My granddad

[SwordsMaster]

My granddad died last night.

He was born in 1917, in a small spanish town near Almeria. His father worked the fields exactly as the father of his father, but my granddad studied to become a qualified industrial worker. When he was 19, the spanish civil war forced him to take up arms to defend the Republic, he soon became sargent in the Bonaventura Durruti column.

When the leader died, and the Soviet Union offered to train the spanish pilots, my granddad was one of the men selected to go to the russian flight academy for a 10 month course.

The war was over and so was the Republic when he had only 5 weeks left to finish his course. His father was killed in the war and his mother, executed by the dictator.

He stayed in the USSR. He found a job in the car industry and worked for his new country til WW2 reached the country in 1941.
He was deported to the Ural colonies for being "suspicious" of conspiring against the regime for he was spanish and he wasnt mobilized til the germans laid siege to Leningrad.

He fought as a sapper, with no documents, either german nor russian that would prove his identity, so he would be killed by both of them as he could not prove to belong to any faction. When a new plane, the "mosquito" was released and men were needed to test it, he was one of the chosen. He became captain for the red army, and wasn wounded even once during the war til he had a stomach operation due to the lack of food and the contitions in which that food was given to the army.

He finished the war, "hero of the Sovien Union", got married, and went back to his civil job.

but 9 years later, there was an uprising in Cuba. A young man called Castro was planning a military coup. And my granddad was sent to cuba, to fight for Castro. My dad was 12 when they returned to the USSR.

In 1992, the family moved to Spain. In 2002 he had beaten a cancer. In 2004 a 12 year old lung cancer ended his life.
He couldnt speak when he died.

Hats off gentlemen, for he was a great man.

[Adrian II]

My condolences, Swordsmaster. Seems he led the sort of life one reads about, without being able to fully grasp its scope. Hats off indeed.

[BDC]

Wow, he had an impressive, all-over-the-place life.

[Lonewarrior]

Wow, he had an impressive, all-over-the-place life.

Yep, and born in 1917, had a very interesting life.

A toast, to your grandfather.

[ShadesPanther]

what a reat life he had.
He truely sounds like a brave hero, I would have run away with the whole "no papers" problem.
hats off

[Gregoshi]

What an amazing life. He had a hand in the outcome of several big historical events of the 20th century. My condolences to you and your family SwordsMaster. You are very fortunate he lived through all those events so that you had the chance to know him. A lot of people only have vague memories of theirs, or worse, their grandparents are simply pictures in an old photo album.

[massamuusi]

Condolences.

Care for another story?

My grandfather was born at our family island, an island named after our family, which was located 7 km off of the city of Viipuri, Finland, in the archipelago.

He wasn't yet in the army when Winter War started 31st november 1939. After the war he entered service among most rest of the male population between 18 and up to 40 and over. The peace terms ending Winter War dictated that our family island was left on the side of Soviet Union, the whole family packed all their belongings they could carry and burnt down their home and all the buildings, only leaving a smoking chimney behind.
1941 Finland was preparing for another war. Germans were going to attack Soviet Union. Finns didn't sign any official treaty with germans, but allowed them to station troops to northern Finland and also made common plans for the coming attack. Finnish motives were simple- retake the areas that were lost in an unjust war.

So, 1941 he is in the army and germans attack ruskies. Finns and germans lay mines so that russian fleet is trapped in Leningrad. Russians bomb finns and finns declare war on russia and launch an attack. Finns retake the areas lost to soviets and cross the old border, creating a defensive perimeter around the old territories, any attacks by russians would be stopped on their own territory, this was the plan. Eventually these regions could be given back to them in exchange for peace.

The front remained where it laid for almost 3 years to come. Most of time was spent training troops, fortifying positions or making patrols behind enemy lines. My grandfather also took part in these operations. One such operation they had 60 men travelling very deep into russian territory. 6 men were able to return back to own side.

During this time he earned several medals, he put all the medals to his pockets. Later after the war, he had made his wife swear that these medals would only be revealed after he had been long dead.

1944 the russians make big push, finns stop them and both sides sign a peace. Some troops are sent to north to drive the germans out of the country, at this time my grandfather returns home. There is a lot to be done, the country has to pay 160M $ war reparations for Soviet Union.
Also new home had to be found somewhere, whole family were evacuees. They got some land and built a nice house there.
My grandfather died few years before I was born, died of heart attack.
We only discovered he had medals some year ago, when grandma thought it was finally ok to reveal them. There were not just few, but several.
Gotta raise a hat for the old man. Thank him for sacrificing his youth in war to protect our freedom.

[scooter_the_shooter]

what ever happened to your island who lives there now

[massamuusi]

No one lives there. We weren't allowed even see the place until recently. During soviet era it was banned to travel there.
Now all there is left is some vegetation and a few lone chimneys, covered with mold. Not many traces of previous life.
The same with conquered territories. The city of Viipuri still has war damage on it. They haven't managed to repair it in 60 years.

[Mouzafphaerre]

-
My sincerest condolences, good friend, and hail to the action man.
_

[Kaiser of Arabia]

My condolences

[massamuusi]

Anyone else got any interesting grandfathers to post about?

[Fragony]

Good luck