The Sludge

we all have family and stuff we all know that. But what regiment was your grandfather or great grandfather in?

My grandfather was in the Royal engineers.

mechanic28

iTrader: (5)

one of my grandads was in the royal navy,on a destroyer HMS skate protecting the russian convoys he never talks about it,only that it was cold!!!!he was the radio man doing all the morse code etcmy other grandad i not sure as he died before i was born all i know is he fought in italy and got a medal for saving a child!!although he never claimed it as he did not want to be there and beleive in the war etc!!my uncle served in the desert rats

st3v3

one my grandads had a hear problem so couldnt go in the army but they did let him in "dads army" and used to opperate the airraid siren as they were wind up,you could say the perfect job really,although it did make him partialy deaf in the other ear aswell.
Other gramps was on the railways so was thourght to be best left doing the job ferrying munitions and the likes up and down the country,where ever needed.

My mums unkle was in the airforce though,was a tail gunner in the Avro Lancaster, unfortunately got shot to pieces only his safety belt kept him in the gun pod till they got back but he was shotto bits and died probably instantly.

fish99

Grandad was in Scots guards and my other grandad was merchant navy during WW2,Another great Uncle Eddie Hodgson was Like steve above and was a tail gunner in the Lancaster. My Great Uncle ray was also in some Scottish Reg I think ,and he was shipped to Korea

Graham S1

My Grandad was over in Africa, in the RAF, fixing planes. Got LOADS of stuff in the loft, photos, love letters to my Gran (ahhh ) , photos etc.

foreigneRS

they might be digging some of your relatives from WW1 up over in France right now

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7428393.stm

dunketh

One was in WW1, he was gassed and had lung problems ever since, eventually dieing years before I was born. The other was in the home guard as he was in an important profession (farming), charged with guarding the local reservoir in sleepy Devon.

Twellsie

iTrader: (1)

one of my grandads was in the RAF and his brother was in the Marines, the other was also in the Royal Engineers, my grand mother though was a telephonist in the German Army and you dont want to know what her brother was in

dojj

iTrader: (3)

grandad was in ww1 as he was one of them consripts or soemthing, where they go round the villages and tell peole they are joining up, but that's a whole different kettle of fish to go in to

don't know where he served but after 4 days a bomb went off and deafened him, so he got medical'd out and lifed the rest of his day on an army pensin, not bad for a 14 year old who went to war eh

foreigneRS

was this your grand mother's brother?

TurboShed

My Grandfather was a colonel, fought the Japs in India and thereabouts. That's why we don't buy Japanese cars in our family!!

R6Franky

iTrader: (2)

My great grandad was in the Royal Navy. He died in service when his ship HMS Penelope was torpedo'd by a german U-410 submarine on the 18th Feb 1944.

My grandad was in the Black Watch.

I respect any of the old blokes who are still around today that fought.

Dan

Hank Moody

grandfather fought in ww2 as member of royal highland regiment (black watch)

JayCC

my Granddad was also in the Royal Engineers. I should really find out more..

PeterRST

iTrader: (1)

Both my grand fathers were in the "wehrmacht", the german army. They were sent to Russia and almost froze to death there. One of them came home with several shrapnel pieces in his body but at least he survived. Grand mother helped coordinating german fighter planes. They told the pilots when there were british/american bombers incoming, etc.

They weren't Nazis, they weren't even interested in politics. They were just simple young lads and lasses from the countryside that were forced to go to war... All of them lost at least one brother/sister in the war, some of them still being classified MIA.

Twellsie

iTrader: (1)

Diamonds.

iTrader: (2)

One my grandad was on HMS Belfast and the other was on a Minesweeper in the Atlantic. As for Great Grandad's in WW1 im not too sure on. But i know they both served.

foreigneRS

Twellsie - if you don't like it, don't repeat it

if you really object, i will take it down if you like?

Twellsie

iTrader: (1)

dont worry mate, i cant be held responsable for things before my time.

purple_fiesta

my mrs grandad was in the green howards, landed on dday, he has a diary that a historian is intrested in writing a book on.
my great uncle was in the navy and was on 2 ships that were sunk

ludacris s

My great grandad in WW1 got a medal for bayoneting 5 Germans! In WW2 one grandad was too young to serve the other was a Doctor in the Army and served in France!

Iain Mac

One of mine was in the merchant marine and lost two fingers. When he died I inherited his binoculars that he "got from a squaddie who took them off the body of a German sniper". Years later I learned that the crows-foot arrow on them was the British War Department marking, so the German must have got them off a Brit or grandpa was a bit of a fibber!!!

The other was Irish and neutral during the war.

An Uncle got blown up by a mine in the road in Malaya - never quite the same man again.

foreigneRS

none of us can mate. i had no problem living in germany and making great friends for life there wonder if the guy above who will not buy japanese cars feels the same?

percybigun

one grandad was too old so he was only in the Home Guard lol

my other grandad worked in the engine room on oil tankers (merchant navy), they had some really close shaves with U-boat's torpedo's etc. some awful stories, it drove alot of them nuts having to be in a tank full of oil and seeing how extreme it was when others in their convoy got hit (bang, major explosion, huge tanker sinking in under a minute, very few survivors...)

Stavros

ROFL@ we dont buy japanese cars because my gramp fought against japan in ww2

you ok with buying german and italian ones then? as they were all on the same side

rigwrecker

my grandad was an aircraft mechanic in the raf he told me that when they had finished fixing the planes they had to test flight them on more than one ocassion the landing gear never came out and he had to crash land! my other grandad was a tank driving instructer

foreigneRS

and they don't have a single electrical item built in japan either?

l0ubie

one was too young,
and my other grandad was in REME, but refused to speak about it really.
i know he learnt how to speak german from the prisoners that he looked after and his address was
'the laundry service, london'
due to secrecy

he did volunteer for the navy's submarine core, but then realised he hated water, couldnt swim and was chlostraphobic LOL!

one of my great grandads were captured, and put to work on the Burma Railway where he died. but i know very few things about it!

and my grandad's dad was in REME as well!
i dont know anything else! and non of them are left to ask!

Iain Mac

Guys, I don't think you should mock people for not wanting to buy Japanese, or German, or Italian or whatever.

Some people suffered unimaginably during the war, especially those who were prisoners of the Japanese and I can 100% understand those survivors and their families harbouring resentment. It doesn't make it right, but it is understandable.

Remember that without the guys who were brave enough to go off to war, even when most of them were no doubt shitting themselves, many of today's generation wouldn't have the freedom to behave as they do - in fact, if another war broke out, I think most of them would just surrender.

foreigneRS

i do, it's ridiculous. what have the people in those countries today got to do with what happened over 60 years ago?

no doubting that, but i really don't think it makes it understandable to any human with a proper sense of reason.

if you apply that 'logic' to all nations that the 'british' (who are made up of many different nationalities over time) have been at war with, you will be left growing vegetables in your own garden and not doing much else. in fact even cabbage comes from asia

but i hope this doesn't ruin the thread, as there could be some interesting stories that come out of it. i don't know anything much about my family's involvement in the wars

philram

iTrader: (3)

mums side were to young.

dads side.. grandad was in the RAF in burma, spent alot of time working with the americans doing supply drops to the front lines. his wife (gran) worked in the supply factories in liverpool making bullets etc. her brother (great uncle) was a navigator on lancaster bombers doing raids over europe, my dads seen his diaries from the flights and says there awesome..

Lee Ivatt

iTrader: (1)

ww2 RAF spitfire and hurricane pilot.

my biggest respect goes to all those millions of men who fought and died for us.

if only they could see the state of our country now!

dojj

iTrader: (3)

:resp ekt:

Twellsie

iTrader: (1)

my sister and brother in law are in the british forces out in Germany and on the occasions that i have been out there, the few germans i met seemed like really nice genuine people, i am sure the same cant be said for the Japs though, pmsl

PeterRST

iTrader: (1)

I noticed that quite a few of you have ancestors who have served in the RAF.

In 1945, only a few weeks before the end of the war, a british "Mosquito" bomber was shot down over a forest near the Leipheim airfield in Southern Germany. That's only a few miles away from me. Unfortunately both pilots were killed.

I've found out that apparently they had started from "Little Snoring" airfield near Norwich. Would be interesting to know whether any of you guys had family members serving there.

Might sound odd, but sometimes when I drive past that forest, the incident comes to my mind. Hard to believe how much hate there was between our countries. But it's even more remarkable how we have managed to overcome all that hostility in less than 60 years (actually it didn't even take 10 years).

And I think that's a thing we can be proud of alltogether!

Thrush

iTrader: (1)

My grandad (dads side) was in the Navy man and boy : my father and his siter grew up in many places my grandad was stationed across the globe - portugal, singapore, australia, france, to name a few - even germany! lol....

He was a naval commander through tha last half of WWII - think he started as a young teen in the Navy as a cooks assistant! Went on to head chef, then weapons (told me he was responsible for depth charges!), then head of weapons, then commanders assistant, then finally commander. No idea what missions tho, he died some years ago when I was younger When I was a young lad he did tell me he sailed the HMS Belfast into the Thames on it's last journey, tho whether this is true or not I don't know! Also I can't remember if he said HE sailed it in (as in he was commander) or if he was just on it WHEN it sailed in....

Man I miss that guy - best grandad in the world! RIP old man, thanks for making my childhood so much fun

foreigneRS

the japanese people really look after english visitors ime, and the younger generations especially are very friendly