My Grandad in ww1

[frank horton]

occaisionally here in Crete u'll find a sign on a shops front door saying
No Germans will be served here.....
in Greek, German and English......
and after the money troubles not that long ago....here, they own the place.....
for better or worse.....I have no opinion.....
but all the German people I have met over the 71 years I've been plodding about have been very nice.....
as always it's just a few idiots that causes all the trouble.....
Awful times......my dad was born a cripple, can u still use that word.....?
he tried to join up loads'a times.....but refused of course.....
he ended up a cook for the masses.....

 

[4String.]

My maternal grandfather was a cavalry driver in WW1, very much like the lead character in Spielberg's film "Warhorse".

I never knew him as he died in 1947 when he finally succumbed to the effects of mustard gas poisoning in France during the war, and his wife passed away in early 1958 on the first anniversary of my Mum and Dad's wedding. Cyril, my paternal grandfather, was apparently a conscientious objector but still joined up in 1914 after lying about his age, and as a 16 year old he ended up in no-man's land with just a stretcher to defend himself with as part of the 1/3 West Riding Field Ambulance.

During a battlefield coach tour a few years ago me and my big bro visited the Advanced Dressing Station at Essex Farm near Ypres where Cyril was based, during what was a very emotional week for everyone on the coach. I broke down completely while trying to imagine the horrors that must have been see, and can now fully understand why Cyril always seemed to me to be a miserable old cuss. He was one of the lucky ones who somehow survived 4 years of slaughter, but for all the millions who died, Rupert Brook's poem "The Soldier" seems appropriate:

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there’s some corner of a foreign field
That is for ever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam;
A body of England’s, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven

And where it says England, it can be replaced with one of many countries because the death toll was truly global. Accurate figures are hard to come by but some sources reckon that in the region of 10 million military personnel and a similar number of civilians died in WW1...

 

[Memmeddu]

My maternal grandfather "fought" during WW2 , I think that he never used a gun .
Anyway his mission during war wasn't kill people ,he was in the navy as medic volunteer .
He was there to save lives .

On the other side my mom's grandfather (father of my grandmother) fought during WW1 and he was in special forces .
Infiltration and sabotage .
His unit got named as "Red Devils", and this surname still today but associated to our regiment Sassari Brigade .
He got decorated with various medals ,he survived the war ,and knowing that his missions were : cross the enemy lines ,go into the enemy trench ,kill enemies avoiding the use of firearms (stealth ) ,place bombs on target and back to home .
He had not an easy task .
He probably have seen lot of people die , many of them closely .

 

[Rannsachair]

My dad can just remember seeing German aircraft in the sky above Fife in the 40's many of his relatives were in the coal mines, though he he had an uncle who was a really nice guy, ended up captured in Burma and put to work on the Burma Railroad by the Japanese - he came back a changed man, not nice at all, angry and aggressive, made his wife's life hell. But never spoke of his experiences.

Another uncle a dispatch rider was wounded at Dunkirk, he still has shrapnel in him from Dunkirk. My dad had a few guys work with him that had also been Japanese prisoners of war, their stories meant I had a strict, you will never have a Japanese motorcycle as long as you live at this house. He also worked with a former British prisoner of war SS infantryman, said he was a great worker and a nice guy!
I posted this before after the strange experience of looking for a Christmas present for the father in Law and putting 23 rd Hussars into ebay and finding a set of Jock's dog tags that I bought. He only spoke briefly of his experiences before his death.
The wife's Grandfather Jock MacTavish getting the MM from Monty post D-Day:

 

[taxi ray]

This is a copy of the letter sent to inform of his injury, done in word.

 

[MBB]

This is my grandfather Benjamin Butler in 1934 he would never talk about the war. My father said when he asked him about it he always said it wasn't for discussion.

 

[Perry Owens]

The wife's great uncle Clarence Smith was killed at Bray Farm, on the Somme, in August 1918. He was 18 and had been in France for less than a month. We visited his grave last year and were so impressed at how well organised and immaculately maintained those WW1 cemeteries are.

 

[KemppiFrog]

Lots of of interesting stories and few talked about the horrors.

My paternal GF was in the RNAS as an engineer and collected a gong for something at Gallipoli, I used to have it, but lost it in a burglary.
I heard a few stories from then my via father, as GF died when I was very small. But the stories were of the light hearted side.
Father flew in the RAF from '38 in fighters. France then BoB and N. Africa. As an engineer, they then shifted him to the AM, developing the next generation of fighter. He got a DFC in the BoB after 5 confirmed. Total of 16. Quite a few stories, but, again, not the nasty ones.
He was not fond of the Germans, until he went to Germany to look into a boat moulding process for Lotus. Came back with a rather better opinion..
I used to do a lot of work for a German Shipping Co. Got on well with the people in it, who would have been children in the war. The older visiters less so, they could be very frosty. What was startling, was the kids of the owners, born in the 60's, were completely unaware of the details of the war. It was not taught in the schools.

 

[Feet 'n Inches]

My paternal grandfather was invalided out after being caught in a gas attack during WW1 - he suffered with severe bronchitis for the rest of his life. Like many, he never spoke about what happened. My maternal grandfather worked as a master carpenter at Portsmouth dockyards - never got called up to fight in either war. Sadly I didn't inherit his talent for woodworking.

Dad was in the RAMC (but had volunteered for the artillery in 1939) and served with the 8th Army in Africa and Italy during WW2. The only thing he told me was while at Monte Cassino, he and a couple of others were taking cover in a shell hole. Moments after they evacuated it, another shell dropped in that same hole - good job or I wouldn't be here to tell the tale! After he died, my sister and I came across a packet of letters he'd written to his parents, unfortunately the paper had got damp and stuck together to the point where we couldn't separate the pages. The only page that we could read was heavily redacted and focused more on the personalities he worked with as opposed to any graphic descriptions of what he experienced.

 

[minimutly]

Lots of of interesting stories and few talked about the horrors.

My paternal GF was in the RNAS as an engineer and collected a gong for something at Gallipoli, I used to have it, but lost it in a burglary.
I heard a few stories from then my via father, as GF died when I was very small. But the stories were of the light hearted side.
Father flew in the RAF from '38 in fighters. France then BoB and N. Africa. As an engineer, they then shifted him to the AM, developing the next generation of fighter. He got a DFC in the BoB after 5 confirmed. Total of 16. Quite a few stories, but, again, not the nasty ones.
He was not fond of the Germans, until he went to Germany to look into a boat moulding process for Lotus. Came back with a rather better opinion..
I used to do a lot of work for a German Shipping Co. Got on well with the people in it, who would have been children in the war. The older visiters less so, they could be very frosty. What was startling, was the kids of the owners, born in the 60's, were completely unaware of the details of the war. It was not taught in the schools.

Years ago while on a bus tour of Berlin, courtesy of Siemens, the guide on the mike referred to various WW2 remains from the war with "ven ze nazzis came" - it struck me afte a few of these that the bstrds didn't come - it was you lot...
I held my tongue, just.

 

[ronan]

My paternal grandfather was invalided out after being caught in a gas attack during WW1 - he suffered with severe bronchitis for the rest of his life. Like many, he never spoke about what happened. My maternal grandfather worked as a master carpenter at Portsmouth dockyards - never got called up to fight in either war. Sadly I didn't inherit his talent for woodworking.

Dad was in the RAMC (but had volunteered for the artillery in 1939) and served with the 8th Army in Africa and Italy during WW2. The only thing he told me was while at Monte Cassino, he and a couple of others were taking cover in a shell hole. Moments after they evacuated it, another shell dropped in that same hole - good job or I wouldn't be here to tell the tale! After he died, my sister and I came across a packet of letters he'd written to his parents, unfortunately the paper had got damp and stuck together to the point where we couldn't separate the pages. The only page that we could read was heavily redacted and focused more on the personalities he worked with as opposed to any graphic descriptions of what he experienced.

Spike Milligan the comedian and well known lunatic, was blown up at Monte Cassino. Someone ordered him to run over somewhere, as soon as he did a shell landed nearby and that was that.

 

[ronan]

Years ago while on a bus tour of Berlin, courtesy of Siemens, the guide on the mike referred to various WW2 remains from the war with "ven ze nazzis came" - it struck me afte a few of these that the bstrds didn't come - it was you lot...
I held my tongue, just.

They are coming back too, marching around and all that, even though its illegal.

 

[MBB]

Ve haff vays of making you valk.

 

[jerrytug]

My dad volunteered to join the Royal Signals in July 1944, and at age 18, after a short basic training at Blandford Forum, in particular radio comms, they were all shipped out to Rangoon (I believe) to provide forward radio and line communications between the various diverse parts of General Slim's 14th Army.
The Japanese faced one of the most diverse, multi-lingual, multi-cultural fighting forces in the history of human conflict.
The language and cultural complications were overcome, especially when our lot encountered the brutality of the enemy in regard to their treatment of the wounded and of POW's.
We had English, Scots, Welsh, Canadian, American, South African, Kiwi, Indians both Muslim and Hindus, Pathan, Sikhs, Rhodesian, East Africans, Chinese, Burmans, hordes of grinning Gurkhas with razor-sharp Kukris, and Uncle Tom Cobley and all, each one carrying a .303" Lee-Enfield. (Which exact same weapon I was privileged to spend 2yrs shooting in a 1970's cadet team).
He never spoke about it much until he knew he wasn't long for this world, but then it all spurted out.
It was apparently utter confusion, and the jungle was usually more dangerous than the Japs, the guys were all malarial, and the constant squitters ( just like the lads at Agincourt, funnily enough) plus being bitten by insects, snakes and god-knows-what parasites.
I never knew why my dad had yellow skin, and such a haunted look in his eyes, 'til he told me all this stuff.
He never kept any mementos, but I found his old discharge papers. He was a corporal.
CERTA CITO (Swift and Sure)

Edit, 'OWL' means 'Operator, Wireless and Line'.

There are two funny, but very dark, books written about this theatre of war:
1) Written from the point of view of the boots on the ground, 'Quartered Safe Out Here' by George McDonald Fraser, the author of the Flashman novels. The title is a line from Kipling's poem, 'Gunga Din'. They were basically Border Reivers, hard as nails.

2) Written from an officer's point of view, 'Beyond the Road to Mandalay' (another Kipling line funnily enough..) by the Chindit officer and great novelist, John Masters. He was in charge of a unit operating behind enemy lines in the jungle when 90% of them were slaughtered by the Japs.

Anyway I will shut up now, I hope this snippet is of some interest.

 

[Tinbasherdan]

Years ago while on a bus tour of Berlin, courtesy of Siemens, the guide on the mike referred to various WW2 remains from the war with "ven ze nazzis came" - it struck me afte a few of these that the bstrds didn't come - it was you lot...
I held my tongue, just.

I would argue very strongly that not every German was a Nazi, and not every nazi was a German. The Nazi party moved in on the back of ww1, and became truly insidious by the 30s. Do you fight to spare your family, or do you refuse and watch them become prisoners in a concentration camp, or shot for cowardice? It’s a lot more complex than all Germans being bad

 

[500e]

Gramp was in RN Subs in first WW Spent time on surface ships as well then seconded to Egyptian customs in 1930
My grandmother never saw his medals He never talked about the war either, they were buried with him at his request I remember grans brother putting them in his coffin in a box he had not opened.
He was gazetted for bravery in the face of enemy we think in the Dardenels
Have a fair few picks of ships & boats + some telegrams regarding call up for WW2 then one cancelling saying don't report you did your bit last time I think due to age Also have a Fez from his time in Egypt

 

[Anguz]

my grandad
was in the royal welsh fusilers in ww1
was awarded the military medal
could never find out what for as the citation details were destroyed in the blitz
i have got the company logs for the weeks around him winning it
was a time of heavy losses for the them

will dig it out (the paperwork and the medal) if anyone is interested

 

[4String.]

The wife's great uncle Clarence Smith was killed at Bray Farm, on the Somme, in August 1918. He was 18 and had been in France for less than a month. We visited his grave last year and were so impressed at how well organised and immaculately maintained those WW1 cemeteries are.

The phrase "Known unto God" inscribed on many thousands of headstones, aledged to be biblical in origin, was chosen as an epitaph by the poet Rudyard Kipling when he started working for the Imperial War Graves Commission in1917.

He lost his only son on the Western Front in 1915 at the battle of Loos, and it was some years after that the grave was finally identified. "In from the cold project " aims to identify the thousands who fell in the service of their country in both world wars but never gained any recognition of that service. However, given the fact that record keeping was poor especially during the Great War, and many thousands of the fallen had no known grave, it's hard to imagine it can ever be completed.

 

[jerrytug]

my grandad
was in the royal welsh fusilers in ww1
was awarded the military medal
could never find out what for as the citation details were destroyed in the blitz
i have got the company logs for the weeks around him winning it
was a time of heavy losses for the them

will dig it out (the paperwork and the medal) if anyone is interested


View attachment 250610

Yes dig it out. Have you read 'Goodbye to All That' by the English poet, Robert Graves? He was an officer in the Royal Welch Fusiliers in Flanders until he was shot. Great book.

 

[jerrytug]