WW1 & WW2 stories/ memories told to you.

[Salop Matt]

As above folks,

 

What do you remember being told about the wars as a child and growing up by parents and grand parents or other relitives?

 

I remember a few bits that my Nan and Grandma told me about.

My farther used to be sung too by his farther as a child "run rabbit run" and that was something my dad carried on with me when he had picked me up from my Grandmas as a child.

My uncle lost a finger when pulling 303 bullets apart that he had found from the war (Home Guard), he was after the brass to make flues with for his meths powered steam engine model/toy train he had.

And my Grandma always kept her Gas mask for years after the war.

 

So what are your memories of what you were told etc, especally as a child.

 

ATB

 

Matt

 

 

 

 

[kennett]

Blimey I could write a book with all my grandads war stories ( I think he did). From his 4 M10 tank destroyers opening fire on a German soldier on a bike dishing out porridge to his dug in comrades, sending deer skins home with German shotguns hidden inside, crashing through the front gate at belsen concentration camp, looting a German wine cellar to being stationed on the kiel canal to stop u-boats escaping ( with tanks, go figure?!)

[Fisherman Mike]

I have many recollections from my Grandfather of his time in both Wars as documented in the letters he sent back to his Mother..but the one which sticks out the most was when as a young man at Gallipoli in 1915 he witnessed his best friend and comrade from the same little Village cut down by a Turkish rifleman as they advanced on Enemy lines.

 

He recalled how he heard the thud of the bullet hit him in the chest and no other sound, no yell, no scream or groan.. he just fell dead across him into the sandy soil and he trod on him has he continued his assault.

 

Like many who survived the Great War he never used to speak of what he saw too often.

[CharlieT]

 

Like many who survived the Great War he never used to speak of what he saw too often.

 

Like you, my Grandfather served in Gallipoli and Father was a pilot in WW2. Neither ever spoke to me of "the war", the only factual account I have is Fathers log books.

[Zetter]

This was related to me by my mum as my great Uncle didn't talk about the war in his later years he was proud of what he did but the memories were too painful.

 

He was I think in the Ox and Buck light infantry and went with the BEF to fight in France in 1939-40 he ended up being part of the rear guard who stayed to buy time for the others to evacuate.

Eventually they were overwhelmed and captured ending up being held by the SS who were not happy that they had been delayed so they basically stood my uncle and his mates against a wall and were about to shoot them. At this point some regular German troops came up and the Colonel in charge gave the SS lot a mouthful and took my great uncle and his mates as their prisoners for which my great uncle was very relived as they thought their number was up at that point.

 

From there as prisoners they were taken back to Poland were they were used as labour for various projects, he was not sure be he thinks they put some fences in for one of the concentration camps but at the time he had any idea what they were. When the Germans started losing the war they started to march the prisoners back to Germany as the Russians closed in, food was scare and the death toll was high. Eventually they were liberated by the Americans.

At this point my great uncle who was 6ft2" and well built from his pre war photos was down to 6 stone in weight and had TB which was to cost him a lung.

 

Even after all this he went on to live a full life finally passing away a few years ago at the age of 86 he did get to see and attend the Dunkirk anniversary but even then got very upset while watching some of the coverage of it.

[kdubya]

this is a pic of my long past dad here he is pictured in Alexandria during WW2 front row 4th from right with dog, he never really spoke of the war other than to say "never trust an arab"

 

[birdsallpl]

This is a great thread and I could talk for hours about my father and uncles in the 2nd world war. Have any of you read the books series titled ' Forgotten voices' they are brilliant stories told by various groups of ordinary people during both world conflicts. A really good read.

[birdsallpl]

this is a pic of my long past dad here he is pictured in Alexandria during WW2 front row 4th from right with dog, he never really spoke of the war other than to say "never trust an arab"

 

My father had the same saying, not very PC these days. He told me about when he was a young soldier in Egypt in the nineteen twenties. They picked a guy up one night during a curfew. He appeared very submissive and congenial so they didn't take much notice of him. He managed to craftily take a revolver from one of the guard sitting next to him and opened fire, killing one and wounding another before he was despatched. I guess my father had a good reason for saying it.

[smudgertoo]

This was related to me by my mum as my great Uncle didn't talk about the war in his later years he was proud of what he did but the memories were too painful.

 

He was I think in the Ox and Buck light infantry and went with the BEF to fight in France in 1939-40 he ended up being part of the rear guard who stayed to buy time for the others to evacuate.

Eventually they were overwhelmed and captured ending up being held by the SS who were not happy that they had been delayed so they basically stood my uncle and his mates against a wall and were about to shoot them. At this point some regular German troops came up and the Colonel in charge gave the SS lot a mouthful and took my great uncle and his mates as their prisoners for which my great uncle was very relived as they thought their number was up at that point.

 

From there as prisoners they were taken back to Poland were they were used as labour for various projects, he was not sure be he thinks they put some fences in for one of the concentration camps but at the time he had any idea what they were. When the Germans started losing the war they started to march the prisoners back to Germany as the Russians closed in, food was scare and the death toll was high. Eventually they were liberated by the Americans.

At this point my great uncle who was 6ft2" and well built from his pre war photos was down to 6 stone in weight and had TB which was to cost him a lung.

 

Even after all this he went on to live a full life finally passing away a few years ago at the age of 86 he did get to see and attend the Dunkirk anniversary but even then got very upset while watching some of the coverage of it.

 

 

My grandfather had pretty much the same experience of the second war, captured in the rearguard at Dunkirk and forced to labour on the land in Poland. He bore the scars from the long march till his dying day.

I only ever had one frank conversation with him about his experiences when one evening when I was sixteen and about to sign up for the sappers for six years he sat me down with a bottle of malt and tried his best to talk me out of it.

 

Gran was in the fire service down here in Chichester and used to tell me how you could see the glow of London burning during the blitz from the top of the downs. She also told of being on the airfield at nearby Tangmere airfield when they all had to run for their lives as a couple of German fighters strafed the runway and buildings

 

Great uncle Joe had the roughest time of it, he was in Singapore when it fell to the Japs and spent the remainder of the war as a POW, He hated the Japanese race with a passion for the rest of his life

Edited June 2, 2014 by smudgertoo

[welshwarrior]

I was told nothing directly as my grand parents died either before I was born or when I was very young.

 

However while I was carrying the Regimental Colour to 2004 commemorating some battle honours from WW2 I had a coffee in a town hall with a very quite and humble veteran. we chatted for a while he told me how proud he was of us going to Iraq and the difficult things we had to deal with he'd had nothing so difficult to manage. Asked him where he'd been he'd landed at DDay and went up through France holland etc into Germany, we trade stories about the first time we'd both been shot at ironically very very similar.

 

Later on he told me about the day they found Belsen.

 

I hope we have retained their experience and stories least we forget.

[Kes]

My dad, like many, only told some of the things he saw and did when asked continually by me. Always trying to be funny but the seriousness crept it. Too many tales to recount but heres a couple I remember were funny and firghtening too.

Dad was a signals captain and used to be close to the 'front' in WW2. He says he often could not find the front line and had to establish comms for forward command posts. Anyway one time he was driving up a field track in a jeep with someone and wondering where they were and he rounded a 90 degree bend in the road to find a Tiger Tank not 80 yds away. The turret on this model was hand cranked and the gun was pointing down the field so he screeched to a halt, performed the fastest and most perfect 3 point turn he has ever done and was round the corner before the turret was half way round.

Another time he was reconnoitering a farmhouse close to the front as a comms post and as he searched the building with some of his chaps (boobytraps), he carefully opened a cupboard door, saw no cables and threw it open only to find a german soldier there with his schmieser pointed in his direction. After a few heart stopping seconds he said he realised the german had been killed by blast, even though his eyes were open and there were no visible wounds. He swallowed, grabbed the german by the shoulder and pulled him out of the cupboard. He also said they were crossing a field on foot and his friend 50 yds in front trod on an anti tank mine. He saw him dissapear in a red mist, not even his shoe was left. he'd pause and think of another funny story and tell it you another day. I think he lived through war by 'looking on the bright side'. He went to the far east and also hated the japanese to his dying day.

[strangford wildfowler]

Wonderful thread this, I love it when all the respect is paid to are fallen heroes and also to the soldiers who came home.

 

There is man locally who has recently passed away a war hero a real war hero and was knighted for his effort but for the life of me I cant remember his second name its Sir Tom .......... but anyway iam unaware of the location but he was in a tank division ( could be wrong ) but anyway the British forces where taking a real pounding by German panzer tanks and he was the first soldier to capture one of the panzers amd he put it to great effect and help our artillery division advance forward to great effect.

 

God rest his soul as he has recently died, a right character aswell.

[jasper3]

some wonderful stories

Edited June 3, 2014 by jasper3

[bisondan]

Both my Grandfathers were slightly too young to have served during WW2 but they both did national service, my late Grandfather on my Mums side of the family served his in Arnhem, Holland from 1946-48.

 

Great Grandfather on my Mums side fought in WW1 as a gunner in the Royal Artillery sadly I was too young to really know him as he died when I was very young.

 

Great Grandfather on my Dads side was in the trenches during WW1 and he won a medal for bravery, he saved a wounded soldier from no mans land, he was shot and wounded himself whilst carrying the wounded soldier back to the trenches, fortunately they both survived, but sadly he died a bit before I was born.

[kennett]

Welshwarrior, any idea on the veterans regiment? Sounds a very similar journey to my grandads. France, Holland, Germany, crossing the Rhine, Belsen and ending up on the kiel canal in North Germany.

[clakk]

my grandad started out in east africa ,then burma and would refuse to discuss his experiences fighting the japs.but he said in true scottish fashion if you ever buy a jap car i will disown you and never speak to you again.and he was never caught by the ****.the only story ever told was when they ran out of food as the monsoon was too bad for airdrop they dynamited a river to get fish to eat.but never would he discuss fighting with my gran/dad or us grandkids.god rest him

[pycoed]

My grandfather told me a tale from when he & his platoon were caught at night in a hail of bullets in "no mans land" during WW1. They all got down into a deep shellhole to shelter. As the night wore on & all became quiet they decided to have a brew, so he was volunteered to creep into the next shellhole to fill billiecans. Duly completed & they all enjoyed several brews. Dawn came & the front moved so they crept out - to find their water hole was full of corpses, both men & horses!

 

My first boss was on Prince of Wales (new battleship sunk by Japs 1942). He said the mess seats were all made from a new leather substitute. probably "rexine" or similar. This had caused all the ratings to suffer dreadfully in the tropical heat with sweaty ***** which caused nappy rash, or "trench ****". He said that after they were sunk &spent several hours in the Indian Ocean, when the Japs rescued them all their "********* were like new" (unquote).

 

He wasn't quite so complimentary about the subsequent 3 yrs in Jap pow camp & ended the war just under 6 stone... He was another who hoped we'd had another 10 atom bombs & dropped them all on Japan.

[chrisjh]

My dad was serving in Orkney stationed at scapa flow when HMS Royal Oak was sank, he went back over the years to pay his respects and found comfort in doing so he also loved the islands, one of my personal regrets was I never found the time to accompany him on one of his visits.

 

My mum worked at Ferranti in Manchester and lived close to the city centre, she would tell me about running home from her shift work as the sirens were signalling a raid and bombs would be dropping around her. She was seconded to Manchester University after the war to work on the first programmable computers, i remember we had bits in the garage that she had brought home from the prototypes.

[bruno22rf]

My friend (now sadly departed - God Bless him) Ricky Dyson was a tail gunner in a Lancaster that crashed on take off in Lincs.-after being thrown clear in the entire tail gun section Ricky managed to cut himself clear with an Axe and ran back to the burning plane. He managed to climb inside the cockpit and pull the pilot to safety before re entering the plane to remove the screaming and burning flight engineer (after pulling him clear Ricky threw his flight jacket over the man to kill the fire but as he pushed down the mans stomach burst apart)-for his actions he received the George Medal. In 1945 ,and on the same mission where Guy Gibson died, Ricky's plane collided with another and he was the sole survivor-he parachuted to safety and spent the last days of the war in captivity. Nicest and most humble man I ever had the good fortune to meet. Great thread Sniper-lest we forget.

Edited June 2, 2014 by bruno22rf

[Good shot?]

 

Great uncle Joe had the roughest time of it, he was in Singapore when it fell to the Japs and spent the remainder of the war as a POW, He hated the Japanese race with a passion for the rest of his life.quote]

 

My Dad was also captured at Singapore and spent 4 years as a POW? Never spoke about it to me until his latter years when ill in hospital, told me of the day,when given his daily rice ration which should have lasted all day,during a midday inspection by the guards it was found that he had eaten it all, the young guard ran screaming at him with a bayonet,my Dad put his arm up to protect his head and the blade slashed his forearm.He did not have a great deal of affection for the Japanese of that time to put it mildly. He said they gave no thought whatsoever for the well being of prisoners, because of their warrior culture.

He was in sick bay with Diphtheria when the Japanese ship he should have been on was sunk by the Americans.

He was working underground when the second atom bomb went off and on their return to the surface all the Guards had fled,leaving all prisoners to fend for themselves.

Lots more tales he could have related I am sure.

One thing that softened his view of today's generation of Japanese people happened 12 months before his death, when his heart stopped whilst in hospital and a young Japanese doctor 'jump started' his heart and he lived a further year.

Edited June 3, 2014 by Good shot?

[norfolk dumpling]

My dad was in One Para and whilst he did tell me a few of the pranks he got up to but no fighting stuff, he was quite proud of a commendation he got...... For growing spuds! Apparently during a long layover/training period at Bulford Camp he was a little bored and being naturally industrious (farmer's son and he used to do the kitchen garden at home) asked permission to grow vegetables which he did with some success. Also a family rumour that he was invalided out of the war with scrappnel wounds was actually appendicitis. I am going to apply for his war records as it would be nice to complete the picture and add some substance to the few photos, campaign medals, the 'wings' cap badge, the dagger and the compass he left me.

[birdsallpl]

My Father was in operation Torch in the First army which invaded Algiers. Anyway after fighting through North Africa, Sicily , Italy and parts of Greece he ended up in Austria when the war finished. When I bought my first Shotgun back in the sixties, he told me that whilst in Austria and also back into Greece one of his Battalion's roles was to disarm all the local population and some of the resistance groups. They had lorry loads by the dozen full of all types of weapons including a lot of sporting guns. They destroyed the lot. Never entered his head to bring home a nice few pairs of shotguns.

[Kes]

Just remembered another one to tell.

Dad was probably typical but he went in on gold beach after the first assaults and probably 2 days later. He was petrified he said because of the stories from other beaches so he got drunk and was very much the worse for wear when the landing gate went down. He had an Aeriel 'square four' he said and drove off the ramp into 6 feet of water and had to be rescued. He left me a mass of his old war maps showing positions and troop dispositions which I shall pass to his regiment when they are maps again and dont hide memories - He went to Arnhem and Belson and was with Indian troops in the relief of Malaysia. He was always extremely respectful of the Indian troops who he said were 'good men' and 'brave as the best'.

Edited June 3, 2014 by Kes

[Flashman]

Grandad volunteered for the Royal Navy - underage - in something like 1940. He volunteered for submarines in order to draw the additional hazardous pay and subsequently volunteered for even more danger money - the midget X-craft. He was training during the Tirpitz mission and later was in the Far East when the Takao was attacked in Singapore. In between, he served in fleet submarines.

 

I could never reconcile the quiet man I knew who never lost his temper with the boy who was depth-charged by the Japs and sailed in a 50 feet steel tube that had a habit of sinking for no reason.

 

http://www.submarine-museum.co.uk/what-we-have/our-submarines/hms-x24

[Frenchieboy]

I guess that many of the Second World War survivors didn't talk much about what they had seen or done during the war and as such I find this thread extremely interesting reading and I have a very, very high respect and regard for all who served during both the World Wars and all other conflicts which Great Britain has been involved in, even prepared to pay the ultimate price for what they believed in and for our future without question or hesitation.

I have no real "war stories" from my father so in a way I am quite envious of you guys who do have something to cherish and respect and be proud of. We (My Father and I) were not close in any way as a Father and Son should have been (Far from it in fact) so I'm not sure if I really want any about him. I do know was that he was a fairly high ranking officer in the Free French Army and spent lost of his time during the war in the desert out around Syria and many places like that. From his Service Records (Which my brother found after both my Father and my Mother passed away) we do know that he received several commendations including one which was written and personally signed by Charles De Gaul (Which my brother has along with my fathers war medals - 10 medals in all).

The only photo I have of him is when he was younger and before "The War" so I'll not bother putting it on this thread!

Please keep your "War Stories/Memories coming as they make fascinating reading.