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Unraveling a very interesting story

meltdown75

meltdown75

Lifer
What's up OT.

I've been researching my grandfather's brother, who was killed in the Netherlands in April 1945 as part of the Allied forces pushing the Nazis out of occupied areas. Check out what I have found so far:

- He landed near Bernieres on D-Day (June 6, 1944) with the Regiment da la Chaudieres (Chauds), following the Canadian 8th Brigade. (2nd wave of infantry)
- He died on April 9th, 1945 - most likely in fighting near or in Zutphen. He was only 19 years old! 🙁 His rank was corporal at the time of his death.
- He is buried in Holton cemetery.
rose.gif


It amazes and saddens me that he survived through so much of the Allied campaign there, and ended up dying at such a young age. I wonder what he saw, what he experienced, how he died, who he was friends with and if anyone that was there with him survives to this day.

With what I have found out already, I could presumably visit France one day and visit some of the places that he may have seen, and perhaps make my way through Europe to see his final resting place. I think I might make it a point to do this. No one has ever visited his grave... everyone deserves at least one visit, right?

I don't know much about what he was like personally... I don't even have a photograph and neither does my grandfather... just such a compelling story, I thought I'd share.

Feel free to comment or add your own story...

- Melty :beer:
 
My grandfathers on both sides served and thankfully came back.

One great uncle on my fathers side was not so fortunate. He was the doctor on a destroyer in the Atlantic that was torpedoed by a U-boat. His body was never recovered.
 
I wish I knew more about my grandfather's time in WWII. Unfortunately he passed away before he was willing to open up about it. I know he was in the 82nd Airborne and was with the division when it was reactivated and when it was redesginated the 82nd Airborne (originally 82nd Infantry) for WWII. I also know he made all the combat jumps with the 82nd during WWII. Other than that, I only knew him as my paternal grandfather.

I would love to come up with the funds to take my father, brother and myself on this tour.
 
One of my Great Uncles served in WWII and if you listen to his stories he single handedly defeated the Germans and the Japanese. LOL

The stories are great to listen to though.

Another Great Uncle served as a Sea Bee (C.B. - Construction Batallion(sp?)) and was wounded (received Purple Heart) in battle on some Pacific Island. He was driving his armoured (sp?) bulldozer across the battle field providing cover for soliders attempting to advance. Aparently the homemade armour wasn't quite strong enough to hold up to the pounding because it eventually broke and he ended up wounded.

His stories are great to listen to as well... but at least he keeps it real. LOL

My wifes uncle served two stints in Vietnam... but he won't talk about it at all, other than to confim that he did indeed serve there. He won't talk about battles etc.

- TK
 
My grandmother's brother was an interrogator at the WW2 POW camps. He ended up befriending most of his subjects and I have a really neat collection of WW1 and WW2 german medals given to him by soldiers who didnt want them anymore.

My favorite is a campaign cross from the first half of WW1
 
My grandfather was the radio operator in a tank in WWII. Can't recall what my other grandfather did, but he used to have chunks of shrapnel work their way out of his back every so often apparantly... both made it through the war, although I only ever met the radio operator grandfather: the other passed away before I was born.

He never really sopke of the war. My grandmother did though... such incredible stories. She's french and obviously was living in occupied France. She has a thousand stories of her survival... one that comes to mind is they were stuck in this village and forced to drink this water that tasted foul. A few days later they moved on and saw a couple of bodies upstream in the source.

A lot of the french were really p!ssed at the americans during the war as a lot of the american aircraft would fly very high and use more of a carpet bombing approach which would often cause massive civilian casualties (ie would wipe out entire villages), despite probably taking out the enemy position.
 
Originally posted by: theknight571
My wifes uncle served two stints in Vietnam... but he won't talk about it at all, other than to confim that he did indeed serve there. He won't talk about battles etc.

- TK
Click to expand...

My father is the same way. I would like to get copies of both my grandfather's and my father's military ribbons and awards. Unfortunately, the WWII ones are discontinued (as far as I can tell) and my father is completely uncooperative...he repeatedly says he threw the medals away in some random rice paddy and that's where they'll stay.
 
Originally posted by: theknight571
One of my Great Uncles served in WWII and if you listen to his stories he single handedly defeated the Germans and the Japanese. LOL

The stories are great to listen to though.

Another Great Uncle served as a Sea Bee (C.B. - Construction Batallion(sp?)) and was wounded (received Purple Heart) in battle on some Pacific Island. He was driving his armoured (sp?) bulldozer across the battle field providing cover for soliders attempting to advance. Aparently the homemade armour wasn't quite strong enough to hold up to the pounding because it eventually broke and he ended up wounded.

His stories are great to listen to as well... but at least he keeps it real. LOL

My wifes uncle served two stints in Vietnam... but he won't talk about it at all, other than to confim that he did indeed serve there. He won't talk about battles etc.

- TK
Click to expand...
The most amazing thing about those armoured bulldozers is that they were equipped with no munitions or weapons whatsoever, and were often under heavy fire. One can only imagine the set of brass balls on the guys that drove those ahead to clear paths for infantry and vehicles.

Thanks for the comments guys. Interesting, and sobering stuff.
 
Originally posted by: Feldenak
I wish I knew more about my grandfather's time in WWII. Unfortunately he passed away before he was willing to open up about it. I know he was in the 82nd Airborne and was with the division when it was reactivated and when it was redesginated the 82nd Airborne (originally 82nd Infantry) for WWII. I also know he made all the combat jumps with the 82nd during WWII. Other than that, I only knew him as my paternal grandfather.

I would love to come up with the funds to take my father, brother and myself on this tour.
Click to expand...

oh wow, that tour sounds great.
band of brothers is one of the best movies/shows i have ever seen about WWII. the stuff those guys(all soldiers) went through is just incredible and they deserve all the respect in the world.

i know my one grandfather (dad's side) was in WWII but i never really got to hear any stories from him. i heard like 1 or 2 from my father but they weren't very detailed. my grandfather died about 2 years ago.

i never knew my other grandfather (mom's side) he died either before i was born or when i was very young. i don't know much about him.

i don't know much about most of my family. it doesn't seem like we're close at all so i miss out on stuff like that.

 
Great Uncle - Faught in Italy, saw action at the bloody battle of Monte Cassino.

Grandfather #1 - Faught in Europe. Saw action at the battle of the Bulge. Shot 3 times.

Grandfather #2 - Ran a munitions factory with his father. They produced AA shells.


Im proud of my family members for their service



**edit**

I have much of grandfather #1's possessions.

These include:

1 German k98 sniper rifle
1 Luger pistol
1 M1 garand
SS shoulder patches
Large Nazi Flag
All of his medals (he won the silver star, bronze star, and three purple hearts)
 
Originally posted by: loic2003
My grandfather was the radio operator in a tank in WWII. Can't recall what my other grandfather did, but he used to have chunks of shrapnel work their way out of his back every so often apparantly... both made it through the war, although I only ever met the radio operator grandfather: the other passed away before I was born.

He never really sopke of the war. My grandmother did though... such incredible stories. She's french and obviously was living in occupied France. She has a thousand stories of her survival... one that comes to mind is they were stuck in this village and forced to drink this water that tasted foul. A few days later they moved on and saw a couple of bodies upstream in the source.

A lot of the french were really p!ssed at the americans during the war as a lot of the american aircraft would fly very high and use more of a carpet bombing approach which would often cause massive civilian casualties (ie would wipe out entire villages), despite probably taking out the enemy position.
Click to expand...
A lot of the French civilians were apparently also pleasantly surprised that some of their liberators spoke the same language (French Canadians)! One can only imagine the atmosphere. From complete terror to overwhelming relief at seeing the Allied forces... one can only imagine the range of emotions that people were feeling.
 
Originally posted by: pontifex
Originally posted by: Feldenak
I wish I knew more about my grandfather's time in WWII. Unfortunately he passed away before he was willing to open up about it. I know he was in the 82nd Airborne and was with the division when it was reactivated and when it was redesginated the 82nd Airborne (originally 82nd Infantry) for WWII. I also know he made all the combat jumps with the 82nd during WWII. Other than that, I only knew him as my paternal grandfather.

I would love to come up with the funds to take my father, brother and myself on this tour.
Click to expand...

oh wow, that tour sounds great.
band of brothers is one of the best movies/shows i have ever seen about WWII. the stuff those guys went through is just incredible and they deserve all the respect in the world.

i know my one grandfather (dad's side) was in WWII but i never really got to hear any stories from him. i heard like 1 or 2 from my father but they weren't very detailed. my grandfather died about 2 years ago.

i never knew my other grandfather (mom's side) he died either before i was born or when i was very young. i don't know much about him.

i don't know much about most of my family. it doesn't seem like we're close at all so i miss out on stuff like that.
Click to expand...

Yeah, the tour sounds terrific...although, there is a sense of irritation in my family that the 82nd seems to be overlooked.
 
My father was in the army on a small secret island in the South Pacific. He was a typist on a bigwig's staff. Saw no action personally except for incidents on the ships going back and forth.

He, and every one else in his unit, later died at a young age of rare cancers.

Someone was supposedly writing a book about that island and what happened to all the men there, but I've never seen it.

I can remember that he wore his army boots around the farm, said they were the best made boots he ever had.

I don't think I want to visit that island, if I ever figure out which one it was.
 
I know both my Grandfathers were WWII veterans, but they both died before I was 6 so I don't really know much about what they did. I'm pretty sure one was in the Navy and the other was Army.

My dad was in Vietnam, but he will not say anything about what he did there. I assume he was on the ground, but my mom and I really don't know much.
 
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