What did your grandparents do during the war (or great grandparents)

[listsandbudgets]

Was thinking about my grandparents last night and how they were involved in the wars. they all did very different things

My grandfather was an older father to my dad (IYSWIM) and fought in the trenches in World War one. He was exposed to mustard gas and left with life long breathing difficulties but was involved with Air Raid Precaution during the World War 2.

My father's mum was a nurse at one of the big military hospitals and also a volunteer for the WRVS.

Both of my mother's parents were farmers so were in reserved (and necessary) occupations. They had Italian and German prisoners of war working on the farm as well as the Land Girls and my Nana had to learn Italian and sometimes did translation for the military - not bad for a girl who left a very rural Irish school at the age of 12 and worked on teh land ever after

I don;t really know about DP's grandparents but I do know his great uncle was a code breaker at Betchley Park (DP would probably have ended up in the same place I think)

Maternal grandfather was a Dunkirk veteran
Maternal grandmother was a nurse
Paternal grandfather was medically unfit for service due to having had TB, so did his bit by working in a munitions factory.
Paternal grandmother was a stay at home housewife because she already had young children.

Don't know much about my great grandparents, but know one Great Grandfather survived The Somme.

Gran made munitions in WW1 and got paid more a day than Granddad got in a week serving on the Western Front.

Both loved into their 90s. Rankled with Granddad until the day he died.

Maternal grandad had a bad chest and older so he was home guard. Paternal grandad was stationed in Northern Ireland in charge of fixing planes.

Army medic in british-indian army

Oh both my nans raised the kids.

What an interesting thread. I know so little about this as most of my grandparents died when I was younger and both parents have passed so I can't ask them. I do know that my mums dad was deaf however so he was in the home guard (like the young lad in Dad's Army).

Wonderful stories here! I grew up on stories of the Home Front, in WW1 and WW2- used to love hearing them, whilst at the same time being terrified there would be another war and DF/DBs would be conscripted.

What a fascinating thread! I'm Irish and to my knowledge none of my family were involved in WW2, certainly not my grandparents.

So many posters here have so much to be proud of!

My father was among the troops who liberated Bergen-Belsen. They trained their guns on the German prison guards and made them dig graves and bury the mounds of bodies. He said the sights were horrific.

My paternal grandfather was in the sas
My maternal grandfather was in the ss

Bothe survived...

WW1 - one grandfather was a career officer in the Indian Army and saw action in Mesopotamia. Was injured at Kut and returned home to Ireland where the War of Independence was about to break out. He set up Sinn Fein courts while granny hid IRA men in the attic. My other (farmer) grandfather was in the IRA while granny was in the Cumann na mBan.

WW2 - my dad (son of the Indian Army officer) joined the RAF in 1936 and was an officer at the outbreak of war. After a crash he returned to Ireland and became an intelligence officer in the Irish Army for the remainder of the war. His brother was an engineer in the Army. At the time, their uncle was a minister in de Valera's government. Mum was sent to boarding school at the end of the war, where she subsisted on about 800 calories a day thanks to rationing. My former IRA grandparents took in grandad's brother's children from Liverpool (mum's cousins) while their father (grandad's brother) served in the British U boat service. The children crossed the Irish Sea in a cattle boat and it took them a whole day to get to the farm by horse and cart, a journey that takes under two hours in a car. There were very few private cars in Ireland and no fuel. The farm was planted with wheat, ploughs drawn by horses.

WW1 Indian Army officer died from cancer before the end of WW2. Granny entertained dad's RAF friends whenever they were able to get over to Ireland. She lost contact with her family in South America for the duration of the war.

AlexaAmbidextra my uncle ended up stationed about 50km from the camp and said that when the wind blew in a certain direction you could smell it.

WW2 one grandfather died before the war as a young man. His widow my granny, was a cleaner.
Other grandfather was in the fire service and on the fire boats on the Thames during the Blitz. My other granny had very young children and was a sahm.

My grandparents all lived in rural areas and were both in reserved occupations during the second world war.

One grandfather was an estate worker / gamekeeper and spent most of his time catching rabbits, shooting deer and growing vegetables to feed the village. The other worked in engineering at a manual level, he continued in his occupation throughout the war and was never drafted. He did work/volunteer as an air raid warden for his local area though.

Neither grandmother worked during the war, one had a young baby (born in 1939) the other had office jobs after the war but was of hte generation where women didn't really work after marriage. She also had her first baby in 1944.

MGF was in the RAF, stationed first in Scotland escorting Atlantic convoys but then later posted to India. MGM and MGF married during the war but she stayed with her mother and sister as she didn’t yet have any children, and worked in a shop.

PGF worked at a coal mine so was a reserved occupation and PGM was a SAHM.

My great-uncle was in the Army, he swam the Rhine to escape the German advance and was evacuated from Dunkirk. His wartime experiences clearly affected him badly as he took to drink on his return.

Both my gfs were in reserved occupations and my gms were SAHMs. My maternal gps endured night raids as they lived next to a canal. Apparently the German planes used the reflected light of the water to fly along and would drop some bombs as they went along.
My gm's sister worked in a munitions factory. Her hair got caught in one of the machines and she suffered a horrific injury. Accidents like that drove the development of modern health and safety legislation. I like bringing that one up when people moan about 'elf and safety'.
Everyone made a sacrifice in WW2, in some way or other.

AlexaAmbidextra, my uncle was among the troops who went into Belsen too. It broke him mentally and he took his life when it got too much Really hope your dad had an ok outcome afterwards.

WW2 - My grandfather was in a reserved occupation, but he was involved in operation fish. My grandmother did some nursing in the uk. They met and married in the war and both did fire watching - which in the very strategically important town they lived in was crucial.

My grandad was in the VI air born division ( Parachute regiment )

His company were amongst the first to parachute into enemy territory on D day. Their job was to clear the landing fields of the Rommel's "asparagus" for the Hosser gliders to come in.

We have the silk map of the landing spot he was given along with some french currency.

At some point he was injured by a mortar shell and invalided back to Blighty. He suffered with infections from the shrapnel for most of his life but lived to 92!

One of my dad's cousins was a glider pilot. He ended up getting a military award.

He swam back eastwards across the Rhine with his company having come under heavy fire on the occupied bank, with all men saved. I suspect his glider crash landed on the other side.

*no, not eastwards, westwards, doh...

My paternal Grandad was in a reserved occupation, he was a coal miner and my Dad's Mom was at home. My Dad was an only child and was 6 when the WW2 started.

My maternal Grandad died of Polio shortly after the war started, my Nan was left to bring up four children whose ages ranged from 6 to a newborn who was born after his Dad died. They lived in Birmingham and my Nan couldn't bear to have the children evacuated so she went with them to stay with relatives a few miles away where it was rural (at the time) and deemed to be slightly safer. She remarried towards the end of the war, had another baby and also gained three step children (their mother had died).

My maternal grandad fought in the Italian army.

I'm American.

No military service on my Dad's side as his people were all farmers. My Mom's father and 3 of his brothers were in the navy and all served in the Pacific during WW2. Grandpa was also part of the forces that occupied Japan after the war.