Relatives in the war?

trout

That reminds me of our old history teacher, when he was teaching us about the Alsace-Lorraine region which is now part of France, and was subject to repeated annexation.

... "those poor guys change nationality as often as they change their socks"

ambro25

trout wrote: »

That reminds me of our old history teacher, when he was teaching us about the Alsace-Lorraine region which is now part of France, and was subject to repeated annexation.

... "those poor guys change nationality as often as they change their socks"

Have a look further up the thread, that's what I was on about

You will be hard-pressed to find more patriotic French people than the Alsatians (despite the "they're all Germans" they've been getting for generations from the other French ).

In terms of annexation, it was usually Alsace-Moselle, not Alsace-Lorraine as such (Lorraine = Moselle + Meurthe-&-Moselle + Meuse + Vosges). But as said, to any French who are not from the area, anything east of Reims is one and the same "Lorraine", they're not bothered about departmental accuracy

thusspakeblixa

ojewriej wrote: »

That's exactly where I am from. This area was German before the war, and became Polish after. Virtually everyone who lived there after 1945 was moved from somewhere else, mostly from pre 39 eastern Poland, which is now Ukraine.

As far as I know I'm going there in a few weeks to try and trace where they were originally from. Should be interesting!

ojewriej

thusspakeblixa wrote: »

As far as I know I'm going there in a few weeks to try and trace where they were originally from. Should be interesting!

If you want, PM me any names of the places you have, who knows, I might be able to give you some help.

Fiach Dubh

My Paternal Grandfather served with the British army from 40-45. He was at Dunkirk and was involved in Operation Marketgarden. Unfortunatly he died when I was quite young, most of what I know about his time during the war is from other relatives since he couldn't bring himself to talk about what happened much. He spent the rest of his life with shrapnel in both his legs from an artillery shell that blew one of his friends to pieces near him

delos

The reluctance to talk about their experiences seems to be quite a common theme here.
My maternal grandfather was just too young for WW1 and just too old for WW2 - he was an ARW in a town that was (luckily) never bombed. He would talk about "the War" if asked. My paternal grandfather however, was captured at the fall of Singapore and spent the rest of the war as a POW of the Japanese. He completely refused to talk about his experiences - although he made no secrete of what he felt about the Japanese people and anything that came from Japan for the rest of his life. Eric Lomax's book "The Railway Man" helped me understand a bit about why he was the way he was but unfortunately my grandfather died before the psychological damage caused by his experiences was acknowledged - he was just expected to "get on with it".

Fratton Fred

My maternal grandfather joined the RN in 1922 and left in 1946, so he served right the way through. He was on board HMS Forrester for most of the war, although he did serve on HMS Hood for a while transfering off several weeks before she was destroyed. He saw action mainly around europe escorting convoys in the Med and also to Russia. He was also involved in the 2nd Narvik campaign. Unfortunately he died of a heartattack when my Mum was only 13 so I never got to meet him.

My Mum's uncle was a pilot in the RAF, he was shot down and killed in 1944. His only surviving sibling visited his grave at Hotton Cemetary in Belgium for the frst time year before last, he was brought to tears just talking about it. Apparantly Cyril got out of the plane and was found by locals hanging by his chute from a tree. They got him down but he died shortly after from his wounds.

Fratton Fred

On the subject of talking to veterans. If this had happened under fire they would have received a VC.

On July 26th, 1929, the cruiser HMS Devonshire was engaged in gunnery practice off the Greek coast when a gun misfire initiated a fault in the drill procedure, causing the loss of life of 18 members of the crew. An 8� gun in a twin turret failed to fire after being made ready with shell and cordite and firing circuits completed. The failure was due to the cordite, in a thin sack, failing to ignite. The gun�s crew failed to appreciate the fault and, in the heat of noise and urgency, opened the breach. The inrush of air into the gun enabled the cordite, that was �cooking� (a naval term for such happening), to explode and cause a massive loss of life. As was normal in those days, the after turret was manned by a crew of Royal Marines who were fully qualified, as with the Royal Naval gun crews, so the majority of casualties therefore were Royal Marines. A young naval officer, Midshipman Cobham, and others were soon on the scene and proceeded to render as much aid and succour as possible. For this gallantry, he and an Able Seaman were awarded the Queen�s Gallantry Medal, replaced in 1940 by the George Medal. After a distinguished naval service the then Commander Cobham lived in Castle Street, Portchester and spent much of his long retirement dedicated to the Scouting movement. In recent years the scout hall in White Hart Lane was renamed Cobham Hall, a tribute from the Portchester community to a fine public servant.

I was fortunate to be in 3rd Portchester Scout Troop whilst Commander Cobham (as he became) was still there. During the war he was sunk twice, both times being pulled from the water by a rope. Because of this I can now tie a bowline one handed with my eyes closed:D (seriously) fascinating guy.

Prufrock

My great grandad and grandad fought in World Wars 1 and 2. Got a few medals but they never talked about it.

In fact in grandad was mentioned in that war book "To the Limits of Endurance: An Irishmans War" by name.

Single Malt

Both my grandparents fought in the war. Dad's side was fighter pilot under Rommel over North Africa. Mum's side was infantry in the invasion of France. He has many scars, and still has grenade shrapnel in his abdomen. Both fought for the Axis. Both grandmothers were involved in the war too. One a frontline nurse, the other bomb watch and clean up in Berlin. none believed in the cause tho

humberklog

One of the more interesting of my relatives stories involves my mothers eldest sister. Their family (mother Berlin jew/father grew up in london, christian;German mother,English father) were involved in electronics in Berlin throughout the 20's. When Nazis came to power my aunt left Berlin for Moskow with her Russian origine (german born husband) to set up an electronic/communication business. Their skills soon came to the attention of the Russian forces and were signed up. There military roll was linking up Russian military intelligence in the field. Her husband was killed feb. 1945.(Shot by a drunk russian). She continued on with the advance and remained in germany after the fall setting up command communications. She met a 'free dutch' fighter who was doing much the same as her. She decided to do a bunk with her lover and ended up marrying him on route to amsterdam. He was faced with the problem that his mother and sisters had become 'friendly' with the nazis whilst he was in England and at the front. He couldn't live with the shame and committed suicide, leaving my auntie alone in Amsterdam. She died in an opium den in antwerp in 1956, age 46.

TestTransmission

My Granuncle was in the US army (irish born ).
We have all his medals,his army ID,also,he kept a diary of where he was every day during WW2
The US army sent over a flag when he passed away 10 years ago.

paulizei

My great-uncle joined the RAF in 1945 (I think he was waiting to see which side was defo going to win) and was stationed in Italy, bombers I think. My german friend's grandad joined the navy in 1936 when he was 15, and served on u-boats during ww2. She said he quite enjoyed it, a lovely war altogether, except when things got a bit nasty at the end.

FiSe

ojewriej wrote: »

That's exactly where I am from. This area was German before the war, and became Polish after. Virtually everyone who lived there after 1945 was moved from somewhere else, mostly from pre 39 eastern Poland, which is now Ukraine.

Sorry going off topic here, but I always thought, that Sudetenland was a name which was used for part of Czechoslovakia with majority of German population, ie. West and South Bohemia, South Moravia...
Basically that part which was connected to the Reich after the Munich treaty in '36.

thusspakeblixa

FiSe wrote: »

Sorry going off topic here, but I always thought, that Sudetenland was a name which was used for part of Czechoslovakia with majority of German population, ie. West and South Bohemia, South Moravia...
Basically that part which was connected to the Reich after the Munich treaty in '36.

....yes it is! (near the Sudeten mountains)

ojewriej

FiSe wrote: »

Sorry going off topic here, but I always thought, that Sudetenland was a name which was used for part of Czechoslovakia with majority of German population, ie. West and South Bohemia, South Moravia...
Basically that part which was connected to the Reich after the Munich treaty in '36.

It's right on the Polish and Czech border, so part of Sudety Mountains is Polish now and Part is Czech.

For the most of the last 1000 years this whole area was german, but it was often changing hands, so it was Czech and Polish for a while too.

marcsignal

Here are a few pics of my Sister's Father in Law. His name was Willhelm Schier, and served in SS Germania and Wiking Division. He died in 2006, but I had many opportunities to talk with him, using his grandson (my German nephew) as an interpreter. He told me, frankly, things about the eastern front that would turn your hair grey.:eek:

note the bullet holes in the sentry box in pic 3

thusspakeblixa

I just found out, apparently I also had a relative who was Swedish ambassador to Ireland during ww2.
Strich was his 2nd name

marcsignal

I had 2 Uncles in RAF Bomber Command in WW2 (Both in Lancasters) one an Aeronautical Engineer and Pilot who settled in England after the war, he died in 1985, and the other was a Rear Gunner, he's still alive and lives in Walkinstown.

My Grandfather wasn't involved in the war as such, he was Merchant Navy, but he was the Bosun on the 'Franconia', the ship that the Yalta Conference was supposed to be held on. They had the conference on shore in the end, but he briefly got to meet Stalin Roosevelt and Churchill.
I was only 3 when he died in 1970, so I never got to talk to him about that

RustySpoon

My grandfather served as a Lance Bombadier in the Royal Artillery and was killed on April 24th '43 during the final push for Tunis in the North Africa campaign.

My grandmother still has tears in her eyes when talking about that him and that time.

ejmaztec

My late father's younger brother never even made it out of the UK. He was killed by a shell in a training excercise, due to someone not using the correct elevation. Nothing like a bit of friendly fire!

Mahatma coat

Interestin to see so many people whose familys were on both sides of the conflict.

Our family history is a bit shaky on my Fatheres side, I know that one of his Uncles died in the Boer War fightin the British, then it is known that some of them went to Spain, however The emergency was never discussed, and if it ever came up in conversation in my Great Grannys place a deathly silence would befall the place.


things are a bit clearer on my Mothers side, 2 Uncles in the Irish army and 2 more who joined the Merchant Navy, they tell stories alright.

tc20

Hi all,
just came across this forum (i'm usually in the motors section) and thought i'd add my own piece of history..

My Dad joined the Irish Air Corps at the outbreak of 'The Emergency' and was based at Baldonnel altho he got around the country to various crash sites of both allied and German aircraft, a US Liberator being among them. He flew mainly in Avro Lysanders (he was navigator). Like a lot of Air Corps men, he joined Aer Lingus straight after the war, and worked there til the early 80s.

My mother came from England and three of her brothers saw active service -
Wally joined the Navy in the mid 30s and ended up on board the Achilles, famous for its role in the Battle of the River Plate. He retired to NZ after the war, and i visited him twice out there. He didnt talk too much about the war (very few of the ships crew actually saw the engagement - they were below decks or at their stations). I do remember him telling me a funny story about when he was home on leave, and bearing in mind that at the time goods like butter, tea etc were strictly rationed, as he came down the gangplank with his kitbag over his shoulder (stuffed with contraband) a policeman approached him. Wally feared it would be confiscated, and was ready to chuck it in the water, but needn't have feared. The copper just struck up a conversation with him and asked could he give him a hand. Wally asked would he mind carrying his bag for him. The policeman duly obliged and Wally was out of the docks scott free

Dick served in Burma with the Chindits, i was only a toddler when he died so i dont know too much of what he got up to.

Uncle Tom served with British Infantry and was involved in the Allied landings in Italy. He passed away when i was barely in my teens, so again i didnt really get an opportunity to talk to him much.

Phsyche

My grandfather spent the war inside a tank. He liked talking about his army buddies but not about the war and what they had to do.
My grandmother spent the war being a maid for a German officer.
When the German troops came into her village, they rounded up all the men and shot them on the spot in front of their families. Then they went on and left just one officer and a couple of his henchmen in the village to keep an eye out for the partisans in the forests.

The patisans came during some nights and took any livestock they found. When the women in the village begged them to leave some to feed the children, they ignored them and actually got violent.

When the Germans found out, they actually gave back the livestock they kept for themselves to the women and children and the officer sent in a couple of the lads to help out with the work on the farms.

My grandma said they were not much older than her brother, just teenagers and looked like they didn't want to be there.

She only revealed this about 10 years ago. Was too scared to speak of it sooner. If she said anything good about the Germans before, she would have been named a traitor:mad:.
She was crying telling me this and kept saying: What can they do to me now? I'm too old now.

robinph

Still haven't got a whole lot out of my grandfather but the furthest he ever went away from London was to what I think was a training camp in Wales where he'd be teaching how to do basic in the field repairs to whatever vehicles they were about to be sent over with.

My mum just tried to apply for a war pension there a couple of years ago as when she was 1(?) she was left in a pram in the back garden during an air raid over London whilst my gran and my aunt went down into the shelter. A bomb then went and landed in the kitchen at the back of their house, my mum only relatively recently put that incident and her hearing always having been rubbish in one ear together though. The pension was denied though due to the records of that raid only mention a bomb landing on the next street over but only a few tens of meters away. 60 years worth of back dated war injury pension would have been a nice windfall though, but I guess decent record keeping wasn't high on the priority list.

Tony EH

Dave! wrote: »

Hey folks,

Just wondering if any of ye have relatives, fathers, grandfathers, etc., that fought in the war, on either side?

Who did they fight with, where, and do they talk about it much?

I'd love to have any relatives who could regale me with war stories, but alas

My Dad was in the Royal Engineers, he was based in Aldershot I think at Camp Borden, with the Canadians. He transfered to the RAF in 1945 and was then based at Subury. He wasn't shipped overseas though, his unit was involved in building bailey bridges and repairing aerodromes, etc.

My mum was evacuated from Guernsey in 1940, they met shortly after the war ended. Her father served in the Merchant Navy, on the North Atlantic runs.

My Grandad on my dads side served in the Fusiliers in the First World War, I believe he was at Galipolli and then later shipped off to Palistine. Both his brothers were killed in Europe. Charles was in the Connaught Rangers and died at La Bassée in 1915 and John was in the King's Liverpool reg. and he went on the Somme in 1916.


Tony

garrincha62

Great Grandfather fought with the Royal Irish Fusiliers at Guillemont & Guinchy on the Somme. Awarded a medal for bravery and we still have his cutouts from the Belfast telegraph.
His son, fought on D-Day but got wounded in Belguim and was sent home.

Other side staunch republicans. Takes allsorts

Hagar

My Grandfather died in Dachau, tragically fell from his machine gun tower.







* 1 week ban, see you all next Tuesday

Morlar

Hagar wrote: »

My Grandfather died in Dachau, tragically fell from his machine gun tower.







* 1 week ban, see you all next Tuesday

Pretty sure everyone who didnt get a chuckle out of that will see you next tuesday.

FiSe

Hagar wrote: »

My Grandfather died in Dachau, tragically fell from his machine gun tower.







* 1 week ban, see you all next Tuesday

Nice way to say: 'I'm off to Spain' :rolleyes: