Remembrance Sunday....any war hero Grandads?

[Tinkerboo]

Mine weren't officially hero's, but thought it would be good to share all the stories in people's families.
One Grandad was at Dunkirk and rescued by the boats, Granny still didn't hear from him for 2yrs and 'presumed he'd gone down with all the rest.' Meanwhile he was sent to Italy and took part in the terrible battle for Monte Casino.
Other grandad Polish. Captured in first weeks of the war. Escaped couple of years later, recaptured and sent to Norway by Nazis. never returned to Poland.
Extraordinary stoies, but not unusual in that generation.
Anyone else want to remeber and honour their Grandad/Granny.

My grandad (who sadly died before I was born) Fought and was mustard gased in the Battle of the Somme luckily he survived.

Dh's Grandad flew Wellington Bombers in WWII.

He came home.

Should also say that my grandad apparently was never the same person he was before he went to war. In his seventies he used to walk to the park, sit on a bench and weep for all the friends he lost and for all the atrocoties he had seen.

Dh'd Grandad didn't speak about it either. Didn't like to talk about it. He took what he saw to the grave. May he Rest In Peace.

My father was a pilot in WW2.

May they all Rest In Peace.

iota, which aircraft?

Neither of my grandfathers saw active service. My great uncle did though; he was one of the prisoners of war who built the Burmese railway (think Bridge on the river Kwai). He survived but was haunted by the horrors that he had seen and the tortures he had endured, and was never the same man again. He eventually took his own life after many years of depression. I never met him, he died long before I was born, but I'll never forget him.

They're all bloody heroes in my opinion.
My grandad was at Dunkirk & Monte Casino too. He never talked about it. He left me his medals (and his dad's medals) when he died because he said I was the only one of his grandchildren who'd appreciate what they meant

Beaufighters mainly, sandcastles.
He made a career in the RAF after the war ended and would be 86 if he were still alive today.

That's a coincidence Ilkboo. Do you know which regiment your grandad was in?

My Great granadad died at the Somme.

For those of us with sons, may it never happen again.

Iklboo, dh will have his Grandad's medals. For now, his grandma has them. I hate to see their medals on sale. Dh bought one a while ago, but it made me sad that a family has given that away. But like he said, (and hopefully not) the owner could have passed a lonely man. So

Nice thread Tinkerboo.

And daughters of course these days....

Tinker - he was a sapper - Royal Engineers, apparently. It runs in the family. Great-grandad, grandad, my dad (only as a Junior Leader for a short time).

iota, dh had a few of those (models, of course).

My Grandfather was very lucky as he came back. Joined up in 1918 at age 17. A boy. So many boys - gone, wasted.

Many sympathies for all those who lost relatives.

My dad used to lead the church parade on Rememberance Sunday, in the village where I grew up - I'd be following along with the Guides.

My dad was a special radio operator on one of the first Landing Craft to arrive at Sword Beach on the morning on June 6th 1944. He was supposed to accompany an advance party of marines inland and act as their sparks.
Unfortunately he was seriously wounded by shrapnel as their craft came under fire. His best friend in the Navy, a similar larky lad of 18, was killed.
He made a full recovery, although he has horrible scars on his chest and abdomen, and still has some shrapnel fragments in his body. In 1996 he returned to Normandy for the first time to receive a Veterans' Medal from the Deputy of Lower Normandy (along with a lot of other survivors of course).
In 2000 he liaised with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and the Landing Craft Veterans Association to trace his friend's un-named grave at Hermanville War Cemetery and we had it re-dedicated. Norman Hutchinson only had a sister living and she was too ill to attend, so we went.
He is diffident about his war, taking the Spike Milligan view on the lunacy of it all from the Ordinary Seaman/Squaddie perspective. He hated the Navy and was usually in trouble for his short career.
He is a pacifist by nature but his ordinary family background meant he never mixed in circles where that was an acceptable stance. Every other family in his street in N Kent lost at least one son or daughter in the war. Their part of Kent was bombed to bits so a lot of the families were made homeless too.
He had FIVE uncles, including two Old Contemptibles, who got all the way through World War I physically unscathed. Astonishing. One of them was taken POW in September 1914 and had a very pleasant time working on a smallholding in Bavaria. He turned it around so succesfully the owner asked him to stay on as business partner in 1918!

my father was a Major during WWII and fought against Rommel

My maternal granmother was french and heavily involved in the french resistance during the war. She (and her family) hid american/canadian/english downed air crew in their house and helped smuggle them o the coast where boats took them to England. One such pilot invited her to visit him when the war was over. Thankfully she survived the war (some of the family weren't so lucky) andshe came to visit him and ended up marrying his younger brother (my granfather).

That story should be a novel Venneer. But that's probably true of so many of these war stories.

My Grandad was a Sergeant Major in WW2 but didn't talk about it - ever. All I know is he fought in Egypt/other places in Africa.

I always used to go the the Remembrance Service in Leeds Town Hall with him - I was so proud, he would stand up tall, best blazer on, medals etc with teh others and then the medals would be packed back away until next year.

My great uncle died on the first day of the Somme with so many others. My grandfathers both saw active service in WW2. The single most moving thing I have ever done is go to Ypres, the graveyards and the battlefields, then see my Great Uncle's name on the Menin Gate. I used to equate poppy day with fairly old-fashioned views, but since that trip I wear my poppy with pride.