Poll of the Day > Did your family participate in combat during WWII?

(+) Yeah! (+)

With CoD: WWII just around the corner, I was thinking about all the hardships my family endured in the first half of the 20th century, and the respect I feel for their strength in being able to tough it out and get on with things. I'd hate to be stuck in a muddy foxhole getting shot at for weeks at a time...
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yes and my family being german, i'm sure I had family on both sides of the war. my direct ancestors came to this country not long before WW1

also have russian in my family, (but if I recall they where also of german descent but migrated to russia at some point)

its sad to think that my family potentially had to fight each other on the battelfield. not likely they ran into each other, but not impossible either.
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Yes. One side was a Queen's Guard (they were stationed at Buckingham and got to wear the cool hat) and the other side was French resistance.
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100% German. They were in the US at the time.

Nope. I thought it would be at least kind of funny if my ancestors were Nazis. Thankfully. PTSD wasn't a recognized thing back then and veterans tended to just go nuts.

Yeah, one of my grandfathers fought in the Pacific Theater. He was a bit surprised when I told him I was going to move to Japan.
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The vast majority of my family that was involved in combat fought for Britain. My grandma was a nurse and had to patch up wounded soldiers. Her brother was an AA gunner in the Royal Navy (scary) and survived being sunk twice (also scary). Her brother-in-law was captured while fighting the Japanese in Burma (which is the worst, if you know your history) and came home covered in scars from being tortured... My German grandpa was an engineer who ended up working for the military but didn't fight.

I have tons of more distant relatives too, but that's probably good enough...
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Sarcasthma posted...

Yeah, one of my grandfathers fought in the Pacific Theater. He was a bit surprised when I told him I was going to move to Japan.

glad my grandfather wasn't too much like that. his father got all pissy with him for wanting to date a asian stating he didn't go over there and kill a bunch of them for him to date one. and my grandfather fought in vietnam and korea. but he didn't hate those people either.
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The vast majority of my family that was involved in combat fought for Britain. My grandma was a nurse and had to patch up wounded soldiers. Her brother was an AA gunner in the Royal Navy (scary) and survived being sunk twice (also scary). Her brother-in-law was captured while fighting the Japanese in Burma (which is the worst, if you know your history) and came home covered in scars from being tortured... My German grandpa was an engineer who ended up working for the military but didn't fight.
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Obligatory my grandfather died in a concentration camp joke because he fell out of a watch tower.
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TheCyborgNinja posted...

The vast majority of my family that was involved in combat fought for Britain. My grandma was a nurse and had to patch up wounded soldiers. Her brother was an AA gunner in the Royal Navy (scary) and survived being sunk twice (also scary). Her brother-in-law was captured while fighting the Japanese in Burma (which is the worst, if you know your history) and came home covered in scars from being tortured... My German grandpa was an engineer who ended up working for the military but didn't fight.

I wish I knew the actual stories of my relatives during that war, I only know the vietnam and korean war stories. had a grand uncle shot in the ass cause he was the one carrying the radio. said it still hurts to sit sometimes. and another had to carve part of his own leg out because either napalm or agent orange got on to it. forget which got told the story a long time ago. grandfather himself had scars from being hit with a rifle butt. and got stabbed in the back by a little kid while off duty. he was only a mechanic. managed to get a bronze star though. (for different reasons than what I mentioned)
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My dad's side of the family fought in the Pacific. My mother's side of the family was constantly on the run during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines.
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My grandfather fought for Hungary, for the Axis. Sadly, he went MIA while defending his homeland from the invading Soviets. To this day, we have no idea where he's resting.
Wherever he is, may he rest in peace.

My grandpa fought in the Burma campaign, don't know much more than that since he died long before I was born.

For the Allies. My maternal grandfather fought for Britain.
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I actually don't know. Probably
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Other. My parents and grandparents were just civilians in either China or Burma at the time.

mooreandrew58 posted...

his father got all pissy with him for wanting to date a asian

My former co-worker said the same of his mother. His grandfather wasn't too pleased with her dating a Japanese.
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My step-grandfather was a pilot in WWII

He speaks French, German, and Japanese from his time overseas. Only met him last year but hes a pretty chill dude with some cool stories
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My father was a US artillery sgt. He was all over N Africa and Europe. I still have a bunch of memorabilia that he brought back. Foreign currency, a giant flare gun, binoculars, and a nazi helmet. He was in Korea too.

My mothers father fought for the allies too but I don't know the details.
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My great-grandfather was a German conscript who was killed by shrapnel. My grandfather on the other side of my family fought for the Canadian military.
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My grandfather (mom's side) fought in WWII for the allies. He was a gunner, I believe.
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No idea. All my grandparents died while my parents were kids and I have no contact with either sides of those families.
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Yup. Maternal grandfather was in US Coast Guard and paternal grandfather was in US Military.

from what I've heard my Granddad on my dad's side was in the canadian airforce as 'runway cleanup crew', which included keeping debris off the runway including crashed aircraft and dead pilots. (I don't think this was ever overseas, it was a local job.)

no one knows who my granddad on my mom's side is so no way of knowing

my great granddad on my mom's side had WW1 gear
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no, both my grandpas had jobs on bases here in america. they never were sent over seas. I don't know how they managed that but....

I had a cousin get killed at Midway.

Other than that, my direct grandparents were too young for WWII. I did have a granddad drafted into Korea and another that was in the Air Force right after WWII.

probably both. i have ancestors from multiple european countries, including germany.
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I'm honestly not sure. I'm of mostly Ukranian and Bohemian ancestry for the most part, with the last quarter a mix of French/Irish/English.

I do know, sadly, that one of my grandmothers praised the Nazis unfortunately. There's no excuse for that, even with her stories. She claimed her Jewish neighbors ate while Jewish stores charged 10x the amount of money to non-Jewish people as everyone else starved. It really is disgusting to know she said anything positive about the Nazis. While visiting the Ukranian museum in Chicago a few years ago another visitor (NOT the staff) went on a strange rant about how the real reason for WWII was the Germans didn't have enough women, and he openly wondered who the 'real' bad guys were.

My point? It doesn't excuse the anti-Ukranian propaganda by pro-Russia separatists, but as someone of half Ukranian descent there most definitely IS in fact some truth to it. Obviously they seem blissfully unaware that Hitler planned to exterminate/enslave the Slavs.

My father's ancestors, who came from Bohemia, came to the USA much earlier. I'm not sure how they fit into the war. Sadly I'm not even sure when my mother's parents came, who lived in both Ukraine and the USA. From what I gather my grandmother lived in a rural area though, in territory that often shifted ownership between Poland and Ukraine.

It never occurred to me I should wonder about this, sadly. I'm not sure why.

feco91 posted...

My grandfather fought for Hungary, for the Axis. Sadly, he went MIA while defending his homeland from the invading Soviets. To this day, we have no idea where he's resting.
Wherever he is, may he rest in peace.

The Russians were brutal... My buddys grandpa was held for 8 years after the war and basically had to live off dirty water and potato peels... The irony being that he didnt even want to fight but the Gestapo told him theyd shoot his family if he didnt.

Voxwik, I have a bit of sordidness in my family too. Some of my Scottish family in Britain felt they shouldve allied with Germany against the French and Soviets, partly for anti-Semitic reasons (it is ironic that I have black cousins in that line)... I also have distant relatives (were connected at my great-great-grandfather) who magically appeared in South America in 1945... We only know this because of two births that were recorded that year. Its probably more common than people realize, its just many are too ashamed to admit it and hid it rather than calling it out for what it is.
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My greatgrandfather was a sniper in WW2. My mom has a bunch of his medals. No idea if anyone else did. I don't have any living male relatives that were old enough to fight during ww2.
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No option for "don't know".

TheCyborgNinja posted...

feco91 posted...

My grandfather fought for Hungary, for the Axis. Sadly, he went MIA while defending his homeland from the invading Soviets. To this day, we have no idea where he's resting.
Wherever he is, may he rest in peace.

The Russians were brutal... My buddys grandpa was held for 8 years after the war and basically had to live off dirty water and potato peels... The irony being that he didnt even want to fight but the Gestapo told him theyd shoot his family if he didnt.

Yeah, a lot of our people were carried off to Siberian gulags and many of them were never seen again...

Not sure. My grandparents were too young during WWI and too old during WWII. I think one of my grandmothers might have been a Rosie the Riveter, but I'm not positive. I would imagine my grandfathers' companies they worked for made things for the war effort, but then pretty much everyone who was employed (in the US, at least) would qualify for that option. My parents and their siblings were too young to serve in WWII. A couple of my uncles did serve in the Korean War, though.
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Yea, my great uncle fought for the (dutch) waffen-SS against the commie onslaught.
Died on the eastern-front.

My grandfather was in the RCAF during World War 2. He never saw combat, though. In fact, if you asked him about his air force days, he'd tell you he mostly remembers playing poker and chess and doing practice flights. He was in for 2 years before the war ended.
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