Where did yoiur relitives serve.
MIne.
-My Grandfather on my dads side served in the west from 1939 until wars end in the First Canadian Army. He was in Normandy, and was a Lt.Col by the time they reached the Lower Countries, he has a park named after him in Dokum Holland.
-My Uncle on my dads side served with the RCAF in Africa and Far east theater, on Halifax bombers.
-MY Grandfather on my mothers side served in the US Navy as a cook on a troop transport in the Pacific.
Dont know to much about my mothers side though, they were American, so I dont see them that often.

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Go-Flames-Go

Well, my grandfather served in the Wehrmacht since 1938-1945 in nearly all the theatres of the war in many, many units and in many, many roles. He reached the rank of Oberstleutnant (Lt. Col.) by the end of the war and was awarded the KC. My grandmother (his wife) served in the Luftwaffe's Female Aid Corps.

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

My Great Grandad served in the RAf and did recieve medals, however he was only on ground crew and was based in Scotland.
My Fathers uncle fought in Burma (not sure which regiment) and was captured by the Japanese.
My Grandad was based on one of those guns that fired across the channel (i think. Or something like that). He became partially deaf and could no longer serve.

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And when he gets to heaven
To Saint Peter he will tell
One more soldier reporting sir
I have served my time in hell

My Grandfather on my dad's side was in the Italian Army (not sure what he did exactly, he died before I was born)

And, as I've said earlier, My great-grandfather was "aquaintences" with IL DUCE himself.

IL DUCE

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"Tolerance has never brought civil war; intolerance has covered the earth with carnage" Voltaire
"War is the fruit of man's depravity; it is a convulsive and violent sickness of the body politic.." Diderot

Grand uncle on mother's side from Stalingrad to Berlin

One Grandfather in Winter War.

The other Grandfather worked for supply lines during WW2 ( too old for front ).

Two uncles served as behind-the-lines patrol men.
I remember as they told scary stuff when I was a kid:

"...and that´s when the Russian´s head flew like a rotten potato..."

That is because behind the lines use of a gun was very unwise and they usually did the job with a sharpened shovel or a knife.

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Both grandparents worked for the war industry at home. Did have a cousin in the Army Air Corps based in Turkey.

Had a Uncle killed in the Korean War, earned the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroism.

Greg

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"There are times when a Corps Commander's life does not count"
-General Winfield Scott Hancock at Gettysburg, July 3, 1863

Wehrmacht, Bundeswehr and Nationale Volksarmee.

Cheers.

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"Gentlemen! You can't fight in here, this is the War Room!"
(President Merkin Muffley in "Dr. Strangelove")

I believe I had some great-uncles who served in the Waffen SS. Im not sure where or in what role. I had a great-grandfather who was captured by the Russians and sent to Siberia. He could speak Russian, so I heard he got treated better than most.

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"If your gonna buy the angel s**t, you might as well go for the zombie package as well."
-George Carlin

My grandfather was an officer in Italy, Austria then finally Germany, he served in the British army in 56 Div. (Battleaxe Div.)

My Grandmother (his wife) was in the ATS

My other Grandfather wanted to be an air gunner with the RAF but instead he became a Bevin Boy and went down a mine.

My other Grandmother made plywood for gliders.

My great uncle flew Glider tugs.

That is it so far as I know...

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

my grandmother served in the RAF Balloon Command and my grandfather was a motorcyclist in the army. not really sure were they served though. does anyone know how you could find out?

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Thoughts on Military History
Cornish Scale Modellers
Ross' Military Modelling and Art

Grandfather fought with the Waffen-SS in the West and East.

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

of my grandfathers, one served in the Royal West Kents as had his father and uncles in the First world war, out of seven brothers my great-grandfather was the only one to come back from 1914-18, he served in France and formed part of the rearguard at Dunkirk, and was wounded as he attempted to save a friend during a stuka attack, the psycological scars from the incident, he pulled his friends head off as he tried to drag him to a boat, left him in psychiatric care till 1943 then he was released and sent for re-training to allow him to participate in D-Day. He did and was wounded two minuetes after landing, the wound eventually left him paralysed from the waist down. My other grandfather was in command of a 3 inch mortar section mounted in bren carriers. He claims that the first German he saw was in a boxing ring in Berlin where he became the unofficial Berlin 1946 boxing champ! The rest of my family served in various civilian roles such as AA batteries and munitions work. My house was the only one bombed in the town I live, and I have a picture of the hole left by the bomb!!!

My father saw service with the Royal West Kents and served in Kenya against the Mau Mau and then went to serve at larkhill. My Great-Great-Uncle who was half Italian served in the Royal Motor Machine Gun Corps 1914-18 and spent most of the war in Mesopotamia. I still have his uniform and the photos he took of his Rolls-Royce armoured car and the hanging gardens of Bablyon! My girlfriends grandfather served in 14th Army in Burma driving a lee grant tank.

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

Grandfather - 204th Field Hospital, then a field medic, Saipan, Guam, and Tinian.

His brother, 47th Rgt, 9th Div,, combat infantryman, north africa through germany.

Their other brother - US Army, new guenea. Don't know much beyond that.

I had another uncle on Guadalcanal and one who was an underwater welder in the navy in the pacific, and one who was on a mine sweeper in the pacific. Don't know much about any of them, though.

My grandma was an airaid warden and her and my grandma "made" my mom on a troop train when he was on he way to california to embark!!

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Living History at http://oldreliable9_47.tripod.com

My grandfather served in the Belgian army, but ran from the Germans in Mai 1940. He was a POW for a few weeks and then he had to work for the Germans.

First of all he worked he did administration in the port of Antwerp. the he was moved to Berlin to make clothes for the soldiers.

At the end of the war they brought him near the Rinen, where he was freed by the Americans.

My grandmother stayed in Belgium and had a job at an office in Brussels.

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Red Baron, My grandfather was in the East Kents (The Buffs)and my RSM at cadets was with the West Kents for a while. My Great grandfather was with the London Hackney Rifles in WW1, went deaf after he was 'blown up' (literally, a shell threw him up into the air and he woke up in a shell hole unharmed other than his hearing, he almost won the george cross when he got lost on a patrol and ended up behind enemy lines, unfortunatly the officer commanding was shot that afternoon. My other great grandfather was a Lewis Gunner, his brother was a Sniper with the Ox and Bucks. My military family history goes back for quite a while, one of my (great great ...) uncles was captured in the Zulu war, they took his clothes (white men have modesty, wouldent run away with no clothes on). Unfortunatly my uncle was from the Forest of Dean and so was made of sterner stuff than most so he jumped the guard, stole his spear, killed his mates then rode off stark naked on a donkey until he was picked up by a British patrol, I have the spear on my wall complete with authentic Zulu Blood. There are a fair few other stories about various people but that will do for now.

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

Very interesting stories, Stefan and Redcoat! Thanks for sharing!

Also, I had forgot that from my mother's side there is my grandfather who was a captain in His Majesty's Army from 1914-1918 in West Yorkshire 10th Batallion (which was annihilated in the Somme). His son (my uncle) served in a USN destroyer from 1950-1952 where he was seriously wounded...

And my great grandfather, I think, served as naval gunner in the SMS Moltke from 1914-1918.

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"War is less costly than servitude, the choice is always between Verdun and Dachau." - Jean Dutourd, French veteran of both world wars

"A mon fils: depuis que tes yeux sont fermes les miens n’ont cessé de pleurir." - Mère française, Verdun

Mahross – Re your grandfather, possibly he was in the RASC? You really need more info to start a search. You can always write to the Records Office, but if you just give a name they may not be able to help, and whatever it will cost £25. If they do find a ‘record’, all you get for your money is date joined, date demobbed (or killed) and medal entitlement? Rubbish isn’t it?

No.9

RAF balloon command was based in Kent as I remember though there were balloons around most major cities, particularly south of London though. As for your grandfather, as a motorcyclist the chances are he was a dispatch rider and so you will need to find out what regiment he was with so that you can work out which theatre, campaigns, operations and actions he was involved in (in that order). If you have any of his documents or personal effects from the time they should yield some interesting information (I founf my grandfathers ID card from when he was on embarkation leave to be sent to the far east, twice he was trained, kitted out and sent on leave but each time he was called back to his unit for one thing or another). That would save you some money and probably be more interesting (and more helpful as the records office can be rather obstructive at times).

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.

Bump

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Go-Flames-Go

BUMP, Anybody else???

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Go-Flames-Go

I see this is like trying to revive an older thread of a year or so ago. Should check the older posts guys......

My relatives served on both sides of the conflict. Both my father and father in law served in the US Navy, my father inlaw on a Tin Can, destroyer tender. One uncle served in the US army from Normandy till the fall of Berlin.
My mothers side is German with the name of Baer, had two cousing serving as Luftwaffe pilots......you now see my interest ! One was a night fighter ace and gruppenkommanduer in NJG 5 and was killed in a stupid flying accident when his Bf 110G-4's left engine failed at altitude. the other Siegfried Baer flew and Fw 190A-9 and only had two missions under his belt when he was shot down on 26 November 1944 south of Misburg.
Three other cousins served in the Heer on the Ost front, 1 killed in action and the other returning from a Gulag died enroute to "our" home in the Pfalz.

E

More detailed information on my grandfather. Served in the Waffen SS from 1938 - 45. Started out in a PAK38 unit, then to StuGIIIs (his favorite. Served in the 2nd SS, 12SS and 38SS. Spoke fluent German since he attended university prior to the war so he was not assigned to a Freiwilligen unit. At the time there were not many Spanish volunteers when he joined.

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American by birth, TEXAN by the grace of GOD!

PzJgr, your grandfather was in the 12th SS? Would it be too bold of me to ask for more information as I am VERY interested in this unit (what with re-enacting it and all) but can find few accounts by Vets. When did was he transferred into/out of the unit roughly and (if you know) which unit was he in? Any information would be most apreciated. Also, am I to believe you are of Spanish decent? I only ask this because we have recently had a spanish member join our unit and so it would be most useful if he could actually say to people 'yes there were Spanish in the 12th SS'. Thanks and all the best
Stefan

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There's no honorable way to kill, no gentle way to destroy. There is nothing good in war. Except its ending.