Hello everyone.

My name is Alexandra. I am currently working on a research project for a class I am taking through the University of Texas. In order to complete my project, I am searching for several WWII veterans who would like to do interviews with me. If you or anyone you know is interested in this, please respond.

Thank you! -Alexandra

I know of a Mr. Floyd Rogers from Rising Star. I don't know if he's alive but maybe you could search the phone book or something. This is really something that I'm sure we have some members who can help you with so sit tight.

Best regards/ Daniel

My grandfather was a POW in Berlin and had to make clothes for the German soldiers.

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Do you think that your grandfather would be interested in doing an interview? If he is, I can just send the questions to you through email. Let me know and thanks so much!

Greetings Alexandra. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Mail Gerry Chester through this forum. Gerry was in the North Irish Horse armour during W.W.II.

If you want to mail me through this forum, I’ll get a questionnaire completed by a member of No.1 Commando who served in Burma against the Japanese – I’m thinking this theatre may have most relevance to your studies?

No.9

yes I think so. He is not so good in English, but I could translate it for him into Dutch.

But what kind of questions are there?

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We have lots of vet answers to our interviews on our website below. I'm sure you are welcome to consult those, as long as you give ole Wm.T. Ripley credit for them.

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

Very interesting.

Send me the questions.

BTW, my grandfather is already 86 years old.

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My grandfather as well: lieutenant colonel in the German Army, served in nearly all theatres of operations since 1938-1945. He's now 87.

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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

Italian WWII Vets:
Grandfather age 83
Great Uncle age 80

Grandfather was captured by Germans in late '43
Great Uncle fought mainly in the Italian Civil war being held during the later stages of the War, but did have some experience in the second world war as well.

e-mail the questions to me if you have any.

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

This is educational stuff guys...Excellent.

Erwin, Duce has given us a brief introduction to his relative..

Would it be untoward to ask you for a brief description of your Grandfather too?

Would like to know where served and wH
ether military pow or however he ended up as pow?

With that I would love to then ask more of you if you do not mind?

The Belgian and Italian personal episodes in ww2 are not something we get to view in the same numbers as the other particpants as a general rule.

Duce I will be coming back to you with some questions thanks for your response, and sounds like a lot to tell, liked the queen visit one...I suppose becuase they didnt want any embarrasment rather than a threat to life or limb.....?

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Prepare to repel borders.
William L. McGonagle, MOH, U. S. Navy, Commanding Officer, USS LIBERTY 1967.

With apologies to Cavusdaily, dont want to hijack your thread or your attempts at gaining your info..Good luck to you, you have come to the right place with this forum.

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Prepare to repel borders.
William L. McGonagle, MOH, U. S. Navy, Commanding Officer, USS LIBERTY 1967.

Well here it comes:

My grandfather was born on 22 December 1917 in Mechelen, Belgium. He also grew up there. Then in 1940 he was stationed at the Albert Canal (I’ll ask the division). But when the Germans came, he fled.

He was arrested and became a POW for a few weeks. Then he was sent to the port of Antwerp where he had to help with the administration – not with the loading/unloading of the ships because he hadn’t such strong longs and heart.

Before he left he married my grandmother in November. They are still together and celebrated their 60th wedding birthday a few months ago.

Around 1942 he was sent to Berlin to work for the Germans to make clothes. He was after all a tailor. There he was given command of a lot of people who had to made uniforms for German soldiers.

In the winter it was very cold in Berlin and they had to collect wood to keep the stove burning. Fortunately not many POW’s did this and so only a few people had to collect all the wood to keep the stove burning.

In 1943 he was sent to the Saarland where – again – he worked in a textile factory.

At the end of the war he was liberated by the Americans in the neighbourhood of Speyer. When he arrived back in Belgium in 1945, he wastn’t seen as a real victim of the Germans. People simply didn’t seem to care.

Maybe a small detail to conclude. My aunt – daughter of my grandfather – married the son of the woman where my grandfather stayed before the Americans could liberate him. So in fact he hid himself for a few days.

So if my grandfather never hid with this woman, then I wouldn’t have German family.

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Common Cavusdaily, send those questions.

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Thanks Erwin...

Im sure in 1940 when you state he fled from Albert canal, he was not alone and not a personal thing. The whole army did the same and not far from the Bef and French 1st and 7th army doing likewise at same time...Each of those armies had it seems its OWN war to fight at that time.

Id be very interested in a few things from the Belgian soldier point of view, as to be honest the period September 39 - October 40 is of real interest to me more so than any other period of the war.

Things like his view on his French and British allies, his views on Leopolds decision to surrender and what he thought of his kings govt decision to go on fighting from England?

What where his thoughts on the Belgian army morale at the start of the war.? Did he hear of the fall of fortress Eban....and if so was this the turning point of Belgian armies defence moral wise...?

Damn...sorry Erwin...accidently hit add reply..before finishing..

If I may carry on...I am not of the mind as it is so easy in hindsight to look on others mistakes, needs or disasters..and god knows we had enough of all of those in Britain at the time..I am of the view...Belgium did what was necessary for Belgium at the time...
We across the channel were exactly that...across the channel and knew we could fight on..

Did he know of the Dunkirk evacuations and what where his thoughts if any of the British on leaving the continent..

These are all things you may like to reply to by personal mail..And I would be grateful of his opinions...I lost an uncle..obviously not one I knew as I was not born at Gravelines in 40..and that inspires my interest in all things 1940....

Other relatives served....including father..and he and his other brother were in navy and so my other interest lies there..with my grandfather in Burma too..

All now dead but just wish I had asked more questions of them.

Cheers Erwin

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Prepare to repel borders.
William L. McGonagle, MOH, U. S. Navy, Commanding Officer, USS LIBERTY 1967.

Nice when you get a 'help me' post from a stranger to which many go out of their way to reply to, then you never get any reply. We need more of these don't we

No.9

Blimey....I never looked at the date of the original posting...missed that....

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Prepare to repel borders.
William L. McGonagle, MOH, U. S. Navy, Commanding Officer, USS LIBERTY 1967.

I'll ask him the questions Urqh!

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Welcome to the forum and I hope you enjoy yourself when you are discussing about some subject.

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Oh my. Thank you everyone for responding to my post. You are all incredibly helpful!! I'm EXTREMELY sorry about not sending my questions, but I honestly do have a valid excuse for it. My father has become seriously ill, and I've had to help him for the past month. Once again, I'm incredibly sorry and I didn't mean to seem like I being so rude!!!

But, below are my interview questions and if anyone would like to answer even a few of them, I would really appreciate it. I will post a final copy of my report on the board for everyone to read once I am finished. Thank you all again!

QUESTIONS (if you don't want to answer some, feel free to leave them blank):

1. Name.

2. Current Age

3. What was your life like before your service?

4. Dates of service?

5. Where did you serve?

6. Were you drafted or did you enlist?

7. If you enlisted, why did you choose to enlist? What was your rank/branch of service?

8. Do you recall your first days in service? What were they like?

9. What was the country like that you were in? What were the people like?

10. What was your assignment?

11. What was one of your most memorable experiences?

12. How did you spend any free time you had?

13. Were you awarded any medals or citations? If yes, how did you get them?

14. Did you keep in touch with friends or family?

15. What did everyone do for fun?

16. Did you keep a personal diary?

17. Do you recall any combat? How did you feel about that?

18. What sort of weapons did you use?

19. When your service ended, what did you do?

20. Do you feel that your friends/family treated you differently after your service ended and you returned home?

21. Did you make any friends during your service that you still keep in touch with today?

22. Have you joined a veteran’s organization?

23. Is there anything else that you would like to add?


Once again, thank you!!

IMHO, these questions are overwhelmingly ‘American’ and are more fitting for Vietnam.

As I said , IMHO.

No.9

Well, I managed to get my grandfather answering this questionary. So here it is:

1. Name.
Gottfried von Hammerstein und Hartmann
2. Current Age
87
3. What was your life like before your service?
I was a poor teenager who had lost my father and all our possessions in 1933-1934. Then the situation improved a little when I could join the German Army.
4. Dates of service?
January 1935-May 1945.
5. Where did you serve?
As a military liaison, observer and translator in Spain, late 1937.
As personal secretary and adjutant to field marshal Fedor von Bock, 1938.
As infantry-platoon commander, Poland 1939 and France 1940.
As translator, adjutant and liaison to field marshal Friedrich Paulus in his journey to North Africa and vist to field marshal Erwin Rommel in 1941.
As infantry-battallion commander, Russia 1941-1944.
As infantry-armoured liaison in Italy, late 1944.
As regimental commander, Berlin 1945.
6. Were you drafted or did you enlist?
I enlisted in 1935.
7. If you enlisted, why did you choose to enlist? What was your rank/branch of service?
Because it was the best option for a career and I liked the idea. I graduated as an infantry-sub lieutenant, specialised as a sniper.
8. Do you recall your first days in service? What were they like?
Very nice. I liked the order and life-style.
9. What was the country like that you were in? What were the people like?
The people were quiet but very happy. They had exact what they wanted: pride, order and a very good life-quality.
10. What was your assignment?
I mentioned that before.
11. What was one of your most memorable experiences?
Meeting high-ranking officers who were later very famous.
12. How did you spend any free time you had?
Reading, writing to my wife, playing cards or hanging out with my military friends.
13. Were you awarded any medals or citations? If yes, how did you get them?
For constant actions in the Eastern front and very successful and heroic leadership actions: both Iron Crosses and the Knight’s Cross.
14. Did you keep in touch with friends or family?
Yes, I did.
15. What did everyone do for fun?
Whatever came to their minds. It was really simple to get fun in the middle of so much death and destruction. Anything that made you forget about that.
16. Did you keep a personal diary?
Yes, I did.
17. Do you recall any combat? How did you feel about that?
I remember many. I feel pride that I served my country and was worth of my men and colleagues.
18. What sort of weapons did you use?
Sniper rifle, pistols, machine guns, sub-machine guns, normal bolt-action rifles and hand grenades.
19. When your service ended, what did you do?
When I was severely wounded during the battle of Berlin and was taken prisoner by the Red Army.
20. Do you feel that your friends/family treated you differently after your service ended and you returned home?
No.
21. Did you make any friends during your service that you still keep in touch with today?
Yes, I did.
22. Have you joined a veteran’s organization?
No, I have not.
23. Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Just to say that I was never member of the nazi party and that even if I sympathised with many of the achievements of the regime and carried out some questionable things myself in the heath of battle, I have a clear-conscience.

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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

Well I have the same feeling about the most of those questions, but I'll try to ask my grandfather those questions anyway.

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Id say quite generalised information needed.

'Bloody Hell: the Price Soldiers Pay,' by Daniel Hallock

Contains personal vet stories, from ww1 to Gulf war 1, lots of USA stuff, but a lot of the questions asked can be answered in that little work.

For anyone else, although not strictly a ww2 work, it makes for good reading.

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Prepare to repel borders.
William L. McGonagle, MOH, U. S. Navy, Commanding Officer, USS LIBERTY 1967.