did indeed die in the explosion. Upon researching it, the section that the crew say he was in was completely totalled by the torp, so I'm 99% sure he died in the explosion...


I've read a couple of books based on the survivor's stories...gods that must have been such a hell...

900 went into the water, 336 came out

[pyhhricvictory]

One Grandfather in the navy in the Pacific and one in Europe as a supply guy. I had great uncles and grand uncles (?) fighting on the German side. The family had it all covered. My Grandfather that was in Europe had a brother who sat out the war because of bad health and one because he was crazy

[SwordsMaster]

My paternal grandad was one of the first men to fly one of the Mosquito aircrafts. He was born spanish but ended up in Russia after the spanish civil war (1936-1939) and served first as sapper and then as pilot in different airplanes in the Russian army. AS far as I know he missed the take of Berlin because of an operation and later was one of the men who the russians sent to Cuba to help Castro.

In my moms side, most of the family was deported by Stalin, except my grandad, who first fought with the partisans, then ended up in a german prison and after escaping was deported by the communists.

Curious isnt it? my spanish grandad who has never been a communist became a war hero and captain of the red army, and my moms family, all ukranian-polish and as communists as everyone under the regime end up deportated.... ah, life...

[Big King Sanctaphrax]

Quote[/b] (Teutonic Knight @ June 04 2004,22:45)]yeah, I spent an incredible amount of time researching that to find if he did indeed die in the explosion. Upon researching it, the section that the crew say he was in was completely totalled by the torp, so I'm 99% sure he died in the explosion...


I've read a couple of books based on the survivor's stories...gods that must have been such a hell...

Wasn't there a gigantic blunder egarding the rescue operation as well? The ship Sort of got taken off the Marianas charts after she left Guam, but never got put on the ones for the phillipines due to an administrative cock-up. So the rescue got delayed.

You're right, I can't imagine what it would be like to be in the water, with your firends being eaten by sharks, knowing you could be next...Greatest disater at sea in the history of the US navy.

[Teutonic Knight]

Quote[/b] ]Wasn't there a gigantic blunder egarding the rescue operation as well? The ship Sort of got taken off the Marianas charts after she left Guam, but never got put on the ones for the phillipines due to an administrative cock-up. So the rescue got delayed.

Yeah, the problem was that the operation was such a secret (since they were carrying the bomb) that even the sailors had no idea what was on the ship and they weren't allowed even to tell their families where they were headed. The navy had OSS agents posted on the ship to make sure intelligence about the cargo wasn't compromised in case there was a spy on board.

The problem with the rescue was that only the top navy brass had any idea when the ship was supposed to arrive at Tinnian, so obviously the base it was headed towards wasn't informed that they were missing until it was three days overdue.

Ironically it was an army plane that landed in the water and saved the men.

Quote[/b] ]You're right, I can't imagine what it would be like to be in the water, with your firends being eaten by sharks, knowing you could be next...Greatest disater at sea in the history of the US navy.

Yeah, the big thing was dehydration... most of the men went absolutely mad after the second day with no water, and started drinking sea water, which, obviously, will kill you almost instantly when you're dehydrated...

And the ones that didn't go mad were eaten by sharks, so it must have been just the most horrible experience...

[BDC]

So how do you last at all with no water?

Sounds scary.

[Teutonic Knight]

Quote[/b] (BDC @ June 04 2004,18:10)]So how do you last at all with no water?

Sounds scary.

many didn't...

I believe it rained over the water once, but that was it...

[JAG]

My grandfather - who passed away last year - made planes. He was a carpenter, and after the war worked at the royal opera hall in central London.

[BlackWatch McKenna]

Uncle Wally flew P-47s against the Krauts during and after the Normandy Invasion.

Oppa on the other side fought with the Finnish against the Russkies in the Winter War (zhere ver no Germans helpink - zey ver only volunteers).

/BW

[Beirut]

My old man was an officer in the Canadian Army. He was, at the time, the youngest Canadian to graduate fron Sandhurst Military College in England. He was a tank commander in Italy.

I think my mother was a nurse's aid. Don't know where.

[TheSilverKnight]

Mum's Dad served in Europe actively from 1940-1945, and got his leg blown off in 1945 during the Battle of Berlin, was captured by the Germans, then set free

Dad's Dad fought in Poland against the Nazi's, and took out nearly 100 Germans by sniping within 3 weeks of the Invasion of Poland.

[Somebody Else]

One of my grandfathers was an artillery officer in India. He ran a bookies on the local racetrack as his position overlooked it and he had some very high-powered binoculars.

[RisingSun]

Paternal grandfather was a radioman on a PBY Catalina stationed on Guam. Maternal was too young, but did fight in Korea. My Paternal grandfather has a box full of war souveniers he got when they went treasure hunting while bored.

Both passed away this year.

TK- You should be extremely proud.

The Indianapolis was really a terrible tragedy, but the Hood, as far as loss of life goes, was even worse. Of course those men did not suffer nearly as much.

[Sternness]

My paternal grandfather was a navigator of a Lancaster bomber with the RAF (was a Canadian volunteer). He did several tours of Northern Europe and was in London the day of the first V-1 missile attacks.

My maternal grandfather was a nuclear physisist in the States, working out of Michigan I believe. I'm assuming I don't need to identify what his research contributed to.

[Fragony]

I had never heard of the Indianapolis shark incident. A google later: holy crap that must have been a nightmare. Anybody know what kind of sharks it were?

[hrvojej]

Quote[/b] (Fragony @ June 05 2004,01:30)]Anybody know what kind of sharks it were?

Probably blue sharks and whitetips. They live in open water near the surface, and are fairly common (if anything can be common in vastness of the sea). Blues are especially common enough to gather in large packs over days.

[spmetla]

My paternal grandfather was a Major in the Army when the war broke out. He was stationed in Wyoming and was an XO for a Italian POW camp. He had joined a few years before hand but seeing as he was not in a combat arms specialty he never left the US mainland.

My paternal grand uncle was a tanker in Patton's army. He fought in North Africa, Sicily, France, and Germany. He stayed in the Army after the war and later fought in the Korean war. I don't know which unit he was in specifically or what job he had in the tank.

My maternal grandfather was an Austrian. Before the Anschluss he was a gymnist. In 1940 he was drafted into the Wehrmacht as a fire fighter. He was stationed in Vienna and fought fires first from bombs and then later from the Soviet artillery. By the end of the war he made the German equivalant of a Corporal. When the Soviets swept through Eastern Austria he fled west but was captured and escaped five times from the Soviets (was determined not to see Siberia). He also had five brothers that were in the war two of which died but I don't know what specialites they were.

[Leo]

One of my grandfathers was a doctor in the Wehrmacht, was in Stalingrad and spent quite some time in Siberia.

Don't know about the other, both died before I was born.

[The_Emperor]

My Grandfather was in the Navy serving onboard a Submarine... They played their part in sinking German shipping, even though submarines were frowned upon by the Admiralty at large for being really underhand.

[Redleg]

My maternal grandfather was an Artillery Officer during WW2. He served on the Western Europe theather where he was a Artillery Forward Observer in a Piper aircraft. He recieved several awards - I believe one was for valor - but he rarely talked about his efforts during the war.

My paternal grandfather was a Navy Seabee, and was one of the first ones that enlisted when the Seabees got started for the Navy. He served in several Island campaigns and was awarded the Bronze Star. The award was given to him - for running over a Japanese sapper and covering the explosive charge with the bulldozer that he was using. The sapper had pentrated the perimeter and was attempting to place explosives on the command and control bunker for the Seabee Battalion that was building an airstrip on the Island of Siapan. The explosion caused the dozer control levers to penerate his upper body and causing him to be in the hosiptal for over 1 year to recover from all the damage.

My great-uncle on my maternal side - my grandmother's brother served as a Tank Platoon (Shermans) in one of the division in Patton's command.

There are several uncles and cousins on my father's side that also served in the Army and the Army Airforce - but I don't know all the stories regarding them.

[Ser Clegane]

AFAIK my paternal grandfather first served in France and later was moved to the Eastern front in Russia to work as an radio operater.
It was there that he was reported missing in action and presumed dead.

My father's family lived in Silesia before and during the war and had to flee when the Russian army was advancing (my father was 5 years old at that time).

It was only last year that my father visited the place where he had been born for the first time after the war.

Very interesting experience for him. A beekeeper is now living at the place where my father's family used to live and my parents spend a nice afternoon with him talking about the things that happened during the last decades.

[Leet Eriksson]

My maternal grandfather was a medic in the british army serving the Muwali army in Iraq,Muwali were generally iraqi conscripts that were levied by britain to help defend iraq from a nazi attack.Nothing outstanding besides some aircraft spotted flying in the air while he was driving a motorcycle he served from 1935-1960.He retired after that and worked as a supervisor in a british petroleum company,thats when he came to the UAE,died in 1980 becuase of Lung Cancer.

Don't know much about my paternal grandfather besides that he is still living.