Anyone have family or relatives who served in WW2?

Ghandi's Flip Flops

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Seems to me that the majority of veterans came back from WW2 and never spoke of their experiences.

So just wondered if people had any family/ relatives who served in WW2, and if you did how much actual detail do you know about it?

Do you know things like their Service No.s, units they served with, and which 'Theatre of War' (i.e. France, North Africa, Asia) they served? or is it a case of 'i think they were just in the Army/Navy' etc?
 
I know my granddad went to Burma, because he had a medal and hated Japanese people. I don't know where else he went.
 
My dad was a Bevin Boy at Mossley Common pit so nothing too exciting there. But I do know that some of my relatives had more exciting wars.

My mum's cousin went into the RAF, tried out for flight crew and was violently air-sick so got a ground job. He told the story of getting posted but he didn't know where. Their unit was taken up to Clydeside and they were ordered to parade round Greenock. Then they got back, were told to change uniforms and parade round again. Eventually they boarded a ship, still with no idea where he was going. He asked a guy next to him, who had an American uniform on if he knew where they were headed and the guy replied "Don't know about you bud but we're going home". He ended up doing his war service as ground crew in Bermuda!

A relative of my ex-wife was German and escaped when his family were arrested (they were Jews obviously). He went into SOE and because he spoke fluent German, was played back into the Luftwaffe under a false identity.

I also knew someone who was a relative of my next door neighbour who served in WW2 and had a fascinating evening hearing about his experiences. He was in the Guards Armoured Regiment as was one of the lead tanks in the Arnhem ground operation. After that, he was sent to Yalta, where he formed part of the guard force round the venue where the Yalta Conference took place. Each morning for a week, they got to check the car Stalin was travelling in and speak to the great man himself.
 
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My Granddad was a cook and he served in Burma, I have an old Xmas card with him on a rickshaw he too hated the Japanese until the day he died. He had shrapnel but lived until he was 74.
 
Is that because he was too young or a Reserved Occupation or a bit of both?
It was just the luck of the draw. When you were given your call-up number, every number that ended in a particular digit (so 1 in 10) was sent down the mines. One of his colleagues at Mossley Common was Nat Lofthouse and Cyril Mintz ("I used to be 6'2" with curly hair") was in a neighbouring pit.
 
My mum was in the Auxiliary Transport Service. In 1943, she gained her HGV licence, aged 19, and served as a lorry driver transporting munitions and other military equipment around the country. But women are useless at "male" jobs, aren't they? And she was a real looker in her uniform, if the family photos are anything to go by. Proud of her.
 
My dad was at sea when war broke out, so became part of the Merchant Navy. They sailed in convoys, bringing vital goods into the UK.

The Merchant Navy had the highest casualty rate of all the main forces, owing to heavy U-boat activity. Some convoys were decimated but some apparently went years without seeing a U-boat. I remember him saying they were only subject to torpedo attack on one occasion, when they managed to take avoiding action.

He did smash someone's head during the war but that's another story...

P.S. One of his brothers was lost at sea, when their ship was sunk.
 
It was just the luck of the draw. When you were given your call-up number, every number that ended in a particular digit (so 1 in 10) was sent down the mines. One of his colleagues at Mossley Common was Nat Lofthouse and Cyril Mintz ("I used to be 6'2" with curly hair") was in a neighbouring pit.
I didn't know thats how people got selected to work in the pits. Always assumed the existing pit workers didn't get called up due to it being a 'Reserved Occupation', and the younger ones that were below the preferred age limit for conscription got directed that way, till they were older.
 

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