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This is a thread dedicated to the experiences of our Parents and Grandparents during the conflicts of the 20th Century.

I thought it would be interesting to see what part each others families have played in shaping the world as we know it today.

Now, sadly, my Grandad on my Mums side really doesn't talk about the War that much, so I've already semi-scuppered my own thread. All I know is that he served in the Navy, possibly on a Rocket Boat.

However, my Gran's brother, Great Uncle Val, gave all the Grandchildren a copy of his logbook from his days in the RAF. Most of it is fairly humdrum, take off time, positions bombed, landing time etc, but the section where he lost friends, and particularly the entries regarding the bombing of Dresden make for extremely upsetting reading. I know he was proud to serve his country and to fight against the Nazi Warmachine, but that he also felt great shame in the targetting of civilians.

My other Grandad, from what I recall, served as a Pilot Trainer for Spitfires. Exactly what this entailed I don't know.

So, over to you guys.

The only war experience anyone in my family has was my grandfather.

As the story goes, my grandmother was dating this fella and they were madly in love. He joined the army and got called away to fight (WWI I think). Anyway, my grandfather decided with the army fella busy fighting for his life in foreign lands, the time was finally right to steal my grandmother away. And I'm living proof that he succeeded!

Swiped!

My Grandpappy was in WW2. He was due to operate a landing craft, but got transfered to another at the last minute. Good job; his initial vessel hit a mine, killing everyone on board.

One of my great grandads had his leg blown off in WW1, but still managed to knock out 13 children.

My grandfather on my mother's side flew cargo planes in the Pacific. He was one of the lucky ones that never saw an enemy in the entirety of his service.

My grandfather on my father's side was too young for WWI, and too old for WWII. He spent WWII working as a fireman on the South Side of Chicago.

Dogma, either way they both played important roles.

I doubt anyone would, but if someone claimed otherwise I'd say you are fully entitled to smack them one.

My grandfather on my mother's side was in both wars. He was in WW1 in the infantry and in WW2 he was a tank driver in the desert war.

He caught malaria before the battle of El Alamein and after this he was taken off active service and was made an officers' billet procurer. He had to drive ahead of the regimental HQ and find houses for officers to stay in. This was in Italy. While doing this he rescued two small orphaned Italian girls from the roadside, whose families are still friends of our family. So some good connection came out of the war.

On my father's side my grandfather was in a reserved occupation and did not fight.

My mother being too young spent the war as a school child. Nonetheless she came under fire during the Blitz and from doodlebugs in 1944.

My father was also too young. He served as a messenger boy for the air raid wardens. After the war he joined the RAF as an electronics specialist and served in a number of places such as Gibraltar, Aden, India and Ceylon. He never came under fire though in Aden the Arabs were rebelling and sometimes attacked the aerodrome.

My wife's family is Japanese. Her grandfather was in the Marines but never got sent overseas. Her mother (my mother-in-law) lived in Tokyo and was caught in the firebombing raids late in the war. There are no family photos existing from before about 1960 because all the pre-war photos got burnt in their house, and after the war they were to poor to have a camera.

On the whole though all sides of my family were lucky compared to many people.

My Grandfather on my Mom's side was in the U.S., in the coastguard, and never saw any action. My Grandfather on my Dad's side was in the Royal Navy and he flew Seafires off of aircraft carriers. He had four confirmed kills (he shot down four other planes) and there was also a fifth one which he and I think four other guys claimed they had shot down, so he got 1/5 credit for it.

He was shot down in Greece at one point, and the local Greeks came and, despite the fact that he was alone and there were lots of them, they felt they should pay him for the wreckage of his plane. He tried to explain that is was useless, having fallen out of the sky and being completely destroyed, but they said they wanted it for the two 50 caliber machine guns, and paid him with two gold bars about the size of a hershey bar.
He asked them if they wanted the machine guns to shoot at the Germans (after they told him they needed them for fighting "the enemy") and they looked perplexed and said they were for shooting the guys on the other side of the hill. The had no idea about the war, and were fighting some sort local inter-family squabble, and evidently felt that having machine guns would give them a real edge.
He was shot down, I forget if it was the same time or a different time, and took a bullet through the chest, which missed his lung by a fraction of an inch, and he proceeded to walk to a hospital to get it fixed up.

My dad's uncle was a pilot in WWI, he got a VC for some action over France that I'm not quite sure about. He died in '88, and was in a number of papers at the time.

My mom's uncle was in the trenches of WWI.

In WWII both of my grandfathers were told they were in reserved occupations when they went to sign up, my dad's father served as a Fire spotter in London during the blitz, while my mom's father was a farmer near King's Lynn, and did shifts in Dad's Army.

And, a V2 landed in my grandfather's backyard, but fortunately it didn't go off - my aunt, now in her 70s, still hates the Germans for trying to blow up her house.

Men in my family tend to start having kids late and keep going way to long, so my dad served in the USS Alabama during WWII as a mechanic. My grandpa served in France during WWI. My brother served in desert storm, but as he say, it was a helicopter refueling point so all he did was gas up the choppers and play gameboy.

Great Garndfather Father's side fought in WWI for the Australian Light Horse in the middle east.
Other greatgrandfather father's side fought for the British army in Europe WWI.
Grandfather father's side was a air crewman for the Royal Australian Air Force 78 squadron in the pacific WW2.
Backrow left


Greatgrandfather mother's side fought in Europe for the Australian army WW1.
Greatgrandfather mother's side was returned to Germany (He's emigrated several years before) when war broke out and he fought for the German forces in Europe WWI
Grandfather mother's side was in the Australian Army in the Pacific WW2.

Since then I have been to only one on either side of the family to be in the military having served in the Army Reserves.

Also my wife's grandfather began in the Artillery then was transferred to become a commando for the Australian Army serving behind enemy lines in Asia and the Pacific in WW2.

My Grandad on my Dad's side fought in WWII and lost a kneecap to shrapnel. He was back and playing for the platoon football team within two months.

My great uncle was a Para-trooper and was a POW in Burma.

Both sadly deceased, great men though, heroes of mine.

My great-grandfather was a politican during the Nazi regime in germany and got eventuell killed in a camp for his political views. His daugter, my grandmother on my father's side of the family, survived the bombing of my hometown Freiburg, altough her home got bombed.

My granddad on my mother's side was in the infantry if I'm not mistaken. He was one of those german soldiers who walked home from Russia after the war.

Being Irish my grandparents weren't involved. (yay neutrality? We were in bits anyway after the Civil War, we couldn't have contributed much)
My grandad on my dad's side got crippled in an accident at the quarry he worked at, and my grandad on my mother's side worked on a fishing trawler in the Irish Sea.

My Grandad was a radio operator in WWII, and each time he deployed it was either just after or just as the Japanese withdrew. He proudly claims the Japanese were fleeing from him alone.

You couldn't be drafted into Vietnam if you were at uni, so my Dad and all his brothers did honours, PHDs, extra degrees, anything to avoid being drafted into Vietnam. As a result they're ludicrously educated.

My granddad on my dads side was training to be a navigator on a B-17 butthe war ended before he saw any action and spent all his time state side.

As for my other grand dad on my moms' side... I have heard he was in it and over in Europe but I am not sure doing what and have heard too meny crazy stories that I don't know where truth ends and fiction begins. I also have no one to ask since he is dead (good riddance to the sorry bastard).


My ex-roommates stepdad who is pushing 90, looks 65 and has more energy than I do at 31, lied about his age with one of his brothers and joined up with I think the British army and went off to North Africa fighting against Rommel. This guy just has "man's man" written all over him.

My Grandad on my Dad's side Fought in the Machine Gun Corps in WWI (he was pretty old when my Dad was born - in his 50's I think) and won the Military Medal.

He was the gunner and his loader was killed, so he had to do both jobs on his own for over an hour to repel a German attack until relief arrrived.
The officer who recommended him said he should have gotten a Victoria Cross, but the rules at the time said the act had to be witnessed by a commissioned officer (obviously there was nobody there - that was the whole point!)

My mum's dad was a miner and so was in a protected job during WWII.

My dad served in REME but was based in West Germany during the cold war and so never saw any action.

My older brother was an army cook (insert Steven Seagal quote here ) but served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles and in the first Gulf conflict, where he and a mate captured 17 Iraqi soldiers (by virtue of just pointing their guns at them - the Iraqi's couldn't throw down their arms fast enough!)

How many of us were influenced in choice of hobby by our military and naval relations, I wonder?

My father served in Vietnam towards the end of war and then later in Korea, He would rarely talk about the war. When he passed away I tried to get copies of his service record.

I got his Korean records but all of his Vietnam stuff was sealed and classified. My father once mentioned that he had spent more time in Laos eliminating enemy personal then he ever did in Vietnam.

My grandpa was one of the few black snipers of wwII. He was so good, it made some higer up's nervous, so they loaned him to a french freedom unit, where he won praise, and found my nice grand-ma. When he died he was buried there.

A friend of mine is on leave from Afghanistan at the moment, and told me a Sniper buddy of his has something mad like 26 confirmed kills. Apparently, the guy got into position, shot someone, and the targets comrades just kept coming out to recover the bodies. He only stopped when he'd run out of ammo!

Although I am something of a pacifist, this does not stop me from admiring the bravery of those souls who choose their path is one of defending their country. I may despise the Government for going into Iraq, but that decision has nothing to do with the boys and girls who comprise Her Majesty's Armed Forces!

My father's father was in the Navy in the Atlantic during WWII. He was on a destroyer, the USS Niblack. They hunted German U-boats and while doing so came across a Brittish vessel that had been torpedoed. They took on as many of the crew as they could sfind. My Grandfather (he was a lifeguard in his youth) dove into the waerand saved some of the Brits. I remember when they used to have a reunion for the two ship crews and they would go over there and the Brits would come and visit here as well. He didn't see my father until he was almost two years old. Oh the pictures of the proud father holding his first son!

My Mother's Father was also in the Navy in the Pacific.

These are my heroes. Both have passed on, and it makes me sad. They did so much for us all.

My Great-Uncle on my Mothers side was the Man who opened the gates to the Belson death camp. I think he was the Royal Artillery

My othe Great Uncle on my Dads side Flew fighters over New Guinnea in RAAF but he doesnt talk much about it

My wife's grandfather was an American fighter pilot during WWII. He loves telling stories about his times flying. They are wonderful memories for him since he loves to fly.

Helping the country was a nice bonus to him.

My grandfather was Hungarian, and spent most of the War in a concentration camp. He NEVER talked about it, and I can't blame him.

My great granddad was a sergant major, since he never talked about his expirances in the war i'm not exactly sure where he fought, either el aliamen or normandy.

Also had 3 great uncles who fought as well, 1 in the navy who got injuired at normandy (schrapnel if i recall correctly), my other great uncle fought at normandy as well. last great uncle fought at el aliamen.

Grandmother was too young to help the war effort, she has told me about expirance in the blitz and being evauated. went back to london in 1944, you can still remember the V1's and V2's as well.

That was my mothers side anyway, not so sure about my fathers side. All i know for sure is that no one in my family died during the second world war

my grandpa on my dads side served as a British commando in during WWII

my other grandpa was in the navy during the Korean war

My grandfather on my dad's side served as a captain of liberty ships in World War 2 in the atlantic. He had his boat shot out from under him by a german u-boat. He survived but died before I was born.

My father served on a minesweeper during the blockade in the Cuban missile crisis. All my uncles save one were in Vietnam. One was in the 101st where he received 2 purple hearts. Another was with MACV and the Green Berets before becoming an AH-1 Cobra pilot. He retired a few years ago a CW4. My other uncle who didn't make it to 'Nam served as a JAG officer in Germany during that time.

It is because of these men that I took the road I took. They are my personal heroes.

Both of my grandfathers worked in Essential Industries, namely coal mining, and were exempt from fighting. Mum's Dad was an Pit Electrician, and Dad's Dad worked at the coal-face.

My great grandad met his end in the trenches of WWI.

One of my granddads served in africa, although I dont know what he was doing there, and the other was in Communications for the RAF, although he was young at the time.

Of my two grandparents one served in the army and served in North Africa. He lived to be demobed and resumed his prewar career.

The other grandparent tried to join the RAF who took him on his impressive engineering credentials before the paperwork caught up with him and he was mandatorily discharged from service citing an excemption status. He was a chief engineer with Michellin and was on the essential war worker list.
He felt shamed that he could not enlist so he joined the home guard.