What Did You Do In The War Dad/Mum/Grandad

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11 years 5 months

Posts: 11,141


Service records can be obtained here.
http://www.veterans-uk.info/service_records/army.html
Can take up to a year to arrive.

I didn't know about thisn site - I would like to acquire my grandfarther's records. But £30 seems a lot. A pity material like this is not available on-line, where admin costs wold be at a minimum, as would lead times. Or am I missing something?:)

Member for

14 years 6 months

Posts: 2,536

My Grandfather was gassed in WW1 and evacuated to the UK.
My Father served on HMS Anson during WW2. He was a GRUE operator which is somthing to do with predicted aiming of the ships guns. Where he moved his gadjet the ships guns followed.
My Uncles served in various places during WW2 notably Africa and Burma.

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12 years 11 months

Posts: 1,542

My Grandad (who is currently 91 and in amazing shape) joined the RAF in WW2, but could not become a pilot because he is colour blind. Instead, he trained as a radio operator at RAF Shawbury on Oxfords, and also volunteered for a few missions as a gunner in a Lysander, in what must have been support for Cladestine operations.
He was sent to India in 1944, and spent the remained of the war sending messages in Morse. He didn't come home until 1946, and has some interesting stories about his free time, and some photos of him and his mates at the top of one of the turrets of the Taj Mahal! They were also being sent full rations throughout, even though the majority of the men had gone months before.

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13 years 9 months

Posts: 150

What did Ma/Grandma do in the war?

Years back when I was a student I worked one summer on a farm in Sussex. I won't mention the actual name of the village.

There was an old boy named Jasper (true) working there who had some good stories.

"Back in the war they sent us some of they Eytalian prisoners of war to work on the farm. B*****y useless! Slept under a hedge all day and chased the village women all night. Got half of them pregnant, so the Eytalians had to go. Then they sent us some Germans. By Gor did they work! Their own sergeant would march them out every morning and he made b*****y sure that they worked!

Only trouble was they got the other half of the women in the village pregnant"!

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11 years 9 months

Posts: 394

Been doing a lot of research on my family over the past few years along with help from other relatives have managed to trace my family (mothers side) to 1141 with all sorts of interesting twist and turns.

As for WW2 My Mums Dad (Grandad 1) worked on building parts for Mosquito's in a piano factory at Stoke Newington, Nan worked in ammunition and guns at the Woolwich Arsenal so im told. Nan 1's brother served in the Royal Navy and at one point so im told was involved on Russian Convoys. My Mum remembers Nan saying "them police have turned up again to take him back" Torpedoed twice in one night on different ships and survived he spent 18 months recovering in the USA. Proving difficult here as the only evidence i have of him being alive is a birth Certificate, and change of name document ( another story from WW1 ?) I have been informed that if he was an Air gunner and deployed on Merchant ships there would be no record !!!!

Dad side is even better. (Grandad 2) was a fireman in London during the Blitz and drove buses. Nan 2's brother was in the RAF joining in 1921/22 and worked alongside Churchill in photo reconnassence iam trying to get his service record from Cranwell but it is proving difficult. Brother 2 was a dispatch rider serving with 11 group from October 1940 he has just died so am now getting to grips with service records.

Mum & Dad still have there gas masks and case, ration books and other stuff issued to there family's in London in WW2.

Chris

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14 years 1 month

Posts: 5,088

On Mum's side, Grandad was a train driver (LNER). Got strafed by intruders at least twice :eek: Not sure what Grandmother did though. On Dad's side, Grandmother worked for HP at Clifton Moor, Grandfather was wireless man on armed trawlers and then minesweepers (Arctic convoys, then later to the far east), and his brother was a wop/ag killed when his 50sqn Lanc was shot down in June '43. His other brother was army, served in the desert.

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17 years 7 months

Posts: 158

As far as I'm aware neither of my Grandfathers served in WW2 - one was a baker and the other a brewer - I think they would have been too old and one certainly suffered from ill health. One served in the Pioneer Corps during WW1 as I have his service medals.
My mother worked at Feltham Depot and the woman alongside her asked if she would become a penpal for her son in Burma....and they eventually married in 1948.
I know very little about my Fathers war service as he never really spoke about it but he does appear in a photograph that has the following written on the back...
17 Squadron (The 17 isn't 100% clear and may be wrong)
6 Flight
15 I.T.W
Bridlington
14/1/44

He told me he had flown as a rear gunner in Wellingtons but not on ops.
For whatever reason he ended up in the Fourteenth Army and served in Burma.

My uncle was an RN DEMS (Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship) gunner on the SS Empire Hurst which was bombed and sunk by an FW200 Condor 400 miles west of Gibraltar in August 1941 - it was his first posting after completion of training at HMS President III and he was not one of the 9 survivors.

Member for

11 years 11 months

Posts: 549

If we're going for the full record, I've a little more to tell - didn't put this in my first post as there's hardly any aviation content.

My mother was still at school through the Second World War and stayed at home in north London, where her father was on fire watch (he did nothing during either war due to having had a cleft palate as a child - apparently he was one of the first who had it fixed).
My father started the war in school and was evacuated from south London to Reading. While there he aomehow managed to confound all the stories one hears of wartime shortages and have a custom-built racing bike made for him, on which he used to regularly cycle back to visit his parents. On turning 18 in late 1944 he was called up into the army and volunteered for the Commandos. He saw no action but spent most of his time in Commando HQ, where amongst his duties was to write the letters that went to the parents of men killed in training (which he found quite upsetting). He also compiled the Commando Cliff Assault Manual (I only found this out after his death). At the end of the war the Army Commandos were disbanded and Dad returned to his original unit and spent the next two years looking after oil installations in north Africa.
Dad's sister and cousin were both in the WAAFs. I've no idea what my aunt did. Dad's cousin was a radio operator and played a part in the story of Glenn Miller's disappearance.
Dad's father was in the army during the First World War, but would seem not to have been the ideal soldier and spent much time locked up. When the Second War started he seems to have 'borrowed' his brother's name and joined up again - the cause of no little bad feeling within the family, so I know little more. Somehow he ended up in the Merchant Navy, but apparently without any interesting stories. I never knew him.

Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 3,415

re;

In my Dads side;

Lt Stephen George Briggs, spent most of the 1930s in Germany for the foreign office, signed up 1939 Royal Artillery, details sketchy, was at Monte Casino and in Egypt, spoke several languages and had a good knowledge of espionage - possibly LRDG

WAAF Olive Briggs, HQ 5 group bomber command

Observer Douglas Briggs, FAA, Grumman Avengers

Louis Walthall, Home guard

my Mums side;

Dennis Day, Special Constable, Gladys Day, WRVS, Lt Frederick Offord FEPOW Burma railway, James day - owner of Lowestoft Fleet hence in the thick of it Dunkirk

plus I know the Daughter and Granddaughter of the Warwicks standbearer SGT, who brought the colours back from Dunkirk, which now hangs in Coventry Cathedral.

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15 years 3 months

Posts: 923

just outstanding, ordinary people doing there bit.The main point to me is after it was all over most just went back to there day job as if nothing had happened over the last 6yrs,just pushed it all to the back of there minds.

Member for

12 years 9 months

Posts: 759

Ina nutshell....

Dad .RAF Sgt Tech. Instructor ...later Sgt Fitter / Rigger ground crew 625 Sqn WW2 . Became school teacher after the war .

Dads older brother John ( Paz ) Sgt RAF . not sure what capacity but with Hurricanes out in Burma & India . Went a bit native & loved to spend time down the " other end " of the Runway , learning native languages , musical instruments & cooking .

Dads 2 other older brothers RN . Chief ERA's . Destroyers --Atlantic & Russian convoys .

Mom brother Tom Sgt Infantry ( maybe a Welsh Rgt ) Always said he was one of the first on the beaches on D-Day ( not sure of the beach or truth in family rumour ) Then fought his way into Germany .

Moms eldest sister . Worked making dummy / decoy rubber " Tanks " --!!

Its a shame , all the qustions you should have asked while they were still alive ??

Member for

11 years 5 months

Posts: 11,141

.....to add

My father-in-law was brought down to London and spent the Blitz years and then until after the war on bomb damage and clear up. My mother-in-law was in the WVS.

My wife's uncle was a rear gunner on Wellingtons and survived until diabetes copped him in the eighties.

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18 years 10 months

Posts: 3,614

I'm not British (thank god*), but here's my contributions:

Mom & Dad too young to do anything other than go to school during WW2 (living in Kansas).

2 of Mom's brothers (the oldest) served in WW2, 1 US Army & 1 USN... made it out of the US, but not into combat (unless you count the nights they, being stationed near each other, would meet at a bar midway between. And, after a few drinks, start "fighting" each other... only to pull out when the donnybrook got going good, and watch from the door until they heard the MP's sirens. Then they would sneak off back to their bases.)

One of Dad's older brothers got to Germany right at the end... wouldn't say what he saw.
The other got all his affairs in order after Pearl Harbor, and went down to enlist a couple weeks later. He was told "Sorry, but the farmers for miles around have come down and let us know you are the only one who can keep their combines & tractors working, so you are now listed as "in a war-essential industry"... and you aren't allowed to enlist or be drafted! After all, we need the food they raise to feed the troops.".

My Granddad (Mom's Pa) served in France in WW1 with Pershing's Army... fought in the trenches in 1918, caught a lung full of gas, but lasted until the summer of 1980 (or else Mom wouldn't have been born)!

* my ancestors came from various parts of Scotland

Member for

14 years 5 months

Posts: 590

Very Proud of my Great Uncle, Sgt Pilot Samuel James Mitchell A.F.M
Sadly killed whilst flying a Bristol Fighter in 1918.

My Grandad was wounded on the beaches of Dunkirk, sadly died of pneumonia after the war.

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Member for

24 years 2 months

Posts: 3,415

re;

just outstanding, ordinary people doing there bit.The main point to me is after it was all over most just went back to there day job as if nothing had happened over the last 6yrs,just pushed it all to the back of there minds.

I met a wonderful gentleman who signed up the day war broke out, was at Dunkirk, wounded in Italy, then back in time for d-day, he just wants to forget it all, he does not do the memorial as its too painful.

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24 years 2 months

Posts: 6,968

Paternal Grandfather - Known in the family as the scarlet pimpernel. Born in 1882 in Cork, the son of a Royal Marine Bandsman (later Band Quartermaster Captain) he was apparently a bit of a handful who had a natural way with horses. Said to have served in India with the 5th Dragoons and by his own admission deserted due to boredom on his return home (all yet to be confirmed). It is known that in November 1914 he joined the ASC stating that he had no prior military experience. Known to have been in Salonika where he is said to have received a shell wound to the face (he carried the disfigurement and the steel plate to his grave.) Appears to have been selected for discharge because of his injuries but managed to stay in. Married a woman from Leeds in 1916 who had a child with him but then died shortly after the birth of their daughter. He handed the child over to his wife's family and went back to the war. I have a whole other family somewhere. Back in France by September 1918 he stayed there with the Army following the Armistice and was discharged in 1921 after becoming a Wheeler Sergeant. Drifted through various jobs after the war, almost always involving horses, groom, circus rider, drayman etc. My father, born 1927, remembers my Grandfather looking after the elephants when the circus came to town. He stayed with them in stables at the top of our street and every morning took them back to the circus site and every evening brought them back to the stables. In an air raid in 1941 my Grandad was fire watching (he was 59) when a bomb struck a factory just a few hundred yards from where I sit now. Five men were killed and my Grandad helped retrieve the bodies. He died in 1951.

Maternal Grandfather joined the South Staffordshire Regiment in 1913 as a Territorial and when the Battalion (2nd) returned from Pretoria on the outbreak of the Great War went with them to France. Was wounded in the leg at some point early on. Trained as a machine gunner he was attached to the battalion from the MGC. In 1917 he was returned home on compassionate leave as his wife was very ill following a stillbirth. He overstayed his leave by a couple of days to ensure she was recovering and was Court Martialed for the offence of desertion. No record of punishment but it couldn't have been very severe, probably because of the mitigating circumstances, and ended the war with the Battalion in Italy.

Dad was 18 in September 1945 and so too young to have fought. He was in the RAPC. He had served as a runner in the Civil Defence and from a hill near Birmingham had sat in a van with a much older colleague and watched Coventry burn. His brother, my Uncle Stan was a gun-layer in the Royal Navy and served aboard the Rother and the Arethusa as well as one other unknown ship. Saw action in the Mediterranean and on the Russian Convoys. His major claim to fame was waking up one morning to find himself on a mortuary slab following the consumption of an excessive amount of alcohol. He certainly enjoyed VE night!

Uncle Jim, Mom's brother, was in the Far East with the KOSB. Reluctant as he was to talk about his war, his extreme hatred (and terror) of the Japanese I witnessed on two memorable occasions.

Mom and her sister both worked on munitions, one of their jobs being the assembly of hand grenades.

Wish I could find out more but sadly the windows of opportunity closed before I knew I wanted to look through them.

There is one other man who I am proud to consider a Grandfather. Royal Scots in the Great War, he was wounded in September 1918, shot through the jaw actually during an attack. He was a prisoner for no more than half an hour but always said it was the first aid given to him by the Germans that saved his life. The second wave of this attack carried the German positions and so he was removed to a CCS, then to a Canadian Stationary Hospital at Outreau and thence to Croydon War Hospital for facial reconstruction.

Regards,

kev35

Member for

15 years 3 months

Posts: 674

Very interesting thread. I guess my family were some of the lucky ones born around 1900, too young for WW1 and almost too old for WW2.

Granddad (mums side) reserved occupation in WW2 as railway engineer, joined home guard
Granddad (dads side) not talked about in the family so unknown!!

Dad born 1939 bombed out of London to Reading. Was last of National Service intake with RAF, mainly at Benson.

Mums two oldest sisters worked on minor aircraft production in part of the Reading Spitfire production group.

On mums side my uncle's (by marriage) brother was killed in Italy in 1944 with serving IIRC the Welsh Guards.

I do remember a net door neighbor when I was growing up (late 70's) was ex Royal Artillery and was in the Somme. He was almost completely deaf and aged 80+ and really scared me, his wife was very kind though.

Alsost forgot the faimily "uncle Albert", my farther in-law ! He joined the RN straight from school in 1947 and served as a stoker until the late 50's. He served in Korea on HMS Ocean and on several destroyers.

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19 years 5 months

Posts: 9,821

My English wife's father was a signals officer Lieutenant aboard a RN cruiser.
Her mother ran a teletype machine at Shell's HQ (presumably in London).

My father was a B-17 pilot in the 15th AF in Italy, arriving very late in the war.
My mother trained as a nurse.

My paternal grandfather served in WWI. I have no other details but his web belt and helmet are still in the family.

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17 years 11 months

Posts: 2,024

My late father joined the RAF in 1940 and completed his pilot basic training, he was seriously injured in an accident at SFTS and was invalided out, ending up in the Colonial Service in Nigeria. Postwar he did 29 years with BOAC/BA.

Mother joined the WRNS and was an intercept morse operator with the Y Service, based at Scarborough and Flowerdown (Winchester) Postwar she too worked for BOAC.

Both Grandfathers were army in WWI, one infantry and the other RAMC.