What stories do you know about your (Great?) grandparents experience of WW2?

[HappyPeach]

Inspired by my other thread, I realise I know nothing about my grandparents war experience. Other than one Nan was in the WRVS, though I don't know what she did. All my grandparents died years ago so I can't ask now. I wish I knew their stories. What do you know about your relatives experiences?

My grandfather was in the special forces. He was chosen due to being a rare left handed sniper and one who could use a gun with an extra bullet (apparently took a lot of skill and was risky).

They did things like dressed in other armies uniforms to cause confusion. Destroyed enemy tanks through tuning engines. And other missions he never spoke of. He was often demoted for disagreeing then promoted again for his skill.

So did dhs dad

Maybe they knew each other?

me too!
My grandfather was born in 1899

Grandad was a soldier the entire war. Travelled throughout Europe, was on the ducks quite a bit. Lived in an occupied hotel on the Champs Elysée for a long time. Could say: 'deux oeufs, et frites" which apparently all the locals found bizarre!

Told lots of stories, but never actually any gory details, as it were. Liberated some concentration camps. Apparently he told my mum more details when he was tipsy one time but he never told us kids anything upsetting (which in hindsight, I wish he had, I was 25 when he died and could have handled it).

My grandma was too young to be involved but apparently was desperate to be a Wren. She and her friend used to bike to Blackpool (about 25 miles or something ridiculous) to go to dances and meet all the hot American GI's, after having worked in a factory all week.

Other side grandparents I never really knew - but apparently my grandad's brother went to war, died, so the other brother (i.e my grandad) married the widow he'd left behind!.

Interesting times

My maternal Grandfather was born in 1893, I can’t find a service record for WW1 but he was a blacksmith at the pit so that’s possibly why.

His younger Sister’s husband had his legs blown off on The Somme, his youngest brother was too young for the war but died on Xmas day 1918, he and his horse disappeared down a collapsed mine shaft.

He made the defensive gun mountings on the top of a local factory for WW2, they made wires and cables for aircraft so were a target.
My paternal Grandfather was a gunner in the Staffs regiment 1914-1918.
My Dad was RAF, in Capetown on Flying boats in WW2 and my Mum worked at Swynnerton munitions factory.
DH’s paternal Grandad was Army, evacuated at Dunkirk, he’d been in India with The Staffordshire regiment during the 30’s but then it goes a bit hush hush.

My mother lived in East London and at 14 got a job in Central London in a Department Store. When the war came, my Grandma made her give up the job because she was frightened of the trip home at night. After the war, she was sent to Europe to the occupied countries where she worked behind bars pouring drinks for the troops - NAAFI I guess.

I'm sad I never asked more. I think it was because I was judged for my nasty feminism (wanting a self-determined future) every time I did.

I do remember stories about friends having hot baths and gin to try and abort foetuses they didn't want.

GD1 was a teacher at a boys' grammar school, so wasn't called up.

GM1 was a schoolgirl. She wrote up her WW2 memories a couple of years ago. Lots about rationing and her older sister being strafed by the Luftwaffe. Her dad fought in France in WW1 and was shot in the head by the Germans, so wasn't young or fit enough to fight in WW2. He was in the Home Guard though. He and GGM1 had 5 kids of their own and 4 evacuee boys from London to look after.

I don't know about GD2 and GM2. I'll have to ask my dad.

Thinking about it, so much of family history was influenced by my Grandfather's experiences in the trenches in WW1 as a young lad. He never really recovered.

Ask your parents?

My paternal grandparents were in the RAF. Luckily for his descendants my granddad's eyesight was too poor for active service. My mum was a child and remembers speaking to POWs at a camp near her rural home.

My g grandfather Reece (Grandad Bill's father) served in the Boer War in 1902 but was too medically unfit at 40 to serve in ww1.
I have his document that said he was unfit, dated 1914, it's falling apart. It describes his appearance and tattoos. I only have one photo of him which was probably taken during the Boer War.

My g grandfather Charles was a Company Sergeant Major in the Army stationed in France in ww1. Previously he'd worked as a workhouse 'work supervisor'.
He met my g grandmother Lily in France where she was stationed when she joined the Queen Alexandra's Womens Royal Army Corps aged 21. She was one of the UKs first ever female soldiers, she was previously a weaver since aged 14.
They married at the end of ww1.
Sadly Lily always lied about her role in ww1 and said she'd been a nurse, she was ashamed to have carried out what was seen as an unfeminine role as a soldier.

Their daughter Rita, my Nan, was evacuated in Ww2 from Salford to Accrington aged 14 but she hated it & came home just as the Manchester & Salford Blitz started. By 15 she was a Bicycle Messenger girl for the ARP, delivering messages in air raids to other posts with bombs dropping round her.
One lad, a colleague aged 14 was blown to bits doing the same.
Her dad Charles died in 1941 of an ear infection (no antibiotics available to civilians) and the phone lines were down so she didn't know he'd died until she saw his empty hospital bed. It was a nasty shock.
Many of her boyfriends were killed in the RAF. Neighbours were killed, including a 6 year old girl & her parents who were burned to death hiding under their stairs.
But she often went dancing to swing music and wasn't hungry as her parents had a grocers shop. She met my Grandad Bill and married him in 1945 aged 20 after only 2 dates! That kind of marriage was normal in wartime.
One friend had a baby by a Black GI and kept the baby but decided to leave town for a fresh start as being an unmarried mother was a scandal then.

Also., my Grandfather John who I only met once, joined up in 1939 in Ww2 aged 19.
I believe he served in Yugoslavia, as a child my Dad found some of his photos that John had hidden. They were of partisans who had been killed & were horrific. John never talked about his war.
He did end up in Germany in 1945, I have his leather army wallet which we found hidden in my Nan Dorothy's (his ex wife) loft of him with a mate there in uniform, with a friendly German family, photos of castles and a letter in German.

One of his brothers, my g uncle Carl was a POW in Ww2 but that's all I know.

Johns father, my g grandfather Joseph, was a soldier in ww1 but again I don't have any other info.

My Nan Dorothy was also 19 in 1939, she & John married in 1940. She and her sister Christine wore uniforms and drove buses in Bournemouth because all the bus drivers had been called up. She never did get a driving license but enjoyed driving all her life!

Dad served in the US Army in the Pacific Theatre. He told us stories that varied from watered down 'battle tales' to having seen Bob Hope at a USO show. How they ate mangoes and papayas right off the trees and had a 'tame' mongoose who would 'beg' for pieces. He avoided talking about anything 'heavy' and only a few times did he discuss the horrors he saw.

Mum obviously didn't experience the hardships that those in the UK experienced. But she did experience rationing and shortages. She used to tell us how her mother and the neighbours would 'barter' and trade food and other goods amongst themselves. Or would band together and share rations to be sure that a neighbor had enough to bake a birthday or wedding cake.

She also saw 3 of her friends (and their families) taken to a temporary camp before being sent to the permanent internment camp at Manzanar. Before they were 'shipped out' she used to ride her bike to see them and visit 'through the fence'.

She also spoke about the influx of soldiers to our hometown as they set up temporary bases. No girl ever had to go without a date on Saturday night! And I used to really get a kick about the girls covering their legs with makeup then using a brow pencil to draw a straight line up the back of their legs so it looked like a seam!

I thought I knew the lot. Turns out they were both in intelligence and I knew absolutely nothing!

My grandfather wrote a book about his experiences of serving in the war.

One gf was a marine but I don't really know what he did. The other was 16 at the start of the war. When he turned 18 he joined the raf. There was a story about him being a bad plane and crashing a plane into another on the ground in training (not in the uk). He went on to be a professional pilot. I don't know what one GM did. The other didn't do much but make eyes at American service men - apart from one night she climbed up a ladder with her sister to put out a fire in a church.

Many service records for ww1 were destroyed in a fire in ww2 sadly.

Medal cards and other war documents do survive so its possible he could have served and there are records but the absence of service records makes it very hard to identify many soliders and link them to records as the only details on other records are often just a name and service number. If you have a family member with an unusual name you may have more success.