What was their military profession/occupation?
Not exactly military but my grandfather made aircraft parts for Kamikaze planes (or so he was told) in WWII.
Well, that would make for a cool story! My dad was in the US Navy in the PTO during WW2 and he was on the gun crew of twin 40mm AA. They shot at quite a few planes.
Those are the twin 40mm guns on the platform above the larger gun.
How about starting with what yours did?
My gandparents had boring jobs in ww2.
My grandma was a house wife.
My other grandma was an officeworker in the war office.
My granddad work in a steel factory{dont know what he was making}
My other granddad was a tank repairer.
pretty dispointing.
[QUOTE=aly j;139358]
My other granddad was a tank repairer.
[QUOTE]
Thats pretty cool! Are there any photos? Id love to see some Armour.
Major, you used to make quite a secret about your origin. Maybe you just gave away that your japanese? 
My father was in the Royal Engineers following a spell in a Heavy Rescue Squad.
Landed in at Port en Bessin in Normandy on June 12th 1944.
Stayed in the Army until 1947.
My mother worked in the Post Office - suffered the Blitz and did some fire watching.
Richie
I believe he’s hinted that’s he’s an American of Japanese decent in the past…
My father was an RSM in the NZ Armoured Division and later transferred to Radar on secondment to the RNZ Navy. He served from 1939-1947.
My great uncle served in Italy with the Canadians.
This may not be WWII, but in WWI, one of my great-granddads fought against Germany(the French one), and another one fought against Italy(the Hungarian one).
:mrgreen::mrgreen:
Oh shit they broke the Purple Code!!!
Maybe your dad shot down some planes my Grandfather made parts for…
Quite possible you know.
According to him, he was at the train station when a F6F (I think) started to shoot at the nearby explosives bunker(warehouse? or factory). He dived under a train car, then ran away. If he had stayed there, he would have been torn to bits by the fighter or blown up by the explosion of the explosives bunker. He could actualy see the pilots face, the goggles and everything… He also saw the pilot grinning like hell, which sends a chill down my spine evrytime I hear it.
Oh yeah, and he survived the war in one piece.
My dear old Dad ‘bless him’ started out as a ARP driver in 1940. Seeing as he was born & bred in the East End of London , you can appreciate that he witnessed first hand the devastation of the Blitz.
His recollections of this period were harrowing, funny, ‘yes, funny‘ extra-ordinary & gruesome.
In April 1941 he got his call-up papers and was enlisted as a Driver-Gunner in the 12th Anti-Aircraft Division, based in Scotland, his battery (3.7 A.A Guns)were sent to Northern Ireland.
In September 1942 the division was disbanded and my dad went into the Royal Hampshire regiment, with which he saw action in North Africa, Sicily & Italy. His frontline fighting came to an end at the commencement of the Gothic line assault. Not because of a wound, but an injury that came about whilst playing football. He had dislocated his ankle, which in turn weakened the joint so much that it would dislocate easily (It also finished his football career with Leyton Orient Football Club, the team he played For, pre-war)and was
deemed no longer fit for front line duty.
He spent the rest of the war destroying ammunitions, first by dumping it in the Adriatic. Then with the help of just himself, a German Engineers Officer and a dozen Italian civilians, by blowing it up in the mountains. He was demobbed in 1946.
Oh yes! Just for the record; His demob suit was a double breasted dark brown pinstripe, three piece. With a dark brown trilby, tie & leather shoes. ( he still had the shoes when he died on the 20th June 1983)
My Mum had a young family to look after so didn’t do any war work. Her husband was away on active service. My mum divorced in 1945 & married my dad in November 1947.
Mum went on to have 6 children with dad, 4 Boys 2 Girls, me being the youngest, my sister the oldest.
Mums still alive, though frail, and is three months away from her 92nd birthday, and I love her dearly.
[QUOTE=Major Walter Schmidt;139369][QUOTE=aly j;139358]
My other granddad was a tank repairer.
Thats pretty cool! Are there any photos? Id love to see some Armour.
Unforturnaly, grandpa did not want photographs of the tanks he was repairing.
There were body parts everywhere, It made him think how lucky he was not to be fighting in the war. I wish i had photographs so you guys would believe me.
Where was he repairing tanks?
With which army?
British Army, He was an engineer before the war started.
RS why do you have to contradict me all the time?
RS- If you dont mind me asking, What was youre dads Military Profession/Occupation during ww2?
My Grandfather was an Air Raid Warden for Altona Hamburg.He survived the war. My other Grandfather died on the Russian Front on a Horse. He was an ordinary soldier I believe. My grandfathers had several children each and some were in the war. 3 of my Uncles died and my dad had 2 cousins in the S.S. One of my Uncles was imprisonned in Russia for several years after the war. He told me of the hard cruel treatment he received on the Russian Labour camp. he’s still kicking though, which is hard to beleive.
1a. Grandmother - Home front, taking care of the refugee relative’s kids.
1b. Grandfather - Eighty-eighth Separate Work Battalion of the Fifth Shock Army of the Third Ukrainian Front. His memoirs.
2a. Grandmother - nurse in the 1st Engineer brigade. More…
2b. Grandfather - Military post office in the 1st Engineer brigade. More…