Are you a grandfather? If not, did you like yours?

[Calaber]

My grandad was a legend was a very decorates soldier that served in germany, africa, egypt and somewhere else i cant recall off my head!! I sapent every weekend with him for many years listening to his tories of things that he done in the war and cruising around in his cars , he loved to drive until doctors took his licence from him!! I say its what killed him!! Couldnt bring myself to go in hospital when he passed n ill pay for that forever!! I was given all his medals last year and will do anzac march in grandads honour . He wouldve wanted it!

Smokem

Those medals reflect your grandfather's courage and strength of character and are your family's heritage. Try to find out as much as you can about your grandfather and his achievements at war. You will find that, if his medals are for bravery, you can learn much from the archives at the War Memorial in Canberra. You can also learn about his service, where he actually served and the battles he fought.

I have my grandfather's medals (and dad's) mounted in a glass fronted case hanging in a pride of place in my study. It's a good place for them and ensures they are never forgotten.

 

[MasterOfReality]

My grandfathers died quite young, within a year of each other when I was 5 and 6.

One was German, the other was Italian.

I do remember them but obviously not that well.

My dad father was an engineer. He has a drawer full of german/nazi memorabilia and war medals, one Iron Cross 1st Class and a second class one. Will get passed to me eventually.

My other grandfather was a panel beater and I remember him letting me play around with the spray gun on old panels.

My last grandparent, my grandmother, passed away last year a week after her 90th birthday.

 

[gossie]

I'm a Grandfather, love it, and I'm very proud of them.

Son with a 12 year old girl living in Japan. Don't see enough of them, just every couple of years when over here or we go to Japan.......It's a great place by the way.
Daughter with a 4 year old......4 year old is here right now as I type, and she's the most beautiful girl.
Other Daughter has 14 year old girl and 12 year old boy.....both good kids and doing well as school. My lovely Wife of many years has just been to Sunshine Coast for a few days with them, while I did my thing here.
I'm not quite as old fart yet. LOL. Still very active doing all sorts of things.

Reversing, I can well remember my Grandmother being very good to me as a child, visiting her often as a young man, and her coming to our wedding all those years ago......I can remember her having a blue rinse in here hair......don't laugh, it was fashionable. Can't remember my Grandfathers or other Grandmother......they passed away at a young age.

 

[vr94ss]

My grandad was awesome, i looked up to him allot. He grew up in a British family in India before they got there independence, where his father was chief of police over there(my great grandad) and he followed and become an officer himself, then they got there independence and the family moved here where he joined the army as an infantry officer, fought in Vietnam then when it was over he left the army and became a paramedic for the last few years before retirement. Sadly he passed away from Parkinson's, absolutely horrible disease. It's torture. I was 10 when he passed but I still remember the stories he would tell me, and make me model airplanes and fishing gear and other things.

lol.. My Grandfather, Dad's dad, was a Colonel in the British Army in India before they came to Au in 1949. He really kept the family together while he was alive. Every set of school hols there'd always be a family get together. My Mum used to work for him as a secretary, and I loved spending the day with them both there when I was young, someone always had time for you..

Since your family has ties with India and we're on grandfathers, my grandfathers grandfather is on the Telegraph Memorial in Delhi.

To all the other posters, thanks for all your comments, some have been great to hear. I hope I can live up to the Grandpa thing. Feel free to keep posting things that will remind me of how well I had it while they were around.

 

[Pie-VK]

I love my grandparents on both sides

always filled with advice and some really cool stories, both my grandparents served in WW2 so it makes some interesting conversations.

But my Mums dad is the best, He's the kind of dad I wanna be, and as of 11 months ago, I got the chance.

 

[vr94ss]

Well, now I'm officially a grandfather!:yahoo:

 

[TechRecruit]

Man, you must be cheering!

My paternal grandfathers where what you call tosspots. Most ignorant fks ever! One of them tried to get me killed, so yeah.

 

[Dayvo]

I'm not a Grandfather yet My son is 23 and daughter is 29 and i'm still waiting .Both my Grandfathers have passed on now My Dads dad was a piss head and spent every cent (or penny ) on booze .The only toys my father had when he was a kid was two boot polishing brushes that he used to pretend were cars. I never met my grandmother as she died when my father was 6 y.o and his sister took over as the mother . My mothers father on the other hand was a great bloke. The earliest memories i have of him ( this was in the early 1960s when i lived in Scotland )was on Saturday afternoons i used to sit on his knee and we used to share an orange. Then we would sit on the back steps and watch the boats coming back into port after spending the week out in the North sea fishing .

 

[MorganVZ]

Couldn't put into words how awesomely-amazingly-fantasticly-sick my grandfather was (dads side) not the biggest guy but wouldn't find a nicer funnier old git in the world. Always used to say the funniest things, play boxed whenever we saw each other, had the best property (lived out in the country with a few acres, a small river at the bottom and an amazing orange treen - the sort you can peel with your hands and taste amazing). Miss that old guy a lot, been gone a few years now but not forgotten. Only grandparent left is my grandmother from Dads side, shes had dementia for a while and don't really see her that often. Still make an effort to cheer her up when I do see her though. Mums side were both great as well, used to ride down there on our bikes and say hi for a few hours, get some maccas. Been very lucky from the sound of it.

 

[vr94ss]

Couldn't put into words how awesomely-amazingly-fantasticly-sick my grandfather was (dads side) not the biggest guy but wouldn't find a nicer funnier old git in the world. Always used to say the funniest things, play boxed whenever we saw each other, had the best property (lived out in the country with a few acres, a small river at the bottom and an amazing orange treen - the sort you can peel with your hands and taste amazing). Miss that old guy a lot, been gone a few years now but not forgotten. Only grandparent left is my grandmother from Dads side, shes had dementia for a while and don't really see her that often. Still make an effort to cheer her up when I do see her though. Mums side were both great as well, used to ride down there on our bikes and say hi for a few hours, get some maccas. Been very lucky from the sound of it.

My grandparents on both sides were pretty damn cool. I feel pretty sad for the posters that didn't have very nice grands, they missed out on a lot and one can only hope they outshine their grands when they become oldies.. Grandparents can leave some really good memories, as mine did, or not. I suppose it just reflects that people are people and not all are nice. I'll do my best to be a cool grandfather, my kids like me(well that's what they say) and I get on well with them so there's hope for me.