I am looking for some pictures of my grandfather- he was in the Army, WWII and served in Italy. His name was Paul McCalla. If you have any photos or know where I could find some of him during his service, please let me know.
You might find it easier to locate pictures if you knew his unit, ideally platoon in company in battalion in brigade / regiment in division.
If you know his division, start with Google and Google images and work down to his platoon.
The odds are that there aren’t any photos of your grandfather on the net, but that people who served in his platoon and upwards may have photos of him. You might be able to track them down through a unit association, probably at battalion or higher level which you might also locate through Google. Again, you need precise unit details to do those searches.
It’s also possible that there is a battalion or higher unit history in book form. If so, search the catalogues of the secondhand online booksellers such as Abe http://www.abebooks.com/ These unit books usually have nominal rolls and often unit pictures in them from platoon / company level upwards.
I too am looking for some pictures of my grandfather- he was in the Army somewhere in Altona, Hamburg. I think he died. I don’t know his name but pops always called him Rolf. If you have any photos or know where I could find some of him during his service, please let me know.
This is a very old photo of the famous Altona fish market. IIRC Rolf is standing exactly behind the street-lamp in the lower left corner of the pic.
I doubt that’s Rolf. He was a camera hog and would never obscure himself from a lens.
I think it’s his brother Wolf, the deserter, who was always slinking around on the edges or background of photos.
Are you sure he wasn’t in this Altona? http://maps.google.com.au/maps?q=altona%20%20victoria&hl=en&cr=countryAU&rlz=1W1GPEA_en&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wl
Mmmmh, dunno. I think I remember herman mentioning his folks came from Northern Germany originally. But by looking at the link…I got to check out if the Germans also used Australia as a penal colony in the late 18th century.
YOU GUYS KILL ME! LOL…I thought you wouldn’t get it, but you did!..thx for making my day!:mrgreen:
Well, that’s long before German unification so it wouldn’t be a German colony, as the best Germany ever managed down this way was New Guinea about a century later, and it wasn’t a great acquisition.
Anyway, we grabbed New Guinea at the beginning of WWI in our first casualty action of the war. http://www.nla.gov.au/openpublish/index.php/ras/article/viewFile/417/449
It would have been a complete victory, except for one obstinate Teutonic officer who refused to surrender and carried on a rather pointless but commendable and very inspiring non-violent war with his tiny force for the next four years. http://militaryhistory.suite101.com/article.cfm/hauptman_detzner_wwi_holdout
None of this rules out German Altona in earlier times emulating Britain and grabbing a nice slice of Australian waterfront for its crims, which fits with the fishmarket element, although nowadays you wouldn’t eat anything caught near the oil refineries there.
Anyway, what would possess British imperial colonialists to name a beachside area after a German town? I think there might be a concealed German history here, which could link Herman with my Altona as much as yours. Maybe Herman can lay claim to the Shell refinery and become impossibly rich?
Yes, bearcats info was a bit on the vague side, and lacked some of the necessary information needed for any reasonable search. But his true blunder was in assuming that he was at a site that wouldn’t take his request (forlorn hope or not) and turn it into a running gag! It’s one thing to perhaps have a chuckle over it amongst yourselves, but too take his sincere, albeit naive, request to try and find photos of his Grandfather and turn it into some running joke for the amusement of the Staff, who by definition should know better, is at the very least in poor taste. Rising Sun at least for a moment remembered his position and gave intelligent advice, before reverting to the juvenile antics of the others. FTW, I had a lot of respect for you, for your knowledge and willingness too share it on the photo site, and while this may seem to you, and to the others, much ado about nothing, I disagree. I don’t make a habit of doing this, but as I read each post, I pictured myself as that poster, reading each successive post, realizing that not only was he not going to find any info on his Grandfather here, but that his attempt in reaching out was met with mockery and derision. Shame on all of you, and shame to whoever saw fit to put you in positions of trust and responsibility!
Hi,
Im sorry I was too vague for you-this was my first post on this site. I unfortunately do not know my grandfather’s “unit, ideally platoon in company in battalion in brigade / regiment in division.” My grandfather is deceased, and I have sent a form to the national archives asking for his war records. I hope to get some info back from them so that I can research better.
If anyone knows of websites that are helpful in research for WWII army veterans, let me know.
Well, I don’t know if “FTW” means me but I tend to assume it. Anyway, this little fooling-around here seems to bother you more than the original poster. Should be a food for thought…
My mistake FTG, and as the W isn’t that close too the G, I can’t use miss-typing as an excuse. Yes, your fooling around bothered me. And as far as what the original poster thought about his post being used as a source of amusement by those he asked for help from, I wouldn’t presume to know one way or another. I must admit that I did presume that you would respond in the manner that you did, flip, and dismissive. Thats O.K., I still respect your vast reservoir of knowledge, and your willingness to impart it to others as far as the identity of photos is concerned. But your reponse leaves little doubt that it would be a waste of time for me, or anyone for that matter, to attempt any meaningful dialogue with you. “Food for Thought” swings both ways, FTG
Yes. It would be more helpful if you knew the years and platoon. I’m assuming he was with the American army, since you wrote Ohio in your profile. I apologize for the laughter of some of the people!
Glad to have met your expactations, HOS.