Grandfathers in the war

11-05-07, 01:48 PM

My maternal grand father served in the wehrmacht, heer,for three months before he skipped off to Switzerland and sat the war out in that country. My mothers brother (my uncle) also served in the wehrmacht, heer, and was held in a French POW camp for nine months. He was half dead when released and spent a year in hospital recuperating.

My paternal side is more interesting and some would say imfamous.
My grand father born in 1905 in Springfield , Ill, did not serve in the armed forces, too old I guess. Another paternal relative was the imfamous one.

Part of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) this fellow was in charge of the bureau that was set up to eliminate Jewish influence from German life. He brought Adolf Eichmann into the SD and worked directly for Heidricht Reinhardt. Later he worked with Himmler in the Schutzstaffel (SS).

After the war there is some evidence that he worked for the CIA (OSS), but hard to say for sure. He became a spokesman for the german FDP in early 1949 and later for the Coca-Cola Company in west germany (non-official cover for the CIA perhaps). At or about May 1960 all references to him stop. Interestingly Eichmann was captured by the Mossad on May 11, 1960.

The WosMan · 11-05-07, 02:32 PM

Wow, my guess is he wasn't really working for Coca-Cola.

My dads grandfather served in the pacific in the US Army. He was the youngest guy in his group when he signed up in 1942 (he will be 84 years old in December). I still haven't gotten the whole story from him on everything he did over there but he specialized in radio and communications and had been in New Guinea, Austrialia, and at the end in '45 he ended up at the University of Manilla in the Phillippines where he ran a Japanese prison camp and was directly attached under Gen MacArthur. He has some pretty entertaining stories including when they were in New Guinea and they couldn't get a drink so he and a group of friends learned to make booze from oldest guy in their group who happened to be 38 and had been a prohibition era bootlegger. They found some old steel wash bins and they turned them into stills to make something to drink.

He only reminisces about the good times, I think there is other stuff he either did or saw that he doesn't like to talk about.

AVGWarhawk · 11-05-07, 03:06 PM

I must be getting old.....

.....everyone here talking about their grandfathers in WW2. I had two Uncles and one Aunt in WW2. Two in the PTO and one in the ETO. Heck I have pictures of WW1 aircraft in Fla from my Great Uncle who was in the airforce there. Funny to see the biplanes.

Anyway, my Uncle in the ETO was shot down over Kiel Germany June 13th, 1943. He as a B-17 pilot. The target was the uboat pens. My aunt in the PTO was a WAVE and overseen 30 nurses. She was a tough bird after that experience. She passes away about 8 years ago. My other uncle the PTO worked on the aircraft carriers although he never talks about it. He was an aircraft mechanic and also worked on the torpedoes. One day he went flying with a hot dog pilot. Loops and rolls, etc. He never went flying again, EVER, since that day. He lives in Minehill NJ and had worked for Mars/MM after the war. Although his mind fails him every now and then, he is doing well.

The WosMan · 11-05-07, 07:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

I must be getting old.....

.....everyone here talking about their grandfathers in WW2. I had two Uncles and one Aunt in WW2. Two in the PTO and one in the ETO. Heck I have pictures of WW1 aircraft in Fla from my Great Uncle who was in the airforce there. Funny to see the biplanes.

Anyway, my Uncle in the ETO was shot down over Kiel Germany June 13th, 1943. He as a B-17 pilot. The target was the uboat pens. My aunt in the PTO was a WAVE and overseen 30 nurses. She was a tough bird after that experience. She passes away about 8 years ago. My other uncle the PTO worked on the aircraft carriers although he never talks about it. He was an aircraft mechanic and also worked on the torpedoes. One day he went flying with a hot dog pilot. Loops and rolls, etc. He never went flying again, EVER, since that day. He lives in Minehill NJ and had worked for Mars/MM after the war. Although his mind fails him every now and then, he is doing well.

You're only as old as you feel. Your talk of your uncle reminded me of my great uncle (who is still around at 86). He was in the PTO and used to be inserted in special missions via sub or paradrop and would perform recon on an area. His specialty was drawing and sketching the layout and the enemy emplacements which would be used for war planning later down the line. He is an excellent artist who used the GI Bill to go to art school after the war. He had a studio in San Diego and in his life has done some sculptures of famous people including meeting Ronald Reagan when he was the Gov of California (also one of his heroes) and doing a bust of him and also meeting Pope John Paul II and creating a bust of him for the Vatican.

CCIP · 11-05-07, 08:35 PM

I'm from Russia, so...

Neither of my grandfathers served, although my paternal grandparents both survived the Siege of Leningrad as children, and maternal grandfather was seriously injured and lost his best friend when they opened a barn door shortly after the germans retreated from their village (it turned out to be boobytrapped).

All my great-grandfathers served in various Red Army posts in WWII. One, a doctor by profession, was a field surgeon with the rank of senior lieutenant. He received a shrapnel wound in the head (the shrapnel could not be removed), but recovered and continued serving. Another grandfather was shot in the leg by a Finnish sniper on the Karelian front. He lost his leg and became a severely depressed alcoholic, receiving little reward from the government for his service and not living long after the war ended.

Of my great-grandfathers, one started WWII as a regiment commander and worked his way up to command an infantry division. Another did not serve in WWII, but fought for the Red Army against foreign intervention in the civil war. Some of the others were active revolutionaries. Many other family members were predominantly on the White side and left the country during the civil war.

Ironically many of my ancestors were from the German nobility, while a branch of my family is ethnically Finnish, which is why to me the world wars always seemed like a tragic joke (on my family).

AngusJS · 03-29-12, 06:57 PM

One of my grandfathers originally trained to be a B-17 pilot in the US Army Air Force, but was busted down to tail gunner due to some training camp hijinks.

In 1944 He flew combat missions from England for all of 2 weeks before being shot down by flak over Germany. All his crew bailed out successfully. He ended up in Stalag Luft III, where the Great Escape occurred. He waited out the rest of the war as a POW.

He said that he fired his gun only once (and that was into the English Channel), because you had to clean it if you fired it. He also said that one time a Messerschmitt flew up right behind his plane, but he didn't open fire because "I wasn't going to shoot at him if he wasn't going to shoot at me."

My other grandfather was a JAG officer in the Navy. He remained stateside during the war, but IIRC was transferred to Italy after hostilities ceased.

Eisenwurst · 04-02-12, 06:25 AM

My paternal Great Grandad was a conscript in the Tsarist army. My Dad's dad and his wife both "disappeared" during Stalin's purges. My Dad was rounded up and sent to Germany as a "guestworker" when the Germans occupied the Ukraine. Towards the end of the war he was conscripted into the German army and sent as part of occupation force to Denmark.

First chance he got he ran away, buried his uniform and gun, and was sheltered by a farmer who was grateful for the extra help around the farm.
My dad was just a teenager, he said he didn't want to shoot anyone.

My dad died a few years ago after a sad slow decline, and didn't talk much about the war. But did remember the retreating Russian army as it passed through his village during early Barbarossa. A lot of badly wounded guys, confused and frightened.

There's good and bad guys on both sides in every war, and as Gen. Sherman said "War is hell".

Thank God for Gorbachov and Yeltsin and the end of the Coldwar.

11-05-07, 01:48 PM	#1
waste gate Stowaway Posts: n/a Downloads: Uploads:	My maternal grand father served in the wehrmacht, heer,for three months before he skipped off to Switzerland and sat the war out in that country. My mothers brother (my uncle) also served in the wehrmacht, heer, and was held in a French POW camp for nine months. He was half dead when released and spent a year in hospital recuperating. My paternal side is more interesting and some would say imfamous. My grand father born in 1905 in Springfield , Ill, did not serve in the armed forces, too old I guess. Another paternal relative was the imfamous one. Part of the Sicherheitsdienst (SD) this fellow was in charge of the bureau that was set up to eliminate Jewish influence from German life. He brought Adolf Eichmann into the SD and worked directly for Heidricht Reinhardt. Later he worked with Himmler in the Schutzstaffel (SS). After the war there is some evidence that he worked for the CIA (OSS), but hard to say for sure. He became a spokesman for the german FDP in early 1949 and later for the Coca-Cola Company in west germany (non-official cover for the CIA perhaps). At or about May 1960 all references to him stop. Interestingly Eichmann was captured by the Mossad on May 11, 1960. Last edited by waste gate; 11-05-07 at 01:58 PM.

11-05-07, 03:06 PM	#3
AVGWarhawk Lucky Jack Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: In a 1954 Buick. Posts: 28,275 Downloads: 90 Uploads: 0	I must be getting old..........everyone here talking about their grandfathers in WW2. I had two Uncles and one Aunt in WW2. Two in the PTO and one in the ETO. Heck I have pictures of WW1 aircraft in Fla from my Great Uncle who was in the airforce there. Funny to see the biplanes. Anyway, my Uncle in the ETO was shot down over Kiel Germany June 13th, 1943. He as a B-17 pilot. The target was the uboat pens. My aunt in the PTO was a WAVE and overseen 30 nurses. She was a tough bird after that experience. She passes away about 8 years ago. My other uncle the PTO worked on the aircraft carriers although he never talks about it. He was an aircraft mechanic and also worked on the torpedoes. One day he went flying with a hot dog pilot. Loops and rolls, etc. He never went flying again, EVER, since that day. He lives in Minehill NJ and had worked for Mars/MM after the war. Although his mind fails him every now and then, he is doing well. __________________ “You're painfully alive in a drugged and dying culture.” ― Richard Yates, Revolutionary Road

11-05-07, 08:35 PM	#5
CCIP Navy Seal Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Waterloo, Canada Posts: 8,700 Downloads: 29 Uploads: 2	I'm from Russia, so... Neither of my grandfathers served, although my paternal grandparents both survived the Siege of Leningrad as children, and maternal grandfather was seriously injured and lost his best friend when they opened a barn door shortly after the germans retreated from their village (it turned out to be boobytrapped). All my great-grandfathers served in various Red Army posts in WWII. One, a doctor by profession, was a field surgeon with the rank of senior lieutenant. He received a shrapnel wound in the head (the shrapnel could not be removed), but recovered and continued serving. Another grandfather was shot in the leg by a Finnish sniper on the Karelian front. He lost his leg and became a severely depressed alcoholic, receiving little reward from the government for his service and not living long after the war ended. Of my great-grandfathers, one started WWII as a regiment commander and worked his way up to command an infantry division. Another did not serve in WWII, but fought for the Red Army against foreign intervention in the civil war. Some of the others were active revolutionaries. Many other family members were predominantly on the White side and left the country during the civil war. Ironically many of my ancestors were from the German nobility, while a branch of my family is ethnically Finnish, which is why to me the world wars always seemed like a tragic joke (on my family). __________________ There are only forty people in the world and five of them are hamburgers. -Don Van Vliet (aka Captain Beefheart)

04-02-12, 06:25 AM	#7
Eisenwurst Silent Hunter Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 3,759 Downloads: 58 Uploads: 0	Great Granddads, Granddads, etc. My paternal Great Grandad was a conscript in the Tsarist army. My Dad's dad and his wife both "disappeared" during Stalin's purges. My Dad was rounded up and sent to Germany as a "guestworker" when the Germans occupied the Ukraine. Towards the end of the war he was conscripted into the German army and sent as part of occupation force to Denmark. First chance he got he ran away, buried his uniform and gun, and was sheltered by a farmer who was grateful for the extra help around the farm. My dad was just a teenager, he said he didn't want to shoot anyone. My dad died a few years ago after a sad slow decline, and didn't talk much about the war. But did remember the retreating Russian army as it passed through his village during early Barbarossa. A lot of badly wounded guys, confused and frightened. There's good and bad guys on both sides in every war, and as Gen. Sherman said "War is hell". Thank God for Gorbachov and Yeltsin and the end of the Coldwar.

11-05-07, 02:32 PM	#2
The WosMan Watch Officer Join Date: Jan 2005 Location: OH Posts: 332 Downloads: 88 Uploads: 0	Wow, my guess is he wasn't really working for Coca-Cola. My dads grandfather served in the pacific in the US Army. He was the youngest guy in his group when he signed up in 1942 (he will be 84 years old in December). I still haven't gotten the whole story from him on everything he did over there but he specialized in radio and communications and had been in New Guinea, Austrialia, and at the end in '45 he ended up at the University of Manilla in the Phillippines where he ran a Japanese prison camp and was directly attached under Gen MacArthur. He has some pretty entertaining stories including when they were in New Guinea and they couldn't get a drink so he and a group of friends learned to make booze from oldest guy in their group who happened to be 38 and had been a prohibition era bootlegger. They found some old steel wash bins and they turned them into stills to make something to drink. He only reminisces about the good times, I think there is other stuff he either did or saw that he doesn't like to talk about.

03-29-12, 06:57 PM	#6
AngusJS Seasoned Skipper Join Date: Jan 2002 Posts: 746 Downloads: 62 Uploads: 0	One of my grandfathers originally trained to be a B-17 pilot in the US Army Air Force, but was busted down to tail gunner due to some training camp hijinks. In 1944 He flew combat missions from England for all of 2 weeks before being shot down by flak over Germany. All his crew bailed out successfully. He ended up in Stalag Luft III, where the Great Escape occurred. He waited out the rest of the war as a POW. He said that he fired his gun only once (and that was into the English Channel), because you had to clean it if you fired it. He also said that one time a Messerschmitt flew up right behind his plane, but he didn't open fire because "I wasn't going to shoot at him if he wasn't going to shoot at me." My other grandfather was a JAG officer in the Navy. He remained stateside during the war, but IIRC was transferred to Italy after hostilities ceased.