What did your relatives do in the war, Daddy?

C Evans:
There must have been a miscommunication. I did not mean anything negative by the "must not forget." I meant that we must not forget all that these men have gone through by listening to their experiences regardless of what country they fought for. No offense intended.

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Tschuss

 

Dear Pzjgr: No offense taken. I was just pointing out that I do have contact with many vets from a few nations. I didnt mean my tone to look like I was angry-rest assured; I wasnt.

Another reason for my posting that, was because I was hoping to bring more attention to Americas Medal of Honor Recipients. There arent too many still living. I am embarrassed to admit that I do not know the ezact number, but I think its near 50.

Take care Pzjgr, and Merry Christmas.

 

Dear C.Evans: I had an uncle that served with Joe Vandeleur, of the Irish Armored forces. The were the ones that spearheaded the groun attack for the Operation Market Garden.

 

On may 10, 0400 hrs, German Paratroopers landed on both sides of the river Meuse in Rotterdam, trying to secure the bridges there for the expected breakthrough of German ground forces. Early that morning, after securing both sides of the bridges, Dutch forces that were available in small nrs started to probe german positions with small arms fire. Not long after that, Germans started encountering tall, strongly built men in black overcoats, their faces covered with black shoepolish and coal. German paratroopers lost several key positions on the north bank,with many casualties and several soldiers fled to the otherside of the river. Once confronted there with their officers, who asked them why the hell they were not at the north side, the germans told them the north side was crawling with Schwarze Teufel(black Devils)
They had run into the Royal Dutch Marine Corps. On the north side, Marines formed an assault squad of 12 men, all with german weapons(since their own weapons were old and ammo was low on stock)and assaulted towards the bridge. they bumped into a squad of germans underneath the bridge in the catacombs and they exchanged fire and hand grenades. 6 Marines made it to the bridge and managed to crawl underneath the roaddeck. From there they stopped german para and infantry attempts to cross the bridge for 4 days. Seeing the situation, the germans bombed the center of rotterdam, and threatened to do so to every city in holland, causing the dutch to surrender. As germans reached the north side, 4 marines crawled from underneath the roaddeck, all blackened. German para's lined up and saluted the 4 marines for their bravery. 2 marines did not make it from underneath the bridge.....one of them was my granddad....he died at 29, as a sergeant, leaving a wife and 4 children.



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*** We shall not retreat, nor shall we surrender. If we cannot stay here alive, we shall stay here dead***

 

Hello Mart, excellent posting! I take it you had a family member fight at that bridge. If so, which side was he on?

 

he was one of the six Dutch marines that were hiding/holding the bridge for 4 days and one of the two that did pay for this action with their lives.

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*** We shall not retreat, nor shall we surrender. If we cannot stay here alive, we shall stay here dead***

 

Dear Mart, sorry for your loss. Do you know much about his service in the Dutch Marines?

 

he had served the Marine Corps for 6 years. It was his first combat experience and also his last. Thx for your compassion, but there was/is no sadness over his death, just proudness.

Seeing the conditions under which the dutch marines held Rotterdam until the capitulation of the state, it was a formidable achievement. rifles from just after ww1, 2 machineguns for the whole rotterdam area, 1 armored car at the waalhaven airport, and 1 battery of light artillery hidden in the central park in Kralingen.
Troops : conscripts of the army with specialties such as cooks, administrators and drivers, about 200 marines of which majority was still in training. Orders were issued to obtain as much german weapons as possible during the fights. raids were made on german posts with the sole purpose of getting their hands on ammo and mg 34 machineguns and mortars.

Do not forget that the invasion of Holland was the first and last big operation of the Fallschirm jaeger(except Crete). over 300 Ju52's were shot down/destroyed during landings on blocked highways and many paras killed and captured when they tried to drop into fortress Holland.



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*** We shall not retreat, nor shall we surrender. If we cannot stay here alive, we shall stay here dead***

 

Dear Mart, I had zero knowledge at how bad off the Dutch forces were, when the Fallschirm "dropped" by. They did put up one hell of a defense. It also just goes to show you that ALL Marines the world around, are made of the same molds. I am one who does admire tough soldiers from wherever they come from.

 

Hello, I'm a brand-new member to the forum, although I have been posting at other forums for awhile. My father served in the Luftwaffe FLAK as an 88 gunner, stationed primarily on Crete. His twin brother was in the Luftwaffe feldgendarmerie. His older brother was in the Heer on both fronts, regular infantry (He is the only one still living). His father was drafted into the Volkssturm in 1945 and died in late April, 1945, southeast of Berlin. On my Mom's side: her dad, a WW1 vet, served briefly in 1939 in a reserve unit in Poland (took some great candid shots of Warsaw right after the capitulation)and then was drafted into the Volkssturm late in the war, POW of the US and French. My Mom's brother was in the Waffen SS. Her first cousins were all in the Luftwaffe (sadly the last cousin passed away just past October)One served as a Luftwaffe telefunker at the U-boat base at LaRochelle, France. Another was a Stuka pilot, named Klaus Stover, who died in battle (still searching for info on him). I guess it's easier just to go to my webpage (it's still under construction though) at:
www.geocities.com/rfogt2001/WW2.html

 

Dear R.Fogt: Thats most excellent! Do you think your relative might tell you his story and let you post if and any photos on this forum? It would be a big help.

I am in the process of trying to get some info from a Waffen SS Knights Cross Recipient and to have his stuff posted here. Also I am working on about 12 U-Boat vets about having their stuff posted here too.

I tried your link but it would not open, can you let me know if you have any problems I would like to check your site out.

Thanks for the great info and glad to see you here. Take care--Carl.

 

Dear C. Evans,

I have finished the webpage link that I emailed you earlier (the one that wasn't working) and hopefully it is now online:

http://www.ww2picturz.homestead.com/1.html

Also, does anyone know if it is possible (or legal) to convert an MP3 music file to a format which can be uploaded onto a website? I downloaded Lale Anderson's "Lilli Marlene" from Napster (just in the nick of time) but since it is in MP3 format it can not be added to any of the free personal webpage services I use.

 

Dear R.Fogt: Many thanks for reposting the link, it worked just great. Thank you for the photos of the funeral et el.

 

My wife's grandfather served in the army during the war. Sorry don't have many details. He was a forward observer and according to my wife was at the Battle of the Bulge. He recently passed away. Unfortunately (but not suprisingly) he didn't like to talk about his experiences...other than the wine and women. I am trying to find out more info about him. Where he served and who he served with. I hate that his legacy has fallen on my shoulders. I surely want my children to know what their great-grandfather had done. What things he must have seen.

 

I was away yesterday attending my Uncles funeral in San Antonio. My uncle served under General Simon Bolivar Buckner on Okinawa with the 80th I.D.

I had made a mistake about some of my info on him in another posting. I believe I had said he was the sole survivor of his Company from WW2, thankfully I was wrong, apparently there are at least 3. I met these men at his funeral and I hope to talk them into sharing their Okinawa experiances with me to post here. Apparently, these 3 men had been wounded and evacuated from where the Company positions were, sometime before the Japanese infiltrated the Companies positions. Tha Command Chaplain of Kelly AFB was a big help.

 

I've been trawling through past posts and found this one. I don't know if you're still interested but I'll post the reply anyway.
My father, Thomas Ray, served from 1935-45 with the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry. He served in India until 1942, apart from volunteering as a signaler in Abyssinia during 1940/1, before going into action in Libya during 1942. He was captured on June 4th 1942 having held of an armoured assault for four days as part of an anti-tank crew. He was sent as a POW to Italy where, in 1943, he escaped. He looked Italian, spoke the language fluently and was at large for 6 months before being picked up as a suspected Italian deserter! Sent to Germany, he was imprisoned in a Straffe Lager for several months before being sent to Stalg 11B. In 1945 he was released by the Americans who issued him with small arms to police the area. He dies in 1988.

 

I had an uncle who served in a field artillery battery of the british army starting in North Africa to the end of the war.
I had another uncle who served in the Royal Navy. He was on 3 different ships that were torpedoed was on the Ark Royal when she was sunk, and served aboard the Hood (before she met up with the Bismark thank god)
Had another cousin who served as a motorcycle dispatch rider in the 3rd Canadian Inf Div in France before being wounded, thats all I know about.

 

Thanks for sharinw what you could, im always interested in these stories. Sorry for your loss.

If you both think about it, send Otto an email and see if he can create a section on your relatives, including copies of photos if possible. Otto is working on something for me, which is to do with the crew of U 181, and will have some interesting photos, plus a few additions I just recieved this morning as a matter of fact.

Also, I firmly believe that that would be a great way to honor your relatives, and a good way to have a constant memory of them.

Take care--Carl.

 

I also had an uncle on my mother's side of the family who served with the Royal Artillery. He escaped from Dunkirk but was sent to Singapore where he was captured. He died in a Japanese POW camp on Jave in November 1942.
My grandfather, again on my mother's side, was in the Royal Worcestershire Regiment during WWI and was one of the original "Contemptables" having joined up in 1913. He was wounded at Golipoli in 1915 and invlided out.

Chris Ray

 

My late Grandfather (Died in 1998) was a officer in the Kings Own Royal East Kents (The Buffs), he began the war in the Officer training corps at school and ended as a Captain, Acting Major commanding a company in Germany. His Record is very interesting because of the number of posts within his unit he was assigned to, from PTI to Weapons Training Instructor. He was also the first British soldier to cross a river in Italy Called the Dvina or something (I will check on that if you are interested, there is an odd story to it). While he served in the BOAR his commanding officer was Joe Vandeleur (sp) of the Irish Guards, as played by Michael Cain in 'A Bridge too Far'. My Grandmother was in the ATS as a signals operator, she has loads of stories about her experiences particularly when she was with the Americans in the 1st Allies Airborn and is far more willing to talk about it than my grandfather was.

My other Grandfather was a Bevan Boy (a coal miner) and his wife worked at Lidney Ply, making Gliders. This is an odd coincidence because her brother Thomas was a Pilot in the RAF flying Stirlings and Halifaxes normaly acting as a glider tug. He is wonderful to talk to and has lots of stories, as well as his log book and a french Franc signed by the stick of Paratroopers he dropped on D-Day (I am not sure if it was D-Day, I think it was).

My Great Grandfather was a Sniper in WW1, another was a Lewis gunner and another was a Vickers MG Gunner though he also served in the London Hackney Rifles (a volunteer unit of the Rifle Brigade). He was blown up by a shell, he survived without a scratch on his body but was deaf in one ear for the rest of his life. This was a shame because he used to be a chorister. My other Grandfather was a fireman in the Sussex area.

As a final note my mother was a Nurse in the QARANC serving in Canada and in Germany during the 70's, at some of the same places as my Grandfather.