SO WHAT DID YOUR PARENTS DO IN THE BIG WAR

My mother did firewatching on the top of the Super cinema in Oxford and
looking after Italian and German POWs who worked our land.

My father was in the Royal Navy and served on the ship with the dubious
honour of being the first combatant ship to be sunk in WWII although he
went on to serve on various ships after that including the unfortunate
HMS Trinidad.

My dad was an aircraft mechanic in the Navy. He spent most of his time in
the South Pacific wrenching Catalinas (Solomon Islands).

My mom was a teen in northern Italy. When the allied bombers flew over, she
could tell if she needed to find shelter or just watch. Listening to the
sound they made, heavy bomb filled planes groaned, empty ones zoomed at a
higher pitch.

Proud Son


"SHIVER ME TIMBERS" wrote in message
...
Well after watching the Ken Burns series THE WAR ad naseum ad naseum,
I thought I'd come into the group today with one of my curious questions.

What did your parents, family, etc. do in the big WWII.

Mine worked at the Canada Car foundry in what was then called
Fort William, Ontario.

They were inspectors helping to make Hawker Hurricanes and later other
types of figthers including the Curtis Helldiver.

How about your folks.....

The one on the left holding the beer stein at about waist level looks
familiar. Do you happen to know if he knew a Charles (Charlie) Potter from
Kentucky?

Lonnie

"Dustoff" wrote in message
...
Ok here is the one with US service personel, i just scanned it and
enlarged it a bit so you can see the faces better

I just showed the picture to my Uncle and you can now say that you have a
name to one of the faces. Pvt. Charles E. Potter, from Elizabethtown, KY.

Lonnie

"Dustoff" wrote in message
...
There were no names on the back of the photo. I have no idea who they were
but it would be very interesting if I could find out. He has passed away
and i don't know anyone who would know any of them. Sorry.


"Lonnie J. Potter" wrote in message
.. .
The one on the left holding the beer stein at about waist level looks
familiar. Do you happen to know if he knew a Charles (Charlie) Potter
from Kentucky?

Lonnie

"Dustoff" wrote in message
...
Ok here is the one with US service personel, i just scanned it and
enlarged it a bit so you can see the faces better

Shiver...
I have been away from the group for quite a little while and while catching
up on things I stumbled upon your interesting question...

My late uncle was an AA gunner on the escort carrier HMS Fencer. Very
briefly on board a destroyer and in fact saw HMS Hood shortly before her
tragic encounter with the Bismarck. The tale is had two or three kills
believed to be his

My parents are in fact survivors of the Battle of Britain. A row of houses
only a few streets down from my Dad's house where flattened, in one of the
few raids to hit the Leeds area of Yorkshire. Later in 1944 and 1945 he was
with the British 2nd Army in Germany. I know he was infantry at first but
ended his service in the Royal Army Pay Corp in the early 1950s.

My mother has memories of seeing a hill she was playing on only a few
minutes before erupt from machine gun fire during a low level dog fight.
She also has a story of a V1 passing over her house.

One of my God parents, is one of only 5 survivors of school that was
mistakenly bombed somewhere outside London.

There is also some talk in my family of a cousin who was in the RAF Bomber
Command. Apparently he participated in the 1000 bomber raids of Dresden,
Hamburg and the other cities that where subsequently "melted"

In a funny irony several years ago I was dating and incredibly beautiful
young girl who was from Dresden, and who's Grand dad was an AA gunner for
the German Army in the Dresden area. So two of our relatives where in all
likely hood hell bent on killing each other 60 plus years ago.

Again and interesting but also a very good question.

Andrew





"SHIVER ME TIMBERS" wrote in message
...
Well after watching the Ken Burns series THE WAR ad naseum ad naseum,
I thought I'd come into the group today with one of my curious questions.

What did your parents, family, etc. do in the big WWII.

Mine worked at the Canada Car foundry in what was then called
Fort William, Ontario.

They were inspectors helping to make Hawker Hurricanes and later other
types of figthers including the Curtis Helldiver.

How about your folks.....

Dov wrote:
SHIVER ME TIMBERS wrote:

Well after watching the Ken Burns series THE WAR ad naseum ad naseum,
What did your parents, family, etc. do in the big WWII.


My dad was a teenager growing up in central France. On becoming 18 he went into
hiding to avoid the STO slave labor. He and his buddy Jean went south to join
the guerillas in the gorges-du-Lot maquis, whereas all the other youths of the
village went north, to Mont Mouchet.
Turned out that in the south the nazis didn't go after them, whereas at Mont
Mouchet they were basically exterminated. Not one from the village came back.


My Mom was still in school. Her elder brother evaded to Algeria to join the Free
French Naval Forces. Served in the commandos on PT-type boats, landing at night
to blow up radar stations and artillery on the Med coast. At the time of the
Provence landing, his boat was sunk by a nazi plane, and he was the sole
survivor. Was picked up by the FNFL after 3 days drifting in a dinghy. He never
speaks about it, but he is deeply religious ever since this day.


About weird events and blind luck: Grandpa had learnt to swim in his military
service, and during ww2 he rescued a kid who was drowning in the local river.
Turned out he was the son of the local chief of the nazi-puppet Vichy 'milice'.
When Vichy ordered the militia to deport the Jewish families into nazi death
camps, this fascist ******* zealously rounded up every family but spared ours.


On my wife's side, uncle Frank served in the marines. Was in a ski unit and
ended the war in Austria and at Berchtesgaden. Uncle Mickey was in the army and
served in the Japan occupation after VE-day. They never talk about it either.



My two elder brothers served in the 6-days war. The older one was a paratroop
officer and got killed in the battle for Jerusalem. The younger one commanded a
tank company. He was killed in the Sinai.

I was too young for 6dw, and served in the attrition and kippur wars. Was hurt
twice but the docs did a good job. Later got injured again in Levanon during op
peace for Galil. This time too damaged to patch up, and discharged in 1983. I
can walk almost normally again now, and consider myself the lucky one.


My older kid is getting 14, and I wish so much that they wouldn't have to go
through the same things. With hamas, fatah, hizbullah, Iran and in general the
muslim fanatics, it looks worse than ever. Darn it.

Dov.

God bless you and your family Dov. Freedom commands a high price, and
you've paid far more than your fair share.

--
Heaven is where the police are British, the chefs Italian, the mechanics
German, the lovers French and it is all organized by the Swiss.

Hell is where the police are German, the chefs British, the mechanics
French, the lovers Swiss and it is all organized by Italians.

http://new.photos.yahoo.com/paul1cart/albums/

Paul Elliot wrote:
Dov wrote:
SHIVER ME TIMBERS wrote:

Well after watching the Ken Burns series THE WAR ad naseum ad naseum,
What did your parents, family, etc. do in the big WWII.


My dad was a teenager growing up in central France. On becoming 18 he
went into
hiding to avoid the STO slave labor. He and his buddy Jean went south
to join
the guerillas in the gorges-du-Lot maquis, whereas all the other
youths of the
village went north, to Mont Mouchet.
Turned out that in the south the nazis didn't go after them, whereas
at Mont
Mouchet they were basically exterminated. Not one from the village
came back.


My Mom was still in school. Her elder brother evaded to Algeria to
join the Free
French Naval Forces. Served in the commandos on PT-type boats, landing
at night
to blow up radar stations and artillery on the Med coast. At the time
of the
Provence landing, his boat was sunk by a nazi plane, and he was the sole
survivor. Was picked up by the FNFL after 3 days drifting in a dinghy.
He never
speaks about it, but he is deeply religious ever since this day.


About weird events and blind luck: Grandpa had learnt to swim in his
military
service, and during ww2 he rescued a kid who was drowning in the local
river.
Turned out he was the son of the local chief of the nazi-puppet Vichy
'milice'.
When Vichy ordered the militia to deport the Jewish families into nazi
death
camps, this fascist ******* zealously rounded up every family but
spared ours.

On my wife's side, uncle Frank served in the marines. Was in a ski
unit and
ended the war in Austria and at Berchtesgaden. Uncle Mickey was in the
army and
served in the Japan occupation after VE-day. They never talk about it
either.



My two elder brothers served in the 6-days war. The older one was a
paratroop
officer and got killed in the battle for Jerusalem. The younger one
commanded a
tank company. He was killed in the Sinai.

I was too young for 6dw, and served in the attrition and kippur wars.
Was hurt
twice but the docs did a good job. Later got injured again in Levanon
during op
peace for Galil. This time too damaged to patch up, and discharged in
1983. I
can walk almost normally again now, and consider myself the lucky one.


My older kid is getting 14, and I wish so much that they wouldn't have
to go
through the same things. With hamas, fatah, hizbullah, Iran and in
general the
muslim fanatics, it looks worse than ever. Darn it.

Dov.

God bless you and your family Dov. Freedom commands a high price, and
you've paid far more than your fair share.



Shalom! You and your family have enough mitzvah for an eternity.

Never Again!

Dave

SHIVER ME TIMBERS wrote:
Well after watching the Ken Burns series THE WAR ad naseum ad naseum,
I thought I'd come into the group today with one of my curious questions.
(Snip)

How about your folks.....


My father was already honorably discharged from the Army, and was working as a mechanic at an Army Air Corps fighter training base when Pearl Harbor was attacked. He was declared essential and worked there for the duration of the war. I had one uncle in the Sixth Armored Division, another in the Seventh Armored, one in a combat engineer outfit on Okinawa and later the occupation of Japan, one older cousin in the Army working on the Ledo road, and others that I don't know the details about. My wife's father was in L Company, 18 Infantry Regiment, First Infantry Division from North Africa all the way to Aachen, Germany where he met the million dollar wound.

I'm proud of them all.

My father, John Wagner was an airplane mechanic in the 27th Troup
Carrier Sqn in the 14th Air Force and was discharged a Sargent. He flew
as crew chief in C47s over the Hump in the CBI theater. He went to basic
training in St Petersburg, Florida, a town he later moved to.

My mother, Doris, was a student in a West Virgina town taking shop and
drafting. The only female student in the classes.

Much of the rest of the family worked for the railroads.

Steve

In article ,
says...


Well after watching the Ken Burns series THE WAR ad naseum ad naseum,
I thought I'd come into the group today with one of my curious questions.

What did your parents, family, etc. do in the big WWII.

Mine worked at the Canada Car foundry in what was then called
Fort William, Ontario.

They were inspectors helping to make Hawker Hurricanes and later other
types of figthers including the Curtis Helldiver.

How about your folks.....

My uncle (OSS also) flew those guys in and out -- He never talked about it
except for one story regarding a small snafu in Thailand.


"john smith" wrote in message
...


My father was an Army Air Corp radio operator.
He operated out of Southeast Asia.
He was part of the OSS program that sent radio operators behind
Japaneses lines.

https://www.cia.gov/library/center-f...gence/csi-publ
ications/books-and-monographs/oss/art09.htm