Anyone have family or relatives who served in WW2?

My grandad was in the navy for 20 years.
He served throughthe 2nd world war he recieved the africa star the burma star ??.
Cant remember which others.
I have a few of his diarys from the war quite interesting to read them.
Also some live bullets me misses doesn't think i should have them in the garage though
 
Further to Kompany Car's post regarding his parents being involved in the Berlin Airlift, just thought i'd add this vid/documentary on the Candy Bomber.
Well worth a watch and especially liked the 'Special Delivery' bit about 25mins in


Thanks for that will give it a watch.
 
My Grandad was a Sgt in the Lancs fusiliers, i know he landed at Sword but he never spoke about it
 
My Grandad was a para on the DDay landings. Super proud of him. Took his ashes out to Pegasus Bridge so he could rest with his mates that never got to live the 95 years he lived. True hero.
 
My grandad was in the RAF. Grandma was in the auxillary women's forces driving wagons. Grandad never spoke about the war apart from one day, his 80th, drunk a lot Glenmorange, shot down twice over Burma, wouldn't elaborate, but hated really hated the Japs. Left us aged 98 and I was really proud and honoured to carry that great man's coffin.
Really grates me that he majority of today's youth do not appreciate the sacrifice that these brave men and women gave to give us the freedom we have today.
Every single one of them who contributed to the war effort are true heroes.
 
My father joined the Royal Navy in 1942 when he was 18. He very rarely spoke about the events of the war except to say that he took part in the D Day landings. I remember asking him what he did on that eventful day and he just said that he piloted one of the landing craft taking the Canadians into "Juno" beach.

In 1994 he went to Normandy to attend the 50th anniversary of the D Day landings. I went to see him when he got back home and asked how it all went. He spoke for a few minutes and then he suddenly broke down and started crying. He recalled the tragic events of what had happened around the landing craft as it approached the beach and in particular, the many young Canadians who drowned because they were weighed down with heavy packs and machine guns. This was the first time I had seen my father cry.

After he passed away in 1997 my mother told me that he and other Navy guys had actually been armed and went onto the beach with the rest of the Canadians. Obviously this was something he had never told me. It's so typical of our proud Servicemen of the time not to say very much about their experiences.

RIP Gerard Evans.
 
My Dad was in the South Lancs and was posted to Burma. Like so many have already said he never really spoke about his experiences and what he witnessed, however he did let a couple of things slip but nothing graphic
Dad had a Bluebird tattoo on his forearm and I asked if he ever regretted having it done! He said it was the norm when you entered the forces so if you were killed and your dog tags were lost there was something to identify you by. He paused for a moment then said that him and two mates had the same tattoo's done. A week or so after Dad was sent into the jungle to look for a party that hadn't returned. They found the group all killed and this included his two mates he'd had the tats done with

I know he contracted malaria and was evacuated out on a Dakota and that the very day he was promoted to sergeant he was busted down to private (funny story and that changed his mentality I think) and he would never go anywhere hot for holidays
He was very much a traditional British food eater, y'know roast beef, mashed potatoes and I asked him once if he ever fancied a curry. His answer was "I ate curry every bloody day for five years"

As mentioned by @cyberblue regards "The Forgotten Army" I remember my Dad crying on one VE day and him saying "we're still forgotten"
 
As mentioned by @cyberblue regards "The Forgotten Army" I remember my Dad crying on one VE day and him saying "we're still forgotten"

I think there was a lot of resentment from veterans who served in the other theatres, towards those that served in NW Europe.
I can remember with my grandad that when 'D-day' was mentioned, he'd say 'which bloody one?, some of the poor sods i served with went through 4 of them' meaning operation torch (N. Africa), Sicily, Salerno & Anzio (Italy).
 

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