Calaber
Nil Bastardo Carborundum
- Joined
- Nov 29, 2007
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- Lower Hunter Region NSW
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As it's Anzac Day, I was thinking about some of the experiences my father and grandfather told me about relating to their service in WW II.
The old man was in the Royal Navy, which is a bit of a joke because he couldn't swim a stroke. On D-Day, he was in a motor torpedo boat that struck a mine and sank in the English Channel. Fortunately for him, there was plenty of Allied naval traffic in the area that day and he and his crewmates were soon recovered.
My grandfather served with the AIF in New Guinea. As a result of the horrors he witnessed, particularly the treatment of captured Australian soldiers whose bodies his unit located, he never trusted the Japanese till the day he died in 1966, nor did he ever want to go on a picnic. He said he had eaten enough times out in the open air and never wanted to do it again. By the time he died, 21 years after the war ended, the attitude of Australia towards Japan had thawed out a lot but I wonder how many other men of his age and experience felt the same way about the Japanese.
Anybody else have stories from their relo's about experiences in wartime? Could even be civilian experiences - doesn't have to be military.
The old man was in the Royal Navy, which is a bit of a joke because he couldn't swim a stroke. On D-Day, he was in a motor torpedo boat that struck a mine and sank in the English Channel. Fortunately for him, there was plenty of Allied naval traffic in the area that day and he and his crewmates were soon recovered.
My grandfather served with the AIF in New Guinea. As a result of the horrors he witnessed, particularly the treatment of captured Australian soldiers whose bodies his unit located, he never trusted the Japanese till the day he died in 1966, nor did he ever want to go on a picnic. He said he had eaten enough times out in the open air and never wanted to do it again. By the time he died, 21 years after the war ended, the attitude of Australia towards Japan had thawed out a lot but I wonder how many other men of his age and experience felt the same way about the Japanese.
Anybody else have stories from their relo's about experiences in wartime? Could even be civilian experiences - doesn't have to be military.