Who from your relatives was at war?

[Russischer Fritz]

My great-grandfather has gone through all war. Had set of awards. For example " an award of a red star ". Set of medals. Among them a medal " for protection of Moscow ". Has been hard wounded, but has remained it is alive. My grandfather was born in 1937. It{he} much to me told about that time. As was then hard. And as people died from famine. But worked on rear for a victory. It is a pity, that I cannot show you a photo of these awards.

:arrow: :arrow:

[South African Military]

Both my grandfathers were in World War 2 One of them was training to be an air gunner, however he encountered some physical problems and moved down to managing planes or som. like that. He was in North Africa, and also transferred to the RAF in Italy. He told of how bombs would almost hit the camp.

My other grandfather was in the 1st Transvaal Scottish Regiment as a tpr. and fought all over North Africa and I think he was even in El Alamein with the 1st South African Infantry Division. He might of got slightly wounded, I am not sure.

I also have some medals.

[Gen. Sandworm]

Ok well my story isnt a good as the previous 2 posts. My grandfather was in the US Army and stationed in New Guinea during WW2. He nevered talked about it to much. He would grip and say the he was the only person that dug foxholes and then others would steal them. He did not and would not go camping or ever even consider going camping after the war.

My other grandfather was in the US Coast guard. Unfortunalty he died long before I was born. So I dont know much. He joined the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed. He was stationed in the pacific theater untill the end of the war.

[Cactus]

My grandfather was in the Coast guard. He was going to go to the Pacific and drive the higgins boats in. However he got sick and got an honorable discharge prior to entering into harms way. His brothers were in the Pacific and I believe all of them were POW's. One was in Osaka POW camp and Bataan Death march. The other one was in a special forces unit after ww2 he went into the mountains and down into occupied China or something along those lines the story is fuzzy I will have to ask and re-get the whole information about that. My uncle was in Europe in the 2nd Armored division. He was a tank commander and I really offhand don't know to much about what and where he went aside from the pictures he took of everything. My other grandfather was in the Army and was in the enterainment block but missed the ship so he never got shipped out. I believe there were more that were in the war but I am not sure about them though I will have to ask and find out. My uncle is the one responsible for the stuff I have in my possession today, such as lots of pics, books, armbands etc.

[South African Military]

Wow, alot of your family members went in the war.

[RighteousDuncan]

Two of my Great Uncle's were in the Pacific theater. One of them stepped on a landmine and lost his memory and the other liberated some American POWs. My other great uncles fought in Europe. One of them was a tank commander in the 2nd Armored Divison. He was severly wounded when a german machine gun opened up on him when they were crossing a field near the Rhine I believe. He survived the war but was hurt badly. My other great uncle in Europe was taking recon. photos when he was shot down. He survived the crash but got a metal plate bolted in his head because his skull was cracked. There are many more but I cannot recall offhand at the moment.

[lieutlienant Vorontsov]

Two my grandfather fight for Stalingrad and Kenigsberg and more other, but realy cool he is fight for Reihstag!

[South African Military]

Wow, they are heros, true soldiers.

[Komissar Ombrok]

I have a very unusual relatives... My granmother(father line) was member of Leningrad's blocade but her lover and my grandfather(they wasn't wedded) was a german high officer, I don't kow much about him... And my second grandfather was a colonel of NKVD army.

[lieutlienant Vorontsov]

My grandfather along the papinoy line was married on the German, before to war him it had to ugnpt' into Germany, but it was rescued because of its wife!

[WildBoar]

My Grandfather was in France in 39 with the BEF serving in the RAF.
He went on to the middles east where he spent most of the rest of the war.

[IRONMAN]

Not WWII I know, but...

My father was in the 7th Marines Division at Chosin Reservoir Noth Korea -the bloodiest battle in the history of modern warfare. 240,000 Chinese attacked 27,000 UN troops, mostly fighting the tiny force of 7,000 USMC that were at the front. The Chinese tossed bagfuls of hand grenades and used cheap sub machineguns. Most of the Marines used an M1 Carbine, some had Thompsons, a few had Garands. The kill ratio was 10-1 in favor of the US Marine Corps. The temperature was -40 F and medics were putting ampules of morphine in their mouths to thaw them for injection into the wounded. Dead Chinese soldiers were frozen stiff and pulled up to the edge of the foxholes by US marines to use their rock hard bodies as additional cover from the massive onslaught. The fighting was very close, mostly 200 yards or less as waves of Chinese soldiers ran over a hill at the small American force. If ever there was hell on earth, it was there and then.

Obviously, he survived, for I am here writing this. : )

[Sturmtruppen]

I see lots of heros here! :)

[Gen. Sandworm]

This might be getting a bit off topic but I thought I would share this story with you guys nonetheless. My father, bless his heart, is not exactly what you would call armed forces material. Can sell a ketsup popcicle to a woman in white gloves but not an ideal candidate for the service. Anyhow in 1968 my father (just married) is flunking out of college. Those that were not in college where being drafted and sent to Veitnam. So my Grandfather(WW2 Veteran) calls him and tells him to join the Air National Guard to keep from getting drafted. So my dad thinks everything will be fine no worries. He joins and 3 days after he joins the North Koreans sieze the USS Pueblo. President Johnson anticpates possible miltary action there and activates all reserves units including the Air National Guard. The Air National Guard hadnt been activated in since WW2. So my father is trained and was sent to South Korea for 2 years. He said the nearest phone that could call the US was 2 hours away in Seoul. Since he got back he has no want to go camping or leave the country ever again. I just thought this was a funny story. :D

[Polar]

My grandfather and grandmother was prisonier in Auchwitz and they meet on this hells place

[Sturmtruppen]

My grandfather and grandmother was prisonier in Auchwitz and they meet on this hells place

:cry: so sorry,that was a hell,I know,there were bad soldiers and good soldiers,good soldiers fought in the front,bad soldiers were cowards in a concentration camp.

[IRONMAN]

I can imagine why he would not have wanted to go camping. I guess he saw all the out-of-doors anyone could ask for in Korea. : )

As for the prison camp, yes that is tragic. Schätzer you are right, I think such soldiers are cowards. Personally, I think Hitler was sent to earth from hell, even if he did not realize it.

[South African Military]

I knew someone whose grandperants helped hide some jews in their house during WW2. And then the Germans would be searching everywhere, but luckily they didnt get found.

[Fuchs66]

OK as we arn't sticking rigidly to the WW2 era, one Great grandfather was RSM of the West Yorkshire Regt in the 1st WW, during WW2 my Grandfathers were miners or steelworkers which were reserved occupations. My father was in Palastine, Malaya and Korea (had his National service extended by 2 years), my cousin was in the Falklands War and I was in Northern Ireland (ok not so much a war but I count anything where I'm being shot at) and Iraq (2003).

[wwt]

Had a cousin KIA at Pearl Harbor (USS Arizona); an uncle w Patton's 3rd; father-in-law repaired B29s on Guam; cousin over-run by Chicoms in Korea; I was in Vietnam.

[Gen. Sandworm]

Had a cousin KIA at Pearl Harbor (USS Arizona); an uncle w Patton's 3rd; father-in-law repaired B29s on Guam; cousin over-run by Chicoms in Korea; I was in Vietnam.

Welcome to the site. This is WW2 war relatives but we have kinda driffed from that. If you would like please tell more about you and your family history. I would love to know.

[wwt]

I know very little about the cuz who died on the Arizona.

The uncle was a tech sgt who did RTO and crypto for Patton's third army. He made 1sgt before discharge at war's end.

The cuz in Korea was machinegunner in 2ID. Don't know his rank. He damned near starved to death when his unit was over-run by Chicoms.

I was Armor officer from '65-'73. Was advisor in RVN because the US very stupidly didn't send enough tanks over there to go around. Got shot and evenutally resigned rather than try to serve w a profile.

Got a young'un who served on a boomer during the first Gulf War.

Congrats on a fun site. Well done!

[student-scaley]

my greatgrandfathers were in ww2, one was a miner the other a ssgt in the 17/21st lancers. My paternal grandfather was in the navy and served in the Suez crisis and during the Malaya insurgency. My old man is still wearing green kit and i've just started, but on a part time basis.

[Bluffcove]

My Paternal Grandfather fought through to Njimegen with the Royal Transport Corps as part of Market Garden and had his wings.
My Paternal Grandmother was in the WRAC.

My Mothers Parents were both in retained proffesions but stood fire duties home gaurd etc.

[Gen. Sandworm]

My Paternal Grandfather fought through to Njimegen with the Royal Transport Corps as part of Market Garden and had his wings.
My Paternal Grandmother was in the WRAC.

My Mothers Parents were both in retained proffesions but stood fire duties home gaurd etc.

So im assuming that He was under the command of General Horracks 30 corps. But you said that he had his wings so are you saying he was dropped with the US 82nd. I think the US 82nd just missed securing the bridge at Nijmengen so would have been nice to have them there.

Operation Market Garden. :? Looked great on paper. To bad didnt work so well in reality. :cry:

[Bluffcove]

He did get his Jump wings, however his unit didnt jump. He was effectively a Loggie that had done jump training. Strangely enough he didnt enjoy carting bodies back from Market Garden and asking him questions about it has always been a bit insesitive Ive felt. I have a healthy respect for what he did, and he's involved quite heavily in the British Legion, but according to my Father, my Grandfather turned white when he told him he was interested in Sandhurst.

He did his job, Just think that he wishes he hadnt seen some of it, He'd probably be given PTSD diagnoses now, Im not a psychologist I dont know.

[BDL]

Both Granddads in World War 2 - one at D-Day and through Europe with the South Lancashire Regiment and one in North Africa and Italy with the 8th Army.

Two uncles (One Light Infantry and one Royal Engineers) in the Falklands.

I've done two years in NI and a tour of Iraq

[Ale]

My Paternal Grandfather was a Fleet Air Arm pilot during the early part of the war, but he managed to bugger up a carrier landing in the latter part of training and subsequently became a ferry pilot as he was medically downgraded.

My maternal Grandfather was a Polish Cavalry Officer who fought during the WWI and the WWII September campaign and was decorated there. He subsequently escaped to Sweden via Lithuania when Poland fell. Repatriated from Sweden to England in a Lancaster Bomber, he was given permanent leave of absence as he was, by this stage, a rather elderly lieutenant (born 1898). I gather he spent the rest of the War in Scotland painting.



His WWI service was in General Dowbor-Musnicki's Polish Corps (Krechowiecki Uhlans Lancer Regiment), where he took part in various campaigns against the Germans in the period when Poland established its re-independence. The Polish side of the family had long been cavalrymen in the service of Prussia/germany, and back to the Polish corps raised by Napoleon.

I have a 'cousin' (actually second or third cousin removed, I never know that stuff!) who enlisted in the Polish free army in 1942 and served as a signaller in Polish 1st Armoured throughout the Normandy Campaign.

My Stepfather served in the US Army in either WWII and/or Korea. He didn't talk about it much and he died when I was quite small. The available evidence is that he served in Italy as a medic and may have been subsequently activated for Korea. He later renounced his US citizenship in protest at the Vietnam war and moved to Britain.

My Uncle served in Malaya with the Royal Engineers as a National Serviceman. He says he loved the army, but decided not to make a career of it.

I hope that I am big enough to walk in their footsteps.

[Preatorian]

Granfather from mother side was a soldier of a penal batalion (he was repressed in 1938 and choosed in 1941 went in army instead jail). He fight without weapon - there were only one rifle for two soldier (heh, haму you seen Stalingrad movie) and was NKVD platoon, that shoot in back...
He survived finally.
Granfather from father side was radioman since 1941. In 1944 lost he's leg. Survived.
Grandma from mother side was in Leningrad during blockade from start till end. Survived. Only one from 5 members family...
My wife's grandma was in Leningrad during blokade too and he still alive. He was just thirteen girl in 1941... she survived during great starvation, only 125 gramms of something like bread for day... and not for all. She got this 125 g because he was nuse in hospital. When he in mood to tell she's tales - is it terrible tales, more terrible than first 20 minutes of Saving Private Ryan movie... and is it just remembrances about war and starvaton, just remembrances of little girl.
My father was born in april 1941. He still hate all germans and nobody can do something with it...

[John Thomas]

My Grandfather was in the Reserved occupations because he was an engineer on the building of the Liberty vessels. My Grandmother worked in the Higgins craft factory, at the end of the war.

I always wanted to join the army.

[Walther]

My paternal grandfather was a NCO in a Luftwaffe railway mounted AAA unit. He was in command of the crew of a quadruple 20mm AA gun mounted on a railway flatbed car. They were moved all over Europe to protect important railwy installations against air raids, but he spent most of the war in western Europe. He barely escaped the big Hamburg air raid in 1943, by catching an appendicitis just when his unit was deployed there, so he withnessed the firestorm from a hospital outside Hamburg.

My real maternal grandfather was a member of the Waffen-SS, with a slightly dodgy background. He got killed in some village between Charkov and Kursk on the second day of the Kursk battle in summer 1943. He was apparently involved in the crushing of the Warsaw ghetto uprising in spring of the same year, but there are no records, my mother was only 2 years old when he died and my grandmother would not speak about him.

Afterwards she married this guy´s halfbrother, the man I knew as my grandfather, who was a sergeant pilot in the Luftwaffe, flying Ju-88 from Sicily in the mediterranean theatreof operations. When the Luftwaffe ran out of spares and fuel, he got issued a rifle and became the platoon sergeant of a "Fallschirmjäger" platoon. He told me that he was still proud of the fact that, together with his lieutenant, they managed to get their whole platoon through the fighting in Italy, until they had to surrender to the British 8th Army, without loosing a single man.

Jan

[Cuts]

......

Afterwards she married this guy´s halfbrother, the man I knew as my grandfather, who was a sergeant pilot in the Luftwaffe, flying Ju-88 from Sicily in the mediterranean theatreof operations. When the Luftwaffe ran out of spares and fuel, he got issued a rifle and became the platoon sergeant of a "Fallschirmjäger" platoon. He told me that he was still proud of the fact that, together with his lieutenant, they managed to get their whole platoon through the fighting in Italy, until they had to surrender to the British 8th Army, without loosing a single man.

Jan

Definitely hats off to that man, no mean feat at all !

I trust that you too are proud of this accomplishment Jan.

[Bladensburg]

I had one grandfather in a reserved occupation (he was a farmer) who was really too old in 1939 for active service so he lead a Home Guard unit having been in the Territorial Army between the wars. There are still empty .303 and .30-06 ammo crates from this period used in the farm workshop to store all sorts of ancient junk. He also retained one ancient pre-WWI Lee-Enfield for years.
My other Grandfather was a Sapper (Royal Engineers) evacuated from Dunkirk who went on to serve in Italy and France, his wife was in the WRAF.

Various Great Uncles served in assorted regiments including one with the 3rd Carabiniers in Burma and one who was with one of the regiments that entered Belsen (the regiment's name escapes me), something that he would never talk about.

[Walther]

......

Afterwards she married this guy´s halfbrother, the man I knew as my grandfather, who was a sergeant pilot in the Luftwaffe, flying Ju-88 from Sicily in the mediterranean theatreof operations. When the Luftwaffe ran out of spares and fuel, he got issued a rifle and became the platoon sergeant of a "Fallschirmjäger" platoon. He told me that he was still proud of the fact that, together with his lieutenant, they managed to get their whole platoon through the fighting in Italy, until they had to surrender to the British 8th Army, without loosing a single man.

Jan

Definitely hats off to that man, no mean feat at all !

I trust that you too are proud of this accomplishment Jan.


Yes, and he was a man with a lot of common sense!
Another thing: They were Fallschirmjäger by name only. The unit was made up of Luftwaffe ground staff and pilots.

Jan

[reiver]

My father joined the TA in February '38, because he believed war was inevitable and wanted to have some choice in his unit.
He joined a Royal Engineers Artillery unit, then transferred, first to the Essex Regiment and later to the Royal Artillery.
He served in a searchlight battery in London during the blitz and later on Bofors guns (light AA) in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany.
Finished up as a WO2 (Battery Sergeant Major).
My paternal Grandfather was a farrier-sergeant in WW1, RHA.
Maternal Grandfather was in reserved occupation, but in relation to another thread, my mother made Albion revolvers, in Scotstoun in Glasgow.
My father carried one. :)

(edited to correct my inaccuracies)

[Walther]

My Albion revolver has probably been handled by her :D

Jan

[reiver]

My Albion revolver has probably been handled by her :D

Jan

Quite possibly.
Apparently there were two Albion factories in operation, both in the same general area of Glasgow.
My mother worked in the "shadow" factory.

[PzKpfw VI Tiger]

My Grandfather was with the Army during WWII. He was in the Pacific Theater, I don't know exactly where he was stationed. He loves to talk about his wartime experience. He was a 1st Lieutenant and was awarded a Battle Star for bravery under fire or something to that effect. I have his entire uniform, minus his boots, holster, and sidearm. I also have a Japanese rifle that he purchased during the war :D

[Commando Jordovski]

My Father lived in London as a little boy as it was bombed by german V bombs.
My mum's father fought as a fighter pilot and my Dad's father helped the Russians over the east, mostly on ships.

Both of my Grandfathers were english, aswell as my parents.
Then during the Cold War they moved country and I was born.

My Grandfathers would rarely talk about the war for it was quite disturbing, but recently when they died we found several luftwaffe helmets which he had collected from shot down planes.

[Hosenfield]

My grandfather's last rank was Captain( SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer), he commanded mechanized Panzergrenadiers in halftracks. He was wounded 4 times and actually made it to the western allies after leaving the Battle of Berlin. He won the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, Close combat clasp, Iron Cross 1,2, german cross, gold wound badge, and infantry assault badge. Hes VERY lucky to still be alive.

He hid his awards in the sole of his shoes and so we still have them. They are worth BIG bucks.

[Gen. Sandworm]

My grandfather's last rank was Captain( SS-Hauptsturmfuhrer), he commanded mechanized Panzergrenadiers in halftracks. He was wounded 4 times and actually made it to the western allies after leaving the Battle of Berlin. He won the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, Close combat clasp, Iron Cross 1,2, german cross, gold wound badge, and infantry assault badge. Hes VERY lucky to still be alive.

He hid his awards in the sole of his shoes and so we still have them. They are worth BIG bucks.

Could you post some pics of them. That would be nice to see. Welcome to the site. :D

[Tubbyboy]

Finally thought to post in this thread.

I have the luxury of having had three grandfathers (two real and one step).

My maternal grandfather was in a reserved occupation building aircraft. He tried at one point to get himself sacked so that he could join up but unfortunately/fortunately his management saw right through him and kept employing him.

My paternal grandfather was a US Ranger who landed on D-Day at (I believe) Pointe-du-Hoc. The facts are not entirely clear due to my grandmother who told the whole family that he had died during the landings. In fact, he survived to return to his wife in America...... I don't really know exactly what happened and exactly what his service record was (any help from US members of this forum on where to find out would be greatly appreciated).

My step-grandfather (paternal) was in the Royal Army Ordnance Corps and served in Burma. I don't really know what he did there, but I think the war was quite traumatic for him. He was never proud of his medals.

Unfortunately all my grandparents are now dead so I haven't got the chance to ask them any questions about their service. I was still quite young when they died and WWII didn't interest me back then, I wish now that I had asked them. :cry:

Edited for clarity.