What did your relatives do in WWII?

[Hazelmay 10]

My father joined the army on the first day of the war at age 18. At 19, he was shipped out to North Africa to become a desert rat with the Eighth Army. He spent a couple of years in the desert with the tanks. He was on the last plane out of Tobruk just before the Germans captured it, as he had acute appendicus. After surgery and a bit of recuperation in Cairo, he was back in action to recapture Tobruk. He was also at El Alamein of course.

 

He then went to Sicily for a while, before going back to England to take part in the D-day landings. His jeep was underwater when it rolled off the landing craft, but he held his breathe and kept going onto the beach. He had many adventures as they fought their way through France and Holland and finally into Germany.

 

He was stationed in Germany for a couple of years after the war and finally came home when I was about two years old (he had married my Mother in 1944 shortly before D-day and I came along in 1945).

 

He always told us stories about the good times, funny incidents and nice people he met -

never the grim things he saw and experienced, which were many - including concentration camps.

[cookingfat50 10]

hi my grandfather fought in both wars in the first he was is in russis and france. my father served in the second war and was one of the first to go as he already was a territorial, he sailed from liverpool to canada then to north africa, spent time fighting rommel, not on his own he had help, then he went to france italy, and burma he survived the war ,, mt naan also was part of the war effort by working on the railways which most of my family did

[cleanup 10]

hi my grandfather fought in both wars in the first he was is in russis and france. my father served in the second war and was one of the first to go as he already was a territorial, he sailed from liverpool to canada then to north africa, spent time fighting rommel, not on his own he had help, then he went to france italy, and burma he survived the war ,, mt naan also was part of the war effort by working on the railways which most of my family did

 

whats a russis

[AlkeldS 10]

my mum's grandfather was shot and died

[Ms Macbeth 75]

whats a russis

 

A fairly obvious typo. I read it as 'russia'.

[phantom309 10]

My mum was in the Land Army when it started up as a lumber jack chopping trees down which was some achievement as she was only five foot tall and then she joined the Wrens where she met my dad who was in the navy and she came out to have me while dad did not finish in the navy until my 1st birthday after doing 9 years having joined up before the war.

[old tup 30]

My father was at Dunkirk when the first shot was fired,he was in Dover when the second was fired!

[Lady Star 10]

My mam's dad was in the navy, and seemed to spend much of the war in a boat off Malta - he wrote to my nan, who was about 16 at the time and who he met just before going over, that he never saw much action - although I have since heard that fighting did happen here over the years... My dad's dad was a miner in derbyshire, so reserved and didn't go to war... My mam's mam worked in various munitions factories up and down the country, as well as a few stints welding in tyneside and clippying on the buse, and my dad's mam did precious little but work in a shop part time and get a fair bit of reading in, as she lived in a derbyshire village so wasn't troubled by air raids too often...

[lazarus 68]

My Uncle was a runner for the 13th Mounted Foot Stanley Knives in France in 1941 and at the very first German barrage he started running and didnt stop till 1945!

[denlin 12]

My great uncle was Rex Warneford who was in WWI not 2 but was the 1st person in fleet air arm to be awarded VC. He also got French Legion of Honour same day for being first person to shoot down an airship with an aeroplane. He was killed a few days later in a freak accident while flying an American reporter to Belgium, the plane was made of wood and just fell apart (no parachutes in those days). He was 23 and is buried in Brompton Cemetery in London. He had state funeral such the likes of Churchill etc would have had

Edited May 23, 2011 by denlin

[denlin 12]

My Uncle was a runner for the 13th Mounted Foot Stanley Knives in France in 1941 and at the very first German barrage he started running and didnt stop till 1945!

 

:hihi::hihi:

[DaveD 10]

My father was in the RASC (Royal Army Service Corp) and was posted as the the driver to an officer on the south coast near Arundel ..The officer was in charge of a group of 7 0r 8 locals and their job was to go underground (literally) in the event of an invasion an ait for the Germans to pass over and then come out and sabotage ...he was trained in this sort of thing and would have had to join them