WWII

gentlemanorcus

Anybody have any distant relatives who fought in the war?

My mom's side of the family is German. My uncle's brother fought in the war and died in the last month or so. My uncle later went to America to fight in the Cold War, but that's unrelated. My opa (German for grandfather) was part of Hitler Youth. I'm sure I have more German relatives who fought in the war, but they've probably all passed away by now.

My opa has never actually admitted he was in Hitler Youth. My mother was the one who told me. I've always wanted to talk to him about it, but I'm worried that I would offend him if I asked. Obviously he isn't proud of his memories of that time.

Malkavian

My Grandparents were actually in the camps.

They didn't talk about it much.

MillerCross

One of my great grandparents was in one of the boat sunk by a German u-boat after Colombia declared war on Germany.

Which only amounted to said attack.

wheeee, we're important and shit.

Ponicalica

My maternal grandfather, recently deceased, was a combat engineer in WWII.

Ironweaver

He didn't exactly fight, but my grand-grandfather was captured and hauled to a work camp near Dresden, even attempting to escape with a friend and reaching all the way to a farm near Brno, where he was captured. He managed to survive only by bribing the Germans with the money he managed to steal on the way. They killed his pal, though.

The Russians came later, and he said that they were even worse than the Germans - they released and transported back to their homes only the prisoners who agreed to give them something of value they held. He had a watch, a family heirloom (I have no idea why the Germans didn't take it - he might have as well been making some of the stuff up), and when they asked him to give it to them, he said that he has a better one and that he'll get it right away. He used that opportunity to escape, and came back to Serbia after three months of walking. Not sure how true all of that is, though.

nohaynicklibre

Lol neutrality.

And none of my relatives were in the Civil War either.

We're a boring family

Chagen

My dad's Polish family was probably being brutally killed by the Germans, so....

ClockworkUniverse

My godmother was a Nagasaki survivor.

carbonmantis

Not a genetic relative, but my step-grandfather fought in the Aleutian campaign against the Japanese.

My maternal great-grandfather was an engineer employed by the Oak Ridge labs, so I suppose one could say he was indirectly involved in the war. 

Shichibukai

My paternal grandfather was in the Royal Observer Corps; maternal was in the British Army, not sure which campaign.

AnneBeeche

My great grandmother was a Nazi work camp survivor.

I believe she was trapped in the work camp when she was a teenager.

captainbrass

My paternal grandfather was in the Royal Navy. He spent part of the war on convoy duty in the Atlantic, part on a minesweeper in the Mediterranean. He used to say that a lot of the time the storms were more frightening than the Germans - apparently one night there was a big storm and a depth charge broke free, and they spent the whole night with it rolling around the deck because it was just too dangerous to go up and stop it.

My Mum's father was in the Royal Pioneer Corps. They used to build stuff for the Army, but I'm not sure exactly what he did. He was in North Africa and I think Normandy as well. My granny used to say he was never quite the same afterwards - he lost all his ambition and just wanted a quiet life.

Icalasari

I think a great granduncle may have had an active part, but I'm not sure

Otherwise no, not to my knowledge