Family Members, World War 2, Etcetera...

Like many others my Grandpa didn't really talk about his experiences during the war. It was only when I was about 14 and I did a school project about him being my hero did he speak a little about it all. When he joined he was shipped off to Burma and after about a year was captured by the Japanese and was one of the POWs who were made to make the Burma Railway. Needless to say he didn't go into much detail of his experience but I got the feeling he lost quite a few friends over the time that he was held. I can't even begin to imagine what he want through in his time in that camp and from what I have seen about it documentaries and on the web I wouldn't wish it on anyone. He did say that the Japanese guards would make the POWs swim down the river to and from their place of work, give beatings (which could lead to death:() and there was very little food. When he was rescued he was picked up by some Americans and came home via America where he tried chilli for the “first and last time” as he put it haha.

I think my grandma still has some of his army stuff in her attic. I'll have to dig it out at some point.
 
My grandad was the RDF (RADAR) operator on HMS Scylla, woe betide anyone who called it radar in front of him though (yanks stole our tech and renamed it)!
I recently went to the RDF station on HMS Belfast and it literally is nothing more than an open metal box on the very top deck, it was chilly in April on the Thames, lord knows what it was like for him on the Arctic convoys!! - extreme respect!

Unfortunately he died in January, I have applied for his Arctic convoy medal but it has not come yet.

My other grandad was a farmer but apparently there is someone who fought at Rorke's Drift on that side.
 
My Great grandad was a Colour Sergeant with the 42nd east lancs i think it was, He was at Galipoli then was sent to Ypres and fought in the Somme.

My Sis has all his medals and now lives in Oz and she said the aussies were chuffed to bits when she told them on Anzacs day.
 
I absolutely love these threads. They are so poignant. To think the upheaval that the world war created - people today are still finding their ancestors graves. It just shows how wars on this scale change the shape of social history for generations.

I remember a while ago a team in some Russian satellite found a lend-lease Hurricane with the pilot still in the cockpit - the thing was because it crashed into a bog the pilot was perfectly preserved. It was quite chilling to think this lad had been dead for many decades, yet he looked like he had died yesterday. It brings it home.

As for my family, one of my grandad's served with the RAF in Eden right at the beginning of the second world war - as a radio operator I believe. But he would occassionally get the chance to go up with the aircrew, and I remember him telling me once he went up in an early British bomber and how that experience strengthened his love of flying until the end of his life.

My other Grandad served in the merchant navy, and I believe he did the runs to the Soviet Union, which were awful and dangerous but he never spoke much about it. He did once tell my mother than a friend of his was decapitated on the bridge of his ship. So not really surprising he never opened up.

My wife has some bits that her mother gave her - a dog tag from World War One that belonged to her ancestor and some cloth with a note written on it dating back to the Boer War. So there is lots of history to explore as and when we find time.
 
My Granddad on my Dad's side was a bren gunner, The only story I know of his time in the army was told to me by one of my uncles as told to him by his father, he once swapped guns with his mate who was a Sniper when they were on the front lines as his mate was afraid of being tortured should they get caught, apparently the Germans were not nice to captured enemy Snipers.

My Nan again on my Dad's side was a lorry driver delivering guns/ammo and parts from factory to port, once the war was over she never drove again.
 
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My Dad was a Para and fought in the Falklands War as well as seeing action in other theatres.

My Grandad flew Mosquito's and Beaufighters in WWII.
I think he was a nightbomber/fighter amongst other things. He once had to ditch his beaufighter during a mission after ordering his navigator to bail.
That fact alone makes him some kind of hero in my eyes. He went onto a career in British Aerospace (BAC, now BAe) where amongst other things he was involved in the design of Concorde, developed a way to gauge molten steel to 1/10,000 of an inch, designed a rotary engine of some kind and had a hand in the design of the Sea Wolf anti-aircraft missle.

I'd love to find out more but unfortunately he died before I was old enough to really have a chat with him about his colourful life, one on one.

Something I missed out on that I'll never get another chance with ever again :(
 
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My dads dad was in the 6th Airborne flew in a Horsa Glider as part of Operation Tonga the night before D-day to secure the Pegasus Bridge - still have the Pegasus patch somewhere with his medals. Not sure what he did after that, but he was also at Dunkirk.

My mums dad drove trucks in North Africa for the RAF, but I dont know any more info as I havn't had a chance to get his records yet.
 
RAF Mountbatten Walrus L2312

Hello, I am researching the crash of L2312 and would really like to hear from you. Hope you can help.
 
First of all I don't know anyone on my dad's side of the family, he has never spoken to me about them and I have never seen anyone of them in person.

My grandad on my mum's side of the family was in the home guard and thats all I know.
 
REDMOGG's grandfather WWWII

Redmogg posted this.....
There's a fair bit to read, but I'll quote the pertinent stuff:
My Great - grandfather was Corp. B. F. Nowell "the RAF chap"
It related to the failed rescue attempt for the De Gaulle family from France on 18 June 1940.

The Pilot John Napier BELL did not get one single medal.... extremely disappointing....the question rises what did NOWELL and HOPE received if any from the UK?

I have the Australian end and a lot more...
one report indicated the aircradft was on fire before crashing

I need to contact REDMOGG somehow as much material needs to be treated in confidence and respect for surviving family members.....so how can I have Redmogg connect to me????
 
Alan-oz said:
Redmogg posted this.....
There's a fair bit to read, but I'll quote the pertinent stuff:
My Great - grandfather was Corp. B. F. Nowell "the RAF chap"
It related to the failed rescue attempt for the De Gaulle family from France on 18 June 1940.

The Pilot John Napier BELL did not get one single medal.... extremely disappointing....the question rises what did NOWELL and HOPE received if any from the UK?

I have the Australian end and a lot more...
one report indicated the aircradft was on fire before crashing

I need to contact REDMOGG somehow as much material needs to be treated in confidence and respect for surviving family members.....so how can I have Redmogg connect to me????
Click to expand...
Hi,
I'm sorry it's taken so long to get in touch.
To be frank, other than the information I've already posted, I don't know any more about the events in question. I will send you my aunt's email address via trust as she is the one who did all the research (and made the visit to the grave site in France).
My grandfather (Major B.F Nowell, Retired) served with the Gurkhas for much of his career and I'm sure he'd be grateful to find out more about his father.

Warm regards,

Oliver Matthew Nowell Redmond...
 
Dear all, might I ask you that if you have photos, records, stories or other information on family members, to please make copies available to the Imperial War Museum or relevant unit museums. It's so important that we preserve as much as we can before it's lost forever.
 
Edrof said:
After some internetting I (unexpectedly) found this online today:

That's my grandpa. He's in the Monte Cassino War Cemetary in Italy. I started poking about Google and that battle was particularly awful. I watched some tours of the Cemetary on YT and I nearly had to start chopping some onions at my PC to hide the welling-up! :(

I've looked into his service history and could blather on for pages. It's fascinating to research, although I've rather hit a full stop. I really should get my behind over to visit him some day and I really should have talked to my nan about him when she was alive.

Surely everyone here has (or had) a father, grandfather or great-grandfather who were involved in the Second World War. Do you know much about them? Any interesting stories or objects that they left behind?
Click to expand...

My mums uncle served with the Polish 3rd Carpathian Rifle Division as part of the British Eighth Army at Monte Cassino. He's the only one, The others we're too busy fighting for their lives in Poland.
 
Grandfather (and his brother). Turns out their Second World War history may be fantastically dark and unpleasant. No Allied heroics there I'm afraid. My father never spoke about him and I know nothing else about the 'folks from the old country'.

Maybe one day I'll start digging a bit deeper, but I don't think I'll like what I find. :(

The rest of the UK based side of the family don't seem to have done anything either. :confused: I would've like some Spitfire/D-Day/SAS or Royal Navy heroics. Maybe they were to busy being spivs.
 
My great grandfather fought in the first world war, but was wounded after becoming a Corporal. Between the wars he became an after dinner speaker and later went on to get heavily involved in politics. I'm not sure what happened to him in the end though.

I fondly remember my grandmother telling me funny stories about his holidays in Poland, France and the Low Countries. I have a few of his paintings around here somewhere actually.
 
My Grandad from my English side of the family was in the Royal Navy during WWII. I can't remember off the top of my head which ships he served on, however I'm sure on of these was HMS Hermes. I have a Beer glass at my parents house that was given to my Grandad when he left the Navy (and passed down when he passed away) with the ships he served on. I will have to take a look when I'm next home.

My French Grandad was part of the French Resistance within the area that he lived in. One story he told was of a local in his village was passing information to the Germans, so one night my Grandad and others went round his house and made sure he didn't pass on any more information :cool::eek:
 
My grandad from mums side of the family was a hatch release operator for the 617 dambusters.
He never spoke much about the war on returning, its thought he may have taken part in the bombing of Dresden.

Other than that I know little else about him, died a few years before I was born.
 
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