Both my grandads died before I was born. My mums dad fought in the far east, he was in the army before war broke out and was stationed in India playing Hockey when he heard that Singapore had fallen. His half brother was killed on D-Day on the beaches, he was in the first wave at 7:30am. My grandad survived the war and worked in the steel works until he retired. He died in 1975.

My mums mum worked in the steelworks making commando knives, she would tell me stories about the Sheffield blitz and how she would walk to work every morning past all the rubble from the night before.

My dads dad was too old to fight in WWII so he became an air raid warden. My grandma told me stories of how he would come home every morning covered in blood from the air raids the night before. She told me how once he was at Tinsley marshalling yards and he had to attend to a train driver who hadn't realised that both his legs were blown off and he kept asking my grandad to help him stand up so that he could spark a fag up!

My dads dad fought in WWI however. He lied about his age and was wounded at the battle of the Somme in 1916. He once bought a ring home from a dead German soldier for my grandma. He survived both wars, worked down Handsworth pit for a while but broke his back and was in constant pain for the rest of his life. He then became a taxi driver and died from a heart attack in 1964 when my dad was just 13.

My dads mum worked in the steel works mixing gas for the furnaces. She told me stories of the sheffield blitz. The worst one was when she told me about the dogs home getting bombed in Darnall and she could hear all the dogs whining and sreaming.

These stories make our generations feel very small indeed. I've nothing but pride for their generation.

My dad was a farmer and my mum use to make uniforms. I think the place was called 'Longs' where she use to work.

My Grandad (RIP) fought in WW2 if I recall... Got some medals out of it as well I think... Luckily both my Parents missed both World Wars by a few years.

Grandad was in the steel works (protected) but he joined the ARP 'Put that bloody light out!'.
Forgetting to park his bike in the right place, saved his life. He reported to an ARP shelter near the cliffe and was told to move his bike round the corner...off he trotted with said bike and the shelter he had just vacated got a direct hit unfortunately killing all the occupants inside.

Grandma brought up five kids and got use to shinning up the drains to clear fire bombs off the roof and then calmly went back to baking her parsnip casserole!

We owe a great deal to that generation:thumbsup:

These stories make our generations feel very small indeed. I've nothing but pride for their generation.
A fair comment.

My mother was in the- ATS "lorry driver" munitions.
My father was in the- 4th Battalion, York & Lancs Regiment, 146 Brigade(Polar Bears), Hallamshire Div.

Grandad was a miner ( protected ).

Got through basic RAF training twice before they sent him back down his hole.

My dad's dad was an aircrew member who was shot down before my dad was born, and his mum worked in a munitions factory.

Mum's dad used to make and maintain the technical machinery at Lucas Automotive in Birmingham before the war, so during the war he was sent to Belfast to train people in the making of machinery that was part of making plane engines. His wife had a protected occupation- she was a cigarette seller at Lewis's in Brum.

Mum's mum's dad was an infantryman killed in WWI, but his brother came back from the war and married her mum to look after the children, thus meaning that her brother and sister were also genetically her cousins.

Mum's dad's dad was a gunsmith, within a family business of gunsmiths so didn't go to fight in WWI.

As my mother was took into foster care at 15 and her dad wasn't aroundmuch,I don't knwo what he did in the war and have no idea about my gran on that side.

On my dad's side, my grandad worked in the steelworks for the early parts of the war up until 1943 when he was outside when bombs fell on sheffield. He was rescuing a family who panicked and stayed in their house. 50 yards from the shelter my grandad got buried in rubble with a small child in his arms he was carrying to the shelter, the child died and he's never really gotten over it, he still can hardly talk about it now. He may not have gone and fought but I think he's just as much a hero.

he was taken to hospital for broken bones and a puntured diaphragm and he was on the way to recovery when he contracted TB, he was moved to long term care and that's where he met my grandma, a trainee nurse during the early part of the war becoming a full time nurse in 1943.

They're still alive now, they spent all their life running pubs and golf clubs together. My grandad used to run the Earl Grey in Sheffield and the White Swan in Dronfield. He's now got alzheimers and parkinsons and calls me Edith, what a shame, eh?

Wilf

Both my Grandads fought in WWII. My Dad's Dad was in a Tank regiment and my Mums Dad was in the Navy (he shot down two oppostion planes). I never really talked to them about what they did in the war, I think I was just too young to understand fully what happened. Also I don't think they were that comfortable talking about it, they liked it to remain in the past. My Nan Nans both worked in shops.

Both my parents were born after the war had finished.

His wife had a protected occupation- she was a cigarette seller at Lewis's in Brum.
That's just bizarre times have really changed.

As for my family one of my Granddads was too old to fight (+he ran a series of bakehouses so I expect he was protected anyway) his wife was a teacher. The other was a conscientious objector who ended up a farm labourer, his wife worked in the cotton mills, two of her brothers died serving in the merchant navy.

My great-uncle was a doctor and landed in a Japanese POW camp where he was tortured. I consider all of this history, though, and would not hold the story against anyone Japanese. I have visited Japan and really liked the country. But it was an absolutely awful story. Conditions in the camp were quite horrific and he died after his release. He was basically skin and bones when the armistice was signed.

My grandad fought in Singapore during the war and came back alive. He passed away last year and i only found out from my Nan what he did when i asked.

I found it strange he never talked about it so don't know what happened to him while there.

My Grandad was in the Army and fought in Africa, he passed away whilst I was still a child.

Z

I know one of my grandads went to fight and one of my grans worked in a factory making spare parts for planes and tanks.

My granddad fought in North Africa, Italy and then on to Germany at the later stages of WW2. Got loads of photos of him in North Africa at home. Anyway, he survived and then on his return to UK he worked down the pit until he retired. He died when I was a child.

My grandmother worked both in the land army, working the farms etc and later in a munitions factory making shells for artillery guns. She even kept a shell and used it to hold the pokers for her fire.

My great granddad fought in WW1 and saw action in France and was wounded landing at Suvla bay, Gallipoli. I'm not sure if that put an end to his time in war, but he survived and returned home to work down the pit.

In WWI my gran worked in a munitions factory and her brother was in the army. A kinder, gentler man you couldn't wish to meet, he was at Passchendaele, but would never talk about it. I can hardly begin to imagine what he went through.

In WWII my dad was in the RAF, as ground crew, fixing the planes and mopping up the remains of aircrew who didn't make it back. My mum was a Wren in London.

I wear the Remembrance Day poppy in recognition of how ordinary harmless people who just want to get on with their lives get drawn into these horrors through no fault of their own.

My grandfather was a pilot in the Luftwaffe. He was killed on the front just after my mother was born in 1942. She grew up in occupied Austria with her mum who suffered due to losing her husband and to ‘disappearing’ friends. Remember, anything said against the German occupation resulted in charges for treason amongst other things. Penalties were usualy in the form of being sent to a labour camp. After the war my Grandmother learned most of her friends ended up in one of these camps.

Just after the war my grandmother came to England. Rightly or wrongly, she left my mum to grow up with her grandparents in Austria. No one is sure why she left my mum behind, I guess my mum may have been a reminder to the horrors during those years, years that my grandmother wanted to forget.
War’s wreck lives and 60 years on the memories for some are still apparent.

My Grandad fought in WW2 for the Royal Hampshire Regiment and was awarded the DCM for charging a German machine gun post. He came home riddled with shrapnel and was never the same person.

He rarely spoke about his time in the war. One story I remember (or has been passed down) concerns the retreat to Dunkirk. He paused to milk a cow that was showing signs of distress - whether or not this is true or just family folklore, I think it's a better story than charging a machine gun post and lobbing grenades at people.

My Grandma worked in a munitions factory and took splinters of metal out of peoples eyes.

My Dad's dad was in the marines but he never really talks about what he went through, my Nana on that side worked in various factories. on my Mum's side my Grandad died before i was born and i dont really know that much about him but he was a farmer and my Grandma ran a post office.