My Grandfather.. a true war hero

[Abuzer]

Any chance of that photo being your grandfather or one of his brothers in training in 1939? Sand, trees and equipment make it look like the Grebbeberg or something.

Interesting find you had there Slayer, my grandfather was shipped off to Indonesia as well. It's really weird sometimes to think about, nowadays Indonesia is this huge nation and the Netherlands so tiny. And then to think we shipped of hundreds of thousands of young boys almost immediately after WW2 to re-occupy that territory, different times back then.

My grandfather was just like your father a young man in WW2, escaping forced labor by hiding in the attic and stuff. Shipped off as a captain to Indonesia, the man was a nerdy accountant for crying out loud! He never talked much about his experiences there, but he remained plagued by nightmares long after his return.
I´m still hoping to find such a diary of him like you did Slayer, and turn it around in a book-project.

If you really want the picture identified, try emailing it to the NIOD and the National Archives, I had some contacts there and both institutes are staffed with war-trivia liking nerds who have loads of spare time to research the hell out of that picture (and also make a good target for governmental cutbacks  )

[Slayer]

Any chance of that photo being your grandfather or one of his brothers in training in 1939? Sand, trees and equipment make it look like the Grebbeberg or something.

It is definitely not his father, that was an old man in the war Might be one of his older brothers, the eldest served in the army in 1940 and fought at Moerdijk Bridge. Still, it could be a training before or just after the war, as most training facilities are on the Veluwe etc. I'd love to find out whether this is 1940 or 1945. The BS (Binnenlandse Strijdkrachten - some kind of Home Army) wore this type of helmet in 1945 too.

He never talked much about his experiences there, but he remained plagued by nightmares long after his return.

Sorry to hear he was so plagued by nightmares. My dad didn't have to do nasty stuff (as far as I have read the diary now, he wasn't armed most of the time, and when I was young he told me he had never fired his weapon).

If you really want the picture identified, try emailing it to the NIOD and the National Archives, I had some contacts there and both institutes are staffed with war-trivia liking nerds who have loads of spare time to research the hell out of that picture (and also make a good target for governmental cutbacks  )

Thx for the tip, I might follow up on it

[VonMudra]

THat would make more sense to me, Slayer.  I highly doubt the Dutch were still using vickers guns after the war, since they had been fully reequipped by the allies.

[Slayer]

THat would make more sense to me, Slayer.  I highly doubt the Dutch were still using vickers guns after the war, since they had been fully reequipped by the allies.

I already got corrected for the fact that I said it was a Vickers, as it actually is a Lewis.   I also found this pic on the web, it is very similar:

It didn't have any additional info, however.

On a different forum I found a detail of this pic reposted, and there someone posted that the Lewis went into service in 1920 in the Netherlands, but that's about it (what I could find).

This site has a series of pics about setting up the Lewis, and it says the pics are from 1939-1940:
http://www.leger1939-1940.nl/Fotos/lewis1.htm

[VonMudra]

Oops, yes, it's a lewis x3

And yeah, as I said.  Probably a pre-war/mobilization photo

[Smiles]

Thanks for sharing

[nvrsummer2]

My Grandpa was a 1st Marine in Korea. He was a sniper. Didnt talk about what he did much but was at the battle of the Chosin Resevoir. His squad mates said he got a silver star. Although I cannot confirm it. No record of it around. But I do remember seeing a red ribbon with a silver star in his case when I was younger. Not 100% sure but when I look it up it is similar. He took it out after he heard people talking about it. And no one knows where it went. Rumor was he had it buried with the wife of a war buddy who died about 20 years ago. He loved her like a sister. Grandpa had some mean scars on his lower legs but always said they were from a barbed wire fence. But one buddy told us a story of a time when My grandpa was shooting and got separated from his unit. He was making his way back and ran face to face into a N. Korean soldier. The NK got a grenade and pulled the pin. He was so scared though that he threw the pin at my grandfather and dropped the grenade blowing himself up. Supposedly the shrapnel was what cup up his legs. He was supposed to go to a hospital ship and possibly back to the states but instead pulled the shrapnel out with some pliers. This lost him a sure purple heart.
On the day of his death a few weeks ago, his nurse was visiting. She told him his vitals were very bad and this was probably it. He refused to go into the hospital until his wife got home, she brought him a double shot of a bottle of Chivas he had been saving for around 50 years. He bought it in Japan on his way home after his discharge a few years after the war. He took a double shot and got out "Semper Fi". Those were his last words and he died a few hours later. Now if that isnt going out like a man I dont know what is.
These guys still walk amongst us and that amazes me how people treat old folks. If you see a man/woman in their 80's - 90's imagine what they went through.
I wait tables part time and got to talking to a man in his early 90's about the USS Iowa they just put in to the Port of Los Angeles. I said how I would love to see those guns firing. He said " I have and they sure made you feel confident." This piqued my interest and I asked "to do what". He said "well I saw the Wisconsin firing as we were waiting to go ashore at Iwo Jima". My jaw dropped and I started stuttering. He was a Corpsman on Iwo and was on the first wave ashore!! I could have talked to him for hours. I offered to pay for his dinner but he steadfastly refused. He said hes been a doctor his whole life and didnt want me to have to pay for his meal. The fact that I offered and knew about that part of history was enough to show appreciation. When the wives were away from the table he said he remembers the day he knew there was no god. He said he saw a chaplain get blown in half by something and the blast made the lower half seem to take a few steps. And that the chaplain didnt die right away. But layed there agonizing for a few minutes. He said there was no way a god would let that happen to a man so devout. I felt like I just met a rock star. athlete, movie star all rolled into one super hero of a man. yet here was this grumpy old fuss spilling coffee on his shirt and eating fish and chips. So be nice to those you see. You never know what innocence they sacrificed so that you can sit around and play FH2 all day. 

[Turkish007]

Very intereating stories. My aunt's cook fought in the Korean War with the Turkish Forces who went there, but
I was very little at the time he worked at my aunt's and the cook, Mr. Ahmet always told stories of the Korean war while cooking but I understanded very little. I remember him talking about a great victory near a river. Thats all.

[GeheimwaffeKLAUS]

Thanks for sharing, guys !

[THeTA0123]

Once met a veteran of the small force Belgium sended to korea. The unit wassent big. They got sended to an area called "hill 194" when a british commander saw the 700 men and said "Where are your units?"
In wich the belgian major replied=this is it.
I am talking about the battle of the Imjin river

They got attacked by chinese forces at night, being outnumberd 20 to 1. He said he was never so scared in his life. And he fired so much that he said "Als ik een lapke spek had, kon ik dat deju bakken op men 49!
(If i had a slice of bacon, i could dammit cook it on my SAFN!). He further talked on how the chinese attacked. He was very scared of the PPSH's the chinese had. But he also noticed some chinese soldiers where armed with mere Clubs. They lost 12 men that night. At one point he ran out of ammo, in wich he used his SAFN as a mere club aswel when the chinese did another major assault. Eventually he was able to get some ammo from the rear guard.

They had to retreat eventually. When the US 1st Battalion, 7th Infantry arrived to provide supporting fire for the Belgian battalion........They saw the entire hill area filled with chinese corpses.

An US soldier came to him and asked= Did you guys do this?

In wich the veteran opened his ammo bandoleer...wich contained ZERO rounds, and he opened his bolt of his rifle, showing 2 rounds remaining! In wich he replied=I think...we did





When he came home from korea..........He was awaited by alot of people
Not people celebrating the return of there boys!
But fucking HIPPIES who shouted sweared, trew rotten eggs, calling them "MURDERERS"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_the_Imjin_River

[Turkish007]

Just found out my grandma was in Germany in 1939 during the rise of the Nazis. She told me these;

That day she and her sister was going to go to the cinema. They were waiting for their dad to come home. Just before he did, thry started hearing violent voices outside wich was ocurring since a few years. Her dad came in and rammed the door. He immediately said: "pack up. We're leaving." Then they got all the important things with them and left many of their property. They went to the train station while Hitler made his speech and people were heil'ing. The train station was very crowded because of soldiers of the wehrmacht and tanks and armored vehicles being loaded on the train. In fact, it was so crowded that my great-grandma and great- grandpa tried to put my grandma and her sister through the windows of the train. They followed the route from Italy-Bulgaria-Turkey and finally arrived to Istanbul.


Thats all I could talk about from our last conversation, will try to learn more and ask if she has got any photos or sth like that left in our next meeting.

[Slayer]

Cool stories again!

@TheTA: of course the hippies were barking up the wrong tree, but when it comes down to it, they have a point. When you kill other humans, it is murder. War is just murder on a very large scale.

@ TurkishCommando: in 1939 the nazis weren't rising anymore. By then they had been in power for 6 years already So you are of German descent? Or were your grandparents immigrants in Germany?

[Turkish007]

@ TurkishCommando: in 1939 the nazis weren't rising anymore. By then they had been in power for 6 years already So you are of German descent? Or were your grandparents immigrants in Germany?

Yeah I know they had been on power a few years before, as I told you that my grandma heard those violent shouts for a few years. And yes,  Im part German - part Turkish.  In fact I learned German a few years before I could speak my mother language properly, but so much time, so little memory. Only remember German ein bischen  ( Im not even sure about the correct pronounciation of that)

[Slayer]

Yeah I know they had been on power a few years before, as I told you that my grandma heard those violent shouts for a few years.

OK, but
1) then you shouldn't have called it "rise of the nazis", and
2) even before the nazis took power, there were massive riots in the streets of Germany, mainly between nazis and communists (and before that between communists and Freikorps). Which would have resulted in violent shouting.

Sorry, I teach, I can't resist, even when at home

[Turkish007]

Yeah I know they had been on power a few years before, as I told you that my grandma heard those violent shouts for a few years.

OK, but
1) then you shouldn't have called it "rise of the nazis", and
2) even before the nazis took power, there were massive riots in the streets of Germany, mainly between nazis and communists (and before that between communists and Freikorps). Which would have resulted in violent shouting.

Sorry, I teach, I can't resist, even when at home

1) pardon my English level, Im still learning and sometimes dont know how to call things.
2) I know about the German Revoultion and stuff, but my Grandma was born after 10 years of the 1919 revoultion, so she was about the ages of 10 during these events so she doesnt recall any gunfire or armed riots. Besides how could we precisely know? She was a little kid, almost a baby at that time and she now is an old woman. She cant be sure about the precise dates and what happened.