Jumping out of planes
Getting Shot
Escaping from POW camps

Not my grandads!

One was a miner and the other a joiner so neither were sent to war.

Rationing
Losing their friends at a young age
Being guinea pigs for nuclear tests, plastic surgery etc

Not being allowed to go off an fight, one got to ride motorbikes arround the lake district as a police officer, the other designed bits of the Merlin engine by day and put out fires by night.

Being read the riot act, then being charged by cavalry
Having Winston Churchill using artillery in the city
Working quite hard
Registering births and deaths

my Nan

Rationing
Losing their friends at a young age
Being guinea pigs for nuclear tests, plastic surgery etc

And still managing to be a decent part of society.

Not my granddad but my dad – being thrust into providing for his two sisters and one brother after his dad died when he was just 16. This meant he never got to study architecture as he wanted to do and instead ended up working as an apprentice television repairman to help provide for the family.

My Grandma – losing both her parents to the 1918 flu pandemic aged 4, having TB, having her older brother taken away as he was healthy, never seeing him again and then growing up in a childrens home.

I was always in awe of how cheerful a person she was given what she'd been through.

Bombed out of his house in the east end of London by a V1
Hiding a secret 1st family from his 2nd Wife (my grandmother) until my father started to do the family history…!

WW1, seeing lots of mates die. (Awarded MC)
Unemployment in the depression and no dole.
Hunger
Not being able to clothe his kids properly.

Things are better now.

wwaswas – your grandma sounds like my wifes auntie doris ( who just passed away couple of months ago ) – she lost her parents to the flu and was unofficially adopted my mrs.g's grandparents and went on to help her adopted father in the home guard in WW II

Bicycle polo on a fixie.

grynch – yes – she remembered the Zepplins over London (they lived in the east end.

My mum tells a story about how they went to the river at Shoreham for a swim during the war (the beaches were all mined and wired) and there was a 'bit of bombing and a dog fight at the airfield' so she, my uncle and my Grandma all had to sit in a ditch for an hour 'til it died down a bit'. I asked if my mum had been worried 'Oh no, she said Grandma wouldn't have let us worry' (the way she said it made it a positive thing – 'We're safe here children, let's count the aeroplanes' kindofthing).

Different generation with a different view on life I think.

Stockings & suspenders ;-O

Well, one of them: Incredible poverty in a country blighted by famine and disease, with no health care system, almost non-existent education, back-breaking work for up to 18 hours a day, and an early death due to illness.

Eee, kids today, they don't know how lucky they are blah blah…

🙁

I asked if my mum had been worried 'Oh no, she said Grandma wouldn't have let us worry' (the way she said it made it a positive thing – 'We're safe here children, let's count the aeroplanes' kindofthing).

Makes you think, eh? People now worry when their car gets a little scratch in Sainsbury's car park…

Invading Europe.

Just getting on with it…
Had a mechanical mind and managed to get the farm running on electricity at a very early age (I believe it was a 12v power supply but it was running on electricity nonetheless – lighting and I believe electric fencing for the animals);
got sent to Burma and had a rather nasty time of it (like all the rest of his buddies (that survived));
Guinea pig for some drugs and other stuff during his army years…;
Started process that made chicken go from a luxury item to a much more affordable food – was a 'pioneer' in that field.

Getting shot at, getting captured, being on the run in Italy until the end of the war.

But, he did it all and came back home safe and sound (ok, with a couple of new scars and some good stories) and lived to a good old age before he came up against something he couldn't win against.

Harry – was your dad German? Last time I checked we liberated not invaded Europe. Well, OK, it was all thanks to the Americans of course, but we were there too!

wwaswas… again auntie doris was exactly the same… being being a nosey american I asked her once how she got on during the war and she replied ( bless her cotton socks ) " oh dear, we just got on as best we could "

it was later that I heard about her working for the home guard and going into bombed out buildings looking for ( and finding )bodies.

I could never imagine

and yes till the day she died she was just sweet old auntie doris,always ready with a cuppa tea and a biscuit whenever we would visit.

and yes till the day she died she was just sweet old auntie doris,always ready with a cuppa tea and a biscuit whenever we would visit.

What a wonderful memory to have of someone.

I was just reminded of another story.. "zeppelins over london"
Mrs G and I become friends with another woman at the care home where auntie doris spent her last couple of years and this lady…sharp as a tack, still going strong at 104 years old .. she told us a story about zeppelins over london and it took me back abit when I realized she was talking about her childhood and WW I !!

Jeeze, when I think about it, my nan was alive to see the advent of air travel, the development of Radio, the birth of Television, the transition from Silent Movies to the 'Talkies', colour photography, nuclear power, rocket and jet propulsion, Space Travel, computer technology, and the birth of the internet. Amongst many, many other things during her lifetime. She also was around to see the invention of the Bra, and it's subsequent burning!

I don't think she really thought about all that stuff too much though. She was more concerned about her lace doilies being in the perfect position on the sideboard…

Dad 39-45: 2 years in North Atlantic & western approaches on destroyers (sunk once). Couple of years minesweeping in North Sea. I did find out a few years ago average life expectancy was 3-6 months! 1945 Indian ocean (sunk again). Came home early 1946

Other Grandad was an officer in the Navy making sure that the electrics were working for a fleet of minesweepers… sure that wasn't stressful in the slightest.

And from the other thread…

Annoying stuff my Grandmas had to deal with

All the cleaning
All the cooking
All the laundry
No emotions

Unexploded german ordnance in North Africa, until a booby trap got him.

Solarider – you ought to check again.
We liberated France & Belgium etc, yes; but we had to invade first.
And the Germans and Italians weren't very keen on the idea.

You seem to forget the role played by the Russians, too.

My Grandad served in Burma. I don't think that was much of a picnic. It seemed the main thing you had to concentrate on was not getting malaria. Oh… and the small matter of the japanese

Falling out of a watchtower while trying to get a clean shot at Steve McQueen……

In reality being a transported orphan after both parent died in the Flu pandemic of 1915-22.And being a d-day dodger (fought in Italy)

Being "first reserve" for the guys who got parachuted onto the D-day beaches BEFORE the landing craft turned-up! (Well clear of that one!)

Also got a great Auntie who got trained as a welder and was building Spitfires up in Scotland before getting moved down to the south coast to patch them up and get them back in the air during the Battle of Britain.

Amazing stuff.

I used to have dealings through work with a fantastic old guy who survived Auschwitz. He passed away a few years back but knowing him only slightly is something that I won’t forget. I still deal with his son (another true gent) who was separated from his dad as a child in the camps and was reunited with him over here in the mid 1950’s when he was 16. Neither thought the other had survived.

Wonderful men put through hideous circumstances.

Grandad: Fighting in France during WWII. He pulled a mate out of position on the flank of their defensive position "because I had a funny feeling". The Germans attacked, and after the fighting Grandads mate went back to his position, only it wasn't there. It had suffered a direct hit from a mortar round. 😯
Nanna: Raising 7 kids in post war Britain with Grandad working 6 days down the pits. Then still finding the energy to adopt two more from an abusive family.
Quite literally my heroes.

Real adversity brings out the best in people. They don't use the word 'spoiled' for nothing.

harry_the_spider – Have you read If this is Man / The Truce by Primo Levi?

One of the most powerful and amazing books I've read.

War

Being away from home for years at a time at war
Rickets
Polio
Typhoid
Shell shock
lead pipes for water
smog

The Southern Yeti – Member
harry_the_spider – Have you read If this is Man / The Truce by Primo Levi?

One of the most powerful and amazing books I've read.

No thanks. Hearing the brief version of their story is bad enough.

I live with my granda and scored 104 for the ADHD and 40 for the Autism tests on this thread: http://www.singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/autism-test

I guess I'm the annoying stuff my Granda has to deal with 😀