ITT: We post our families war stories
Dads side:
>Grandpa was a little kid at the time of ww2
>Great Grandpa did the soldiers laundry during WW2
>Great-Great Grandpa had flatfoot and couldn't fight during WW1
Mums side:
>Grandfather was a kid and had to escape Czechoslovakia because Snowniggers and communism
>Great-Grandfather and his father didn't fight because the Czechs pussied out
mfw your family has no cool war stories
It's a good thing, you mong. Means they don't have traumatic experiences and are alive.
All I know is that my father's grandfather decapitated a German soldier with a scythe during WW2 for raping a village woman, then went to hide in the mountains for a few months. Then, when the Germans were retreating, he helped another German soldier get back to his unit.
My mother's father father grew up in Poland. He and his whole family survived the war intact, and he hated Jews with a passion. I wish I'd found out his opinion on the Holocaust, he probably thought they deserved lol RIP old man
>gramps fought for Germany at the eastern front
>got hit by shrapnell and left his arm somewhere in the caucasus
>later went into a British POW camp
>weighed 50kg when he got out
>grandma fled from Königsberg
>took a ship right before the Wilhelm Gustloff
>other grandma lived in Berlin
>laid out her clothes each night so she could get dressed in the dark and flee to a bunker
>survived multiple bombing runs
>her husband also fought in the war
>carried multiple bullets in his body for decades
>got cancer from that and died 2 weeks after I was born
My grandpa got in a bar fight with a professional boxer while in Germany during WW2.
There's a picture buried somewhere of him sitting in his bunk the next morning with bruises all over and a face swollen to the size of a melon.
love you gramps
I only have one great WW2 story myself, and I'm not sure about the exact relation.
See, my great-great grandfather immigrated from Russia in the late 19th century. Way later, during the 60s, my grandfather, after enormous amounts of trouble, got permission to go to the then USSR to check up on the extended clan, who lived near Smolensk.
Of the 83 recorded people with the old surname, 9 survived the war. About the only one he managed to get an extensive conversation with, a man of about his own age (so some kind of 2nd cousin, and that's of my grandfather, don't forget, not sure about the exact relation to me) got drafted in 1941 before the Germans showed up, and eventually got a job interrogating prisoners. So he had some stories about how he got information, but I don't know if those are "war" stories exactly.
Interestingly enough, he claimed (Or, well, grandpa claimed and I heard it secondhand) that the best way to get stuff out of them wasn't to open up with torture. He would only "rough them up" to get confirmation of stuff already planted by other prisoners, and he would usually start by trying to befriend/bribe/protect guys who were smaller, weaker, usually working in rear echelon units, the sorts that the other German soldiers bullied. They'd tend to blab about all kinds of things, and then he'd try to get it verified from the others, but that "roughing them up only works if you have specific, questions to get answered, otherwise they just babble and invent wild stories".
Father served in the Terriorial defence as a squad/section leader.
Here's a couple of stories.
>Territorial defence trains in secret so the Yugoslav authorities wouldn't catch on
>some maneuver practice in some woods
>a guy brings a car full of alcohol
>a few hours later, soldiers start randomly shooting, screams and singing is heard throught the woods
>everyone is totally drunk
>officers disband the troops and send them home for fear of authorities finding out (and it takes a few hours to round everyone up, while they party away)
>guarding an intersection
>heavy rain
>everyone is nervous, ducked in cover for a few hours, soaking wet and hungry
>albanian grocer comes out of the store with an umbrella, casually walks to each soldier and gives them some fruit and veg
>lights up a cigarette and chats with a solider, the grocer standing up, the soldier covering behind a brick wall
>guarding a bridge that is an important entry way into the capital
>"if tanks come, blow up the bridge"
>no explosives, so the plan is to place some gas (propane, buthane) bottles on the bridge and shoot at them if the tanks come
>night
>everyone is in position quite a ways away from the bridge
>a fiat 101 casually drives up the bridge
>some guy with a cigarette gets out
>opens the trunk and puts 2 gas bottles in
>nobody actually wants to shoot at a civilian
>guy drives away with free gas
>Grandfather and his older brother live in Barcelona.
>They tart their military service so they can begin their studies, my grandad is 19.
>Suddenly faggot Franco decides to declare war on democratically elect government
>He was doing his military service in Barcelona's HQ taken under the command of General Manuel Goded Llopis
>He and his brother stay in the HQ fighting for the national side against their wills. Barcelona was one of the cities that stayed under republican control until the very end of the war.
>The HQ siege lasts about a year.
>After a year in hell, Goded decides to surrender.
>My grandfather is one of the guys that opens the gate to the invader commander: the famous anarchist Buenaventura Durruti.
>They execute all the officers and they round up all the cadets in a square near the HQ.
>Durruti basically says: "I know many of you are here against your will so you can join us or you can leave is up to you, but next time I see you wearing blue I'm gonna kill you".
>My grandfather goes home to his father and sisters but his brother says that he is gonna make those fucking commies pay for what they did to them during the siege. My grandad begs him to come home so they can all escape that this is not their war its the politicians war. Grandad's brother goes to France so he can cross the Pyrenees and rejoin the nationalist side in Euskadi.
>Barcelona becomes an anarchist commune and my great grandfather lives with his two daughters and my grandad who lives in a very small hidden room cause they saw him fighting against republican forces and some fucking commie fucks want to kill him.
>They constantly abuse my great grandfather and my grandfather's sisters cause they ain't married and they think they are a couple of nuns and a priest in disguise.
>Situation escalates my grandad has to GTFO and decides to hide in the Montserrat mountains for 3 fucking years.
>War ends my family packs up their shit and they move to Galicia.
My great great grandfather died at Passchendaele. My great grandfather served in the desert rats in North Africa as an artilleryman, he survived the war.
My grandfather was leading a team of mechanics fixing and maintaining ships during the invasion of Cyprus which lead into the island's partition.
Father's side:
>WW1
>great-great grandfather enters army service in WW1 as early as 1914
>his official documents state that he resides in Britanny (although it was more of a vacationing home for him) and he is discriminated against due to being thought Breton
>as a result of the army thinking that he was poorfag (because Breton), he is sent more often to the front than others
>goes through some intense shit obviously, continue to sketch the war in the process (pic related is his work)
The french government later issued a request for him to depict Verdun: "en 1917, le ministère de la guerre lui demande de peindre des scènes de guerre à Verdun où il réalise de nombreux pastels."
>WW2
>french army orders my great-grandfather's company to build them a munitions factory in 1939 (essentially highlighting that they were gearing themselves for another Great War rather than the impending blitzkrieg)
>come 1942, now the german army orders my great-grandfather to have his company build them a V2 rocked launch site
>"whatever_man.png"
>gets tired of their shit and meets up with a friend boasting ties to the French Resistance
>tells him where the rocket launch site is being built so that they can transmit the information to England
>turns out that the RAF does get that information in the end, and they send Hurricane fighters to destroy the site
>great-grandfather almost dies that day since he was on the site supervising the work when the Hurricane bombed it
Mother's side (here I know less though)
>ancestor that served Napoleon in the old guard
>his uniform and medals is inherited by multiple generations of the family and now my great-uncle has it (grandfather's older brother)
>Indochina
>this very same great-uncle does his service in Indochina, fucking shit up as you do
>Algerian war
>grandfather is dispatched to Algers (for those who know about the battle of Algers, you would know what this means)
>refuses to ever talk about it
>Maternal grandpa served at a USAAF base in Belgium during the last year of WW2, no action
>Paternal grandpa had a desk job with the army, in the US, during the Korean War
nothing exciting but at least they didn't get killed
>some old uncle was a nazi before and under occuptation
>family shut him out.
>for some reason my family agreed to give me his name
On my mom's side
>Grandpa joins navy during WW2
>becomes airplane mechanic in the pacific
>deck gunner gets killed
>he needs to take over the gun and shoot at Japanese fighter pilots flying around
>later in the war he gets sent to the Philippines and hangs out there the rest of the time. No other stories I've ever heard
On dad's side
>Grandpa was too young to join during WW2
>becomes an MP after the war
>hangs out in Germany after the war during the allied occupation. No stories
Not that exciting. I really wish I knew more about my mom's dad. I know he was on an aircraft carrier for a while and I've seen a bunch of pictures of airplanes and ships in his house. Sadly, he died when I was very young and my grandma died ~8 years ago.
However,
>grandma dies
>need to clear out her house and all that nonsense
>going through closets and chests in the garage
>find old military rations, rifles, bayonets, Uncle Sam "I want You!" posters.
>mfw my cousin eats the rations
>mfw my aunt throws everything else away
>mfw we later find out each one of those posters can be sold for several thousand dollars each and we had like 20 of them
Mad.
>>hangs out in Germany after the war during the allied occupation. No stories
Probably because you're underage.
Once you're 18 and eligible to hear this sort of stuff, he'll tell you all about the german puss he must've smashed.
I'm 25. He died when I was 19.
Dad was a combat engineer at the time of the Falklands war, he avoid conscription by going to college
Oh was joking!
And my condolences then!
But now that I've your attention, tell me about your 60-year-old-ration-eating cousin?
My ancestors were badass Syrian Jews from the desert near Aleppo but moved to fucking Brazil and became Catholics
It was pretty funny. We're going through a bunch of stuff in the garage when we find a box that had an unopened ration in it.
>"Well it's sealed, might as well!"
>pops it open and eats something bread-like (no idea what it could have been) and some chocolate looking thing
>My aunt and my mom have the biggest shocked look on their faces
>"Meh, doesn't taste that good."
I laughed.
Great grandfather was an American Nazi sympathizer
Funnily enough, his son would marry a Jewish girl
>>My aunt and my mom have the biggest shocked look on their faces
I can empathize.
I thought the story would have him convulsing in stomach pains for over a week, until he'd try to end the pain and suffering by jumping from a window, but only manage to paralyze himself in the process.
Funny family/10 tho.
My grandfather told me that my great great uncle fought in wwI, he apparently killed himself and his mates when he accidentally set off a crate of explosives in his own trench.
>dad's dad hid a nazi corpse under his desk
>mom's dad hid in Groningen in a barn
>mom's mom watched an ISIS style execution by the nazis
>dad's uncle had to do hard labor and was starved to death because löl we have run out of ze food
They had great fun, and by great fun, I mean, they were scarred for life
What a dumbass
Mothers side:
>grandfather was in the admirality youth until 1944, was later assigned as a submariner in a type IXc, his Wolfpack took down 17 british Merchant vessels
>his brother was drafted into the Wehrmacht and fell somewhere in the Caucasus
>Great-grandfather was a captain in the Trade navy, still have his Hat lying around somewhere
Fathers side:
>Father served in the NVA as a paratrooper
>grandfather was an Officer in the Artillerycorps and got taken POW by the russians
None of them were Nazis, they just served their country
>Be Irish
>Grandpa British
>Fought with a tank crew in North Africa and Italy
>Went home
>Knocked up great Grandmother
>Great uncle fights in europe in the 22th Canadian infantry regiment
>lucky enough to survive his service
>dies in a car accident two weeks later
He deserved better...
> Grandpa joined US Navy
> ended up some sort of decent rank
> was tasked with sending off landing boats at Normandy
> had to load his friends into the boats and send them off
> didn't enjoy that
> died when I was 5, my grandmother told me these things later
> also a funny story about him getting ripped off trying to buy liquor in San Diego on shore leave
Grandmother had family still in Poland in the ghettos. She and her family stateside would send them things, sometimes stash secret things sewn into the hem of a coat or a dress. She told me about how everyone had a war garden and they had to put up blackout shades on the windows at night.
She also mainly said the war wasn't fun. Americans always get hard about WWII but she said at the time back home it was mainly scary and sad, everyone knew someone who died.
My father's grandfather was a British commando during World War II.
>Joined the Durham Light Infantry in 1928
>Left sometime before the War
>Rejoined in 1939
>Went to France with the BEF
>Evacuated at Dunkirk
>Joined the Commandos because the pay was better
>Parachuted into Italy on the first commando raid on Festung Europa
>Got captured by the Italians because the submarine meant to pick them up wasn't there
>Spent the war in a POW camp
>When the Italians pussied out of the war all the guards left
>POWs are getting moved to Germany
>He and a guy from the Royal Tank Regiment break open the cattle car door and jump out
>Makes his way back to Allied lines
>Was sent over to Burma and fought there until the War ended
>Came back and was a plumber for the rest of his life.
Apparently no one knew he was even in Operation Colossus until 30 years after he died.
Dad side
>Great Grandfather that fought in WW1 told his colleagues to stop shooting the enemy
>Grandfather was sending love letters to my grandmother in WW2
Mother side
>Haven't asked her about GGrandfather
>Only know that Grandfather was a KGB officer
Mother's side:
>Granpa was a military police office.
>When Mussolini was arrested and brought to Campo Imperatore, my granpa was his jailor.
>Managed to avoid to get shot by the rescuing Germans by sheer luck.
>Came back home, on his birthday he was captured and sent to Dachau.
>A few days before the camp was liberated, he escaped and managed to trek back to Italy.
>Meanwhile, granma moved close to the Vatican in order to avoid most bombs.
Father's side:
>Granma avoided getting raped by French colonianl troops because he played dead.
>She met my granpa while she was loking for essential objects from the ruins of Montecassino.
>Grandpa flew in Flying Forts in bombing runs on Germans
>Was the bomb sight guy
>Plane goes down in water
>Picked up by German U-boat
>Was in the camp The Great Escape happened in
>Was transferred a couple weeks before the escape happened
>Was the guy who put the dirt in his pockets
all sides stories:
>we had to limit our coffee and chocolate consumption
guess my country
USA.
Grandfather
>joins audience in the 50s
>stationed on a tropical island
>had the time of his life
Father
>coast guard in the 80s
>fights drug war and races to Canada
>has a lot of fun
Me
>can't join service because of anti depressants
Just end it now senpai
Air force not audience
Too young to join up but became an MP? So he was about 19 years old as an MP or what?
Do civilian stories within a country experiencing war count? I have no family who were veterans or served (except one great great grandfather in the 1800s). In fact I don't know any veterans of the two world wars now that i think of it.
My father's father's father and my mother's father's father fought on opposite sides of the battle of the 2nd Battle of Ypres in 1915
Mom side
>(WW1) Great-grandmother was a tailor, she made uniforms the soldiers. She was knocked up by a wounded German soldier she found lying half dead in a barn. He healed and left. She had been married with no children, her husband died in the war. Everyone in the village acted like her daughter (my grandma) was a perfectly legitimate one. G-Grandmother later remarried and had another daughter but died of childbirth.
>(WW2) grandmother and her half sister (whom I always called Auntie), both orphaned, worked an uncle's field in exchange for food and shelter. When the war broke out they were employed as army tailor (grandma) and nurse (auntie). Grandma hid partisans in the basement.
>(WW2) grandpa was submarine crew. He managed to come back from the war became a policeman and married grandma. Auntie never married.
Dad's side
>(ww2) grandpa was a marconist, which is the guy with the phone backpack who calls for reinforcements
>his unit didn't see much action, got shot at by partisans more than anyone else. >they got caught at the border with Austria by Germans after Italy changed sides and were deported to a POW camp in Austria where they stayed until the end of the war
>what was left of the unit was freed by Americans. Americans gave a lot of potatoes and rich food to the survivors most of which died as a consequence. Grandpa was sick with pneumonia and didn't eat anything so he survived.
.
Dad's side
>
Mum's side
>great-grandfather died at the beginning of WWII
Dad's side
>great-grandfaher was captured by the Russians, but managed to survive
>family expelled from East Prussia
>grand uncle sat in a bubble in a plane and shot a bunch of Nazis out of the sky. A lot of them. He really liked shooting them and kept going back.
>grandfather was in the navy and went to China
Moms side
>grandfather gunned down gooks from a chopper in Vietnam
>great-grandfather was a fucking marine cook for the troops at Iwa Jima and Pelielu
>great-great grandfather fought for the Canadians on the western front during WW1
>great-great-great-great grandfather was an irishman who fought with Corcorans Irish brigade against Dixie scum in the civil war
Dads side
>great-grandfather served the British as a pooinloo troop against the Japanese in Burma
>great-great grandfather was fucking HANGED by Germans in Tanganyika for being a British pooinloo spy during WW1
Tfw half Irish half pooinloo
>Mum's Side
Get shot at Dunkirk. Spend rest of the war as a prison guard in Scotland.
Dad's side
>See war coming, sign up before it breaks out.
>Get comfy desk job in North Africa
Yeah, we pretty much lucked out. Also my great grandfathers were too young to fight in WWI so missed that too.
>maternal grandmother born out of wedlock in 1914
>her father was known but was commanded to the serbian front where he allegedly died among the first, before/instead of marrying my great-grandmother
>maternal grandfather fought in WWII holding the line against the soviets in the Eastern Carpathians
>was messenger of the unit, riding motorcycle in fancy outfit
>once was hit by shell, recovered in a few hours, his mate got shellshock and had to be tied to a chair where he kept screaming even after his voice finally went away
>once the russians opened gunfire on the unit, nobody got hit but a bullet entered the barrel of one of the guns, tearing it up
>another time an explosion tore off both legs of a soldier but he survived long enough to be carried away in a basket; maybe he even survived the war, having failed to bleed out on the spot
>grandfather finally deserted when the russians pushed back the front past our city
>allied bombers hit their house while he was away, luckily my grandmother was visiting some relative in another part of the town
>paternal grandfather had four kids by the time the war started, so he never even went to war
>father was a kid when the front passed over us, he had fun collecting discarded ammunition and blowing it up. he was very lucky and never had any accident
Kill yourself you worthless sack of shit.
H-how old are you?
turned 50 this year.
Damn! Well I didn't mean to startle you of course by asking indiscreetly about your age. Happy to see we're not all 20-something idiots.
Fucking Jeff
Did your family plant any birches on the orders of KGB?
Dude, you need to get your ass to Israel to get some shekels
Damn, your family went through alot of wars
That's a cool story! You don't hear about submarine stories everyday
>grandmother was in US Navy, nursing.
>grandfather also in US Navy, Navy bomber pilot WW2, then on carrier during Korea
>never liked talking about the war, only a few stories here and there
>both dead now
>go through boxes of their stuff
>piece together more of their history via their naval documents
>find hundreds of their personal correspondence sent between 1941-1951
>incredible personal stories
>never knew about any of this until after they died
talk to your grandparents before it's too late, kids.
I think everyone's can boast of such proximity, including when you're either french, german, english, italian, russian, and the sort, who have had the most wars to get on in. It's not necessarily that my family has endured war more, but just that I've bothered to dig into it.
Also WW2 doesn't really count. It's really just an anecdote about le resistance.
>Evacuated at Dunkirk
Lucky guy
>Uncle had a desk job in Vietnam
>Grandfather was Polish
>born in 1925
>captured and put in Dachau
>not jewish, just can't have Polish teenagers running around
>built Mercedes airplane engines in Dachau
>used to borrow armbands from the French prisoners so he could leave the camp for A&R
>would regularly pretend to be French and go to a German restaurant to play poker
>thats how he met my grandmother
My other grandfather is American and was in an airborne unit but never got deployed.
>is interned at Dachau
>still has the time to charm his way into the heart of a german qt
Well, I think that I've officially run out of excuses for why I'm such a lonely loser.
Augusta, Sicily 28 May 1950
Dearest,
How are you darling? I surely hope that you are well and that young'un is too –
I have had my hair cut short and feel fit. If only you were with me.
Yesterday I marched up to the Exec and asked him if I could use one of the ships boats for trolling. I nearly keeled over when he said sure. In one hour, I had rounded up 3 cases of Pabst, some ice, 18 sandwiches, 3 pounds of shrimp for bait and off we went. "We" was Sandy and 6 of the men in the division. We trolled far + wide for tuna but no luck, which of course had nothing to do with the success of the day. It was so unusual and felt so great that I can still hardly believe it. I've already mailed you a 50 foot reel of film that we took. Hope it all comes out. The day was one of the best I could possibly spend under the present conditions.
When I returned to the ship, we stopped our boat quite a way out and we all went in swimming. Consequently when we came aboard, we were all clean and freshly dressed and I was sure glad for lo + behold there stood the old man! He said our trip was a trial run and that from the appearance of all hands, when we returned, the crew could look forward to more like it! Today, he allowed the entire ship to swim off the side. I have the OOD duty so was there to see them start it off.
>pic related
Well duh, torture doesn't work because people will make up shit to not suffer and you'll have trouble confirming it. It only works for phoney confessions.
Enchanted interrogation nowdays mostly focuses on breaking the mind of a prisoner.
Father was Air Force psychologist during the Vietnam era. He never had to go to Vietnam, but treated returning troops. He never wanted to talk about it.
Several of maternal grandmother's cousins died in the Holocaust.
Not only did he marry a "german qt" but that qt's father was a fairly high ranking German officer who fought on the western front and survived the war (but not subsequent Russian internment)
forgot to mention that
Bro, not one more fucking detail! His exploits are drowning me in utter lack of self-worth, so I don't want to hear one more word on how successful he was!
Good for him though. Not everyone gets out Dachau with that nice a story.
After the war he moved to America with only pennies in his pockets, and eventually started a successful fencing company. He also owned some rental properties and a condo in Puerto Vallarta where they vacation every year
Fucking Źchad Źunzvdercockorovoskí
>Great-Grandparents are Irish
>World war breaks out
>Tea rationing starts
>It....it was awful
Never met them but from what my I can get out of my grandparents they always changed the subject when it came up
>one of grandfather's siblings taken by communists during the war
The details are still vague, no one ever told me much
>basically everyone has gone temporarily deaf from mandatory military training
Such is life as a korean
Not actually related to him, but interesting anyways
>Mom gets taken in by her BFs parents after shes kicked out
>The dad is a haida native who got in trouble with the law, and was told to either go to jail or vietnam
>Eventually ends up a green beret
>Has to collect ears and put them on his belt to prove his kills
thats my only "story" he doesn't talk about it, understandably
On my dad's side, my grandpa was an oil refinery manager and deemed necessary for the war effort.
On my mom's side, my grandfather enlisted and ended up being a mine clearer in North Africa and Italy. He didn't talk about it much and took to drinking after the war.
Apparently mine clearing was very bad and had lots of friends die doing it.
>Ancestor fought in siege of constantinople
>Great Grandpa from father side fights in Italian Turkish War, Greek Turkish war of 89, WW1 and Liberation War. Takes part in Gallipoli
>Other great grandpa fights in Balkan Wars.
>Grandpa is stationed in Turkish Axis border in case of Turkey joining ww2
>Dad was in Cyprus war
>Uncle in Korea War
>Brother in Kosovo war
I wonder if I will ever go to war...
Question and a bit off topic...
For US people, is there a government website where you can look up the unit your ancestor served in.
I have their name obviously and know they served but no one in the family remembers what unit they served in.
My grandfather nearly served in the Brazilian Army in WW2. He was literally standing in front of the ship that was gonna take him there when he learned that the war was over. He never got any veterans' benefits.
Mom's side
>Grand pappy was commie soldier in China
Dad side
>Great uncle and entire family was Kuomintang
>great uncle was captain aboard a destroyer
>losing like shit against the commies
>decide to fuck off to Taiwan and bring over as many of the family as possible
>fucked off to taiwan but couldn't bring ALL the family members only parts of it
>Fucks off to America because looming commie invasion
>From America sends for trapped mainland family side to come over
>dad and extended family comes over
>had relationship with mom before he came to America so he works to get enough money to bring mom over and her parents
and that's why there was alot of yelling when grampa was over
Dad's side
>Great-grandfather was in the 10th Mountain Division. Never talked about it, but when he died, my father inherited a box full of nazi armbands and a luger
>Grandfather was in Vietnam, The only story I've heard was he was climbing up one of those repelling ladders for a helicopter, and the guy in front of him and behind him got shot off. He became a minister afterward.
>Dad was in Operation Desert Storm and spoke Persian Farsi. I've never heard him talk about it, other than that as an intelligence officer he had to pick places to bomb or something along those lines. I think that shook him up.
Mom's side
>Great-grandfather died on Normandy, decapitate by shrapnel from a landmine
I once thought I'd join the military, I guess out of a sense of emulation. But seeing what it's done to my family, and knowing that there's stories they will never tell, I don't ever want to be near a war. I don't think my dad would want me to, either.
Dad's Side, William Shearer
>Fought in trenches
>Wound up captured
>Escaped and made it back to friendly territory and helped orchestrate a rescue
>The rescue was a success and all prisoners were brought back to friendly territory
>One exception
>William Shearer decided to return from freedom back to the prisoners to tell them to hold on, that help was coming
>Died to a shell on the way
>The prisoners were all asking where he was, nobody could tell them
>Have his medals and shit in a cabinet as well as some letters
>The last letter talks about how he feels invincible writing a letter, but returning to the reality makes him feel small as a mouse
>Talks about wondering the part he and his friends play in the grand scheme of it all, and what god sees from above as they "roll around in the filth and wanton destruction"
>Asks whether the higher ups think of him as he squats in the mud, or is he another thousand men crammed into a pin on a map
>Concludes by stating that this christmas he'd like not to kill anyone
>Grandfather was a Jehovah's witness
>doesn't go to war
>house gets bombed
>dig him out of the rubble
>he has a picture frame stuck round his neck
>suddenly decides being a Jehovah's witness isn't for him
>joins the army
>gets a german war bride
Cant find any sources/dociments other then a picture kept by some local ww2 remembrance organization
>one day temporary war museum at nazi bunkers from the atlantikwall
>Not too far from House
>Go with whole family
>They've got lots of uniforms,flags and weapons lined up in one of the bunkers
>cool
>See a huge wall with pictures and names dedicated to "traitors"
>Norwegians in the SS/NS or who simply helped
>One of them share my fathers last name
>I ask him about it
>He tells me he thought he was related to my grandfather but never spoke to him about it
>Never knew who he was and didnt care
He looked like he had some sort of SS uniform, could have been something else though. I wish i took pics.
Though i have proof that my grandma and her family helped hide Jews and one our towns "coat of arms" or whatever you'd call it.
>Be Northern Irish Catholic
>Mother's side
>Lower Middle Class family
>Granddad was Air Warden during WW2. A bomb landed just in front of him but didn't go off
>Got burned out of his home by the B-Specials (a Protestant paramilitary organisation that was officially an arm of the state)
>Kept well away from any terrorist behaviour
>Dad side's different
>Dirt poor background
>All of my Grandad's siblings join the IRA, some become top commanders
>My grandfather is only convinced not to go by my Grandmother, who had family in the RAF
>House regularly raided by the army
>He was targeted by notorious serial murderer Lennie Murphy just before he got caught by the police
>Dad takes part in riots daily. Everyone did.
>The violence gets so awful that he and his family move to England for a few years
We don't really like to talk about it at the table.
Northern Catholic here too
>Mother's family literally live in bog mountains
>Very nationalist community
>Uncles become associated with IRA
>Lots of british harassment and raids
>Take part in big operation in early 70's against isolated barracks
>Around 30 men, armed with newly arrived libya weapons
>HMGs, Mortors, RPGs
>30 minute attack on barracks from all sides
>Commander fiiring ancient Bren gun
>Pointless exercise but one british casuality as result of RPG (they just had rifles)
>They withdraw over the mountain across the border
>Shortly afterwards republican solicitor found out their names came up in connection with the police
>One got out quick and moved to Dublin
>Other dithered until solicitor picked up in his mercades, put him in a suit and moved him across the border through the army checkpoint no problem
>They couldn't return north until around 2000 when they had confirmation the police was no longer seeking them
>Father
>Also grew up in republican community
>Joined IRA in early seventies
>Support stuff, logistics, intelligence, engineering etc
>Him and friend got nabbed by UDR patrol one night after tossing away a radio (was used in abortive attack on police)
>UDR search friends house and find ammo
>UDR beat them both up but friend got the worst of it
>THe same UDR sergeant would be associated with murdering a nationalist coucillor one year later, also one of the founding members of the DUP and a former MLA
>THey spend a week in Crumlin road jail on remand
>Case gets thrown out because UDR cannot legally search property
>IRA asks my father they want to target UDR sergeant in proxy bomb attack on army barracks
>My father says no because it will implicate him
>UDR man is ancient now but has no idea my father probably saved his life
>Transported Francis Hughes once when he was on the run (he was later go on to die in the 83 hunger strike)
>Grandfather shipped to Vietnam in late 1967
>stationed in Da Nang when the Tet Offensive started
>his battalion repelled the attack, but he had this right thumb shot in the fighting
>thumb couldn't be saved, had it amputated.
>couldn't hold a rifle anymore with a missing right thumb
>awarded purple heart, was transferred to back to the US doing inventory paperwork for the rest of this contract.
too bad my family doesn't have any WWII service members, my grandparents were in diapers when it happened and their parents were well into their 40's.
My grandad fought in the Africa campaign. Nothing unusual happened and he brought back junk for my granny from the local markets. As I recall, a brass ashtray with the head of cleopatra and a necklace made out of bone. Pretty classy trinkets.
My great income in my mum's side, though, was a bit of a hero. He was in the French resistance and did a really important and dangerous thing of gathering and radioing in co-ordinates for allied bombing of the harbour at la ciotat which is the deepest natural harbour in the med and was full of German u boats. He was almost caught by the Germans and had to escape into the countryside for a while. He got a big deal medal and for the rest of his life he was given free meals and drink in local restaurants. He also had many mistresses and was apparently quite the playa.
Oh, and my mum used to tell us that he got really angry about the Americans as once France was liberated, they came through and would throw chocolates to the local kids from tanks. Even though this is based and obviously really cool of them, his view was that it was thoughtless and made French parents who couldn't give their kids chocolate and other luxuries look like shit. I think it made them feel humiliated.
All my grandparents though talked very highly about the Americans and my mum especially used to say and I quote "they took it the worst at Normandy and no one ever talks about it; those poor boys - without them we couldn't have done it".
So I guess that makes my great uncle look a little churlish all things considered.
Based Americans. Thanks again.
My grandad fought in ww2 in the HLI. His brother my great uncle died of shell shock but they were deployed on different fronts. My grandad brought back a Luger but my dysfunctional uncle lost it and most of my grandads medals. He never got shot once. He said watching your friends die is one of the worst things ever. After the dementia got really back he would experience flash backs. He was the nicest man I knew I miss him. We are Scottish so pretty much every generation of our families has at least one person who has served. It's hard being Scottish. My other grandad served in the navy and was deployed in Cairo in the last 40s I think there was a revolt I don't know. Our mental health is pretty fucked.
Czech's pussied out is not exactly the right expression. Either getting fucked from the maps by brutal force due to lacking manpower and weaponry to resist or try to save as many lives fighting from different countries because they left you for dead after a rather unsuccessful hopes for Munich agreement leaves you with a logic conclusion. At least that's what I read.
NI Prod
>granda
>hates fenians
>war breaks out
>/loyal/
>joins Royal Arttillery
>goes to England
>meets and English factory worker who hates fenians more than he does
>go to france
>get your shit knocked in
>escape at dunkirk
>spend rest of the war in Caitness
>marry english girl
>move to ni
>drive a tractor at a golf club until your retire
Why so shy on the Troubles, nig?
We live in the middle of nowhere, barely bothered us.
Dad was in the army and did riot shit though. My uncle got injured when a pub he was at was bombed.
My Great-Grandpa personally made sure his fellow soldiers were able to retreat safely during a ww2 battle in France by staying behind and laying down covering fire until he was the last one to leave
Republican bomb?
You should watch that film '72'. Saw it recently and its fucking excellent. Think you might find it interesting. Be interesting to see what your grandad and other older family members think too.
>Republican bomb?
Aye.
>You should watch that film '72'.
Looks alright I'll give it a watch.
...
>Great grandpa fought in WWII and was taken prisoner by the allies
>My grandma and great grandma fled Germany
Interesting.
How did the allies treat him?
Why escape? Juden?
>Why escape?
my moneys on russians
>WW2 great grandfather
Stationed in philipines, guarding jap POWs. Apparently it was kind of lax, japs were practicing karate in courtyard or some kind of fancy martial art.
One of grandpas friends sees this and asks jap to a 1v1 fight basically
Jap agrees
Grandpa said jap fucked his friends shit up
All the guards were laughing
Other grandpa was just a cook, i never got any stories from him.
>Great great great grandfather in 1st and second boer war, after the wars ended he still fought in the boer resistance. My grandfather still has a british officers pistol from the 1800's from his grandfather.
>Grandfather in ww2
>Father in Angolan bush war
>tfw none of them want to talk about it
Lemme guess: you're a perennial favourite on /pol/, right?
Just a jaded expat who thinks /pol/ is garbage.
Is jy Afrikaans?