Family Ties to WWII

[AnewNewbie]

Someone started this thread over at the Combat Mission forums and It's become one of the most interesting slices of history I've read for quite a while.You can read it here at http://www.battlefront.com/cgi-bin/bbs/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=30;t=001091 I'd thought I'd start one up here.So what family ties do you have?Here's mine:
My paternal Grandfather lied about his age and was a cook(later engineer) in 26 Btn 2nd NZ Div.He served in Greece,Crete,North Africa,Italy(where he had his 18th Birthday)and went to Japan with the occupation forces.
Also had a couple of Great-Uncles that were in 2NZ Div,One got blown up in his tank and spent the rest of his life in a mental Instiution.

 

[Robin Reeve]

My paternal Grandfather (Monatgue Reeve) was Brigadier General in India, during the war.
He fought in Burma, was wounded by an artillery shell and went on serving in the logistics.
My maternal Grandfather was 1st Lieutenant in the Swiss army, and as an architect, participated in the construction of fortifications (of which two "false" houses, in fact bunkers) in the region of Nyon [Geneva, nearly totally surrounded by the French frontier, was to be abandoned without a fight].
His wife was half Jew.
Her father [Solomon van Oss] was in Holland, but he survived the nazi persecution, as his wife was Scottish [it prevented him to be put on the first deportation lists - I have been told that Winston Churchill, with whom they had good relations, wrote a word to the Dutch authorities to confirm that fact]. Unfortunately all her old aunts were gassed in extermination camps.
One of her brothers commited suicide when Germans entered the country ; another one participated in the camouflage of the English coasts [he was a good painter in normal life]. Unfortunately, as he was inspecting the work he supervised, his boat hit a mine (German or British? one does not quite know) and he died.
Of these people, I only have known my maternal grandmother (she passed away in 1988).

 

[Jazz]

Both of my parents were civilians on the Eastern Front (Lithuania).

Dad escaped from a KGB prison (waiting to follow his brother and Father to Siberia) when the guards ran away on the first day of the German invasion. Mom lived about 5 miles from the Polish/Lithuanian border.

They both stayed in Lithuania until late Summer of '44 when the Russian Central Front offensive chased them into Germany. Mom worked as a nurse. Dad wore a Luftwaffe uniform for a few months fixing power lines after air raids. They met in a DP camp in Germany after the war. Both were lucky not to be sent back to Stalin after the war.

 

[Pitman]

My great uncle was a cook on Okinawa. I doubt anybody could top that.

 

[Robin Reeve]

That's why you cooked us a tasty PTO article in J5!
All becomes clear! :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

My mother was an English schoolgirl.

My father was Ukranian and fought with the Germans against the Communists. (One of his brothers ended up in the Red Army.) Some how, (I never learned how), he ended up as a POW in Italy and was lucky to be sent to England after the war. He was also lucky in that he was not repatriated after the war......or it would have been Gulag for sure...or an execution.

 

[Guest]

My step-father (Robert M. Lytle) was a cooksmate on LST 283 in the US Navy. He was also a gunnary captain for one of the 40mm guns. He was in Operation Tiger, the invasion of Normandy and the invasion of Southern France. When the war in Europe ended he was transferred to a LSR (landing ship loaded with rockets) in the PTO. He was training for the invasion of Japan when the war ended.

 

[SamB]

My dad was in the Oregon National Guard - a unit that was "nationalized" before the Dec 7 attack on Pearl Harbor. His unit (148th Field Art. Battalion - equiped with old '75 ART pieces) was on a troop ship in Pearl Harbor scheduled to ship out at 10 AM on Dec 7. Someone moved the date up a week, so they were at sea when the Japanese attacked rather than tied up in the harbor.

The 148th FA Battalion was sent to Australia, but the captian of the ship wanted to take the troops to the Philipines - where the troops would have been killed or captured by the Japanese. The Colonel who commanded the Battalion had the same rank as the Captian of the ship, but the Colonel had been promoted to that rank ONE DAY before the captian... so he outranked the ship's captian and they went to Darwin as ordered. The 148th was the first US land-based troops engaged by the Japanese in WW II - Feb 16, 1941 - something the survivors are proud of.

The 148th FA Battalion was in Darwin for some of the Japanese air raids in 1942 and is officially credited with shooting down a Zero with the '75 ART piece. (try that in ASL!) They dug holes to put the gun's tail in so they could elevate the barrell and fire at the planes.... Just got incredibly lucky and hit one of them.

He was also sent to Java just before the Japanese attacked there. My dad stood on the dock and watched the last troop ship leave that was evacuating troops. He thought he was stuck there... But a plane was flown in to pick up my Dad's Colonel and the Colonel refused to leave without my dad.

Other stories... I have more... about the only time my dad ever took a drink - and got drunk. About MacArther refusing to let the mail be delivered to the troops. And MacArther also refused to let guys rotate home... At least one FtF encounter with a Japanese soldier- and another one where he turned on his flashlight just before going to bed and found a large python in his sleeping bag... About a bar fight in Australia where my dad and his friends inadvertantly started a fight and then slipped out the back door when the MP's come in the front. He also was on three troop ships that were sunk out from under him. (He told me that he had no trouble seeing "Saving Private Ryan" but had to leave the theater three times during "Titanntic" because the sinking ship brought back memories... My dad said that he eventually faked being a victim of battle fatigue to get sent back to the states. And my aunt (who had an advanced degree in Physcology) said she wasn't sure he was faking it...

BTW, he's really talked very little about his experiences. Most of the above I learned when my wife and I escorted my mom and dad and a dozen survivors from the 148th to Pearl Harbor on the 60th anniversary of the attack. (Dec 7, 2001)

If you have the opportunity, make sure you listen to your dad / grand dad and then tell them how much you owe them.

My dad and his buddies tried to thank me for helping out on the trip. I tried to explain that it was my privelege. and that I owed them all alot more... They all said they weren't heros... I understand that others gave more - others gave their lives - but they ALL sacrificed a significant chunk of thier lives to save their world, thier country, their families, and their friends.

I owe them alot. And so do you.

Sam

 

[csiemers]

9th Marines

My father was in the 9th Marines in WWII. He was on Guadalcanal (not in the initial battle, but later), Bouganville, Guam, and was wounded on Iwo Jima.
Unfortunately he doesn't talk about it much. He has talked about going AWOL in New Zealand, being caught by his Captain when he tried to get back on board ship, and the Captain letting it slide.
Also he mentioned how he would take a bath out of a canteen capfull of water when their water supplies were short.

 

[Hubbs5]

My Paternal grandfather was a mortar man with Patton's army in Normandy. He was wounded in action and I have his purple heart and service record in a shadowbox hanging on my office wall that my wife made for me.

His favorite WWII story to tell was one day a few weeks after D-day he and his crew were coming around the corner of a building and came FTF with the gun barrel of a King Tiger. Needless to say they scrambled back around the corner while they soiled their pants and waited for the BIG BOOM! When nothing happened they carefully peeked around the corner and then cautiously surveyed the back of the tank. There, to their relief, they found a large hole and a dead German crew. They promptly found the nearest pub and ordered drinks and clean underwear all around.

 

[georgekellerman]

My Paternal Grandfather was a POW in a German camp. He along with the rest of the POW's were trated horribly by their captors. Just prior to the US liberating the camp the guards began shooting the men including my grandfather. He was shot in the back twice. One of the bullets lodged near his spinal cord, causing severe nerve problems in his arms as he grew older. This lead to a sever drinking problem that eventually caused his death.

People should never forget the sacrifices made by our "boys" (and women) over there; And the effects that it caused on even my generation.

 

[Psuderman]

Wow. What can you say but wow.

Shouldn't some of these heinously jingoistic views be kept under wraps in a public forum, where people might not agree with them, and in fact might find them enormously offensive?

Especially when this is a forum for a game played internationally?

 

[Anonymous]

Tell me...why should the rest of the world follow every order given by the US? (And don''t give me that "we are much stronger than you are" crap). I thought democracy was about listening to people and respecting their saying.
NOW HEAR THIS : Nazi Germany is no more. It was destroyed by a common effort from many free countires, and where the Soviet Union carried the thoughest burden. Germany of today is a free democracy.
And I'll bet you 100 dollars that there are more neo Nazis (KKK comes to mind...) in the US than there is in Germany today.

/Risto.

 

[SamB]

Geeze, this was such a good topic.

Can we ignore this little flame and get back to topic?

I think we all understand that there is still some hate left over from the war. (from any war) Many terrible things were done, and the pain from those things is still around today.

Its ironic that the comments about not learning from history are included, as I disagree with many (most?) of his conclusions. (Iraq was armed by who???) Anyway... If we want to spout politics we can do that in other forums.

Take care.
Sam

 

[Anonymous]

Good point Sam! Let's get back to topic.

An uncle of mine was drafted into the Finnish army in 1941 (JR 13). He fought on the Finnish front from 1941 to late 1944 when he was shot and wounded in the shoulder. After the war he moved to sweden and got married. He seldom spoke about the war and sadly passed away last year.
However, after a beer or two he could tell stories from the war. Some quite amazing yet other deeply tragic.

One quite amazing story was when he stepped on a land mine that exploded (as they tend to do). When he came to his sences, he noticed that all limbs were still attached to his body. His left boot was completely gone as was much of his trousers and the left leg was compleatly blue from the knee and down to his foot. The medic didn't belive his eyes. Apart from this he was not harmed and he was back in the fighting after a few days.

Another story was when he and his combat partner (who is still alive and used to work at construction sites with my father) were "rolling up" a russian trench. My uncle was running on one side of the trench crest, firing his smg and his partner was running on the other side hurling grenades. Suddenly there was a "dump" (as he said) and my uncle realized that a mortar round had landed just in front of him. "Now I'm dead" was the only thought he had. BUT the round never exploded

One last one. This one I think reflects much of the finnish "sisu" or fighting
spirit: During the winter they were to attack a russian positions. His unit started crawling towards the russians in the evening. They crawled ever so slowly and quiet during the night. And when they reached the russian position they lay and wait in the snow for the morning to come. It was cold. Between -30 and -35 degrees celcius. But no one complained. Then suddenly on a given signal, they all jumped to their feet and into the russian trench. A very quick fire fight ensued and the position was taken.

Best Regards,
Risto

 

[Stevedeth]

Warrior spirit

This is a great topic! Good to give those guys props!

How about an expansion, it must be in the blood somehow.

My Great Grandmothers uncle was Lew Wallace who had the 2nd union division and some issues with Shiloh, but he bounced back and was the govener of New Mexico territory and wrote Ben Hur.

Dads mom was half Souix and is supposed to have some relations in the Indian wars, looking into that now.

Lee Miller, Dads side again, was killed on November 8th 1918 by a sniper, I have his flag, a bronze star and some campaign ribbons.

In W W Eye eye some of you have heard of Thomas Furgeson, an engineer joining the Corps in 1936, he was on Guadalcanal. At Tarawa was on an amtrack that went to the center of the airfield and was there for most of the battle. He then went to the First and was at Pelilue where his brother (still alive) tells this story. He was a gunner on a Ventura light bomber. "So, we land on that god forsaken rock and I was exploring around the airfield and I spot a small hill with some ripe Bannana trees on it. I went up and was helping myself to some of the fruit when three Marine Riflemen told me to stop or their gunney would have me shot." I, asked yeah, well who the hell does your gunney think he is? The second Marine said Gunney Ferguson and I reckon you don't want to mess with him. I said, You can tell my G_ddamned Brother I am taking some Bannanas and Mom is doing fine, but he better start writing more!" He later was on Okinawa, stayed and was in Korea and in Vietnam in 64-65.

Grandpa, was in the US 29th and had brothers in the German airforce and army, stayed after the war and grandma dumped him!

Last was Merlyn, he earned a MOH in Vietnam flying F105s. The story on him is that while I was in the Basic school every morning the instructors start the first class by reading a MOH citation from a Marine. One of the days he started reading his, and as far as I know is the only Air Force citation that was ever read! (I got the Capitain a signed picture).

 

[Anonymous]

My Grandfather Lyle Rosenburg was with the 634th Tank Destroyer Battalion Headquarters company which was attached to the 1st Infantry Division. His main job in the HQ company was repair of the M10 tank destroyers that the line companies used. His unit was involved in the fighting around Aachen and of course the Battle of the Bulge. I think that his unit linked up with the Russians somewhere in Czechoslovakia. I have an old set of Russian playing cards that I think he traded cigarettes for when they linked up. One interesting story he used to tell was that because of the censors he and my grandmother came up with a code before he left so he could at least let her know what country he was in. The code was in the way he signed his letters home. For example,

Love always = England
With Love = France
Your Husband = Belgium

He never dreamed he would be in Czechoslovakia so they had no code for that country so he just signed his name. Most of his buddies are dead now too so if any of you guys are friends or relatives of 634th TD veterans I would love to speak to them even if they didn't know my Grandfather. BTW the M10 I have for my avatar is in his honor.

Shawn

 

[Gunner]

Guess I need to log in to have my avatar visible!

 

[Robin Reeve]

I can add another link in my family with WWII.
My wife is French, Alsatian, to be precise : Alsace is that region (with Lorraine) which German and French wanted both to be theirs during centuries... [Note that "The Bitche Salient" is situated by scenario card... in Germany, when it is now part of France, being in Lorraine!]
Her grandfather was born German and fought WWI on the Russian front.
Her father was born after 1918, thus being French.
When Germany invaded France in '40, he became German and was drafted and sent on the Eastern Front (Alsatians in this case are called "malgré nous", "against our will" draftees - they usually were sent in Russia, to avoid desertions that would occur against western allies). He was in a 88 AT Gun crew (had to use it at least once).
When things went bad, he finished at Riga, was evacuated in Germany.
When things were nearly over, his German officer told him : "I am now turning my back from you, I don't want to see what you are doing", letting him and other Alsatians desert.
He finished in an American POW camp, from which he escaped and returned home.
A true believer, he prayed he never would have to salute the nazi way nor swear obedience to Adolf Hitler, and he avoided that.
He is deeply marked by what he lived.
He told me that, in winter Russia, when they put steaming hot tea in his military gourd, it was frozen half an hour after.
One of his brothers was drafted in the Waffen SS (not volountary!)...
Remember that some of the SS Das Reich Division that criminally destroyed the village and population of Oradour-sur-Glâne, near Limoges, were Alsatians (thus creating a problem during the afterwar trial, as Alsacians are considered as French)...
My father-in-law has never really recovered from that time, being deeply depressive and not speaking much.

 

[FuraxVZ]

My father was a tank commander under Patton. He never talks about what he did really. He flunked out of college and got drafted. I do remember visiting the memorial at Bastogne with him which was very moving. He did tell me that Patton was the best general and he highly respected him (including that silly slapping incident).

My father's father was a sailor in WWI that fought in the Dardanelles.