Did Anyone Of Your Relatives Fight on WWII?

[Alpha Romeo]

My grandfather was a sea bee, and would have operated naval transport boats in an invasion of mainland japan. Thankfully, we nuked the bastards before that ever happened!

My other grandfather was 4F.

 

[ManOnTheWave]

My uncle was at Normandy. Came back at the end with a war bride.

 

[trampledamage]

Grandfather (deceased recently) was a bomber navigator for the RAF.

So was my great uncle Bernard! He was invalided out for a while and then re-joined, so he went back in at his pre-war rank (I forget the specifics of why he lost some of his ranks) and therefore was the only Squadron Leader with the DSO

My great uncle Albert was in the Army, fought in Africe and Burma.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

I believe my maternal grandfather served in the Sri Lanka Signals Corps, and his unit was attacked by the Japanese. My paternal grandfather was in the Ceylon Garrison Artillery. Neither saw active combat, however.

 

[Finn]

Also my maternal grandmother's older brother was shot down by the Japanese. He was only 20 or so. Grandma and her three living siblings got to start a family and grew old and frail, with grandchildren and great grandchildren.

 

[John Picard]

Yes.

 

[iguana_tonante]

He didn't actually fight in the war, but my paternal grandfather was a concentration camps survivor.

 

[judge alba]

one of my grandfathers was stationed in Singapore during 1942 when the Japanese took over. he loathed them with a passion which after reading a few books I kind of understand. his hatred of the Japanese carried on to my father which was kind of crappy as when i brought home my partner he refused to talk with her. that was four years ago, haven't spoken since.

the other one was in the Canadian forces apparently though my grandma never said much of him nor did I ever meet him which was a pity

 

[JuanBolio]

My maternal grandfather was a field surgeon with the U.S. Army and fought in Italy. Two of my mom's uncles fought with the Navy in the Pacific. One was with the construction battalions, but I'm not sure what the other did.

 

[Pegaritaville]

My dad and both of his brothers served during WW II. My dad was drafted by the army and fought in Europe, his older brother joined the air force and fought in north Africa (he stayed in the air force and was killed five years later in a training accident) and his younger brother enlisted in the navy and served in the Pacific. With each of them in a different service and a different theater, my grandma said it was hell trying to keep track.

My dad didn't talk about it much. When we asked, he would brush it aside and jokingly say he was a cook. After he died we went through his old army trunk and got a better idea of what he did. Turns out he did research early on in the war (he was physics major) but when things heated up, he was sent to Europe and served as a tank gunner.

I heard that several of my uncles on my mom's side also served, but since I never met any of them, I don't know any of the details.

 

[cultcross]

My maternal grandfather was a navigator on the carrier Pursuer, my paternal got pretty much everywhere - he was evacuated from Dunkirk, drove Jeeps in Africa, and fought in Italy.

 

[Deranged Nasat]

Yes, my paternal Grandfather was heavily involved in the Second World War. He doesn't talk about it much, though he does talk about the training and the friends he made there quite often.

Isn't it sad just how many of us are saying yes?

 

[sbk1234]

My dad has a cousin who is now quite old, who flew with the US Army Air Corps. in Europe. Saw some action, but I don't know what.
My fother tried to enlist in WWII, but they wouldn't take him. It might have had something to do with the fact that he was 9 years old at the time.

 

[WillsBabe]

My grandfather, John Edward, was in the RAF. My great uncle (whose name I sadly don't know) was killed in the war. His brother, my grandfather, was in a reserved profession. He was a coal merchant.

 

[JustKate]

Well, it was also the mustache worn by Charlie Chaplin & Oliver Hardy.

Thanks...yeah those are a couple of good examples. I wonder what the name for that kind of moustache was/is (we all call it The Hitler Moustache now I guess)

It's called a toothbrush mustache, I believe.

My dad served in the Pacific - hopping from island to island with soldiers and Marines. I've read about it since, of course, and it was ugly. All of it.

But he never, ever talked about it, except maybe with a few old Army buddies who he stayed in touch with rest of his life. Well, he'd sometimes say, when a particular battle was mentioned in a movie or something, "Yes, I was there" or "No, I wasn't there," but that was it. He didn't want to remember those days, and who can blame him?

So, many years later, my dad was chatting with my mom's uncle, who was a Marine in the Pacific, and it turns out they were on several of the same islands at the same time. They didn't know each other at the time - my mom is quite a bit younger than my dad, so she was just a kid during the war - and they didn't meet then, as far as they can remember, but you know, it really is a small world sometimes.

 

[Thestral]

My grandparents were too young; Paternal Granddad joined up in '45 after War's end.

His older brother, my great uncle, fought in Europe and was captured at the Bulge. He was sent to a German prison camp for the rest of the war and ended up just walking out with the other surviving prisoners.

 

[RAMA]

Here's a pic of him I cleaned up.

 

[nevermore]

That I know of:

My paternal grandfather, who passed away in 2003 or 2004, was a paratrooper with F Company of the 513th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 17th US Airborne Division. It was one of the earliest Airborne division, and considered quite elite. He parachuted into Bastongne and then fought in the Battle of the Bulge, where he lost a bunch of toes to frostbite and was discharged. There's a book about his company called The Sky Men, for which my grandfather granted extensive interviews. Other than that, I never remember him taking about his experiences; he never was able to watch WWII movies though.

Both of his brothers also served, but I don't know the details on them.

My paternal great-grandfather was a bomber and reconnaissance pilot in WWI, and we actually have his uniform and a whole album of photos he took from his bi-plane, which are pretty cool. He and his brother, who was also a WWI vet, both enlisted in WWII as well, well into their 50's and served in administrative capacities on the European front.

My maternal grandfather had just been shipped out to the Pacific theater when the war ended, so he just turned around and came home.

 

[Tulin]

My paternal grandfather fought in the British army. He was captured and spent about the last two years of the war in a German POW camp. To the day he died(due to cancer caused, the doctor said, by lodged shrapnel)he could not eat potatoes because of a forced constant diet of watered down potato soup.

My mother's oldest brother served in the Royal Australian Navy and travelled all over the world in service.


On an unrelated note, when I was a kid(born 1970), I remember the old war veterans as being from WWI. The men and women from WWII were only pretty much around middle age or a little older. We had an old family friend who was in WWI whom we called "Pop Brown" and I always remembered him as what an "old man" should be.

Now all of the WWI vets are gone and the WWII vets are "old men" in their late '70's and older. It just kinda saddens me that they too are now going. Pretty soon the old vets will be from Korea and then Vietnam.

I know it's just the circle of life and all that but it just seems........sad.

 

[apostle83]

My Grandfather was in the Navy. His ship suported the invasion of Leyte Gulf.. and stayed on afterwards to protect the cargo ships coming in and out. Sub hunter, essentially.