Any war stories from Grandad? Lets hear them!

Everyone remembers a story thier Grandfather told them from the War. Either from the Air Force, Navy or straight from the trenches. I will start us off with this corker!

My wifes Grandfather was in the Royal Navy in a submarine. After downing a ship somewhere (she cant remember where) they picked up a few German survivors. After giving them food and cigarettes, one of the Germans grabbed a knife and tried to stab one of the sailors. After a scuffle, the Germans were locked up till the Captain made a decision.

The Capt decided to take all the Germans and put them outside the coning tower, close the hatch and dive!! Can you imagine what was said to the nutter who fancied his chances with a butter knife?

It must have been a crazy time to be in that War. Anybody else care to share old War stories? Before they are forgotten forever.

Well the only "war story" from my Grandpa that I have to offer is from Russo-Japan war. My Grandfather, Viktor Klemenis, was a Lithuanian in the service of Czar Nicholas II of the Russian Empire. My Grandfather had been a student of music, a composer, as well as a member of Lithuanian nobility from the railroad town of Mazeikiai in the region of Lithuania known as Zemaitija -- also known as Samogitia.

Though technically a soldier, he was of a rank commiserate to that of a general but he planned no battles. Instead he led armies -- at the head of the orchestra! It seems that you just couldn't have a good war in those days unless it was accompanied by a marching band. Maybe this is why the U.S. is having so much difficulty in Iraq. We just need a good band.

Nevertheless, you asked for war stories and the one I heard related to me from my Grandfather -- via through my mother -- was about my grandfather approaching some Japanese women farming. Keeping in mind that my Grandfather was unarmed, he must still have made quite an imposing figure in his Czarist Russian uniform. As he neared the Japanese women, hoping to communicate with them, perhaps to initiate some sort of trade for trinkets or souvenirs, the women ran, panicked. To my Grandfather's horror, the women threw themselves into a well, used to irrigate the crops, and they drowned themselves.

According to my mother, Grandfather returned from the war a shaken man. He devoted the remainder of his life to studying music, managing his estates and playing on weekends with a local Lithuanian jazz band. He certainly had no stomach for war.

Well, that sucks for your Grandpa, especially the part that said he was in the army, but did no actual fighting.

My Dad served in Italy during WW2. He had quite a few interesting tales.

He was in fire direction and they were calling for artillery fire on a suspected enemy machine gunner located in a large stone farmhouse. Watching thru field glasses, he noticed a large dog lying in front of the house......and as he spoke the word "fire" the dog got up and trotted into the house. The round was not particularly close to the desired target, so more calulations were needed ( slide rule and compass....not quite so fast as a computer!)

By the time they were ready to try again, the dog had returned to his spot in the yard. Again the dog rose and went into the house just as the fire command was spoken. After several more shells were fired it was determined that the Germans had abandonded the position.........the dog had taken cover each time, just before the shells were launched, before the guns had made a sound..... just as the command was given to fire.

The dog could not have possibly 'heard' the command, nor would he have understood it.....yet he some how 'knew' to take cover. Dad was a very cynical, no nonsense kind of guy, but he was convinced that dog had some sort of 'sixth' sense!

I don't normally like to follow a post with yet another post -- especially when I am not responding to a supsequent post. However, it occurred to me that, technically I am a "Grandpa" and, well, I do have a "war" story.

I was 18 years old and, like all good American 18 year olds, I had registered with the Selective Service (a.k.a. the "draft board"). Suddenly, the news stories on television held even more importance to me. Though my brother, Vince, was in Viet Nam, serving as an "adviser" in the "brownwater navy" -- then nearly all ARVN -- the war became more personal when my life seemed to be at stake.

Fortunately, I was entering University and that was a sufficient enough distraction to keep from going entirely bonkers at the prospect of being drafted. Instead, I immersed myself into the Academic life and was able to view life through a "it won't happen to me" mindset. Of course that all changed one day in 1972.

I entered the Student Union Building on the campus of Detroit's Wayne State University to grab a coffee when I could not help notice the crowds of students surrounding the television sets that were placed strategically in the lounge areas of the building. When I asked someone "what was going on", the answer pulled my head out of the sand and made me face reality.

It was the 1972 Draft Lottery. The lottery was based upon randomly selecting a birth date (mine, for instance, was August 17th). The selective service official then pulled a ball out of the barrel with a number on it -- a number from 1 to 365. In my case, they pulled out the number 008. "008" was my license to kill. With a number that low, I would surely be drafted!

At that time in the war, there were no college deferments -- unless I was taking something like medicine. I wasn't taking medicine. I felt doomed. At that time in the war, the only "safe" numbers were numbers higher than 250. That means, simply, that the government would establish quotas of men that they felt would be needed by the military. Once that quota was filled, then the draft board stopped calling men into the service based upon the number that their birthday was assigned. Again, my number was "008". I was doomed.

Then, at the end of 1972, President Richard M. Nixon announced that the draft, for all intents and purposes, would be suspended. He felt that no new troops would be required and that they had sufficient troops to fulfill the mission. At that point, all I could do was breathe a deep sigh of relief. From then on, Richard M. Nixon became my "favorite president". Of course, he did keep me from having an "actual" war story to relate here but, to tell you the truth, I really don't mind.

[edit on 4/20/2006 by benevolent tyrant]

Wow, that is a very intresting story. Do you realize how close you came to being killed in vietnam. Wow, man, were you lucky.

Finally, someone else who has Richard M. Nixon as their favorite president! Although I must admit, I wasn't alive during his presidency. But my father was a Nixon fan, and when I was a young boy instead of reading me "Cat in the Hat" or some other kiddie stories at bedtime, he would read to me about Richard Nixon. He always related one fond moment to me... he was reading to me all of the accusations against Nixon regarding The Plumbers, Watergate, etc. I looked at him and said "Dad, is all this stuff they're accusing him of true? Did he really do it?"

And my father looked me in the eyes and said, "Of course not son. Of course not." LOL

One of my favorite memories. I apologize because being 24, having no military experience under my belt, and having never met my grandfather who served in the military (died when my dad was 10), I don't have any war stories to relate. I guess my only war story is the story of how Richard M. Nixon did everything within reason to get "victory with honor" in Vietnam. He kept his word to the American people and ended the war. I'd like to think that if he wasn't railroaded and impeached that Saigan would have never fallen like it did under President Ford.

Originally posted by benevolent tyrant
Of course, he did keep me from having an "actual" war story to relate here but, to tell you the truth, I really don't mind.

[edit on 4/20/2006 by benevolent tyrant]

Amen-

My grandad told me about being in the Navy when they tested the hydrogen bomb off of Bikini Atoll. He said it burnt the paint on their ship, and the Navy asked for volunteers to go aboard the ships that were still floating= anyway- I could tell from his voice that that bomb scared the # out of him. Can you imagine? Not many people can say that they watched a hydrogen bomb be ignited. He even had a tattoo of the experience on his forearm. I miss the # out of him- I'd love to be fishing with ya Papa. I love you.

Interesting topic.. Diferrent from the usual Weaps banter..
I got a nice story to share..
Will do it when free..

Whatever war stories my grandparents have are forever gone, because they're all dead.

However, while in South Korea in January, I heard a story from an elderly Republic of Korea Marine Corps veteran, who had fought in the Korean War starting at the age of 17. He talked about how he had been part of the Combined Forces of the U.N. with American troops when they had moved upwards and captured Pyongyang, when the Chinese responded with a massive assault. He talked about what it was like to fight such a massive force of such ferocity, despite being primitive compared to the U.N. forces, as well as the effects of the frightening People's War strategy. Contrary to historical accounts, some of the Chinese troops were armed with only knives and sticks, or just their fists and legs.

It was a fascinating tale, making you wonder how he was able to survive such a violent battle against a rain of rage.

Hardly much of a tale, but my mother's father, in World War 2, he was in Papua New Gineau fighting the Japanese. He was a medic, I believe.

Anyway, we have a photo of his they he took. It was of a sign over the entrance to an American graveyard, saying "No photographs allowed". Disrespectful, but hilarious. At least he kept a sense of humour in the heat.

Got one from an old friend of my Dad's Les

Anyway Les joined up in 1940 into the Lifeguards Calvery Regt. which were operate little 2 man armed cars, Les is nearly 6ft 6in (1.95m) and big with it. It could take him he said up to 2 mins to squeeze in and out of the armoued which when hit caught fire rapidly - he felt certain he would one day end up stuck trying to get out and end up burning to death - so he decides to transfer.

He is given 2 options parachute regt (he did not like the sound of jumping out of planes and so new unit that they would not tell him about called the Commandos - he reasoned that this must be something to do with Command HQ so would be a nice safe job behind the front lline probably driving (he was right about behind the front line but got the wrong side of it!!LOL)

He fought in North Africa, Italy and all round the Balkans. As he was a big bloke he did become a Staff driver as he was made the Brigadiers driver/bodyguard and ended up travelling with him to meet Tito in Yugoslavia.

He told me many stories but would never talk about combat save to say he saw too many good lads die and to have pick up and take care of your dead mates is the worse thing.

here is a bit of a funny one.
My wifes grandfather was in ww2 in france in the canadian military and he always tells the story of how they captured a german boat on a river and confiscated a bunch of booz from it, they got so drunk they fell 3 days behind the rest of there group who was heading for the front line. when they caught up they got there butts chewed out and ended up sitting in a hole underfire for a week. finaly there superior officer asked about all the booze and got them out of the hole to go drink with them they where in the canadian military. he has some very gruesome story's to tell but he doesnt much like to talk about them.
he now has dementia and lives in a nursing home.

My Great Grandfarther went to the trenches when he was 14.


Anyone else have any grandparents who fought in The Great War (1914 - 1918)?

[edit on 21-4-2006 by Spreadthetruth]

My Grand Father was a Grenadier Guards sergeant, fighting in Africa, Italy and european theatres in WW2. He never really talked about the war, apart from one time he flipped a coin to see who rode the motor bike and who was passenger on it - He won the toos and rode... about 2 miles down the road he felt the bike shudder, but thought nothing of it. When he stopped, the man clinging on had been decaptiated by a wire stretched out across the road. fate chose him to live that day, and every day after because he survived not only WW2, but Palestein, Borneo and Malaya as well.

My other Grand father I never met - he died before I was born. he was a bomb aimer / navigator on lancaster bombers in WW2. I only get told from my Dad that he joined the war in 1940, and did 5 years on heavy bombers till he was de-mobbed in 1946. My aunt has all of his medals and every thing like that, and theres one piccie of him with his friends after a mission. They were all 22-23 years old.

Awesome amount of respect due to ALL war veterans for having the bravery to do things we today would not or could not choose to do.

My Grandfather who fought in WW2 died a few yaers ago. He never talked about it much as too traumatic...he joined the RAF as a Captain 5 years before the War`Started and was therefore very upset when it started except for the whole stopping hitler thing...

However he did mention one of the incidents when he was trying to stop bombers coming over british cities and he got bad shrapnel wounds.... he was officer in charge of an old costal command boat a big thing with 3 manned guns and a co pilot and navigator.... one of the gunners got shot up so he went back to help the man who died in his arms, he then took on the gun turret himself leaving the command to the co pilot... they got a few that day.... however he never forgets one bomber very close to them as he was raking it with the gun he could actually see the face on the german gunner trying to return fire and saw him explode as he hit him with a shell... he said he could see that he was only 17/18 and it affected him deeply... he never mentioned anything else used to just stare into the distance if asked looking upset. He served the whole war and must have been responsible for many deaths which he found hard to cope with noi matter what the need... ie to protect his family etc...

He used to do one thing though... when you see war films and the flyers are like "Jolly good show lets go and get some Kraut then" he used to be discusted as in reality they used to post your name on the base wall that morning for your mission and if you would be going up that day.... ther was none of that swagger and "jolly good show" after being up a few times most of the men were shaking and sick (they had a large bucket put by the lists for this reason) when they saw they were on that day. My grandad went up 85 times and the survival rate was averaged at one in 26 flights.... he kept asking for ground duty as he was coming close to the highest sorties in the country at the time still alive but they pushed him... eventually he had a nervous breakdown after loosing another crew and surviving again... they then put him on ground command.

war is horrible and the greatest pacifists are usually those with some knowledge not film antics.

MischeviouslyBeing RespectfullToOurGrandfathersForTheRightToTypeThisFreely

Elf

My dad passed away recently. He never talked much about his time in Korea. But once, when I was a teen protesting the Vietnam war, he told me a story that sticks with me to this day.

One of his buddies saw a korean toddler wander into their camp. Being the typical American male of that era, he picked the kid up to help him find his way home. My dad watched in horror as the child exploded killing both him and my dad's friend. Some men close by were wounded by shrapnel. The kid had a grenade in his diaper.

He told me that war is niether pretty or fun, but is sometimes necessary. Many people die, including innocents. War has consequences and should never be engaged on a whim. He listened to me as I explained why I thought the war in Vietnam was wrong. My dad taught me to research and investigate on my own rather than go with the flow of public opinion. It is a lesson that has served me well.

Was a Army Corporal and Medic in WWI in Europe. He never talked about the war at all, was a very peaceful easy going man. When he and my grandmother were moving from their old house in Lubbock Texas, back in 1982, he came across this pair of rusted folding scissors in his tool shed. He looked at the scissors and smiled, handed them to my younger sister and told her to hold them while he told us the story of those scissors. It turns out those scissors were part of his medical kit he carried on the front lines, he used to cut off the ends of arteries and veins in mens legs and arms so there were straight so he could sew them closed so they wouldn't bleed to death before the red cross came to pick the men up and take them back to the army hospitals for surgery, etc. Those blood stained scissors he gave to my sister, she still has them today, my grandfather passed away in 1988, 92 years old, a man who still loved his country.

My father also served, WWII, Korea and Vietnam, he is 86 comes this september, I am proud of them both for their love of their country.

well during WW2 my grandad was a paratrooper, i don't know much about his time in WW2 because apprently he never talked about it!! - my mum told me when she was younger she asked him if he ever killed anyone, and he was like "NEVER ASK ME THAT!"

my grandad as passed away now, he died when i was 4 (i'm 24 now) - and i can vaguely remember him!!

all i know is he lied about his age (he was 17) and fought in WW2 from start to finish, he was also one of the famous paratroopers who fought in the 'battle of arnhem' (a film was made of it also),

1000's of paratroopers came down and the germans were just shooting in the sky (i guess my grandad was one of the lucky ones)!!

my nannan also tell me storys about world war2, things about when the sirens used to go off and everyone used to hide in the bunkers....how the german POW's was sent in the pea fields to work (things like that)!!

when she told me during D-day she looked in the sky, and the sky was just filled with planes flying over for the invasion.

+ other things, really hard times.












[edit on 21-4-2006 by st3ve_o]

well my grandpop was in the 3rd army 5th division (red diamonds) as a mortar man,he used to tell us that PATTON was a very strong willed man that wore his silver helmit once in a while just to dare the enemy to pick him out in the crowd.

God bless him