20th Century Stories about WW1 or WW2 you have been told about your grandparents or great-grandparents

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I am probably not telling anyone anything they don't know, but you can search a couple of sites for service history on your family, i have found it very interesting reading about family members who served in various wars whom i have never met.

The records supply, height, eye colour, where they signed up from, distinguishing features like tattoos etc and of course if they are run in for anything like AWOL, fighting, drinking etc a what wounds they received, where and if they died etc etc.

http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/SearchScreens/BasicSearch.aspx

http://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/
 
One of my relatives served as a pilot in North Africa and another served in both world wars, and was a general in the Second World of the German Reserve Home Army till his involvement in the twentieth of July plot.
 
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The enemy started to advance in mass down the railway cutting, about 800 yards off, and Maurice Dease fired his two machine-guns into them and absolutely mowed them down. I should judge without exaggeration that he killed at least 500 in two minutes. The whole cutting was full of bodies and this cheered us all up.
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Lieutenant K. Tower, Royal Fusiliers, 1914

The futility of war.
 
Just went onto National Archives website and found that my great uncle (my Mum's uncle) was a Military Cross and Bar - Mum always just said "he was in the Great War - in France, I think")....amazing....
 
The Coup said:
Yeah Australians have been the bad guys more often than not in reality. When I was a kid I was the same, used to think my Pop was a hero. And I'm glad he was fighting in WW2 because its easy to understand.

If he'd served in Malaysia during the Communist suppression or something I'd feel really awful about it.
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This is disappointing. Its the governments problem, not your Pop's. All he would of cared about is the bloke on his left, and the one on his right.
 
My grandfather lived in London as a kid in the blitz, even when children were sent to the country (lived with his crazy grandmother who didnt want him to leave/couldnt afford to send him)

He never really talked about it much. One story I heard was that once a bomb had not exploded and was caught up in some tree branches, and the local fire brigade/army were trying to safely remove it. My grandad just climbed the tree to help them, not having any real idea of the consequences.

He also left his windows open and set traps for birds for extra food due to rationing (plus them being poor regardless)
 
My Grandfather was with the British army in India. He used to love telling us the story about the Battle of the Tennis Court fought during the Battle of Kohima. The battle was literally fought in the backyard of the Deputy Commissioner's bungalow with the British and Indian troops on one side of the tennis court and the Japanese on the other. The Battle of Kohima itself was basically the last attempt by the alllies to stop the Japanese invading India and subsequently there was no quarter given by either side. The Allied commander in India Lord Mountbatten later described the Battle of Kohima as probably one of the greatest battles in history... in effect the Battle of Burma... naked unparalleled heroism... the British/Indian Thermopylae.
 
two blue tiger said:
Just went onto National Archives website and found that my great uncle (my Mum's uncle) was a Military Cross and Bar - Mum always just said "he was in the Great War - in France, I think")....amazing....
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Congratulations! Check out his records, then the war diary associated with his battalion to find out where it was he received this.
I posted about my Great Uncles earlier who were brothers....well, I was given a photo of them the day before ANZAC Day.


Check out, crates, hats, boots, who has a thob watch, or a tie, a button, turtleneck jumper, leggings, galv iron and bricks.
My two uncles are circled and have unique collars.
 
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My great grandfather was shot by a German Sniper that was hiding in a tree above him. The bullet grazed his cheek and went from the front of his collar bone through him and out his back near his buttock. Had to use a walking stick for the rest of his life and had fragments in him as well that they couldn't get out. My dad said they killed the German that shot him and I've always thought why did the German even bother to shoot? He was by himself in a tree ~5m above a large group of ANZACs... no one knew he was there as they walked on past him below.
 
clogged said:
My great grandfather was on the first ship out of Perth in 1915 - the Mashobra. Didn't come back until 1919. Quite a few of them stayed and fought after the war against the Arabs. The idea that it was a just war is nonsense, anyone paying serious attention knows otherwise.

I imagine your family is from the Wheatbelt? What you say is a similar story to what I've heard from my forebears.
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Moora region on my dads side. Although my great grandfather and his brother lived in East Perth and Maylands before the war rather than out on the farm. My granddad didn't inherit the farm even though he was the eldest son. He wound up working on the rail roads.
 
two blue tiger said:
For those podcast fans out there, check out Dan Carlin's Hardcore History. His recent series on WW1 and earlier series on the Eastern Front in WW2 are utterly compelling stuff.

check him out at http://www.dancarlin.com
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I downloaded Dans entire gardcore history, 57 podcasts covering everything from the death knells of the Roman Republic, comparing Alexander the Great v Hitler, to the Stalingrad front in 42/43. Very enjoyable to listen to.
 
Yeah. My Great grandpa and his brother in law both fought in the French Infantry division in the trenches in WW1. They both took part during Chemin Des Dames. My great grandfather only 17 at the time was shot in the leg and blind from shrapnel.
His brother in law in the same battle was blown to smithereens by a bomb which landed on him. (sad way to go, right?)

While receiving treatment, my great grandpa and a couple of his friends were about to be taken as POWs, but they shot those boches dead.
(My great grandpa and granduncle had the same name François).
 
fabulousphil said:
I am probably not telling anyone anything they don't know, but you can search a couple of sites for service history on your family, i have found it very interesting reading about family members who served in various wars whom i have never met.

The records supply, height, eye colour, where they signed up from, distinguishing features like tattoos etc and of course if they are run in for anything like AWOL, fighting, drinking etc a what wounds they received, where and if they died etc etc.

http://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/SearchScreens/BasicSearch.aspx

http://discoveringanzacs.naa.gov.au/
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Cheers for that.
 
My grandfather fought for the British army (Scottish) and was in a Japanese POW camp for 3 years in Indonesia.

His general summary was the Japanese were campaigners. But at one point he tried to make an escape and guard pulled a gun on him. Guard could have offer him there and then but led him back to his cell alive.
 
Boomerfan99 said:
My grandfather fought for the British army (Scottish) and was in a Japanese POW camp for 3 years in Indonesia.

His general summary was the Japanese were campaigners. But at one point he tried to make an escape and guard pulled a gun on him. Guard could have offer him there and then but led him back to his cell alive.
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My father was captured on Java on his way back from the Middle East and ended up in Changi for 3 years.

He was "lucky" in that the tropical ulcers he developed on his legs (which hung around and regularly flared up for the rest of his relatively short life) were so bad that he wasn't fit enough to be sent on the Burma Railway. It was actually a toss-up whether I was named after Weary Dunlop or his lesser-known but equally heroic medical colleague Ewan Corlett.

He never spoke about it to us kids, but he did to mum, who would let snippets fall during later years.

She said that the Korean guards were every bit as cruel as the Japanese officers, if not worse; but nothing "Made in Japan" was ever allowed in the house when we were growing up.

The POWs used to have to scavenge themselves in the surrounding jungle to supplement their starvation rations with bushrats and the like. Dad's version of "Nasi Goreng" which we ate as a special treat as kids bore no relationship to the insipid stuff you now get in restaurants. According to mum, the best meal they ever had in the camp occurred about a week after the Japanese Commandant's dog went missing.
 
FredLeDeux said:
My father was captured on Java on his way back from the Middle East and ended up in Changi for 3 years.

He was "lucky" in that the tropical ulcers he developed on his legs (which hung around and regularly flared up for the rest of his relatively short life) were so bad that he wasn't fit enough to be sent on the Burma Railway. It was actually a toss-up whether I was named after Weary Dunlop or his lesser-known but equally heroic medical colleague Ewan Corlett.

He never spoke about it to us kids, but he did to mum, who would let snippets fall during later years.

She said that the Korean guards were every bit as cruel as the Japanese officers, if not worse; but nothing "Made in Japan" was ever allowed in the house when we were growing up.

The POWs used to have to scavenge themselves in the surrounding jungle to supplement their starvation rations with bushrats and the like. Dad's version of "Nasi Goreng" which we ate as a special treat as kids bore no relationship to the insipid stuff you now get in restaurants. According to mum, the best meal they ever had in the camp occurred about a week after the Japanese Commandant's dog went missing.
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incredible story..........jaw dropping


thank you
 

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20th Century Stories about WW1 or WW2 you have been told about your grandparents or great-grandparents

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