WWII: who did your family fight alongside?

[blacksungregg]

Originally Posted by KurtG85

My grandfather was a field medic serving under patton in the battle of the bulge. He didn't talk much about it because he was a long time medic in Korea as well and just saw way too much action but one time when he was drinking he told the story of how he and about 200 guys were camped at night and were ambushed. Enemy slit the throats or gunned down at close range every guy except for him and one other dude. Don't remember if that occured in Korea or WW2, probably korea.

Wow. Talk about blessed and cursed at the same time. I feel so badly for vets that happened to view stuff like that, that of course have a hard time getting over it. My father was lucky in the fact that he didn't see as much action, but was more involded with administrative tasks. He was still a war vet, but at least had the chance to live the rest of his life without having visions.

I was in the Navy and the purple heart winners are all in the barraks, all dead, and all medics from what I saw. Great heros!

[Arnow]

Well, during world war II, my grand mother/father/uncles were in very different places...

My grand father fought for the free french in northern Africa, but he never really spoke about that. My grand mother was just a civilian in southern France (Nice), and when the allied arrived, made portraits of soldiers.

My other grand father was a soldier in the french army but was made prisoner soon after the beginning of the war in May 1940 I think...
He was sent to Berlin, where he met my grandmother, which had been sent there because of the Service du Travail Obligatoire (Forced Work Service), which forced french people to go to Germany to contribute against their will to the german war effort. They married in Berlin in 1944...I still have at home this frightening wedding certificate with an eagle/swastika stamp on it...

And finally, the shame in the family, my grand uncle, who died last year, volunteered in the SS in the last months of the war.... I first knew about that a couple of years ago...

[Das_Ubersoldat13]

My great grandfather and his younger brother served Germany. Grandpa being a Wermacht grunt. and his brother flew.. a JU87 nonetheless. He was how ever KIA somewhere in the east. my great grandfather survived though. He fought in Paris no SS in my family how ever

[xX-SiLeNcE-Xx]

my gramps was a navigator in the Lanocaster. He never did see the war, because his training finished just after, but he did get to do some recon missions over Germany after the war.

[mattmanB182]

It sounds crazy, but I had a great uncle fighting against the Germans. I had extended family fighting FOR the Germans. My family were german immigrants who arrived just before WWI.

My grandfather was in the Corps of Engineers and fought in the pacific. He died in 1999, but brought home a Japanese flag and Arisaka that my grandma has hidden in the attic.

I own a Mauser K98k. It is dated with the code BYF 1940. I am very interested in German war history and I am proud of my German heritage. My grandma's dad was the first of the family to speak perfect english.

It just goes to show that, no matter what our differences, we are all tied together in one way or another. I am an American, and being one makes me hated in many parts of the world....but I cant let that bother me. Most Americans are simply a mixture like I am.

EDIT: My gf is Russian and her family fought against the Germans of course. Her mom was born in Germany during the Soviet occupation.

[36th Ulster Division]

MY girlfriends, Grandfather was a pilot in the RAF in the battle for France, lost a finger, not sure about what he did after although I presume he featured in the battle over Southern England.
My Great Grandfather faught at the Battle of the Somme as an 18 year old, sadly passed away when i was born in 1982..., one of the lucky ones to come home.