My Dad and the war.

My father had been in the First World war so he was not called up for WW2 due to his age. He was too old.
He was a stevedore and worked on the London Docks. I remember him telling us that the banana boats had been used to ferry the dead and injured men back from Dunkirk.

I had two brothers who served in WW2, plus my uncle.
My eldest brother was with his squadron in Burma and my younger brother finished up in North Africa. Unfortunately my eldest brother saw so much cruelty when fighting the Japanese he came back after the war a very embittered chap who turned to drink to overcome the dreadful things he had witnessed.

I was 9 years old when the war started and living in the East End of London. We were going hop picking the next day after the declaration that we were now at war with Germany.

Hop picking was a paid holiday for the Londoners although it was hard work that even the children helped with. During the third week into the war we were busy picking the hops when an enemy plane got through what defences we had and decided to use us as practise targets. No one was killed thank goodness because a Spitfire came to our aid.
It was fantastic to see the dog fight between the planes. More so when the enemy plane was shot down and the pilot came parachuting out.
The Spitfire did the Victory Roll for us before he went on his way and a big cheer went his way from us on the ground.

I went all through the London Blitz. We lost two homes and finished up living in the Anderson shelter we were finally evacuated to a town in the Midlands but once again was machine gunned on the evacuee train.
Many tales to tell of those far off years.

My dad was a Sergeant in the army during the war, while his brother was a miner (poor lad), both survived (fortunately). My mother was there, too, in the operations room.
None of them spoke about the war except once when a teacher sent us home 'to ask our grandparents about the war' - I didn't have any grandparents so asked my dad.
At first he said stuff like it was in the past and not to ask - he had been badly wounded. But the teacher sent me to ask again.
Dad told me of 3 Germans who had fallen asleep, one was meant to be on watch I guess, but they'd been side by side. The poor lad in the middle woke up in the morning to find the 2 either side dead. Gherkas in dad's platoon had found them all sleeping!
Another was when he was leaving Italy, he was in the back of a truck and was watching men clean up the area. They went to move a body, one at the shoulders and one at the feet, but he'd been burned and all they got was hands full of ashes.
He said, "If your teacher wants to know more, tell her to come and ask me directly!"
She didn't, of course, and the lesson was changed.
My dad was a well known man, so I suspect she knew him or of him and decided it was best to leave him alone!!

My father was cashiered towards the end of WW2 because of severe wounds. He had been in The Lancashire Fusiliers, now defunct, and was mentioned in Despatches twice. I have yet to find a way to discover why he was mentioned but the
Lanc Fusiliers do not have this info. Anyone know where i can find this info please?

I think it's quite apparent from many posts, that most fathers never really talked about their war years. Mine was very much of that ilk it never got a mention, no deference to Rememberance Day, never wore a Poppy. He was in the Middle East for much of those years, so the only nod to it was to say how much he disliked sand on beach holidays. I regret I never asked him about any of it now, but I wasn't interested when I was growing up and he was of the opinion it was something to move on from there was no reminiscing. Whenever my kids moaned about life in their growing up years I would say "and what do you think life was like for your grandfather aged 19 to 25 stuck in a war overseas?" that did give them pause to ponder on that sometimes. Personally I feel one of the lucky generation I was born into the 50s when rationing had stopped.

My mother was more prone to mark Rememberance Day and wear a poppy. She occasionally related how elated everyone was on VE Day and how she and friends celebrated that in London, a day to remember!

Like DrWatson’s father, mine was in the Service Corps (now 'Ordnance' or 'Logistics' perhaps) issuing supplies to the army and he spent most of the war in Egypt.

Manning guns 🤦

tanith thank you for starting this thread . I have said before it showed man who fought in the war or had reserved occupations but did their bit as they would have said fighting fires,being ARP wardens ,manning cuts ,look outs for enemy planes etc non of them wanted to talk about what they had to do or saw. Plus all the women that worked in factories for the war effort, driving vehicles , ferrying planes to various airbases ,working the land etc. To them it's what they had to do too protect a way of life and freedom.

Those that didn't fight because of religious or moral grounds where just as brave as many where on the from lights working at stretcher barers ,drivers ,carrying messages and lot where sent down the mines . They still worked in awful conditions and died and got injured along side those that fought.

During both world wars men and women just did what was expected of them . If this country was attacked today how many able bodied men and women would fight? Apart from those in the armed forces and people over 60 I don't think many. They would protest about war that's about it.
I know that's a cynical point of view but life has become to easy for many.

Not all or we wouldn't need food banks, people frightened to put the heating on because of the cost. The amount of people living on the streets is increasing. And still the rich get richer and poor poorer.

I remember my dad saying not long before he died in 2007 we fought and died for this country and for what . People come here with nothing and expect everything . And people are dieing because of lack of food , medical care and homes.

He would have been appalled at the protests on remembrance Sunday. I know I was.

I agree all your stories are so interesting, it’s a pity my own family never ask what I know about our family history as after I’m gone it will all be lost.

I has been very interesting reading this thread. My parents were children during the war; Mum in occupied Jersey, and Dad in occupied Brittany. Mum would often tell stories about her very tough childhood (she was also an orphan), but Dad never told us anything. I do thing they both witnessed things they would not want to re-visit.

I had a school friend who's father lived in Canada, but worked in a steel mill, which was a protected occupation. He said he would often be handed white feathers to shame him. I think in their minds they understood they were needed at home, but it would sometimes be hard to hold their heads up in society. War brought out the best and worst in people.

Rosies my father was in one of the companies that opened up Bergen Belsen as well. He never spoke of it either. My mother told me.
Her other comment was more of a “ trust your Father” one. She told me that as he’d been in the Territorials at school he joined up a week earlier than the outbreak of war and didn’t come home until a week later than everyone else. Jokingly inferring that it been a choice.He never spoke about the war at all.

One thing I’m very thankful for is that although I was born during the war I don’t have any memories of it as one of our friends only a year older had. Although I can remember asking for reassurance that there would never be another war. Thank God my Mum had the common sense to reassure me that of course there wouldn’t.

Incidentally my Uncle was in a reserved occupation. The house he was lodging in had a bomb drop on it on the morning of his wedding. He survived, dusted himself and his wedding clothes off and went off to get married and was back on fire watching the following night.

My GF was in the Royal Navy in the first WW, and my Paternal GF was in the Army. Sadly he was gassed in the trenches but lived until 1938.
My dad failed the medical for the forces due to rheumatic heart disease (or something similar) so worked as a lorry driver. Perhaps OPs dad had a medical condition and was exempt from Service.

My dad was in the army,serving in Burma. He rarely spoke of it. He refused to ever eat rice as he's seen too many bodies rotting in the paddy fields. When I went through his paperwork after his death I found his army paybook & tucked inside was a letter from an officer thanking him for all he did....He was his Batman. Dad contracted malaria out there & had many bouts of illlness.
My mum lived in Manchester, worked in a factory. She was the eldest of three sisters & they apparently had a very good social life with the American troops that visited the city! Her best friend married a GI &emigrated to the US after the war.

He was indeed in a reserve occupation. One of my granddads was a school teacher so was a fireman in his spare time. The other had a back injury working in the brickworks so was in the home guard. Both of hubby s were coal miners so another reserved occupation but one did run away and joined the Welsh Guards

Women also had a hard time with the work they had to do, in munitions factories and other similar heavy jobs. My Mother had to sew flags, and was sent into underground stations where the flags were made. She was severely claustrophobic, but in wartime it was a case of 'tough'. She started smoking to try to steady her nerves.

Yes, war history is a tricky topic, my dad was called up in WW2, and despite being a 'master baker' was allocated into the Service Corps (now 'Ordnance' or 'Logistics' perhaps). He helped run mobile warehouses and stores sections, issuing people with vests, boots, soap, pencils, all manner of stuff to keep an army going. I'm not sure he ever needed a rifle to fire at the enemy, but he served in the Middle East, N Africa, then Crete and Italy, and he got bombed and shelled as if he was in frontline trenches! The Malaria he got in the War affected him for the rest of his life.

My father served in the army in the 1914/1918 war. He was in in the Gallipoli campaign. He caught malaria and during my childhood i remember him having bouts of illness. In the second war ".i was in the WAAF and my husband a regular in the Grenadier Guards. He was in the Normandy landings and was injured in France. As soon as he was well enough was sent to Palestine.
No post traumatic shock treatment then and he became deaf and suffered ill health.

As a reserved occupation a man working on the docks was risking his life every day. They were a prized target so maybe your dad didn’t want to talk about it especially if his docks had been hit.

My father didn’t fight because he was a cinema operator.
Apparently, that was a reserved occupation.

My father was in one of the companies which went in to clean up Bergen Belsen.
He said he would never ever speak of what he saw at that time and he didn't.

My dad made scientific instruments and was needed so no fighting for him!

My dad was posted to India,Burma. He was born 1925. Al dad ever said was he was Colonel's driver! He never got home till 1946. He would never say anything else and passed away 4 years ago. I only found out a few weeks ago that India was where offensive again Japan was being launched. I think dad saw some awful things and I know they were told never to talk about it when they came home as war was over and families did not want to hear about it any more. Amazing that they kept to that throughout their lives.

My father returned from fighting in spainish civil war in early ‘39 and joined British army ..because of his experience he was straight way made a sergeant , as they needed NCO’s ….. my mother left my sister with grannie in London and joined the ATS …she was posted to Dover Castle on Ack-Ack guns as a ‘spotter’….. she hardly saw my father in 5 years and my brother was born in ‘46. My mother then went into a different branch of army which necessitated her using a parachute ….she broke her arm in 5 places while training in Brecon Beacons, on her third practice jump! That was the end of her war effort ….she was discharged!
Her brother …my uncle …was a conscientious objector , but joined the army as a stretcher bearer ….he was killed at Dunkirk!
My point is …..everyone’s job was important during this terrible time ….and stay at home men were keeping this country going under extreme circumstances and NOT getting much praise for it! Whatever your father did with those trucks at ports ….you can bet your life it was dangerous and absolutely necessary!

One grandad worked in a munitions factory, the other was a postman. My dad was in the army catering corps and rarely spoke about it.

My father never discussed what he went through during WW2. Most of what I found out about his service has been by reading about F.M. Montgomery and his 8th Army Desert Rats, one of whom was my Dad. He was posted 'missing presumed dead' after one of the battles, so Mum thought she was a widow. We moved to be near Dad's family but got bombed out of our homes twice. Luckily, after some time my Dad was found in a hospital and sent home for a few days R&R then shipped back to the front again. I do know he was one of the many rescued at Dunkirk and, silly as it sounds, if ever there are any old newsreels shown of that, I scan the men to see if I can spot him!! So far NO!!

My father tried to join up as soon as possible, but the RAF told him that as his eyesight was too poor to let him be a pilot and as he was studying medicine, he should stay at university, as they vizualised needing all the doctors they could get. He finally did join the RAF in 1945 as a F,ight Surgeon and was stationed on Sylt in Northern Germany, where he met my mother.

She was Danish and like her sister and mother was involved in Resistance work in Copenhagen during the war - although my grandmother took great care that neither daughter knew what her sister or mother were actually doing.

In May 1945 my mother wangled herself into the WAAF as a Danish-English interpretor and was sent down to the German border.