Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Temporary]

[santafly]

My father and his parents escaped from a concentration camp, came to America in 1948. When the Nazis showed up at my dad's house they shot his grandparents in front of him, he was 6. Almost all of the extended family died in concentration camps. One of my Dad's cousins wrote some famous Holocaust Book, "I promised my mother". His story involves being in a pile of bodies for 3 days before managing to climb out and escape.

[Greekfreak]

Both my sets of grandparents (and my parents, for that matter) were in Greece at the time.

My paternal grandfather was probably considered too old to join the Greek army; he died a year before I was born. My maternal grandfather might have been in the same boat, but there were some guys in their village who joined the conscripts and helped (along with the help of the British) throw Mussolini back out of Greece. Our village is in the northwest of the country, amongst the mountains in Epirus where a lot of the real fighting took place.

My mother was only about 2 or 3 years old at the time, and doesn't remember anything. My dad was roughly 9 or 10 years old, and he remembers the German army as being actually very nice. These were the regular army, mind you--not the SS--and they would give out jars of jam and Swiss chocolate to the kids. Dad figures they were thinking of their own kids at the time.

[marckot]

My grandfather joined up in 1940-1 when South Africa joined the fight. He served as a Sergeant Major in the commonwealth forces attached to the British 8th army under Monty. He took part in the North African and Italian campaigns and then stayed behind in Germany after the war as part of the stabilizing forces. I think he returned home late 1946 or 1947.

He lived a long life, dying in his 80's. It was one of my favorite things in life to sit next to him in the livingroom or on the back porch, while he smoked his pipe, sipped his whiskey and told one war story after another. I still remember all of them.

[djsmnc]

My grandfather worked on projects for the Civilian Conservation Corps. He actually seems to enjoy talking about that more than anything else. He then went to New York City to train with the Coast Guard. When the war started, he rode on patrols down the east coast of the US through the Intracoastal Waterway to Puerto Rico patrolling for U-Boats. His group was secretly requisitioned by the US Navy to divebomb (literally dive in the water with bombs) to set on U-Boats. He lost a good bit of his hearing from the repurcussions. He never told anyone the real reason why he has always been hard of hearing until a few years ago.

So no, he never went to Europe, but he did some serious work.

[OhioPBJ]

One grandfather fought for the Americans and was wounded by shrapnel somewhere in France.

My other grandfather was Croatian and was wounded by shrapnel and a bullet (not sure who he was fighting for though) in Italy.

My great grandfather was Austrian and was made to serve in the SS. He escaped into the mountains after his new responsibility included loading Jews onto trains for execution. He stayed there for the rest of the war and was never caught.

[Rob'sdad]

3 great uncles in the Wehrmacht and 5 + gramps in the US Army. They all survived the war.

[khyber]

cool...thanks for the stories.

note:
It was a diary, not a dictionary my oma kept

[bundangbabo]

My Grandad was a policeman in Liverpool England and thus reserved occupation but to get away from his wife - joined the RAF and became a rear gunner on a Lancaster bomber.

My grandfather on my mums side was a policeman but in Peru and thus wasn't affected by world war 2 - my mum would always tell me about the time circa late 1945 when a blond German man came to her town and bought the big villa on top of the mountain. His name was Muller and eventually married a black woman and had a couple of daughters. Muller ran a gun club for the police officers in the town and I saw a photo of him - he looked the dodgiest MOFO this side of Arnhem!

[simpleminds]

My dad's dad was an Italien spy in Russia, got caught and escaped. My dad never mentioned anything about growing up under Musollini.

I dunno what my mum's dad did, maybe he just stayed in Ireland and raised his family with my grandma. After losing everything in the Depression, they were just trying to survive. My grandma said there was no way in hell he would fight, not after what the Brits did to the Irish in the first world war. He was too old, anyway, he was an old man when my mum was born in 1942.

[antgonz]

living in another country. I am the only person in my immediate family born in the United States.

[itaewonguy]

my grandfather was in the navy! fought the big wars on the seas in the south pacific against the japanese.. He returned safely but never spoke of the war, and never liked to talk about it, I questioned him a couple times growing up, but he always refused to talk about it, later when I was bigger I mentioned it again, he said, I saw alot of horrific things, and I was thrown around a lot and often thought I wasn't gonna make it.. we were lucky... thats all he ever wanted to say, my mum said he doesn't like to talk about it... now that was my adopted grandfather..

my mums biological mother was a russian/jew who was put in the camps to work as a teacher, escaped the camps got a boat to New zealand and settled there due to having no money gave my mum up for adoption...
kept in contact with her over the years.. MAN WHAT A TOUGH BITCH SHE WAS!! everyone hated her... dont know my biological grandfather.. rumour has it he was someone running from the war to NZ probably a result of a short fling in the boat to NZ or at the 6 month refugee camp..
no idea what role he played in the war...

on my fathers side...
my grandfather was in Italy, was part of the Italian resistance movement.

[redhed]

My grandfather was somewhere in europe, was allowed leave for the birth of his firstborn, and missed out on D-Day while on leave. Nobody in his unit survived the landing. He then went to Paris and guarded supply trains coming in and out of the city. He is still alive and kicking back in the states today.

[Kimchi Cha Cha]

My maternal grandfather "Poppy" was an officer stationed in Papua New Guinea where he taught recent recruits map reading skills before they left for action amongst other things, he was a teacher by trade so I assume that's how he got that placement. He had four younger brothers who all fought in the Pacific against the Japanese. All made it home without death or serious injury. My mother didn't know who the strange man was who showed up at her home after the war and asked her Mum when he's going to leave. My grandfather never forgave Japan for what they did to his countrymen during the war and I think it still lingers in me as I'd feel a bit uneasy living and working in Japan knowing about some of the stories and atrocities they committed during the War and have never fully owned up to. Funny thing is before the war my grandmother worked for a Japanese company in Sydney and twenty years after the war my Mum worked for a Japanese company in London. I don't think my grandfather approved.

My paternal grandfather was a cabinet maker by trade and during the war was reassigned to make items for the war - furniture and munitions boxes or something of the like I presume. Despite this, some people when seeing an able-bodied, relatively young man walking around thought he was a conscientious objector and he encountered some harrassment, including having white feathers placed in his letterbox, etc.

War sucks for everyone. My grandparents' generation were much tougher than we are.

[ReeseDog]

My maternal grandfather was on the beach at Normandy - Corporal, US Army. My paternal grandfather was at the same battle - Obersturmf�hrer, Waffen SS.

Thank goodness my father didn't share his father's political views.