What did your family members do in WWII?

Started by Jacob, September 02, 2020, 05:20:06 PM

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The Harlequin King

He was really Seventh-day Adventist (which will probably ring a bell now that I mention it), but Adventist missionaries found the mostly Protestant Sulawesi/Celebes much more... hospitable than the rest of the archipelago.

I look forward to visiting Sulawesi some day. I've only been to Java and Bali.

Vetus Ordo

Quote from: The Harlequin King on September 03, 2020, 04:34:32 PM
He was really Seventh-day Adventist (which will probably ring a bell now that I mention it), but Adventist missionaries found the mostly Protestant Sulawesi/Celebes much more... hospitable than the rest of the archipelago.

I look forward to visiting Sulawesi some day. I've only been to Java and Bali.

Yes, Seventh-day Adventist. I remember now.

I gather Indonesia is a beautiful archipelago. I hope you'll get the chance to visit it someday.
DISPOSE OUR DAYS IN THY PEACE, AND COMMAND US TO BE DELIVERED FROM ETERNAL DAMNATION, AND TO BE NUMBERED IN THE FLOCK OF THINE ELECT.

Heinrich

My grandfather was one of the first SeaBees: an electrician in the Naval Construction Battalions(CB) in the Pacific.
Schaff Recht mir Gott und führe meine Sache gegen ein unheiliges Volk . . .   .                          
Lex Orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi.
"Die Welt sucht nach Ehre, Ansehen, Reichtum, Vergnügen; die Heiligen aber suchen Demütigung, Verachtung, Armut, Abtötung und Buße." --Ausschnitt von der Geschichte des Lebens St. Bennos.

The Curt Jester

One grandfather was in a country not that involved in the war.  The other was set to be deployed (Okinawa I think) but received a concussion prior to the invasion.  Lucky.
The royal feast was done; the King
Sought some new sport to banish care,
And to his jester cried: "Sir Fool,
Kneel now, and make for us a prayer!"

The jester doffed his cap and bells,
And stood the mocking court before;
They could not see the bitter smile
Behind the painted grin he wore.

He bowed his head, and bent his knee
Upon the Monarch's silken stool;
His pleading voice arose: "O Lord,
Be merciful to me, a fool!"

abc123

Quote from: Heinrich on September 03, 2020, 05:13:00 PM
My grandfather was one of the first SeaBees: an electrician in the Naval Construction Battalions(CB) in the Pacific.

My maternal grandfather was also with the SeaBees. His medals have been passed down to me.

mikemac

In 1939 when the war broke out my father enlisted with the First Battalion Lanark & Renfrew Regiment.  He was 27 years old at the time and had been working for the Canadian National Railway since he was 15.  With 12 years experience on the railroad he was asked to join the engineering division, building bridges and running the railroads in Europe.  A bridge he was working on was blown up which resulted in him having a back problem the rest of his life.  At one point he was one of two dispatchers assigned to a small railway station, where on moonlit nights German troop movement could be seen in the area.

My aunt Helena's husband didn't come home from the war.  She didn't remarry and just died a couple of years ago at the age of 95. 
Like John Vennari (RIP) said "Why not just do it?  What would it hurt?"
Consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (PETITION)
https://lifepetitions.com/petition/consecrate-russia-to-the-immaculate-heart-of-mary-petition

"We would be mistaken to think that Fatima's prophetic mission is complete." Benedict XVI May 13, 2010

"Tell people that God gives graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Tell them also to pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for peace, since God has entrusted it to Her." Saint Jacinta Marto

The real nature of hope is "despair, overcome."
Source

Stu Cool

My grandma (Helen) helped fight with the guerrillas in the Philippines during World War 2.  My younger brother was able to find this on the Internet.

http://www.johnsheaodonnell.com/CulturalBridgeProductions/phwwii3.htm

QuoteLater we learned more of what had happened before the Japanese retreated for good. There were three German-American sisters: Agnes, Helen, and Mary living in Los Baños who happened to be relatives of our next door neighbors at Fort McKinnley. Their brother was in the navy. They had been able to avoid being placed in the concentration camp at the University only because they convinced the Japanese they were of German descent (remember the Germans were allied with the Japanese). When the Americans were already in Calamba, and the Japanese began rounding up everyone at Bayan, Agnes, who had blond hair, was caught trying to escape. Thirteen men raped her and then cut her to pieces...Agnes's sister, Helen was the one who led the Americans into Los Baños.

Needless to say, she didn't much care for the Japanese.  She said she knew MacArthur.  You can read about the Los Baños raid here.  Pretty cool story.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raid_on_Los_Ba%C3%B1os

QuoteThe Raid on Los Baños in the Philippines, early Friday morning on 23 February 1945, was executed by a combined U.S. Army Airborne and Filipino guerrilla task force, resulting in the liberation of 2,147 Allied civilian and military internees from an agricultural school campus turned Japanese internment camp. The 250 Japanese in the garrison were killed. It has been celebrated as one of the most successful rescue operations in modern military history.

Elizabeth.2

My Grandfather was a Lt. Colonel in the US Army, worked at the Pentagon as a commissioned officer because he was a chemist.  He did something interesting with gunpowder and logistics.

mikemac

I new an old lad that worked on the Manhattan Project.  He was a chemist for DuPont Canada.  Apparently they were assigned to certain parts of the project and weren't informed what the overall project was.
Like John Vennari (RIP) said "Why not just do it?  What would it hurt?"
Consecrate Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary (PETITION)
https://lifepetitions.com/petition/consecrate-russia-to-the-immaculate-heart-of-mary-petition

"We would be mistaken to think that Fatima's prophetic mission is complete." Benedict XVI May 13, 2010

"Tell people that God gives graces through the Immaculate Heart of Mary.  Tell them also to pray to the Immaculate Heart of Mary for peace, since God has entrusted it to Her." Saint Jacinta Marto

The real nature of hope is "despair, overcome."
Source

Michael Wilson

Both my granfathers were too old to fight in W.W.II; but my maternal grandmother volunteered for the civil defense; her job was (I kid you not) to take a pail of sand and a hand trowel and in case of the Japanese bombing Oakland, to help to put out any fires that might result from said bombing. She was also issued a C.D. Helmet.
"The World Must Conform to Our Lord and not He to it." Rev. Dennis Fahey CSSP

"My brothers, all of you, if you are condemned to see the triumph of evil, never applaud it. Never say to evil: you are good; to decadence: you are progess; to death: you are life. Sanctify yourselves in the times wherein God has placed you; bewail the evils and the disorders which God tolerates; oppose them with the energy of your works and your efforts, your life uncontaminated by error, free from being led astray, in such a way that having lived here below, united with the Spirit of the Lord, you will be admitted to be made but one with Him forever and ever: But he who is joined to the Lord is one in spirit." Cardinal Pie of Potiers

Irishcyclist

Complicated familial history : so bear with me.

Paternal side : originally from Germany, migrated to Ireland via England in 1890
Maternal side : British.

I have second cousins in Germany who served in the Heer, Wehrmacht.
Three of them served, two on the Ostfront and one on the Western front.
Of the two who served on the Ostfront only one survived the war.

What is very disconcerting is that their cousins (inlaws) served in the SS. I meet these guys once. Even with these guys in the 80's,
these lads were self confessed full paid up Nazi's with lots of innocent blood on their hands, with not one ounce of remorse. They were
Einstazruppen.

British inlaws : none of them served because they worked in reserved occupations (essential work) and were exempt for military service.

Prayerful

Grandfather on one side was a builder, so built some houses and premises, although materials became scarce. Rented out a few when he didn't sell them. Also a farmer, tillage and dairy. He died soon after, only in his fifties, cancer I think. His family were issued with a lot of gas masks, which turned out not to be a necessary precaution as Herr Hitler had a horror of poison gas warfare. The other grandfather had some railway work, to supplement his small small farm income, mostly dismantling a line, rather than building one. Ireland in both cases. I think another was in the UK merchant marine, survived.
Padre Pio: Pray, hope, and don't worry. Worry is useless. God is merciful and will hear your prayer.

orate

#27
My father was an airplane navigator in the U.S. Army.  My mother was in the U. S. Women's Army Air Corp and worked as a chaplain's assistant.  Her brother was a pilot in the U. S Army Air Corp.

My dad's two brothers were also in the army and one was a P.O.W. for over a year.

Interesting story.  My parents were married during W.W.II.  My paternal grandmother had the military flag in her window with four blue stars on it because her 3 sons and my mom were in service.  Some people gave my grandmother a hard time about that 4th star, but grandma figured that if my mom carried the family name she, my grandmother,  was entitled to claim her ( my mom) as a family member in the service.

edited to add:  My father-in-law and his brother also served in the Army during WW II.
I love Thee, Jesus, my love.  Grant me the grace to love Thee always, and do with me what Thou wilt.

"Blame yourself, then change yourself.  That's where we all need to start."   Dr. Louis IX (aka "Dr. Walty")

King Wenceslas

#28
My Uncle William was a member of the 1st Special Service Force–the forerunner of America's Green Berets. He fought and was wounded in Italy. My Grandmother saw him being wounded on a mountain in a dream the very day he was wounded on a mountain.

My other Uncle, Mannford, was on a troop ship heading across the Pacific for the invasion of Japan when the war ended.

My grandmother had two stars in her window.

My father was working for a telephone company so did not actively participate in the war.

Armor of Light

My Dad was in the Philippines and New Guinea. He was IN THE BAND of all things, and he was a clerk.
His clarinet "kept him from holding a rifle".
Mom was busy working at Ralston-Purina as a food scientist.
If thou wilt receive profit, read with humility, simplicity, and faith, and seek not at any time the fame of being learned.

Thomas à Kempis