Claudia Gentile Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 (edited) My great uncle was operating one of the landing craft. He was only 16/17 at the time. Never really talked about it. He thought he'd get home after VE Day but was transported half way around the World to prepare for the possible invasion of Japan. Never got home until 1947 but at least he got back. I could barely get out my bed for school at that age Edited June 6 by Claudia Gentile 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claudia Gentile Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 I heard on the radio that the event with all the politicians and Charlie etc. Was a ticketed event and sold out soon after being put on sale. Apparently quite a few veterans were unable to get tickets and so could not attend. Sums things up for me in a nutshell. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Salt n Vinegar Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 My father took part in the Normandy landings. Apart from him saying that, he didn't talk about the war at all. My father in law never talked about the war either. The only war related thing I ever heard family members say was that he was one of the first into one of the concentration camps. No wonder he never said anything about his experiences. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post velo army Posted June 6 Popular Post Share Posted June 6 Not a D-day story, but I'd still like to share it. My Great Uncle was wounded in the war and came back with "shell shock". His hands always shook and hated loud noises. I was told on pain if death never to ask him about the war, which was needed as I was insatiably curious as a wee boy. Fast forward to 2006 and he is moving to a wee flat in Partick. My best mate and I took him out for a beer on his first night and he's his usual funny self. My mate doesn't know him and just starts asking him about the move. Uncle George says it's great and he's delighted with the new place. He couldn't help but noticing that he'd lost a particular bar of soap. Couldn't find it anywhere. Said he'd had it since the war. So we asked him why it was significant. I knew he'd been wounded in the leg from shrapnel, but not any other details. He and his friends were out on patrol in Italy when a shell came over and exploded. The shrapnel and blast killed his friends. He received shrapnel in his leg, arm and chest. He ought to have died with his friends, but for a bar of soap in his top pocket taking the shrapnel meant for his heart. 25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venti Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Great granda was a gunner for the navy in the pacific theatre. Used to show us pics of kamikaze planes. Both cool & terrifying. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Nederlander Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 (edited) We had a delivery driver back in the day that most people couldn't really be bothered with that I didn't mind at all - we spent hours chatting about all kinds of boring shite until one day he just threw in that he'd went ashore at Sword. He wasn't in the first wave and met absolutely no resistance - said the first contact with the enemy he made was on the 7th when a sniper started taking pot-shots at them crossing a field I'm sure he had more stories to tell but that was all I ever got out of him about the war. He was a fair age when I met him and he'll be long gone now - I only ever knew him as Cyril, never knew his second name, nice wee fella but boring as f'ck most of the time. Edited June 6 by Ned Nederlander 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tongue_tied_danny Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 (edited) The D in D-Day stands for day. Day-Day doesn't sound as catchy. Edited June 6 by tongue_tied_danny 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honest Saints Fan Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 My great grandfather died at the age of 33 on the 11th June 1944. He was in the 5th Battilion Black Watch, Royal Highlanders. He is buried in Ranville War Cemetery in France and also has his name on Luss War Memorial. My gran would have been 6 when he died. 14 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Nederlander Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 5 minutes ago, Honest Saints Fan said: My great grandfather died at the age of 33 on the 11th June 1944. He was in the 5th Battilion Black Watch, Royal Highlanders. He is buried in Ranville War Cemetery in France and also has his name on Luss War Memorial. My gran would have been 6 when he died. Robert Hamilton? You'll have probably seen this but just in case: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2342822/robert-hamilton/ 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honest Saints Fan Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 22 minutes ago, Ned Nederlander said: Robert Hamilton? You'll have probably seen this but just in case: https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/2342822/robert-hamilton/ Yes that's him. Thank you. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bert Raccoon Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 My Grandpa died when I was around three so never really knew him. My mum and gran often talked about his time in the war though, he was in the Commandos and they were caught and held in a POW camp for some time and he really was never the same after. Got a shit tonne of medals though so swings and roundabouts 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ned Nederlander Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 (edited) 1 hour ago, Honest Saints Fan said: Yes that's him. Thank you. No bother, went down a bit of a rabbit hole, On the 6th of June 5th btn Black Watch went ashore at 'Frey-sur-mer' at 20:30 On the morning of the 11th, when your gt grandfather was killed, they'd been tasked with capturing Breville but met heavy resistance and suffered heavy casualties before withdrawing. https://www.pegasusarchive.org/normandy/war_5BlackWatch.htm I think "Frey-sur-mer" is a D-day typo for "Graye-sur-mer" - Juno Beach. 80 years ago right now your gt grandfather was at sea and around 8 hours away from landing RIP Robert. Edited June 6 by Ned Nederlander 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Honest Saints Fan Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 (edited) 23 minutes ago, Ned Nederlander said: No bother, went down a bit of a rabbit hole, On the 6th of June 5th btn Black Watch went ashore at 'Frey-sur-mer' at 20:30 On the morning of the 11th, when your gt grandfather was killed, they'd been tasked with capturing Breville but met heavy resistance and suffered heavy casualties before withdrawing. https://www.pegasusarchive.org/normandy/war_5BlackWatch.htm I think "Frey-sur-mer" is a D-day typo for "Graye-sur-mer" - Juno Beach. 80 years ago right now your gt grandfather was at sea and around 8 hours away from landing RIP Robert. It was his first posting, too. At 33 years old he would have been quite old amongst his Battilion. My gran had very little memories of him due to how young she was when he died. I am 33 now with a 5 year old and can't begin to imagine what he went through. Edited June 6 by Honest Saints Fan 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Venti Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 2 hours ago, tongue_tied_danny said: The D in D-Day stands for day. Day-Day doesn't sound as catchy. I like to think it stands for Di-Day. As the axis where diddys. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sugar_Army Posted June 6 Author Share Posted June 6 At school we had a German language teacher. As we were snotty asssed kids we used to joke that he must have been in a concentration camp as he looked so old, gaunt and frail Fast forward about 20 year ago and his obituary was in the paper. Turns out he spoke more than German, multiple languages and, he was also translator. He was not only at Nuremberg war trials but was also on the USS Missouri when it took the Japanese surrender...the guy lived history yet never spoke about it! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MazzyStar Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 I see they invited wee Volodymyr along. Were there any Ukrainians there on the day I wonder 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmic Joe Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 Can they not do remembrance like this? Keep it all on the day in question, instead of the poppy garbage that goes on for about a month. In fact maybe do it once a decade. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Molotov Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 5 hours ago, Ned Nederlander said: I only ever knew him as Cyril, never knew his second name, nice wee fella but boring as f'ck most of the time. Respect to all who served. But not many had a song written about them. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
scottsdad Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 On a more general point about commemorations, I was a kid when the 50th anniversary stuff was going on. I remember going on holiday to Blackpool in 1990 and there were all kinds of things on there to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Britain. First time I tried a zip wire. I can't remember the D-Day stuff from 94, but do remember going to watch them light the flares on the Ochil Hills in 95 to mark the end of the war. The 50th was a really big deal and as the years have passed - and, frankly, the remaining soldiers aged and passed away - it's become far less of a thing. The whole history of the second world war is far less known by kids now than it was. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carpetmonster Posted June 6 Share Posted June 6 3 hours ago, Ned Nederlander said: No bother, went down a bit of a rabbit hole, On the 6th of June 5th btn Black Watch went ashore at 'Frey-sur-mer' at 20:30 On the morning of the 11th, when your gt grandfather was killed, they'd been tasked with capturing Breville but met heavy resistance and suffered heavy casualties before withdrawing. https://www.pegasusarchive.org/normandy/war_5BlackWatch.htm Seems like a hell of a fuss for a toastie machine. -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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