What did your relatives do in WWII?

[Jim117]

My maternal grandfather was with the 8th Army in North Africa and later in Europe. He was supposed to be an anti tank gunner which in the early stage of the war meant he was issued a Boyes anti tank rifle. This was a heavy hand held weapon that was obsolete by the end of the First World War. After dragging this heavy pig of a gun around for ages he finally got his moment of glory. Sighting up on a panzer he let rip. The round hit and ricocheted straight up in the air causing absolutely bugger all damage to the tank. He removed the bolt from the rifle and “lost” the bolt and rifle in separate ditches. He spent the rest of his war carrying a Lee Enfield infantry rifle. My paternal grandfather was a miner and hence a reserved occupation though that didn’t stop him from trying to join up on multiple occasions.

[GabrielC]

My late grandfather was in the Royal Navy on an repair ship based in Gibraltar he was a Petty Officer . An cousin of my grandfathers was an soldier in the Far East he was at Singapore when it fell to the Japanese he was taken to Burma now Myanmar. When he returned home no one in the family knew who he was he lost that much weight. Another relative was at Dunkirk just got away in time.