Tell me one interesting fact about one of your grandparents

[listsandbudgets]

Because I'm bored and nosey.

My nan could speak Italian but only in the imperative because she and my grand dad had Italian prisoners of war on their farm during world war 2

My maternal grandmother and her sister had to bring themselves up alone for 3 years after my great grandma died from flu and great grandpa was away fighting in ww1. My great grandma was 10 and her sister 13. Can you imagine that nowadays ? For 3 years ?
My grandpas sister went to live in New Zealand after ww1 - she met an airman and went off there without the consent / blessing of her family. She wrote to the family asking for money as they were apparently starving but the only one to self anything was my paternal grandpa who sent butter. I always wondered how butter survived the journey and in those days too but they are all adamant that he went butter and that it was received. As a result my grandpas son ( my dad ) struck up a pen pal relationship with my grandpas sisters daughter in New Zealand which lasted 65 years until my dad passed away

My gran qualified and worked for many years as a doctor in India. She then emigrated to America and worked all sorts of jobs to put herself through university again to re-qualify. (I don't know about now but then the US didn't recognise any of her medical qualifications, even though all medical education in India at that time was in English.)

My nan went into labour with my dad during an air raid, she flatly refused to leave the house and go down to the shelter so she carried on in Labour with bombs dropping around her.

My grandad lost his best friend in an air raid. They worked in a factory making batteries for the fighter planes. Grandads best friend wanted to finish what he was doing before he went to the shelter, he sent my grandad ahead and said he’d follow. The factory took a direct hit and he was killed.

My grandad was a civil servant who wrote and produced many public information films during world war 2.
After the war he wrote the Country Code.

My paternal granny was an American nurse who went to China and met my grandpa who was a Scottish railway engineer.

He was supposed to have fallen for her in church when he was sitting behind her and thought she had beautiful hair.

She had to give up nursing when they married which meant she didn't go with the other nurses to an outlying hospital where they were all killed in a massacre.

She had to leave China when the Japanese invaded and my aunt remembered having to board the ship past lines of soldiers, one of whom grabbed her doll from her. My granny told her to look straight ahead and not show any emotion.

I never met my grandpa as he died before I was born but my granny was great fun and I have some very happy memories of her.

My grandad was also a navigator on Lancaster bombers. He was shot down in 1943 and was the only crew member to survive.

My GD was abandoned with his brother and sister in a boarding school by his father after their mother died in childbirth.
GD ran away aged 14 and joined the army lying about his age.

My grandad was a butcher, and met my (already married) Gran as she was a customer.

My grandfather on my dad's side (I never knew him; he was born in 1892) worked as a steward on the big ocean liners, and he was the one to notice something odd about Ethel LeNeve, Dr. Crippen's mistress, who was disguised as a boy. He alerted the Captain of the ship, and Crippen and LeNeve were arrested for the murder of Crippen's wife when they disembarked in New York. It was the first arrest actioned by a ship to shore telegraph.

@TSSDNCOP mine too, as I posted earlier.

My gf didn't talk about it at all though and nobody (not even my mother), had any idea. Then just before he died he decided to talk about it.

My paternal grandfather was born in the workhouse while my maternal grandfather was a war profiteer. My parents were like chalk and cheese too.

Everyone else's grandparemts sound much more interesting!

My grandma and her two young children (my dad and aunt) were lucky to escape with their lives during WW2. The whole street was flattened during a raid. They were evacuated from London to the East Anglian countryside after that and grandad had to find them when he came back when the war was over.

My maternal grandad was a Marine in WW2 he became a sniper, he was so good he was approached to be a rear gunner on the Lancaster bombers with the RAF he refused because he had 3 children at time and the rear gunners were always the first to get shot!

Really interesting thread.

My paternal grandfather was a bank manager in a rural Scottish town ( after serving in the trenches).

The Queen Mother used to ask for money and he refused to give her anything and told told staff to do the same because " you'll never see a penny back".

She was rather spendy...😂

What a great thread - some wonderful stories! My grandad born 1907 - 1997 used to describe his early years as "when I was a little girl" as v young boys wore smocks then. He knew it used to make us giggle. His family were very poor, remember being really shocked when he mentioned having no shoes at one point and going bare foot on the cobblestones in Liverpool as a young lad. Stayed happily married to my Nannie for 60 years. He still made her laugh after all those years and challenges of raising 8 kids (one of whom died).

She had to leave China when the Japanese invaded and my aunt remembered having to board the ship past lines of soldiers, one of whom grabbed her doll from her. My granny told her to look straight ahead and not show any emotion.

My husband's grandparents, dad and aunt also escaped on one of the last boats out. Not all of the family made it - several ended up in Japanese POW camps.

Love reading all these stories! My grandfather was one of the Polish soldiers who fought in the battle of Monte Cassino in WW2 & received the Monte Cassino commemorative cross medal.

My grandparents were married for 65 years and stayed in their own home for most of that. Till the day my grandfather died, they looked at each other with such joy and love and admiration, like they were newlyweds, despite a pretty hard life and more than their share of loss.

My Grandpa was rescued from Dunkirk in WW2. He spend 2 days up to his waist in the sea. The little fishing boat that saved him had come all the way from Anglesey. After the war the fisherman invited him and my grandma and my mum to stay with them for a holiday. The families stayed in touch and often visited each other. My grandpa never forgot this man's kindness and bravery and the bond between these 2 men lasted for over 40 years until both passed away within days of each other.

My grandmother was blinded in one eye by the flick of a cow's tail while milking on the farm. One of the stories about her says she trapped a banshee in a bottle.

My grandfather's family all emigrated to America when he was a toddler and left him behind. They later wrote and said they'd send for him but they never did.

Mine had 21 children

The one grandparent was my nan(grandad helped )

My maternal GF, born 1892, was a glassblower in he East End, as was his father and I think his GF too, it was the family trade.
His work was blowing and making bottles, all by mouth and hand and he was paid piecework so much per GROSS, 144 bottles! ! He used to supplement his income by making little glass ornaments and animals which he sold in the market at weekends. I still have an apprentice piece he made a glass walking stick with different coloured strands of glass swirled through it.
He was not called up to serve in WW1 because apparently he had a dicky heart but he lived to be 84.
He used to be able to puff out his cheeks so much that he looked as if he had two apples in his mouth. Used to be fascinated by seeing him do that when we were little.
My paternal grandfather, Scottish background, was apparently in the Black and Tans in Ireland, a bit of a wrong'un. No-one can find out what happened to him but he died quite young. My paternal GM remarried and my father left home as soon as he could as he couldn't stand his DSD, and they lost touch. Paternal GM kept a pub in Maida Vale.
Looking at all the illegitimate babies born to our maternal ancestors, especially those in the workhouse or in service, I cannot help wondering if many of them were the result of rape.

My grandma was in the 1914 Armenian Genocide. Actually so was my grandpa. They had horrific experiences obviously. But they were the most kind and gentle people you could ever meet. I wish I could have had more time with them.

My grandmother used to be a motorbike racer (her father raced cars).

My grandfather spent several weeks with his arm attached to his nose - he's been in a car crash and it was how they grafted the skin from his bicep to his nose, which had been badly damaged, without the skin dying thanks to lack of blood as it healed. In cold weather the "patch" goes a different colour to the rest of his nose.