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Thread: War stories and experiences of your relatives

  1. #1
    Flavius Nevitta's Avatar Civitate
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    Default War stories and experiences of your relatives

    Hi there.

    When posting in the "greatest military thread" I thought it would actually be interesting to hear some stories from people. Things their grandparents told them or you found out yourself about your relatives.

    So here is what I posted about my grandfather in the other thread:

    He had to join the German army in 1939 btw.

    To be honest I don't know how he got captured. It's 10 years ago since he died and I wasn't THAT interested in all that at that time So I only remember a few things and a few other things my father told me my grandfather had told him. In general he didn't really like to talk too much about it all. I have his "Soldbuch" however. So I have a list of the units he fought in but the book is not very detailed in the end anymore. There are very few entries after D-Day, numbers of regiment don't appear that often anymore, handwriting not very readable and additionally after he got captured the Allies blackened all stamps showing the swastikas and parts of the text got painted over as well.

    What I could reconstruct was that he was in the 387.Infantrie-Division

    just scroll down to the 387 to see the places they were at.

    he was wounded 2 times: once in the chest by a sniper in 42, then again by a grenade piece in the leg in the beginning of 44.

    Then he was transfered to the west to the Grenadier-Regiment 915 at St.Lo.
    Unit got destroyed at some time. Maybe someone has more knowledge of the events during that time. The last entries in the book are an EK recieved on 18th October 44 and a new gun a Karabiner 43 recieved on 6th November 44. Then transfered to the Ardennes with 352.Volksgrenadier-Division.

    There he must have been captured but I don't know any details.

    He was at home 2 times during the war. each time after he was wounded. He finally returned from captivity in 1947.
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  2. #2
    Mig el Pig's Avatar Senator
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    Default Re: War stories and experiences of your relatives

    An ucle of my mother joined a flemish unit of the german army to fight communism.
    Since he could speak german he was made a luitenant in a logistic unit. He was armed but i don't know if he ever fired his gun at an enemy.

    According to him he got around 50km of Moscow.

    At the end of the war he was stationed near the rhine when he threw away his uniform, slipped into civilian clothes and crossed over to the american troops.
    He told he was a forced labourer and since he could speak german and some english he was "drafted' into the american army as an interpreter.

    When he returned home he had to hide in the haystack in the backyard of his parental house for 2-3years.
    Last edited by Mig el Pig; March 26, 2007 at 04:48 AM.

  3. #3
    Town Watch's Avatar Domesticus
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    Default Re: War stories and experiences of your relatives

    Hmm, my granpa (lol i'm 16 btw) and his brother fought in winter and continuation wars. Both survived un-scathed.

    My granpa fought atleast in Ilomantsi in continuation war. ( I think)

    We probably have lots of pics/some stories about them but now I just gotta pack up and hurry to my tennis practice. Cheers
    "What do I feel when I kill my enemy?"
    -Recoil-

  4. #4

    Default Re: War stories and experiences of your relatives

    i dont really have any from my realatives my only realative who fought in a war was my great grandfather but the trenches of WWI really messed him up and he couldnt talk about it.

    But.
    My step-dads uncle was blinded during the Korean war when a hill his squad and one other were holding was over run by the chinese, he went out of his pillbox and was knocked out by a chinese concussion grenade, the chinese charged the hill killed all the other guys, beat his face in with the butts of thier rifles and left him for dead. The next thing he remembers about it was being put on the skids of one of those helicopters from M.A.S.H.

  5. #5
    Tabell's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: War stories and experiences of your relatives

    6 brothers of my great grandfather fought in world war 1, he survived but lost his legs, and 3 of the others died.
    In the days of lace-ruffles, perukes, and brocade
    Brown Bess was a partner whom none could despise -
    An out-spoken, flinty-lipped, brazen-faced jade,
    With a habit of looking men straight in the eyes -
    At Blenheim and Ramillies, fops would confess
    They were pierced to the heart by the charms of Brown Bess.

  6. #6

    Default Re: War stories and experiences of your relatives

    Both of my real grandfathers served in the German army. Sadly, both died before i was born so they never could tell me anything. My father and mother however have told some of the stories.

    My grandfather on the mother's side turned 18 in 1944. He volunteered when the Russians came close to Estonia, and fought at the Sinimäed.

    My grandfather on my fathers side volunteered in 1941, when the Germans rolled in. I dont know much on what he did before 1944. When the Russians returned he also fought at Sinimäed. He was captured by Russians, and was lucky. He was nearly shot by some drunk soldiers, but thank god one of the officers was actually human and saved him from it. He still served his time in the GULAG though.

    My grandmother on my mothers side remarried after my grandfather died, so i also have a "third" grandfather. He fought in the Red Army.
    In 1945 or so, he got in a fight with a Russian soldier. He was drunk and started aiming at him, so my grandfather in self defense killed the guy. Guess the Red Army didnt care, many years of GULAG and lost one of his fingers there.

    I have an granduncle that fought in the Red Army also, he just dissapeared. Nobody found his body so.

    My grandmother's have some stories from the war. The one on my mothers side was young during the war, but remembers a German plane going VERY low over their farm, and some German officers visiting.

    My other grandmother had some plates with a swastika on the back, and still had some ostmarks
    Last edited by Enemy of the State; April 20, 2007 at 06:43 AM.

  7. #7
    Imperator Sulla's Avatar Miles
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    Default Re: War stories and experiences of your relatives

    My grandfathers brothers on my mothersside and my grandmother on my fathers side worked for the Dutch resistance. My grandmother has allready died but she used to tell stories about how she distributed underground newspapers and provided food for Jewish families who where hiding for "ze germans", really dangerous stuff and she only was 19-22 at that time

    My grandfathers brothers were more radical resistance members who blew up a railroad, smugled British pilots and raided rationbill? offices. My grandfather is 86 but still remembers the war vividly. Every Sunday when we have coffee at my grandparents he brings up the war and how he stole coal from the railroad and how brave his brothers were. I must have heard the stories a hundred times but I still like hearing them.
    No greater friend, no worse enemy

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  8. #8
    Delvecchio1975's Avatar Primicerius
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    Default Re: War stories and experiences of your relatives

    My grandfather was taken prisoner of war in 1940 with the retreat of the Belgian army. One evening they were stopped within a brick wall (no roof) for the night, and were given a little bread for dinner. My grandfather was still very hungry and pulled straws who should go and ask for mor. My grandfather was unlucky. He walked over to the guard with the machine gun, but another prisoner was ahead of him, apparently with the same question. The guard shot him on the spot. My grandfather turned around without asking, obviously.

    in 1944 the Germans moved three soldiers in with my grandma and granddad. My father had just been born. They were two regulars, nice guys, and one evil lieutenant. He found out my grandfather was smuggling stuff on a small scale and put a gun to his head in the kitchen, while my grandmother was there. At that very moment my father started crying in his cradle in the next room. He then put away his gun. A few days later the Germans retreated from the village.

  9. #9
    wilpuri's Avatar It Gets Worse.
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    Default Re: War stories and experiences of your relatives

    Letters from the front!

    I really should continue on those, but I have no idea where the letters are now.
    The common culture of a tribe is a sign of its inner cohesion. But tribes are vanishing from the modern world, as are all forms of traditional society. Customs, practices, festivals, rituals and beliefs have acquired a flut and half-hearted quality which reflects our nomadic and rootless existence, predicated as we are on the global air-waves.

    ROGER SCRUTON, Modern Culture

  10. #10
    Town Watch's Avatar Domesticus
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    Default Re: War stories and experiences of your relatives

    Quote Originally Posted by wilpuri View Post
    Letters from the front!

    I really should continue on those, but I have no idea where the letters are now.
    Damn

    my mother is now somewhere in Tampere holding some seminars or something. Guess I'll just have to find those damn photo albums myself or something...:thumbsup4

    Awesome letters wilpuri. Where did your granpa serve BTW?

    Hope some more people come here too. Plz do comment and ask about people's war stories. It makes it just more awarding after searching through that damn uruguayan rain forest (the storage room)

    *takes a shower*


    PS: Are there any peeps' whose grandads were tankers or airmen?
    "What do I feel when I kill my enemy?"
    -Recoil-

  11. #11
    wilpuri's Avatar It Gets Worse.
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    Default Re: War stories and experiences of your relatives

    Quote Originally Posted by Town Watch View Post
    Damn

    my mother is now somewhere in Tampere holding some seminars or something. Guess I'll just have to find those damn photo albums myself or something...:thumbsup4

    Awesome letters wilpuri. Where did your granpa serve BTW?
    I'm not 100% sure about the Winter War, somewhere in Northern Karelia I'm guessing. In the continuation war he was initially part of the army group besieging Hanko, and then he was stationed at Suursaari. Beyond that I don't know.
    The common culture of a tribe is a sign of its inner cohesion. But tribes are vanishing from the modern world, as are all forms of traditional society. Customs, practices, festivals, rituals and beliefs have acquired a flut and half-hearted quality which reflects our nomadic and rootless existence, predicated as we are on the global air-waves.

    ROGER SCRUTON, Modern Culture

  12. #12
    Town Watch's Avatar Domesticus
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    Default Re: War stories and experiences of your relatives

    Scheisse, I didn't find any wartime photos about my granpa and his bro...

    Guess they were too busy dealing lead poisonings or something...
    "What do I feel when I kill my enemy?"
    -Recoil-

  13. #13

    Default Re: War stories and experiences of your relatives

    My grandfather served in WWI with the Cameron Highlanders (ummm 117th infantry?) of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. He joined when he was 16 from a small town (ie. 600 people) for reasons he explained best as "an adventure." He was wounded near Amiens, France. Bellyshot. One of our first interactions (I was 2 and don't remember it) was him teaching me the words I needed to know if I was taken prisoner by Germans.

    He never really talked about it much. I'm guessing it was something he wanted to forget, and something to spare his family from.

  14. #14

    Default Re: War stories and experiences of your relatives

    A distant relation, Joe zimmerman was stationed in china. A great great uncle also fought in the civil war against the south. He was captured 2 times but kept volunteering again.

  15. #15
    Valus's Avatar Natura, artis magistra
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    Default Re: War stories and experiences of your relatives

    My grandfather fought against the germans in Norway during WWII and spent the last year/years of the war as a guard at a prison camp for Germans on Gotland..
    In the 60's he served as a UN officer in Kongo and was involved in quite serious fighting, he was shoot in the leg and the bullet was never removed due to the danger of damaging the leg even more.
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  16. #16
    Town Watch's Avatar Domesticus
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    Default Re: War stories and experiences of your relatives

    Quote Originally Posted by wilpuri View Post
    I'm not 100% sure about the Winter War, somewhere in Northern Karelia I'm guessing. In the continuation war he was initially part of the army group besieging Hanko, and then he was stationed at Suursaari. Beyond that I don't know.
    isn't there some wartime archives where one could check these out or something?
    "What do I feel when I kill my enemy?"
    -Recoil-

  17. #17
    Bokks's Avatar Thinking outside Myself
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    Default Re: War stories and experiences of your relatives

    I just have to say how fascinating all these are. It is always so amazing to me the stories that people live to tell. Thanks, L.C.Cinna, and everyone who has kept this thread alive, learning about others is my passion, it's why I'm in history; to me being forgotten is the worst thing that can happen to people, and very few deserve it (oddly enough they are ones who are remembered by all)

    My grandfather was in the Army-Air Corps, as it was called by the US during WWII. He was only 17, but he lied about his age so he could join the army and get out of his house; he had a bad relation with his parents. That was in 1940, I believe, and he was stationed at Hickem Field, Pearl Harbor. By December 7, 1941, he was a master-sargeant and sargeant of the gaurd, his shift had just ended when the attack began, so he and his men were the only ones with weapons on him, all other soldiers had to go to weapons storage. Because of that, the commanding officer ordered my grandfather to protect his house. Before he left, as many other officers were ordering the men under their command into their barracks, my grandfather ordered the men uder his command out. Brief moments after his men left their barracks, the Zero bombers hit the barracks.
    After 12-7, my grandfather was a tailgunner to a B-17 in the 72 bombing squad. This always kind of confused me after I researched the war more, because officially most B-17s had their tail gunning equipment removed to allow for more fuel, plus Europe was the major theator for the B-17, it had a relatively low inclusion in the Asian front. Nonetheless, the pictures are real, but I don't have access to them, as they're back home.
    He was part of the Guadelcanal invasion, where he was hit by grenade shrapnel that riddled his back and legs, though he was close to amputation, he was able to keep both, and even was able to cartwheel well into his old age. This, however, confused me too, as he specifically said grenade shrapnel, not flak. What a B-17 tailgunner was doing in a situation that could enable him hit by a grenade is beyond me.
    He was sent to Trinidad Colorado for treatment and rehabilitation. Unable to continue serving, but technically still active, he couldn't leave Trinidad until he was discharged in 1945. By then he had taken up residence and healed enough to meet my grandmother at a roller-skating rink that her parents owned.

    Other than that my great-uncle was to serve in Vietnam, he was part of some special forces and so wasn't deployed in the same manner of fashion as the other men stationed there, he was ent on a large plane that dissappeared never to be seen again over the Pacific. Because he was never technically deployed and so not killed in action, he wasn't recognized when they made the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC. Recently, however, the Veterans of Foreign Wars has decided that he perished en-route, technically MIA, to an active fire-fight, and so my family has recently been contacted for information with which they can add his name to the Wall and the database.
    Last edited by Bokks; March 28, 2007 at 04:54 PM. Reason: wrong meaning and spelling
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  18. #18
    joerd9's Avatar Decanus
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    Default Re: War stories and experiences of your relatives

    I'd like to tell about my grandpa who was a german submariner.
    He served on U-859 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U-859), one of the "Monsun-Boote" as a Maat (=P.O. 2nd Class) in the electric department (one of the worst places in a sub to get out from). Those Monsoon boats were long range Type IXers with orders to sail from Germany to the japanese base of Penang in Malaysia with rare goods (in this case: mercury and possibly even uranium-oxide) to remain there and join the IJN.
    The boat left Kiel in April 1944, sailed through the North Atlantic undetected (they had a snorkel) and avoiding any shipping lanes as ordered and reached the relatively safe South Atlantic a month later. They came across an american target of opportunity and continued around Cape of Good Hope. Having passed Madagascar, they were spotted by a british plane that attacked the boat. They managed to shoot it down but lost one man to it. Three wounded also.
    A few weeks later they came across the SS John Barry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_John_Barry) near Oman and sent a fortune down to the bottom of the ocean . Things went quite smooth. But as they were closing to Malaysia in September they were entering the hunting grounds of british subs also. HMS Trenchant got them on 23rd of September 1944, killing 47 crew including my grandpa, unfortunately. My father was born on September 9 1944, and we know that the birth was radioed to the sub, so at least he died knowing he had a son.

    My other grandpa spent the years 33-39 in a concentration camp for being an active communist (got released 39 in an amnesty declared for the occasion of AH's 50th birthday) and spent the rest of the war with my grandmother in Dresden. They were lucky not to be in the city on Feb 13, 1945.

  19. #19
    Scorch's Avatar One of Giga's Ladies
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    Default Re: War stories and experiences of your relatives

    My Grandmother's brother was going to go sign up for the Air Force (without his parents knowing) in WW2, but fell down the stairs at the train station, twisted several things and broke a few things, and was in hospital for a bit.

    Then his parents found out and wouldn't let him go.

    That's my family's story of wartime greatness.
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  20. #20

    Default Re: War stories and experiences of your relatives

    Here is another post from another forum that I made a long time ago:

    I don't think any of my grand parants fought in the WWII.

    My grandfather (father side) was actually sitting up in the mountain side when some british planes flying insanly low over the mountains came. Those planes attacked and sunk (it didn't sink it rolled over) the great german battleship Tirpitz while he was watching. He told me that you could hear german soldiers inside the Tirpitz knocking on the hull of the ship and they tried to cut them out, but the germans had made the ships hull to hard to penetrate.

    He also told me that he was walking home one night and it was all dark, and he saw a person who had fallen down. He helped him up, and he got a shock seeing that it was a high ranked german officer. The officer held his hand on his sidearm, and my grandfather tought he was about to get shot, instead the officer asked him to help him get home, and my grand father got some good cognac, proper coffe and some sigarets for his trouble (these wares was impossible to get a hold on for working class people during the war).

    On my motherside my grandfather and some of his relatives and famelie had made a cave where they moved when the germans was going to empty finnmark. He was however cought later when they moved and was sent to a prison camp.

    While on the topic of ancestors:

    One of my relatives (I think he lived sometime in the 18th century) was known as Sergeant Hans. Hans was a really tough bastard. He actually fought a bear in a river for about two hours before some neighbours chanced upon them and shot the bear. He also lived far from civilisation (he moved out after a fight with his family), and had to walk about two days with his weath, in sacks that weighed about 90 kilos total, to get to the closest water mill. This of course explains why he could fight a bear in hand-to-paw. Other than that my family isn't that special, a couple of murders (18th century), the rest is carpenters, farmers and woodsmen.

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