Anyone have family or relatives who served in WW2?

[sir baconface]

Name Avila Star
Type: Steam passenger ship
Tonnage 14,443 tons
Completed 1927 - John Brown & Co Ltd, Clydebank
Owner Blue Star Line Ltd, London
Homeport London
Date of attack 6 Jul 1942 Nationality:

British

Fate Sunk by U-201 (Adalbert Schnee)
Position 38° 04'N, 22° 48'W - Grid CF 4953
Complement 196 (59 dead and 137 survivors).
Convoy
Route Buenos Aires - Freetown (28 Jun) - Liverpool
Cargo 5659 tons of frozen meat
History Completed in March 1927 as Avila 1929 renamed Avila Star. 1935 lengthened.
Notes on event
At 00.36 hours on 6 July 1942 the unescorted Avila Star (Master John Fisher) was hit on the starboard side by two G7e torpedoes from U-201 90 miles east of San Miguel, Azores. The ship had been chased since 5 hours and only sank capsizing to starboard one hour after being hit amidships by a coup de grâce at 00.58 hours. A first coup de grâce fired at 00.54 hours had been a dud. The master, nine crew members, one gunner and eleven passengers were lost, most of them died when the third torpedo detonated beneath a lifeboat that was being lowered. 20 crew members and three passengers went missing in a lifeboat that was never found. 96 crew members, five gunners and eleven passengers were picked up from three lifeboats on 7/8 July by the Portuguese destroyer Lima (D 333) (Rodriguez) and taken to Ponta Delgada, Azores where one crew member died in a hospital. Another lifeboat with 34 crew members and five passengers was not located until 25 July, after eight crew members and two passengers died of wounds or exposure. The 29 survivors were picked up by the Portuguese sloop Pedro Nunes (A 528) which was searching for the boat since it had been spotted by Portuguese aircraft two days earlier and landed them at Lisbon the next day, but one crew member died aboard shortly after being rescued and two others after reaching a hospital in Lisbon.

Edit: meant to mention the above info came from this site https://uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/1902.html

Thanks for that, GFF. Appreciated.

As an aside, I just read that mariners were only paid up to the date their ship was sunk. So those poor bastards cast adrift in lifeboats would have been on unpaid "non working time".

 

[langy[wales]]

My mams dad fought in North Africa and Italy the only time he'd talk about the war was after a few wiskys nearly got killed twice.
As a carpenter he got called by a priest who asked him to build a pulpit fot surmons etc his squad went out and got wiped out by a shell he must have thought he shouldn't be here.
A very quiet man

 

[denislawsbackheel]

My father in law was a gunner in the desert then fought through Italy and was then sent to Palestine.
He would talk freely about what happened throughout.
Got his medals framed with his picture.

My dad was an RAF instructor and spent the war at an RAF base teaching recruits morse code and stuff.

My mum was in the WRAF. Never found out what she did, never talked to her about it. She was deeply scarred by losing a brother at Arnhem. She never got over it.

 

[blueinsa]

My Grandad did. Lancashire fusiliers and was at Dunkirk, North Africa and Italy.

He would never talk about it but my Nan told me after his death that he lost virtually every single one of his mates and that after the war he tried and thankfully did not succeed in committing suicide twice which i assume was down to the mental torture he had suffered.

We all owe so much to every single brave man and woman during those times.

After his death we contacted the museum in Bury who helped us no end and now have his complete collection of medals which sits proudly in my Aunt's house, his oldest daughter and they will be passed down so none of us will forget.

 

[Zubrman]

My grandad was a sergeant in the Royal Engineers. He refused to talk about the war but would only say he'd seen some terrible sights.
After he died I found out he'd been part of the army that had liberated the Belsen concentration camp.

My wife's grandfather was sent to Stutthof concentration camp where he was shot when he stepped out of line walking back from a work detail. We have visited the camp and were allowed to bring back some soil from where all the killed bodies were burned. We buried that in the family grave.

 

[BoundedCascade]

My grandfather on my mothers side was a member of the RCAF in WW2, although he only served during the very last months of the war. My grandfather on my fathers side however was a member of the Dutch Resistence and barely escaped holland with his life. I have an entire book on his time during WWII, it is not a widely published book but it is his.

 

[Ifwecouldjust.......]

i have an Uncle (still living age 93) who was in the paratroopers never stops talking about the 'lucky things' that happened to him but never opens up about the other stuff.

 

[davymcfc]

My great grandad met a German girl while serving over there. They got married, had a child (my grandma) and came back to Manchester. They are buried next to each other in southern cemetery.

I always found it interested that my granny grew up in nazi Germany.

 

[casserole of nonsense]

My dad was in York & Lancaster Regiment in India and Burma 1942-46, before that he was part of the Iceland invasion and occupation force 1940-41. Didn’t talk about it very much, even though he stayed in the army until 1975. He was awarded the Military Cross in third Battle of the Arakan in 1944.

I’m researching his service records at the moment, there’s a lot of information if you know where to look. I have some useful tips for anyone who might want them, PM me.

 

[Ghandi's Flip Flops]

My dad was in York & Lancaster Regiment in India and Burma 1942-46, before that he was part of the Iceland invasion and occupation force 1940-41. Didn’t talk about it very much, even though he stayed in the army until 1975. He was awarded the Military Cross in third Battle of the Arakan in 1944.

I’m researching his service records at the moment, there’s a lot of information if you know where to look. I have some useful tips for anyone who might want them, PM me.

My grandad was in the 6th Battalion York & Lancs and fought through North Africa, Italy, Greece and ended up at Trieste with another regiment when the 6th Bn got disbanded.
Also had a great aunt whose fiance was with the 6th Bn York & Lancs, but he was killed in North Africa. She was suffering from TB, and after losing her brother at Anzio the year after, she pretty much lost the will to live and died just after the war finished aged only 21.

I take it that your dad was an officer or WO? What kinda research have you done on your Dad? Just his service records & medal citation, or have you looked into things like the Battalion war diaries, missing personnel files etc?