05-31-2004, 10:09 PM
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Banned
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Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: There castle.
Posts: 44,601
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Quote:
Originally posted by Snibble
I think *wishing* is the wrong word.. you wouldn't want a family member to "die", right?
Anyways.. I had a distant family member in the US Army during WWII. He met mom's aunt in Germany.. married and came to the US.
Thats as far as US forces goes. I did have family members such as my grandfather and great grandfather fight during WWI and WWII.
EDIT:
I don't have war stories from my family that deals with US forces, but I do have some interesting ones.
My grandmother's oldest sister during the early part of WWII met a Nazi officer. They began dating and so forth and then decided to get married. However, being that she was Polish and Catholic, and he was a German Protestant... the Catholic church refused to marry them. They instead got married at a Protestant church. Shortly after the marriage, he recieves a notice that he is called to duty. He was told that he only has 2 more weeks of duty, essentially one battle, and then could be released to go back. This was the last time she has ever heard of him. He was presumed KIA and his body was never found. After the war, a US army soldier met her. Make long story short... after waiting years before the Nazi officer was officially declared deceased, the two got married and moved to the US.
Another story involves my great-grandfather. He too was Polish, although with a popular German 1st name. He worked for the Siemens company. Anyhow... towards the end of the War, the Germans were desparate and used even older men, past the age of 35 to fight. He then lived near the German/Polish border... but Germans were in control. My great grandfather's brothers were stopped by the Germans and told to serve. However, they argued and one ended up shot the other hung. My great-grandfather had no choice but to serve. He was then sent to a battle(don't know the name).. where there was heavy fighting. My Great grandfather, being in his early 40's at the time, decided to pretend he was killed. After the battle, lying amongst the dead... he crawled his way out of the mess and ran into the nearby forest. From there, he found a cottage with a stable. He had nothing to eat, so he took food that was there for the animals. However, he was caught by a German lady. He explained that he's a lost soldier looking for food. The lady, having her husband die in the war, was sympathetic and invited him for some food. He spent, from what I have been told 2 nights, before making his way back home. He stopped by several churches along the way in the care of the nuns. By the time he reached back home, the Allied forces where there. He quickly ran to them, presumably without his uniform by then, and explained his situation. He was taken in by the UNRA (can't find any info on them) where he worked among them. some things he brought back home with him were US ARMY pots and pans, that even to this day my grandmother in Poland uses to make her good Polish soups.
My grandfather, during WWII was too young to join the Army. He instead was a scout in an underground resistance called "Armja Krajowa" which meant "Country's Army". Don't have much info on what he did, but all I know is that he and his resistance fought the Germans near the Warsaw area.
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Gosh, that's interesting, Snib. I hope you write this stuff down for your descendents. Most of us don't and family history dies with the oldest relative.
Write down, son, write it down.
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