During the War

[Freak]

My Grandad was showing me a book he'd got from a friend all about Malta during WW2 (where he was stationed).
The last picture he shows me is a panaramic, post air raid scene of utter devastation, the dust had barely settled.
In the foreground are some children running around.
A little way back is a slightly desperate looking man.
"He's trying to clear the entrance of a bomb shelter". My Grandad informs me in his no-nonsense manner.
"How the bloody hell do you know that?" I asked.
He looks up from the book and over his glasses.
"Cause it's me you silly sod" he replied with a big grin.

1 proud Grandfather..... 1 proud Grandson :D

[Mrs Reject]

makes me a bit sad....wish my grandfather was still here :(

[UKRobT309]

Theyre a breed that i aspire to. Bloody heroes.
Saying that me Dad was once telling me a tale about how he got this huge scar across his cheek bone, over his nose etc. It was the nastiest injury he got in all the time he served in the army. I was expecting him to tell me about fighting commies in the jungles etc. Well he was in the jungle and he's telling me in that droll matter of fact way that that era of people manage to do. They couldnt go anywhere into the jungle unless they were in a platoon or more and heavily armed or in an armoured car. One day theyre sent out to get a chicken in an armoured car (ferret) for the officers mess sunday dinner. Theyre on the way back, him and his mate when they hit something in the road. The bang was enough to free the chicken from the cage so they they are wobbling down the road in this bloody ferret trying to catch this chicken. They hit another bump or summat and me Dad falls over and hits the breech of the machine gun which burst his face open from ear to nose.
That was his worst injury but i know a lot more went on that scarred him for life, he just keeps that to himself.

[Friar Tuck]

My Dad was a Bomber pilot during WW2, and it has only been over the last 10 years that he has freely started to talkabout it.

My father-in-law was a tail end charlie on Lancasters during WW2 on a Pathfinder Squadron, unfortunately he has now died, but I had the pleasure of re-uniting him with his Navigator three years ago. They hadn't seen each other for 60 years!

[Maggie B]

yes its a shame more of the stories were not recorded for posterity

My Dad (who died aged65 yrs in 1982-what a waste) was a Desert Rat. Met Montgomery :D
said he(Monty) really was as inspirational as they say.

My Dad seemed to be sent everywhere! He came ashore at Sword Beach, he also came ashore at Amalfi coast somewhere in Italy. I have recently come across photos of him in Berlin, Paris, and obviously was in the desert at some point.
He Must have seen/come across Spike Milligan at some point, because reading Spike's books they were at ther same places
Must have scarred him (who didn;t in those days) as he always went quiet and didn't elaborate about the killing he did

Also he was useful as he had made the effort to speak german, and could discuss travel arrangements when I went to visit my german penpal.

He also told me not to hate the Germans-He didn't

[Juke]

yes its a shame more of the stories were not recorded for posterity

My Dad (who died aged65 yrs in 1982-what a waste) was a Desert Rat. Met Montgomery :D
said he(Monty) really was as inspirational as they say.

My Dad seemed to be sent everywhere! He came ashore at Sword Beach, he also came ashore at Amalfi coast somewhere in Italy. I have recently come across photos of him in Berlin, Paris, and obviously was in the desert at some point.
He Must have seen/come across Spike Milligan at some point, because reading Spike's books they were at ther same places
Must have scarred him (who didn;t in those days) as he always went quiet and didn't elaborate about the killing he did

Also he was useful as he had made the effort to speak german, and could discuss travel arrangements when I went to visit my german penpal.

He also told me not to hate the Germans-He didn't





i don't hate the Germans.......just don't like the arrogants fcukers much!.. :D

[Kingo]

I thought I would just share this with you

A Song Of Winter Weather
by Robert Service


It isn't the foe that we fear;
It isn't the bullets that whine;
It isn't the business career
Of a shell, or the bust of a mine;
It isn't the snipers who seek
To nip our young hopes in the bud:
No, it isn't the guns,
And it isn't the Huns --
It's the MUD, MUD, MUD.

It isn't the melee we mind.
That often is rather good fun.
It isn't the shrapnel we find
Obtrusive when rained by the ton;
It isn't the bounce of the bombs
That gives us a positive pain:
It's the strafing we get
When the weather is wet --
It's the RAIN, RAIN, RAIN.

It isn't because we lack grit
We shrink from the horrors of war.
We don't mind the battle a bit;
In fact that is what we are for;
It isn't the rum-jars and things
Make us wish we were back in the fold:
It's the fingers that freeze
In the boreal breeze --
It's the COLD, COLD, COLD.

Oh, the rain, the mud, and the cold,
The cold, the mud, and the rain;
With weather at zero it's hard for a hero
From language that's rude to refrain.
With porridgy muck to the knees,
With sky that's a-pouring a flood,
Sure the worst of our foes
Are the pains and the woes
Of the RAIN, THE COLD AND THE MUD.

For Your Tomorrow We Gave Our Today.

[Maggie B]

http://www.bartleby.com/135/index2.html
war poems by Seigfried sassoon

[Cook1e]

My Grandfather never spoke of the war, but I knew he had been in the RAF as our christmas stockings were his old woolen flight socks (you cant half make them bigger over the years)
It wasnt till after his death, that my Gran showed me his medals.
One was rather special. He got it for staying at the controls of his bomber while it was in flames till all the men were out. He got some pretty horrific burns that would have finished him off if he hadnt have jumped into water. I just thought he had 'grandad skin'!
My Gran served in Egypt and told me how she took an old motorbike to visit Jeruselem on leave. I asked her what would have happened if she had broken down in the desert? - "oh, I would have died, my dear" was her reply!
Old folk eh? They are tough as ol' boots.

[johnr]

He also told me not to hate the Germans-He didn't


wow ! they really were a different breed of men in those dark days

[johnr]

not a great deal has the power to reduce me to tears, but these words, the story behind them, and the symbolism of those few, and their heroism always makes me misty eyed, not that thats what they thought they were doing mind, these guys were just doing the "right thing" for the greater good of all.

John Gillespie McGee, Jr. was an 18-year-old American when he came to Britain in October 1940, during World War II, and joined the Royal Canadian Air Force. He flew in a Spitfire squadron and was killed at age 19, on December 11, 1941, during a training flight from the airfield near Scopwick, Lincolnshire.

The poem was written on the back of a letter to his parents which stated, "I am enclosing a verse I wrote the other day. It started at 30,000 feet, and was finished soon after I landed."



Oh, I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings.
Sunward I’ve climbed and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds—and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of—wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air,
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark or even eagle flew.
And, while with silent, lifting mind I’ve trod
The high, untrespassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

[SatinBlack]

Unimaginable what those people went through, my grandad always had a serious fear of dogs and had bad scarring on his hands and arms and always told me as a kid it was from a mining accident, i l found out after he died from a relative that he was in a jap prisoner of war camp and they set the guard dogs on him and ripped him to bits and nearly killed him.

There was an old guy who would run up our road and dive in and out of peoples gardens hiding under the bushes as kids we thought he was nuts but he was suffering from what was then known as shell/battle shock and now recognised as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD, he fought for his country but got no help at all when he got back home.
In the first world war they were even shot by there own country!
shell shock (http://www.bullyonline.org/stress/ww1.htm)

Some guys were in the first world war and they went back for more and fought in the second as well (Chelsea pensioners) they were tough beyond belief,
and when i see some "yoofs" today giving old people a hard time and even attacking them, Ggrrrrraaaahhh :mad: :mad: :mad:

Over the top we go me lads, over the top we go.
http://www.pals.org.uk/testimony.htm

[Robin]

My grandfather ended up as a PoW in Italy, and ended up mentally scared for life. He never talked of the war, and when I once asked the response was not polite.

After he died we found a small bible that he had used as a diary in the war, writing notes inbetween the print. He had carried this around with him for years. Many pages were torn out and destroyed by him over the years, I didn't read much of it but the little bits I did I found disturbing. :( The book is now with the local regimental museum.

[Bag Lady]

I have already posted on a previous thread about how my dad met with Hitler at the start of WW2.

But my ex-father in law was part of the British patrol that arrived and helped to liberate Belsen concentration camp....he was one of the first ones to arrive there. He could not talk about it either. He did mention bits and pieces....the fact that when they first arrived one lad was so overcome with horror and sorrow that he gave one of the inmates his rations.....it was too much for him after such starvation and it actually killed him.....the poor lad who had shared was beside himself with grief...

[Cook1e]

[QUOTE=Bag Lady]I have already posted on a previous thread about how my dad met with Hitler at the start of WW2.
QUOTE]

I want to know the story about how your dad met with Hitler. Actually face to face?

[johnr]

[QUOTE=Bag Lady]I have already posted on a previous thread about how my dad met with Hitler at the start of WW2.
QUOTE]

I want to know the story about how your dad met with Hitler. Actually face to face?

yeh, i want to hear that too!

[Shep]

[QUOTE=Bag Lady]I have already posted on a previous thread about how my dad met with Hitler at the start of WW2.
QUOTE]

I want to know the story about how your dad met with Hitler. Actually face to face?


*Posted for BL.*

Here's the story. (Her second post on that page.)

http://www.100-biker.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=11090&page=10&pp=10

[Sheltie]

Cheers for that, very intereseting. Unfortenately my Grandad was sunk twice within the first 2 months of the war the second time he went down with all the crew and ship. So no war stories to tell apart or my own ones

[Freak]

My great uncle was drafted as a marine
1200 men on his ship and only 2 couldn't swim.... and he was one of them
(not sure how true that is though)

[Dougie]

They were heroes,these folks.It's a bit of a shame,though,that veterans of recent conflicts,be they wars,peace actions or internal security operations,don't seem to get the recognition and thanks they deserve.I'm not putting down the sacrifices of those who suffered during the first and second wars,it's just that I feel these guys seem to have been overlooked a bit.
BTW,having read the Shell shock link,I realise that I suffer from a good few of the symptoms.Great,on top of everything else I've got PTSD! :eek:

[Sheltie]

Join the club was diagnosed with it a couple of years ago

[rommel]

Yeah my wife was diagnosed with ptsd after the last accident we had in a car and now it is dreadful driving with her as a passenger :(

[krammer]

well what a truly inspiring thread this has been. my grandfather was a stetcher bearer in the great war, god only know's the horror's he witnessed. he would tell me how long the bayonet's were and that he could get two germans on it but the third would fall off the end :) he was about 5ft 4" in his boot's but he was a hero to me.

[SatinBlack]

Yer absolutely right there Dougie, i have a cousin and some friends who are ex-forces and some of those lads had some rough times, one was in the gulf and has gulf war syndrome and another did 5-6 tours of Ireland, i've known him for years and he's a nice enough bloke but he has a hair trigger temper and everything he does is like a military operation planned to the last detail, going anywhere with him can be hard work as he gets well upset if anything messes with his routine.

Some blokes upset him one night when we were at a burger van after the pub and he cleaned 5 of them up on his own, i left him to it and ate me burger as he didn't seem to need any help anyway, like a mad Taz on a very mad day :rolleyes:

[Sir Ewok]

My Paternal Grandfather ran away from home at 14 and joined the middlesex regt. and fought in South Africa, went through WW1 and was in the Home Guard for WW2. My Maternal grandfather was an Ambulance driver in WW1 and committed suicide on Brighton beach (drank a bottle of Lycol) after getting his wife and lover pregnant at the same time.
My dad was in the 'Shiney 7th' (7th london Rgt) and was stationed in Framlingham till after the invasion and then went into Europe behind the main battle front. He would not go abroad for years because all his memories of Zeebrugge was of the harbour afloat with burnt and mutilated bodies etc.
By coincidence, my military BSA was purchased in Framlingham.......
My late brother served in the Queen's regt till 3 weeks before his death in the Paisley rail crash. Funny how things work out. :(