How far removed?

[Vortex]

My uncle served as a tail gunner in Lancs for the RCAF. He left training in Canada early in '43 and returned home at wars end. The basement of his house was interesting, littered with memoriablia of places he'd stayed and visited in the UK while stationed there. Pictures of people, pubs he'd frequent, and trinkets or items that reminded him of the area. He had stuff everywhere. He loved to tell stories of the great people he met, and fun times they had at the pubs.

...but only a single picture of him with his crewmates, tucked away in the corner with a few some squadron insignia and the like. He never talked about his experience as a gunner, or anything related to the actual war itself. And I never asked.

[skorpx1]

Iv'e got a great grandfather that died back in WW2. He was the top turret gunner in a B24.


That's about all I know and ever will know.

[guncrasher]

I remember my grandma talking about her oldest son who moved to the united states in 1940 looking for work.  sometime later she got a letter from him saying he had been drafted and was going to a place called europe.  she never heard from him again.  she died not knowing what happened.

my other grandma had cousins that were german, their parents had moved into northern mexico sometime in the 1920's.  their sons got called up to go back to germany.  the 2 or 3 oldest ones went back and joined the navy, they barely spoke german but they went anyway.  nobody came back.  their parents died not knowing what happened.   my grandam told me about how handsome they looked with their blue eyes and blond hair.  how they played together and how she always felt sad she didnt know what happened to them.

it seems weird to me to say that I had relatives that fought with and against the united states.  I was in the marines a long time ago, just like my brother.  we both followed our father who even though he is still alive, i think died back in vietnam.

I got a nephew and and my son in law who are in the air force.

semp

[phatzo]

My Uncle Vince Dalton enlisted in 1942 and was with 15 Aust Field Baking Pl (AIF) until he was discharged as a corporal in 1946. He served in New Guinea along the Kokoda trail, I could only imagine baking was the furthest thing from their mind.  This is what the Kokoda trail looks like now, during WWII it was mostly steep mud.

[Meatwad]

Grandpa on my moms side, Lewis Raines. Waist gunner on a B-24


Consolidated B-24D-95-CO Liberator   42-40787   Vagabond King   389BG   565BS   2885
40787 (389th BG, 565th BS, *Vagabond King*) shot down by two Fw 190As of JG 11/10 and crashed into sea 27 km SW of Stromstad, Sweden Nov 18, 1943. MACR 2885. 11 KIA
Source: Joe Baugher US Aircraft Serial Numbers - http://www.joebaugher.com/usaf_serials/usafserials.html

[FTJR]

My father join the Australian Militia (part timers) on the outbreak.  Soon after he was posted to a radar detachment, and soon after that he volunteered for overseas duty. He was posted to Port Morseby and Lae with the radar detachment. His chief memories were the rain, the mud, the jungle reclaiming airfields in an amazingly short time after the forces moved on,  and fishing with hand grenades.

[USRanger]

My grandfather & great uncle served on a destroyer.  I got on my grandfather just a few hours ago about how he shoulda let the Japanese keep China so they wouldn't own us now.

[LCADolby]

1944-1945 Far East; India, China, Malaya, Hong Kong.
RA and REME
Mentioned in dispatches


His Army Portrait picture


Unit group photo


His unit up for inspection


Moving equipment through the trails

Bonus picture

A photo he took of a Japanese Emil captured and displayed in India

[DarkHawk]

My dad was a navigator/bombardier on B24's in New Guinea, Of an 18 plane squadron, His was the only crew to service the tour of duty, their last mission the crashed in the jungle but was able to get back to allied lines.
Upon return to the states he was assigned to B29's, after the war  he was not allowed out of the country due to the fact, he was able to arm the A-Bomb. He died in 1954 from the head injury he received in the plane crash. I have his entire service record.

DHawk

[ROC]

Grandfather was captured in the Philippines, and went on a long march commonly known as Bataan.

[Swoop]

My Grandad was a civil engineer and therefore in a 'reserved profession'.  So he joined the ARP instead (air raid wardens) and used to sit on top of tall buildings in central London calling in fires, etc. 

My Great Uncle was a Desert Rat.  Sgt Major Adams, 7th Battalion, 7th Armoured Division.  Fought Rommel in North Africa and then went on to fight the Japanese in Burma.

[jeffdn]

My maternal grandfather was in the Army as an infantryman and participated in the island-hopping campaign in the Pacific. He was shot in the butt climbing over a fence during the landings at Leyte Gulf and ensuing combat. Before he died, he would always finish telling the story by saying "I turned around and shot the Jap bastard right in the face." Sorry for the offensive language.

My paternal grandfather entered Europe through Normandy on June 10th, I believe. I'd like to find out more about his war service. I know he had a Purple Heart for wounds received from a grenade, and had shrapnel in his back from it.

[Slate]

it seems weird to me to say that I had relatives that fought with and against the united states.  

semp

   My Grandfather on my Mother's side was a politician in Germany but he was removed and sent to the eastern front and never heard from again. My Grandmother and Mother barely escaped eastern Germany at the end of the war. The Germans were much more afraid of the Russians than the other Allies.
   They emigrated to the US and became citizens before My Mother met my Father in Massachusetts.
  I have Family on my Father's side that served with the US Military including My Uncle who lost a limb in Vietnam. He is a Lafayette with lineage that goes back to the Revolutionary War. 

      To all that served their Countries no matter how messed up their leaders were. 
   

[BnZs]

My Grandfather was born in 1898, he was too old for WWII. But he just missed WWI, they signed the armistice on the day he was to ship out. His youngest brother was killed in Italy though, artilleryman. My Dad was born in 1938, so he was young during the war, albeit he does remember bombers coming over their home in Wickett Texas.

[Mister Fork]

On my dad's side, grandfather was a civilian carpenter for the British Army and helped build stations and bases.  On my mom's side, grandfather was quartermaster for the Royal Coast Guard during WWII on their SAR vessels (rescue vessels  were actually disguised Corvettes and Destroyers).  Lots of sad stories on seeing cargo and transport ships being torpedoed with sailors and civilians in the water and in lifeboats but being unable to stop and pick them up right away until the u-boats were driven away and then circling back only to find empty boats and the dead.  Most having died from exposure or hypothermia.  

On my wife's side, both grandfathers were Engineers with the Royal Canadian Military Engineers -doing mostly anti-mine work and building portable bridges.  First shot by a sniper a couple of days after D-Day (he was first group in) and spent months recouping back in the UK where he met his wife (a nurse) and when back to Germany just before the war ended and married her just before going back. Her other grandfather was an engineer officer who fought in Northern Africa and then Italy where he met his wife, a front line 'MASH' nurse.  Both men on my wife's and her grandmother in Italy didn't talk about the war. Ever.  Going back on my wife's side, her grandfather's father (mom's side) fought in the Boer War with his brothers (1899–1902). Then all fought in WWI as...engineers...strange that.