My Grandfather

When we were assigned to talk to one of our relatives about their part in WWII I knew for certain I would interview/talk to my grandfather on my moms side. My grandfather fought in the US army during the middle of WWII. He fought in a couple major battles such as "The Battle of the Bulge", a 1 month battle which was the bloodiest of the Battles that the U.S. forces experienced in World War II; 19,000 Americans died, more than any one battle alone. Luckily My Grandfather was later stationed/defended a outpost on the border of France. My Grandfather, which is now 83 or so doesn't have the memory he once had and has early stages of Alzheimers but he still speaks with great pride and confidence in what he fought for. Although, when he enlisted in mid 1944 he said it was purely to impress his Dad, friends, and to "do something with my life". He had just turned 18 when he enlisted and wasn't fully educated about what was going on in Europe. Talking with my Grandfather about the war, it seemed to me like he needed to tell his story while he still could and he enjoyed that I cared about what he did in the war. Every year, my Grandfather visits with his companions from his platoon in the battles he fought. My Grandfather was simply a low ranked soldier and fought in the front lines of all the major battles he was in. It is actually astonishing that my Grandfather survived all of these battles and is considered one of the lucky. I asked him a fairly touchy question about how he felt about killing another man. He simply replied "it was my duty" and he said after the war, the extent of the holocaust gave me even more reason to do what I did. Lastly, my Grandfather has physical wounds from the war such as a missing finger and lung problems from being gassed, but he never was struggling from the mental side of the war, such as PTSD or any therapy. My Grandfather is a great man and I am very proud of what he did in the war.

Another View

My paternal grandmother Ray, was born and raised in Hythe, England and had a different childhood than most living now because of her experience of living through World War II. As a young adolescent at the age of 11, she was comfortably living in Hythe with her mother and her 2 uncles, her father had passed away years before. Around the time when she was 12 in 1940, England became a place of fear. Hythe was a city in Kent that was South East and bordered London, the capital city. In 1940, one of her uncles had decided to join the RAF (Royal Air Force) in order for him to have a chance to fight the Nazi's. As life began to get tough during World War II the home front was directly affected, rationing began to set into place as well as her mom's "steady" job of being an accountant was beginning to stray off of the normal pattern. As her mom looked for another job, Ray remembers constant drills and air raids throughout the city. One time, Ray's mother wasn't home and neither were her two uncles, so in order to stay safe she actually hid in a kitchen cabinet. When the Nazi's bombed Buckingham Palace, was when England started to change. The King and Queen remained in Buckingham Palace to show their citizens that England would be okay, as they sent their two daughters Elizabeth and Margaret to Windsor Castle. Windsor Castle was far out in the countryside, and the movement began where all children from the city had been forced by their parents to board trains all full of children. These trains were all leading to the countryside in order for the children of the cities to stay out in the countryside with relatives until times got better. As my grandma Ray recalls these events, she stressed one thing throughout her story and that was that she always knew England would be okay, everyone did. No one ever doubted that their leader and Prime Minister Winston Churchill wouldn't be able to lead them to safety. 

WW2

My grandfather who is now dead, but lived to his 80's, was a pilot in world war 2.  When he was alive he used to tell me all these crazy stories about his flights, so this blog is purely based off my memory, which if I do say so myself is quite stellar.  Back to the story.  My grandfather Pierce had just finished college at yale university two years prior.  For these two years my grandfather sold sugar for a living, and he hated it.  After two years he had had enough of sugar and wanted to do something else for a living.  His brother was going through med school which sounded interesting to him but he really wasn't sure what he wanted to do.  Ultimately he wanted some time to think things over, and he liked the idea of flying planes, so he joined the air force.  He didn't join the air force because propaganda convinced him, or because he wanted to show his pride for his country.  He simply didn't know what he wanted to do, so in order to buy himself time he joined the Air Force.

I personally do not have any relatives that were greatly affected or part of WWII. But a friend of mine's grandfather was part of the US army but was never deployed. So he instead stayed in America and did logistics.

WWII Grandparent

My grandfather did not fight in World War II, but he was a part of what was going on in terms of serving at the time. He was a part of the JAG (the Judge Advocate General Core), where he handled the prosecution and defense, based originally out of Camp Roberts and was later transfered to Fort Ord, as the Chief Defense attorney, and he never lost a case in his service there. Though he was not a part of the fighting or anything like that, he enlisted in an effort to do all that he could for his country, and he did so in an area that he loved, law.

My Great Uncle's Story

When I asked my parents if they knew anyone who fought in WWII my mom told me a short story about my great uncle Mel. My Uncle Mel at the time was living in the United States, and he was engaged to my aunt Claire. My great uncle was called to go to war at the age of 26, but when it was time for him to go to war he became sick with Flabystis. Flabystis is a disease that causes the vain to swell up, and so he was hospitalized immediately in Louisiana. Due to his condition my uncle was not able to fight in the war.

Drafted

This information came from my mother... this is as much as she could tell me about one of our relatives that fought in WWII. 

My great grandfather, on my mother's side of the family, was drafted into the army during WWII. The regime in Romania forced men to join the army and fight on Germany's side. Then, after a period of time, Romania finally joined the Allies when King Micheal came to power and Ion Antonesu's dictatorship was brought to an end. Interestingly, my great grandpa fought on both sides during the war. I don't know any other specifics, but my mother told me that she heard that when her grandfather came home from the war, he was extremely skinny and was not the same person anymore.