Did any of your family serve during WW2; if so what did they do?

66 years ago today my grandfather's Whitley bomber was shot down with loss of all crew.Several members here have generously provided me with info about his service,I would like to again express my gratitude,on this personally important day.As I understand it, a bomber crews chances of surviving their first few operations were somewhere in the region of 30%.I guess Doug Jack and the rest of his crew are part of that tragic statistic.One man who served in Doug's squadron(though I dont believe he ever knew Leonard Cheshire),who did survive the first few,remarked in his biography that luck was the single most important factor in the life of all operational bomber crew.
My daughter recently asked me what it was like be in a bomber during the war.I can never know that,but I told her it would probably be a hunred times as bad as performing the most complicated mental arithmetic whilst standing in an open field during a violent electrical storm.How can I,with no experience,nor therefore comprehension of such things,answer these many such questions?
I am aware of many(certainly not all)of the hardships sufferred by my mother and grand mother during and after the war:not all the heroes were combatants.My grand mother passed away in her early forties.My memories of her,though quite distant are of a kind, generous and deeply sad lady.I don't believe she ever really got over her loss;another of the heroes and victims of a tragic conflict.
I know, from reading his letters, of a famous speech that greatly inspired my grandfather-it still inpires me today.In his honour I will here recite its conclusion.
"Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duty and so bear ourselves that if the British Empire and her Commonwealths last for a thousand years,men will still say-'this was their finest hour.'
Mr.Churchill was right;we still do.I think we always will.

 

Hang on lads and lasses...We are not people from ancient times, there are a great many of us still around.
Sapper

 

Hang on lads and lasses...We are not people from ancient times, there are a great many of us still around.
Sapper

And long may it remain so, Brian.

 

One of the reasons I joined the forum was to try to find out more about my mum's late brother, my uncle Bill, who served with the Medium Artillery through to North Germany. He is on the right in my avatar picture which was taken at Bad Zwischenahn in June 1945.

My father & mother also served but I know more about them, Bill intrigues me because he saw active service in Europe and also because he died soon after the war so there is a lot I don't know about him.

I'm intending to try to get his service record but unfortunately the books I've read are giving me conflicting information (probably out of date). As Bill died just after the war & had no wife or children, and his siblings are now all deceased, would I count as his next of kin in applying for the records? And would I have to provide documentary proof, birth/death certificates etc?

Any advice welcomed.

Cheers

Bob

 

Bob, I think you do have to prove relation to the serviceman. But I think if you write stating the situation, and at least can show them a death certificate, then you might get somewhere.

 

Hi
I am 73 years old and spend my time playhing my pipes at the 'lost, forgotten and remote' war graves worldwide. I am often asked "Where you in the war ?". My answer is that at 6years of age I was dragged from the cellar as my home fell about me. I watched my father frantically trying to rescue what few bits we had from the rubble. Only days later I watched my mother cry over my machine gunned body in the street. I then spent four years separated from my bothers to become an asylum seeker in North Wales. I suppose really I was in the war.
September 2008 will find me with my pipes travelling through the towns and villages of Crete paying tribute to those with who I had much in common - the civilians who stood up and shouted "NO SURRENDER" and died for their courage.

 

All the country was involved in WW2 and I mean everyone.
Sapper

 

I dont know to which side i have to go,. My dad was a local recruit Japanese Navy Auxillary,. and My mom older brother(uncle) was with KNIL (Royal Dutch East Indian Leger(?) ),..both men came from same same village,.but have to kill each other for other country's interest

the picture of 2 Royal Dutch East Indian(Indonesian) Leger standing,..

Formation of Local Defence force by Japanese, note the rising sun flag was modified with cresecent moon and star as to attract the Indonesian moslems to join the unit.

 

am very proud of their small but essential contribution gott.i thought my mums dad came into sword beach on d plus 6,but have since found out he landed on sword the day after d-day.yours,4th wilts.

 

What mob was he in Lee?

 

i have no idea brian,but was a l.a.a regt.also remember he was part of a division.yours,lee.

 

My Dad was too young, school kid really. He remembers ships coming to Durban South Africa with soldiers and families taking them home with them for food and to hang out. His Dad was in WW I in the South African Army in France, I don't know much but he was in the trenches, I have a few pictures of him in France.

My Moms Dad, was also in the South African Army, He was a truck drive, he was posted to Egypt, come to think of it I have a picture of him in Egypt on pass. He was a POW in Italy campo 52 and in Stalag 344. I have quite a few letters from him and 6 cards from POW camps.

 

My father, (Private Jan Sosnowski) was a Polish soldier who served at Monte Cassino. He sadly passed away in 1993 age 73.

Lest we forget.

 

excellent thread gents.........

I had many of the familie serve on both sides as a matter of fact. an uncle serve in the Us in an Artillery Battalion from Normandie till wars end, my own Father served in the land based navy and my father in law was on a Tin can the Saufley and saw much action in the Pacific, but before on a sub Tender the Otus. My Fathers father well let me put it this way, he was involved in secret affairs behind enemy lines during the war in Latvia of all places.
2 cousins served in the German Luftwaffe both KIA, one a night fighter ace the other flew an Fw 190A-9 with II./JG 301. 4 other cousins served on the Eastern front the youngest was able to survive but died in transit from the Soviet Gulag to home in central Germany

 

One of the reasons I joined the forum was to try to find out more about my mum's late brother, my uncle Bill, who served with the Medium Artillery through to North Germany. He is on the right in my avatar picture which was taken at Bad Zwischenahn in June 1945.

My father & mother also served but I know more about them, Bill intrigues me because he saw active service in Europe and also because he died soon after the war so there is a lot I don't know about him.

I'm intending to try to get his service record but unfortunately the books I've read are giving me conflicting information (probably out of date). As Bill died just after the war & had no wife or children, and his siblings are now all deceased, would I count as his next of kin in applying for the records? And would I have to provide documentary proof, birth/death certificates etc?

Any advice welcomed.

Cheers

Bob

Hi Bob,

This link should help

Service records - Army

Regards
Ian

 

DBF
No wonder you have an interest in WW2, its plastered all over your family's history.

 

My dad was "invited" to join the RAF in 1940 in General duties. He spent the Battle of Britain period at RAF ST Athan as a Ground Gunner. His defence status meant he was part of the founding members of the RAF Regiment in 2804 Squadron. He was an armoured car driver (Humber LRC) in the AC Flight and moved to 2777 Squadron in July where Armoured Car Flights from four squadron were merged. He was in Brussels the evening of liberation, around Antwerp at the time of the V2 attacks and served through Holland and Germany, just behind the fighting but close enough to see the outcomes, spending a great deal of time escorting "Boffins" to suspected V1 & V2 sites. he was relaesed in January 1946.

My father in law was evacuated to a family farm in Essex and my mother in law was evacuated to Devon but returned home in time to "ruin her new coat when her chip shop was bombed"

 

My paternal grandad joined the RA (155bty, 52nd L.A.A.regiment (TA)) in 1937 because his elder brother (who had been in for a few years) said that they had a good snooker table! Only a short war - he left home in September 1939 for France and was back home (in a hospital bed!) by the time that Op Dynamo ended, gaining his discharge due to his severe head injuries. He spent the remainder of the war ,well, 1941 onwards(after a recovery as good as could be expected) as a civilian security guard at some military installation near Birmingham. His brother went on to fight in N.Africa and the Far East and had quite a few eye-opening tales to tell!.

My maternal grandad was conscripted into the RA in 1940 and fought in N.Africa and then Italy (transferring here to the Lancashire Fusiliers and then ending the war with the Loyals). The first in my family to be cremated (after death, of course!) due to his fear of being buried after his experiences in an Italian cemetery under bombardment!

Maternal grandma was in the ATS, but I know nothing of her (and probably never will), and my paternal grandma (after the return of my grandad) probably spent the remainder of the war developing into the bitter, twisted old hag that she was to become later!

Dave

 

Tomorrow is the 64th anniversary of D DAY...And you still make me feel old! by talking about your grandfathers
Sapper