SO WHAT DID YOUR PARENTS DO IN THE BIG WAR

SHIVER ME TIMBERS a écrit :
Well after watching the Ken Burns series THE WAR ad naseum ad naseum,
I thought I'd come into the group today with one of my curious questions.

What did your parents, family, etc. do in the big WWII.

Mine worked at the Canada Car foundry in what was then called
Fort William, Ontario.

They were inspectors helping to make Hawker Hurricanes and later other
types of figthers including the Curtis Helldiver.

How about your folks.....

My Grand father was french resistant
chief of the ftp's bataillon of chabenet
he was re integraded in the army after the war with the rank of captain

regars

"SHIVER ME TIMBERS" wrote in message
...

Born in December of 1931, my father was too young to serve during the
big war. He enlisted in the newly formed U.S. Air Force in Jun, 1949. Dad
served 20 years before retiring and starting his second career in 1970 as a
state police officer here in Idaho.
Mother was born in Sept of 1935 and only had distant memories of the
days of the big war.
Myself and both of my brothers all served in the USAF as well, although
none of us did 20 years.


Luke

On Sun, 04 Nov 2007 19:41:05 GMT, SHIVER ME TIMBERS
wrote:



How about your folks.....


Mom and Dad met at the Torpedo Station, Newport, RI.
Dad could not enlist because of bad eyes. So he made torpedoes
like his brother (WWI) and father. Mom quit the sewing mills and
joined the war effort running a milling machine. They were married
in 1949 and celebrated their 50th 9 months before Dad passed on.
Mom is 84 (ssh don't tell her I said so) and is still a sparkplug.

"SHIVER ME TIMBERS" wrote in message
...
Well after watching the Ken Burns series THE WAR ad naseum ad naseum,
I thought I'd come into the group today with one of my curious questions.

What did your parents, family, etc. do in the big WWII.


Dad was orphaned when his father was killed at Esnes France (1914) within
days of getting there and his mother was killed getting off a tram so he
joined the Royal Tank Corps asap (1932) and spent time in the North West
Frontier of India as it was then.

On leaving the service (May 1938) he joined Manchester Fire Brigade.

He was recalled in December 1939 to the Royal Tank Corps but they found
out he was a fireman and transferred him to the Army Fire Service
which he was very unhappy about at the time (losing his beret).

He was Officer Commanding 151 Army Fire Company in North Africa in 1943,
then appointed Staff Captain (Fire) Algiers Sub District in 1944.

He was transferred to the Staff Pool at Allied Forces HQ C.M.F. (Italy) in
September 1944, promoted and moved to 15 Army Group to act as
Deputy to ADAFS then in 1945 he assumed command of Army Fire Services, CMF.
He was MID in May 1946 and was returned to the U.K. in August 1947.

On return he was appointed Command Fire Officer, Western Command and Officer
Commanding 852 Army Fire Company then In 1952 he was posted MELF as Chief
Inspector of Fire Services (Egypt, Cyprus, Malta). In January 1954 he
completed his service with H.M. Forces.

This has been gathered from his records as, like so many, he was reluctant
to say terribly much about WWII.

------------------------------

Reading other peoples replies and thinking of the numbers of people from so
many nations it concentrates the mind on the debt that everyone owes to
every single person involved, directly or indirectly.

It is also true that we continue to owe so many people who are still
operating to maintain our freedoms.

--
Andrew

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."
(Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.)

In memory of one other veteran, my Baby Brother, Billy, who never even
graduated US Navy boot camp, but got an honorable discharge. I don't know
how, but I have seen his DD-214 and his certificate.

Lonnie

"Andrew B" wrote in message
om...

"SHIVER ME TIMBERS" wrote in message
...
Well after watching the Ken Burns series THE WAR ad naseum ad naseum,
I thought I'd come into the group today with one of my curious questions.

What did your parents, family, etc. do in the big WWII.


Dad was orphaned when his father was killed at Esnes France (1914) within
days of getting there and his mother was killed getting off a tram so he
joined the Royal Tank Corps asap (1932) and spent time in the North West
Frontier of India as it was then.

On leaving the service (May 1938) he joined Manchester Fire Brigade.

He was recalled in December 1939 to the Royal Tank Corps but they found
out he was a fireman and transferred him to the Army Fire Service
which he was very unhappy about at the time (losing his beret).

He was Officer Commanding 151 Army Fire Company in North Africa in 1943,
then appointed Staff Captain (Fire) Algiers Sub District in 1944.

He was transferred to the Staff Pool at Allied Forces HQ C.M.F. (Italy) in
September 1944, promoted and moved to 15 Army Group to act as
Deputy to ADAFS then in 1945 he assumed command of Army Fire Services,
CMF.
He was MID in May 1946 and was returned to the U.K. in August 1947.

On return he was appointed Command Fire Officer, Western Command and
Officer
Commanding 852 Army Fire Company then In 1952 he was posted MELF as Chief
Inspector of Fire Services (Egypt, Cyprus, Malta). In January 1954 he
completed his service with H.M. Forces.

This has been gathered from his records as, like so many, he was reluctant
to say terribly much about WWII.

------------------------------

Reading other peoples replies and thinking of the numbers of people from
so
many nations it concentrates the mind on the debt that everyone owes to
every single person involved, directly or indirectly.

It is also true that we continue to owe so many people who are still
operating to maintain our freedoms.

--
Andrew

"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible."
(Lord Kelvin, president, Royal Society, 1895.)

Very interesting question !

I made a little study in France, answering this question a few decades
ago to my school collegues.
And surprisingly, the major part of them answered that their parents
were in the resistance !
Several very serious studies were made about the french population
during the WWII and all of them describe a population with 5%
resistants, 5% collaborationists and 90% of population without
enlisting who just went on their occupation.
I conclude that in all ways people takes the honor and the heroism of
the winners despite it has done nothing !

My parents were born during WWII. On my mother's side, my grand moyher
was innoccupied and my grand father was working in the railway french
national company. He worked in the way of the Vichy Government during
the main part of the WWII and enlisted the resistance in the very end
of the war. The Wehrmacht occupied their house between 1942 and 1944
and left rapidly when the allied landed in the South of France.
On my father's side my grand mother and my grand father were miner at
the pitface in the north-east of France.

--
---------------------
RVB -
http://www.cocardes.com .....aviation
http://www.hervebrun.com .....photo
;-)

My dad was an aircraft mechanic in the Navy. He spent most of his time in
the South Pacific wrenching Catalinas (Solomon Islands).

My mom was a teen in northern Italy. When the allied bombers flew over, she
could tell if she needed to find shelter or just watch. Listening to the
sound they made, heavy bomb filled planes groaned, empty ones zoomed at a
higher pitch.

Proud Son


"SHIVER ME TIMBERS" wrote in message
...
Well after watching the Ken Burns series THE WAR ad naseum ad naseum,
I thought I'd come into the group today with one of my curious questions.

What did your parents, family, etc. do in the big WWII.

Mine worked at the Canada Car foundry in what was then called
Fort William, Ontario.

They were inspectors helping to make Hawker Hurricanes and later other
types of figthers including the Curtis Helldiver.

How about your folks.....

Shiver...
I have been away from the group for quite a little while and while catching
up on things I stumbled upon your interesting question...

My late uncle was an AA gunner on the escort carrier HMS Fencer. Very
briefly on board a destroyer and in fact saw HMS Hood shortly before her
tragic encounter with the Bismarck. The tale is had two or three kills
believed to be his

My parents are in fact survivors of the Battle of Britain. A row of houses
only a few streets down from my Dad's house where flattened, in one of the
few raids to hit the Leeds area of Yorkshire. Later in 1944 and 1945 he was
with the British 2nd Army in Germany. I know he was infantry at first but
ended his service in the Royal Army Pay Corp in the early 1950s.

My mother has memories of seeing a hill she was playing on only a few
minutes before erupt from machine gun fire during a low level dog fight.
She also has a story of a V1 passing over her house.

One of my God parents, is one of only 5 survivors of school that was
mistakenly bombed somewhere outside London.

There is also some talk in my family of a cousin who was in the RAF Bomber
Command. Apparently he participated in the 1000 bomber raids of Dresden,
Hamburg and the other cities that where subsequently "melted"

In a funny irony several years ago I was dating and incredibly beautiful
young girl who was from Dresden, and who's Grand dad was an AA gunner for
the German Army in the Dresden area. So two of our relatives where in all
likely hood hell bent on killing each other 60 plus years ago.

Again and interesting but also a very good question.

Andrew





"SHIVER ME TIMBERS" wrote in message
...
Well after watching the Ken Burns series THE WAR ad naseum ad naseum,
I thought I'd come into the group today with one of my curious questions.

What did your parents, family, etc. do in the big WWII.

Mine worked at the Canada Car foundry in what was then called
Fort William, Ontario.

They were inspectors helping to make Hawker Hurricanes and later other
types of figthers including the Curtis Helldiver.

How about your folks.....

SHIVER ME TIMBERS wrote:
Well after watching the Ken Burns series THE WAR ad naseum ad naseum,
I thought I'd come into the group today with one of my curious questions.
(Snip)

How about your folks.....


My father was already honorably discharged from the Army, and was working as a mechanic at an Army Air Corps fighter training base when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He was declared essential and worked there for the duration of the war. I had one uncle in the Sixth Armored Division, another in the Seventh Armored, one in a combat engineer outfit on Okinawa and later the occupation of Japan, one older cousin in the Army working on the Ledo road, and others that I don't know the details about. My wife's father was in L Company, 18 Infantry Regiment, First Infantry Division from North Africa all the way to Aachen, Germany where he met the million dollar wound.

I'm proud of them all.

My grandfather was a german soldier and fought first in France then in Russia. He was wounded three times and fell in todays Poland
by end 1944.

--

Gruß Guybrush

Mails landen im Mülleimer!