My grand cousin was on the third wave of infanty for the normandy invasion. He was with the 29th ID and was killed when an artillery shell landed a direct hit on his transport ship, killing everyone onboard.

my grandpa was with the US navy on the USS topeka, he was the guy on the anti-aircraft gun that moves it up and down. he was a guam and then later on anti-shipping duity around the Japanese mainland.

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"Gerald Duval, Compositeur...I have killed Gerald Duval, the Printer."
-Paul Baumer
"All Quiet on the Western Front"

Hey guy's sooo many great stories here.

I know this thread is pretty old. But...

One of my Grandfathers (who's name I use on this forum) served in the 5th Army Signal Corps, with the 63rd Signal Battalion, in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. Until he broke his back, runnning through an Italian street during and air raid. A big Greek soldier picked him up and carried him to saftey (he never knew the guys name.

Several Field Hospitals, and One Torpedoed ship later, He finaly got his release at a Daytona Beach Hospital.

My other Grandfather, who I don't know near as much about loadded ordnance in the Pacific Theater. Mostly Guam, the whole war.

Both joined in 1942.

My Grandfather (dads side) was a Bombardier/Navigator in the 97 Squadron (RAF). His wife (my Grandma) had three cousins who were in the RCAF (Royal Canadien Air Force) - all fighter pilots who were all shot down and killed in the same month. I am not sure who they served with or where. My grandmothers side of the family had a long military history with the UK - pictures from the late 1800's of her grandfather/greatgrandfather in military uniform. I do know that one of my distant-relatives on her side of the family was killed at the battle that took place at a farm in Africa - the one portrayed in the movie ZULU (i forget the name of the Battle). I do not know anything of my mothers side - her dad was an Orphan in Ireland and moved to England shortly after the war so he did not serve.

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strange I have not replied to this old post. One grandfather-mothers side served in the US infantry during WW 1 although the last name of Baer seemed to catch many eyes and that he was a German infiltrator.
The other grandfather not sure of his his WW 1 service but during Ww 2 of all things he was sent into Latvia after the Russian occupation to observe the Latvians living conditions on the part of the US government. It was horrible needless to say.
My father inlaw served on a "Tin-Can' in the pacific and saw much action with the result his boiler room exploded with him there and he was lit up light a candle from his head to his feet. The medics were there in a hurry and squirted his whole body with parafin so he was wrapped up like a ready made candle till he could be treated in a hoispital short term. There is not one burn mark/scar on his body to this day............amazing !
Two cousins on my mothers side served in the Luftwaffe, one Hans Baer was Gruppenkommandeur of II./NJG 5 and was an ace in NJG 3 and in NJG 5 before he was killed tragically in a flying accident in his Bf 110G-4 when a engine failed and his crew was able to bail but he went dodwn with his craft at low altitudue. the other cousin Siegfried Baer was a daynfighter pilot with 3 missions and was killed in action south of Misburg on 26 November 1944 flying a Fw 190A-9 in 5./JG 301.
3 other cousins on my mothers side served in the Heer on the Ost front. One kiiled in action antoher missing and the other died enroute home to the Pfalzland from a Soviet Gulag.
One uncle on my mothers side served in the US infantry from Normandie till war's end

E ♪

Been talking to my Missus' family...

Her Grandfather worked for the RAF breaking Japanese codes in the Far East, her great-Uncle was a runway layer for forward airfields in Italy. He watched Vesuvius erupt in '43. Her Grandmother (who was English) had a collection of letters from various RAF and Army soldiers wishing her a happy birthday!

Very interesting for an Irish family...

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"Watch that Fu*ker, he'll 'ave someones eye out!" King Harold at Hastings 1066.

Not sure about my fathers side but on my mothers side my grandmother served in the RAF Balloon Command. She was the first female from her town, a small scottish place in the borders, to leave. I have a picture on my matlpiece of her in her RAF uniform.

My grandfather, on my mothers side was a dispatch rider in the Royal Signals, and if memory serves me right he served in the 15th Scottish Div in NW Europe. It is something which i keep on meaning to check up on.

As for more up to date my father served in the royal signals for 22 years seeing service all over the world. i suppose that is why i have such an interest in military history.

I attempted to join the RAF a few years back as a pilot but was turned down due to my failing eyesight, so instead i intead to write history.

[ 22. September 2004, 11:31 AM: Message edited by: Mahross ]

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On my father’s side, he had an older brother who was a tac-officer at USMA for the entire war. Didn’t hurt his career any, though; he retired as a Major General. My father also had two younger brothers, one was commissioned out of ROTC in 1940 and spent the war with the 13th Infantry Regiment, 8th Division in the ETO; winding up the war as a battalion commander. He retired as a Colonel in 1970. The youngest brother was USMA ’42 and went in the AAF. A P-47 squadron commander and a Lieutenant Colonel, he was shot down and killed in January 1945 near Hamburg. My father’s sister’s were also married to service members. Don’t know much about his older sister’s husband (she was some 11 years older than my father) except he was also a career officer who retired in the late 1950’s as a Colonel. His younger sister married a naval officer who served in destroyers in the Pacific. He retired as a Captain in the 1970’s. My father was a naval aviator, commissioned in June 1938, spent the requisite two years in the fleet, and earning his wings in November 1940. A fighter pilot, he flew the battles of the Coral Sea and Midway and in the Solomons Campaign, credited with a total of 6 aerial victories (some web sources will say 8, but he says 6). After a year’s stint as a training officer in the FleetAirWest advance fighter training machine, he went back out in the fall of 1944 as an assistant operations officer on the TF-38 staff and served out the war there. He retired in 1971, a Rear Admiral. Oh yeah, all these guys in the service … my grandfather was an Army officer. Served as an enlisted man in the Spanish War, was commissioned in 1901, served in the Philippines, was 5th Div Comm Officer in the Great War, and retired a Colonel in 1935. At one time, around 1928 or so, he commanded the same 13th Infantry Regiment in which his son, my uncle, later served in the ETO.
On my mother’s side there were only two boys. Both were in the army. The oldest was in the QM corps, a sergeant, and served in the ETO. He came back and went to OCS, finished college and stayed in the Army, retiring a Lieutenant Colonel in the mid 1960s. The youngest served in the South Pacific as a sergeant in the amphibious engineers. He left the army after the war and embarked on a successful sales career. Of all these folks only my father and his older brother are still with us.

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I wonder what this button does . . .

I was a cadet and infantry. My brother was 101st Air Borne. He got the Puple Heart for Bastogne but was K.I.A. crossing Rhine River.
You may have seen this but it is a funny one

Kellogg’s All-Bran and WW2
I have a friend who was WW2 tail gunner in a B-24 in England. He had a hearty breakfast of Kellogg's All-Bran before a mission over Germany. On the mission the All-Bran started to work. He was not going to fill his pants so he left his tailgunner position and went to the bomb bay doors and relieved himself. When they got back to their base he really got chewed out by the pilot. All I can think about is the German soldier looking up and plop! he gets it right in the face and said American secret weapon but it stinks.

My old man, his oldest brother and my grandfather were all pre-war Territorials when war broke out. Grandad, a WW1 vet, was dying of cancer,uncle Alan was called up but dad was too young.
He enlisted as a War Reserve Constable at the local Police HQ, working in the radio room (he was a wireless op. in the terries anyway).
The night Clydebank got blitzed, dad was among reinforcements sent through there to help the swamped ARP services, and spent his time looking for German aircrew seen to bail out over Lennoxtown. They found one-buried up to his waist in the woods, as the poor sod's 'chute never opened.
Dad resigned from the local police when he turned 19, went to enquire where his call-up papers were and was told he was now in a reserved occupation... He joined the Royal Corps of Signals, and landed in North Africa in Operation Torch, having narrowly avoided going to the bottom of the Med when his ship was bombed off Bougie. He fought all through Africa and Italy with the British 78th (Battleaxe) Infantry Division, before demob. in 1946. He went back into the Territorial Army post-war, as a Sergeant in the Royal Corps of Signals until I arrived in the summer of '62.
His brother Alan served with the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders, 51st Highland Division in North Africa and later NW Europe, also as a wireless operator. Uncle Alan always told the story of walking along the front in Tripoli when an LRDG patrol passed and someone shouted "Hey Bannockburn". Obviously someone from the same village, but he never did find out who.
His youngest brother, Robert, qualified as an RAF wireless op. and served with Transport Command in India, having been trained in Canada under the Empire Training scheme.
None of them ever speak about it much, having had to pick up where Grandad and his brothers left off in 1919... [img]graemlins/no.gif[/img]

Regards,

Gordon

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Regards,

Gordon
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I had a brother-in-law a Marine Officer tell of Marine tradition when crossing the Equator ,the enlisted men were in charge and officers had to do what-ever the enlisted men told them to do.This was in Pacific 1944

Art

schofield barraks? where's that ? cause i live in Schofield Wisconsin lol

Grandpa was "one of the black-out people" in Hampton Roads, a few miles from Norfolk ship building.Heard a few stories about alleged sub siteings along Atlantic coast.

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Chesterfield County AND a fellow tidewater boy? My, my, my.

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I wonder what this button does . . .

schofield barraks? where's that ? cause i live in Schofield Wisconsin lol </font>[/quote]Schofield Barracks is in Hawaii.

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This information has been posted for non-commercial, educational, and research purposes.
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"The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here." - Abraham Lincoln, Nov. 19, 1863
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"The past is not dead. In fact, it's not even past." - William Faulkner

Buckroe Beach to be exact.Still get a kick out of picturing Gramps hollering 'lights out!'.

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Ocean View

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I wonder what this button does . . .

Now then, my brother, Robert Morneweck, was in 101st Airborne. He was in the 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, Company A. He received Purple Heart at Bastogne and was killed at Rhine River on a night raid. He was 19.

A letter to a friend:

Berchesgarden, Germany 30 June '45

Dear Virginia,

It leaves me without words when I try to write to you folks. For I know what misery you have gone through waiting for word from Bob.

Now that it finally came I hope you won’t feel as if he is gone forever. For I know that we will all see him again. Somewhere, someday we will be able to talk with him and find out exactly what happened for we are all in doubt of what the real thing was. I am going to try and go see where he was buried. But the army does odd things.

You asked about the Mc Crea boy. Well Bob and I saw him afterwards. He was in a different sector from us but he was lying next to the road as we went by on our way back. He died in an instant after being hit so there was no suffering. A small piece of shrapnel killed him.

As for the Bastogne deal, well it is another long story so I’d best wait till I get home to tell you about that.

The raid Bob lost his life, he was loaded with extra ammunition and grenades. The raid we pulled across the Rhine. It was below Dusseldorf and about five miles from Neinenhiem. Maybe you can find it on a map.

It was at that time of the Rhine pocket so you see what we were up against. We started across about midnight and withdrew about 4:30 am. We captured our objective and caused the German troops to move as was needed.

About the time we started to load in the boast, 3 – 88s opened up and everybody instantly tried to hop into the nearest boat to where they were. As a result, four boats overturned and we lost 18 men. What few did get out said that it was impossible to swim in the current. Our boats picked up some but it was so dark that we couldn’t see over five feet in front of you.

That was about all we know. So perhaps you can draw a picture of it and get some idea of how it happened.

Thanks millions for the stamps, they really came in handy.

As things stand now I’ll be seeing all of you about Christmas time, I hope.

So I’ll try and keep up with my letters.

As Ever, a Friend
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The trooper killed was Robert Morneweck, my brother. His buddy was Ray Boscom
they were in Company A, 1st Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne.

Art Morneweck

my grandfather and great uncle served in the finnish army

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“Wars may be fought with weapons, but they are won by men.”
GENERAL GEORGE S. PATTON, JR.

I know my grandfather on my father's side was in England (where, coincidentally, he met my grandmother - so I guess my existence was dependent on the war going on [img]smile.gif[/img] ) But, I don't know much about what he did - anyone got any research tips for me?

My mother's father - who was from Denmark - skipped town before the war - I think he was playing soccer for some club leagues in St. Louis or something - there are two myths about him ... 1. he was an athletics assistant at Westpoint
2. he played for the Danish national team in the olympics
Then again - he was a bullshit artists - he was probably just drinking all the time [img]smile.gif[/img]

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"I die for my fatherland. I have a clear conscience." - Admiral Wilhelm Canaris

Ma mother's father was somewhere around Kiev in 1941 till early 1942 and obtained the Gefrierfleischorden. After that, he had a rather comfortable job as sick bay paymaster in Germany. Twice he was almost killed by a bomb.

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If someone tries to remove the speck in your right eye, will you turn to him the other also?

My Grandfather on my Dad's side worked at Curtiss-Wright in Buffalo, while my Dad's Uncle was in the USAAF towards the tail-end of the war and again during the Korean War.

All I know about the wartime contribution made by my Grandmother on my Mom's side is that she did some small components assembly for radar sets of some sort.


Fade to Black...

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