My Grandfather flew for the RAF in WWII as a tailgunner in a Halifax bomber. From 1942 - 1945 he flew bombing raids over Germany, first at night and then during the day with the Americans. He was part of the D-Day air support group. He survived the war and passed away in his seventies.
Some of the action he saw included being only one of three bombers from a contingent of twelve to return from a night raid over Berlin. Pretty hairy stuff. Also during one winter run he had the perspex around his turret shot away from a German fighter. When they got home he was frozen stiff. Took the base hospital two weeks to thaw him out.
squizy wrote:My Dad was part of the peace corp that was based in Singapore / Changi. He was too young to serve in WW2.
Same here Sqiz - but dad put his age up a couple of years
Has his birthday as 12/1923 but it was 3/1925
He signed in 1941 and served in New Guinea as 32nd Heavy Anti Aircragt He left the army in 1949. He was occupational forces in Hiroshima(sp?)
Was first troops to march in there. Has some REAL strange pictures :jesus
Futue te ipsum!!!
Craig, any idea what squadron?
Spyder-WISD 07-09-05 11.6s @ 125 MPH
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Weaseling out of things is what separates us from the animals....................Except the Weasel.
Yeah, Hiroshima would have provided some weird photos.....
All of my rellies were in 'essential services', ie like bakers and farmers and primary produce and that sort of thing in WW1, so no one served then.
My grandma on mums side worked in munitions factories making bombs in the UK in WW2 and grandpa on that side was in the UK home guard too.
A bunch of my wifes rellies were either volunteer defence corps, a few in training brigades and a couple that served in New Guinea too.
Also, my uncle did three tours of vietnam as a driver, in general transport, then APC's and tanks.
Dad was in Korean War his Dad in WWI and my Mum's Dad a Cossack and fought in Russia 😀
Let me out, When I call my name
IGOR is ALIVE !!!! 😎
My parents will have that info, so I'll track it down. I also have a picture of the squadron taken in front of a Lancaster in England. I'll dig it out and scan a copy.
"Oberpommando is spelt with a k in German..."
Its not actually a "P" on the stamp, the letters are in old German letering, so it is a "K". the words on either side of the stamp also have "S", even though they look like a lower case "f"
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it enjoy the view
What the hell does "Fahrvergnugen" mean?
That's what I would like to know.
BAJA NOW FITTED WITH A FULL FLYING REBUILD
It's OK I found out it's German for "Driving Pleasure"
BAJA NOW FITTED WITH A FULL FLYING REBUILD
You can look up records at the national archives of australia website.
http://www.naa.gov.au/ You can search for all sorts there. They are slowly scanning everything in so you can actually read everything from service records, letters advising NOK of a killed in action etc. I've spent hours looking at random stuff there. My grandfathers record hasnt been scanned yet so I had to order it, cost $25 but is very interesting and worth more than that to me.
He was in the 33rd Australian Works Company in Port Moresby. Not the best disciplined, he went AWOL 3 times, the longest was 7 days, the shortest a few hours, and got fined what would have been a fair amount of money for his trouble.
Chris.... kombi pilot, oval dreamer... finisher #26971 2005 city to surf
found this when going through my grandmothers things. She died 2 years ago this friday. Pretty strange but on e of my prized posessions. Cant image why you would have to ration meat 3 years after the end of the war, obviously they did.
Chris.... kombi pilot, oval dreamer... finisher #26971 2005 city to surf
My dad was 16 when WW2 got under way and he lived at the Borough in London right in the centre along the Thames. He reckons after a few weeks of the bombing he and his mates used to sit on the roof of their tenement buildings watching the bombs fall! Stupid buggers, so you see crazy teenagers are nothing new. He eventually got called up and became a dispatch rider and was in the British Control Commision at the end under the Foreign Office and it was while in this job that his department had access to the first VWs after the war.
Hi
My dad joined the Navy when he was old enough just as WW2 ended, so he stayed in for 18 years after that, im a Navy brat. His brother Perc Carter was killed on the Sandakan death march.
If it wasnt for WW2 I would have been born in the UK, my dads family were going back home when the war broke out. My dads dad served in the British army in WW1 & Australian army in WW2.
My mums brother Tom Allen was killed in a overloaded bomber while taking off from a secret base in NT.
I only missed out on getting called up and going to Vietnam when Goff Whitlam got in. I was a bit of hippy at the time and took part in all the Moratorium marches in Sydney, looking back I dont think national service would have done me any harm.
Steve
Hmmm, AWOL. Yes my father also had some unauthorised leave a few times. His service record states that they withheld his pay cheques and on one occasion he was demoted.
Like father like son 😉
Spyder-WISD 07-09-05 11.6s @ 125 MPH
Speedster-WISD Nats 05 14.4s @ 89 MPH
Jet cruiser-Coogee 22-09-05 900 deg C @ 110,000 rpm
Weaseling out of things is what separates us from the animals....................Except the Weasel.
My mum told me about her father... He was a merchant sailor. Several times sailed on ships transporting troops during WW2. Was on 3 ships that were sunk!
I think he was bad luck.
oops
forgot, my Mums Uncle (he was Australian) won an Oscar during WWII, does that count as something?
'Ah, whatever................'
my father was a deserter & im proud of him
humm nobody inquisitive he was in the ukrainian army
when they became allies with germany during ww2 so
he pissed off with many others that were against fascism
[Edited on 5-5-2005 by winerot]
