"What did grandad do in the war?"

[johnofgwent]

Oh boy



Given what tomorrow is ...



My father wrote down a lot of what he did as a 9-12 year old 1939-1942 for one of my brother's kids school project.



His account of what HIS father did has some quite fascinating censorship.



As I have said on this forum and the old one, through dad being the treasurer of an amateur electronics club I met a number of fascinating individuals many of whom worked with him in the post-war to pre-60's period, and one of those was one of "the few". When he saw in my face what I guess was the reaction he'd seen too many times, he told me "it's all very well but the simple fact was my job was to get up before dawn, take an aircraft up into the sky as high as we could stand it, so that on cue from fighter command we could dive at some poor unsuspecting bastard out of the sun and shoot him in the back without him even knowing we were there, and we did it because it had to be done, and all the time we hoped and prayed there wasn't a German high above us about to do the same to us..."



He also told me to be careful what I wished for, and to be in no hurry or desire to sit in any seat in a weapon of war, lest I get the same chance he did. His words followed me like i was being haunted by his ghost every time i walked up a warship's gangplank. I've been in a tank, and a sumbarime, but apart from the belly of a hercules, which at the time was firmly on the ground,the only military planes I've been at the controls of are ones in museums. working on their weapon systems and avionics bays was quite enough for me thank you. And again, Arthur's words stuck in my mind while i was doing that too.



If I could say one thing to someone who would be able to make a difference, it would be for F@@@'s sake get a grip on understanding just how good people like me were at doing our jobs, on BOTH sides, for the other side has a bloke like me and always dd right back to the King's Siege Engineer, and maybe it's time to bring back conscription to the front lone, for every child of military age of every elected politician. You'd be amazed how fast peace would break out if we did that ...



Melissa's junior school history teacher knows me, knows what I did, what dad did and what my two grandfathers did. because he was Sarah's (Melissa's mum's) junior school history teacher 20-25 years ago. So he knows what Melissa will be told if he is stupid enough to ask the question.



In secondary school however, and it was for a secondary school project that dad wrote his censored account, I see no reason in holding back. But we need to not hold back on both sides. We need to explain the domino treaties that senselessly sent millions to a pointless death in a pointless trench war. We need to make it clear the Japanese treated their own who would not fight to the death as badly as they treated those they captured. And having seen that lefty T@@@ from the great british bake off waxing hand-wringingly about the ho chi min trail when she and some other female(ish) lefty luvvy drove along it, we need to tell properly what the vietcong were like as well as what the americans were like.



And we need to reveal the reality behind "keep Calm And Carry On" - Cry "They Don't Like It Up 'Em and Let Slip The Quite Uncivil Civilian Dogs Of War

[Javert]

Had a rare communication from a relative yesterday, apparently his children have been asked to do a project about what did you great grand-dad do in the 2nd World war.

Just a small problem, the relative has no clue at all what his grand dad did in the war.

As his grand dad did not tell his wife or his children what he did in the war it is somewhat short notice.

I know what he did in the war as he had a bad attack of it all coming back to him when he was me. I was giving him a private tour of the Lizard Boat Station and something about the life boat triggered some very bad memories of when the minesweeper he was serving on got sunk by "friendly fire."

For a few minutes he completely broke down and told me exactly what happened.

I don't think the horrific experience he told me is for the consumption of junior school age children.

OK but surely they could be told the general gist of it without revealing all the exact details?

[T00ts]

The real story is available I even wrote an article about it that was published in a magazine for survivors of minesweepers.

The real number of casualties war far higher than the official report at the time.

What actually happened was an "official secret," for decades after the war because of the monumental cock-up.

The problem is I put all the related research "somewhere safe" and can't find it at the moment. It has his Navy "paybook in it as well as letters between him and his wife.

You need to keep looking - it would be really important to the family.

[papasmurf]

Lots of men didn't divulge their experiences. My own father was in the RAF. I used to play with his flying helmet I think it was when I was little but then it disappeared and I never saw it again.  Perhaps you could water it down to the brave bits that aren't too gory and frightening so they can show their pride in him, rather than give all the detail. As an afterthought perhaps the real story could be made available to the adults because it is very possible that they would want to know as part of their family history.

The real story is available I even wrote an article about it that was published in a magazine for survivors of minesweepers.

The real number of casualties war far higher than the official report at the time.

What actually happened was an "official secret," for decades after the war because of the monumental cock-up.

The problem is I put all the related research "somewhere safe" and can't find it at the moment. It has his Navy "paybook in it as well as letters between him and his wife.

[T00ts]

Had a rare communication from a relative yesterday, apparently his children have been asked to do a project about what did you great grand-dad do in the 2nd World war.

Just a small problem, the relative has no clue at all what his grand dad did in the war.

As his grand dad did not tell his wife or his children what he did in the war it is somewhat short notice.

I know what he did in the war as he had a bad attack of it all coming back to him when he was me. I was giving him a private tour of the Lizard Boat Station and something about the life boat triggered some very bad memories of when the minesweeper he was serving on got sunk by "friendly fire."

For a few minutes he completely broke down and told me exactly what happened.

I don't think the horrific experience he told me is for the consumption of junior school age children.

Lots of men didn't divulge their experiences. My own father was in the RAF. I used to play with his flying helmet I think it was when I was little but then it disappeared and I never saw it again.  Perhaps you could water it down to the brave bits that aren't too gory and frightening so they can show their pride in him, rather than give all the detail. As an afterthought perhaps the real story could be made available to the adults because it is very possible that they would want to know as part of their family history.

[papasmurf]

Had a rare communication from a relative yesterday, apparently his children have been asked to do a project about what did you great grand-dad do in the 2nd World war.

Just a small problem, the relative has no clue at all what his grand dad did in the war.

As his grand dad did not tell his wife or his children what he did in the war it is somewhat short notice.

I know what he did in the war as he had a bad attack of it all coming back to him when he was me. I was giving him a private tour of the Lizard Boat Station and something about the life boat triggered some very bad memories of when the minesweeper he was serving on got sunk by "friendly fire."

For a few minutes he completely broke down and told me exactly what happened.

I don't think the horrific experience he told me is for the consumption of junior school age children.