Eak! Here Is Goes...

Okay. I was wringing my hands over if I should open this can of worms, but I'm a history nerd. I love different perspectives on World War Two. I'm a sucker for books, movies and series like 'Band of Brothers', 'Letters To Iwo Jima', 'The English Patient', 'Atonement', 'The King's Speech' , 'All quiet on the Western Front' (Even though that was WWI), etc...I don't want this to become a Yank versus Brit pissing contest or let's rag on the Krauts and Japs thread either. I completely understand that soldiers are soldiers, and orders are orders.

***Mods, please take this down if it crosses any lines.***

Since this forum has people from all over NA, JP and EU, I just wanted to see what accounts you can recall from your families' involvement WWII from relatives either living or deceased. I'm just enthralled with the non-American perspectives on WWII since I've gone through the US school system and know for a fact (thanks to my German side) that the American take on their involvement is over glorified.

I guess I'll start...

My American grandfather was a flight instructor and pilot for the Army Air Corps. He began flight training in College Station, Texas then was stationed in Britain to help instruct RAF pilots. Eventually, he ended up in North Africa and India. (He had really bizarre pictures and interesting stories from his time in India which he compiled into a book two years before his death.)

My German grandfather was in the Hitler Youth. He describes that experience as nothing more than Boy Scouts and is over-dramatized by the Allies. He said it actually served a good purpose, which was to get the children out of the industrialized cities that were constantly weary of the threat of being bombed.

My German great-uncle was in the infantry and spent eleven years in a Russian internment camp. He had a small indention on his forehead where a bullet almost pierced through his helmet, and he kept the bullet in his wallet until the day he died. (Yeah...Wrong side, but he was pretty bad-***.)

My German grandmother's family had to flee Eastern Germany when the Russians invaded. Lost practically everything.

You're just wanting war stories from WW2?

I have a couple passed down. Thought this was a conspiracy thing. lol

No offense but are you really going to say american teaches wrong because of what some nazi said!?!

Yeah...I know it's bad timing being April 1st and all, but this is something I've been mulling over for a week or so.

No, I didn't say that. I just think that different perspectives on this subject are interesting. You got anything from your family?

Sure. But every perspective will be biased. Everyone wants to be the winner/good guy. Or at least not as bad guy. But history is written by the winners. And that of course is america charlie sheen

Not sure. My dads side probably no. My moms side... well her dad was in the military but hard getting info since her mom hates her so much she disowned me with her :(. Step mom probably a ***ton

I recently read about the Pearl Harbor movie being released in Japan. I don't think anyone will be surprised that it didn't fare so well, it was said it was biased.

And every side is going to be biased, and that's one of the reasons I liked Band of Brothers so much, it seemed... I don't know.. honest? Given the commentaries by the soldiers and the story in general.

My grandfather never spoke much of his time in the war, but he did tell me that he drove a half-track that was part of the anti-air unit in General Patton's armored division. So basically, he was right behind Patton all the time.

He also told me that half-tracks were pieces of ***lol.

That's still pretty awesome! Do you know if he was in Europe or North Africa?



That's what I love about 'Band of Brothers' too.

He was in Europe.

Have a couple stories like i said before:

Man was stationed in Europe not sure exactly. Canadian military on bridge building squad. They'd have boats go out every 8 hrs to work on the bridge. 1 outta 4 boats wouldn't return most times due to bombing.

Another man, also in the Canadian military, was transporting goods across the Atlantic Ocean. They got torpedo'd and him and 10 or so others were stuck on a life boat. He was pronounced MIA/dead to his family. He arrived back in Canada after they had washed up on African shores and were transported back. He didn't talk about how he survived the multiply weeks on the life raft or what happened to the other 8.

My grandfather was a deep sea diver for the Navy during WWII. He would never tell me stories about it, but he had a picture from when he was stationed in Hawaii and paid 50 cents to get his photo taken with three topless hula girls. When I asked why he joined the Navy, he said it was because the Army wanted to recruit him.

My husband's great-uncle was in a concentration camp during the war. His wife and children died there.

I took 4 semesters of German for my degree in college. 3 semesters were learning (trying to learn :-( I suck at it) the language, and the 4th was reading German literature translated to English. For one of the books we read, 'Peeling the Onion,' the author had been a Nazi soldier. Another one, 'In My Brother's Shadow,' the narrator's older brother had been a Nazi. There was another book we read about the bombing of Dresden, it was called 'The Natural History of Destruction.' There was another about German refugees fleeing Soviet soldiers, they boarded a ship. It was all civilians, some young girls and pregnant women. That ship was bombed by the Russians. I'm sorry to say that I don't remember the name of that book. :-( The professor was German and had lived through the bombing of Germany as a young boy. Before we read any of them, he told us we absolutely HAD to remember that the Germans were the instigators. He made us promise to remember that. He had what he claimed was a 'national shame' over WWII, sort of like Caucasian Americans have (or should have) over things such as black slavery or the annhialation of the Native Americans. (His opinion.)

That's no good. Off topic, but didn't you say you were in the navy on another thread?

Even more off topic, but everyone using Jaerik's avi is confusing me.

all i know is that my grandfather on my dads side was in the marines and stationed in okinawa

and my grandfather on my moms side was in the navy

My ancestry is Mexican/Spanish.

The most my heritage did is fly planes in WW I, lawl. ;;

Also, Zahrah
Y U NO MALE?!?

I like the fun stories like your grandfather being stationed in Hawaii! My American grandfather had one about how the British pilots in the RAF were always jealous of the Americans in the Air Corps because they always had the smokes and the ladies!

I had to read 'The Natural History of Destruction' in my German lit class too. That was insane! I wish I still had it.

I wish I had war stories.
My grandpa that would have had one died in his 40's of cancer, and my other grandpa didn't go to work, though the cancer got him.
I honestly don't know too much about what all my step-grandpa(pretty much my real grandpa on my moms side) has went through.
it makes me want to sit down and have a chat with him about this kind of stuff, though i'm not sure i'll get a fully straight answer with everything due to his religious subtext.
i'll have to look into my history online or something some day...i always felt left out with these kind of things because my family doesn't really have the best history records because of what previously was explained.
oh well though. if i ever do find stuff out i'll be sure to talk about it though.

my dad went to one of the very first schools to become desegregated in the north if that's any consolation.
:D

That's cool! I really hope one of the Japanese FFXIAH members has a story from his/her family. That would be so fascinating!

huh?

It's a strangely beautiful, horribly beautiful book. I lent it to my husband's mother, she just absolutely treasures anything relating to the Holocaust because it was her uncle that was in the concentration (extermination) camp. I want it back when she is done with it. That's one book that I will NOT be selling back to the campus Bookstore.

Although I do feel strange for loving it so much. It's a book describing the suffering of a people who had just gotten bombed, the resulting incendiary firestorms, the death, the migration. It should not be a beautiful book, by any means. But it is.

yes

And that's the plan

Liela, I feel the same way about that book. It's such a morbid fascination, but so moving. That's one of those horrific incidents that you will never wrap your head around unless you have first-hand knowledge. The book just really envelopes you and puts you in the "what if this was me and my family" mentality.

If your mother-in-law loves it I would just let it go and buy another copy. I can't even being to imagine what her uncle must have gone through.

I don't trust anything that bleeds for a week and doesn't die.

Oh lord, I'd HATE being a female.
Except, I'd probably be an advocate for Female Equality~

What about you, Spicy? I aired my family's dirty laundry. How about you? It's almost been a century.

Ahhh...Now I understand.

Wait...If you're Spanish, did you have anyone defend or oppose Francisco Franco?

Letting her keep it is a good idea, I think I'll do that. That was sweet of you to suggest. :-) She still has family in Germany. Her uncle was Alex Deutsch, there was a documentary video made about him and such. You might be able to find it, but I don't recall the name. :-( He died recently.

Edit: Ugh, scratch that. You'll never be able to find the right Alex, there's some photographer and apparently some musical artist with the same name.

Nah, my ancestors basically said "FU Spain!", went to Mexico (two generations), and came (legally) to America.

First generation American, whoop whoop!

Most of my mom's side of the family is in the military. My grandfather was in the Navy and he participated in the Normandy invasion. He tells us stories all the time about him and his old buddies, some of which would make most people cringe.