grandparent's tales of the War - Page 2

macrusk · #26 (**permalink**) March 22nd, 2008, 04:50 AM

Skipper,

Vancouver is a little ways from where I live - my folks eventually lived in Saskatoon, about the same distance from Northern Fance to the southern tip of Portugal. However, my father's cousin was a pilot instructor in the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan - did spend sometime in Britain, lives in Vancouver, and is very active with his former squadron etc. He is also an ex-Air Canada pilot. Send me a PM with anyone you are looking for and I'll email him with the information to see if there is anyone he knows about or has suggestions.

montana a-10 · #27 (**permalink**) March 30th, 2008, 10:29 PM

I have just got off the phone with my grandmother In the last few months I have been talking t her more and more she lives in Minnesota and I live in Michigan so I do not see her that often after seeing some of the story’s of some of your grandparents I decided to ask her what here life was like during ww2
She was seven when the war ended but she remembered a lot
As a child she was always afraid of the Germans and Japanese coming to her house so she created a special place in her attic where she put a bunch of her blankets this is where she would go if she ever saw them coming down her street or coming from a air plain in the sky
And one day she said she was terrified because the Germans did come. There was a German POW camp close to her house and a few of the prisoners escaped and came to her house in there black and white striped uniforms. They took her fathers car her father yelled for his father who live right next to her house and he came with his shot gun by the time he got there the German POW’s were gone with her fathers car
The police came and followed the POW’s with dogs the POW’s a banned the car along the highway and ran in to a stream but the police found them.
She also told me how she remember to being able to get things as a young girl because you had to save up your ration stamps she also said she remembered her mom wanting to get silk stocking but could not
She also remembered the air raid drills because her mother was the black out warden for her street she said they always had to have the curtains closed at night and the lights of when they had the drills

This is what she has told me so far she had to go but I am calling her again this week so i hope to learn more

Vanir · #28 (**permalink**) April 7th, 2008, 09:49 AM

My grandmother was in Germany before and through the war, she didn't share many anecdotes but told me some interesting information, which contradicted publication at the time and led me to personal research and a healthy skepticism about everything from aircraft specifications to politics. She seemed to know a lot about various Messerschmitt fighter variants, including Adolf Galland's personal mount.

amyw1 · #29 (**permalink**) April 7th, 2008, 01:02 PM

my mums real dad wasn't involved in either of the wars dipite being in the queens own royal west kent. her stepfather was involved in WW2 and spent alot of time in dunkirk. he wont talk about his expirences, his regiment or anything. he wont even say what medals he got - we know he did get some.

so its nice to read other peoples tales.

bigfun · #30 (**permalink**) April 17th, 2008, 07:23 PM

Maybe you can start a thread on the information section Amy, and someone can help?

Capt. Flashard · #31 (**permalink**) April 25th, 2008, 05:43 PM

7 Apr, 1943
The German submarine U-644 was sunk in the North Sea north-west of Narvik, Norway, in position 69º38'N, 05º40'W, by torpedoes from the British submarine HMS Tuna (Lt. D.S.R. Martin, RN).

Hi All

I would like to add my Grandfathers personal recollection to the above. My Grandfather served as the Sonar Operator on HMS Tuna at the time of U-644's sinking. Unfortunately my Grandfather is no longer with us, but this is his brief account of the action as he explained it to me some 20 years ago.

Please accept my apologies for not being precise, 20 years is a long time for my memory to recall exact details.

My Grandfather said that the sinking of U-644 could have gone either way, "us or them" as he put it. For some quirk of fate the "Tuna" had been due to surface at night to send/receive radio messages at a specific time. Some time before they were due to surface they encountered a technical hitch which prevented them surfacing at their alloted time. As they lay just under the surface trying to recticy their technical problem U-644 blew her tanks and surfaced right in front of the "Tuna" my Grandfather relayed the co-ordinates to the Captain and U-644 was successfully hit, sinking in a matter of minutes.

My Grandfathers most vivid memories of the attack on U-644 was as she went down, the whole crew were in stoney silence as they listened to the U boat breaking up on her way to the bottom of the Atlantic, my Grandfather said the sound of grinding, twisting, collapsing metal had always been with him. They were acutely aware of the fact that if they had surfaced at the correct time they would have been the ones' on their way to a watery grave. When they did finally surface the searched for survivours but to no avail.

The chances of two submarines arriving at more or less the same co-ordinates, on the same day, at the same time has always amazed me, one survived and one did'nt, yet my Grandfather never made an issue of it, he would just say it wasn't his time, a statement which he never elaborated on either.