Face to Face With History

[Mattonsea]

Not sure , she was from Poland . I will find out.

 

[welsh dragon]

About 30 years ago, my brother was doing a house clearance and came across the diary of a world war 1 officer in the flying corps. It was a bit worse for wear but still readable.
There was no name or regiment to go by, but the officer talked about his mater and pater and his chums, and how they had to he de loused, and the things they got up to when on leave. He also talked about the parcels he received from home and the missions that he went on. It was fascinating, and I still have the diary in my possession.

 

[Mattonsea]

About 30 years ago, my brother was doing a house clearance and came across the diary of a world war 1 officer in the flying corps. It was a bit worse for wear but still readable.
There was no name or regiment to go by, but the officer talked about his mater and pater and his chums, and how they had to he de loused, and the things they got up to when on leave. He also talked about the parcels he received from home and the missions that he went on. It was fascinating, and I still have the diary in my possession.

Look after that , or donate to the Imperial War Musuem??????????

 

[welsh dragon]

="Mattonsea, post: 2956579, member: 31722"]Look after that , or donate to the Imperial War Musuem??????????[/quote]
Unfortunately it was damaged, but I have kept it safe for all these years. It is great reading. I wish there was a name to go on, but there's nothing

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

="Mattonsea, post: 2956579, member: 31722"]Look after that , or donate to the Imperial War Musuem??????????

Unfortunately it was damaged, but I have kept it safe for all these years. It is great reading. I wish there was a name to go on, but there's nothing

Didn't they get a name from the house they were clearing??
If you know the address, couldn't you trace the names of the owners? I mean, there must be a record somewhere!

Get some potential names together and then try and view the Air Force records!


Of course, that sounds too much like hard work, but, the answer must be there somewhere!

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

Even the missions will no doubt yield some clues

 

[welsh dragon]

Didn't they get a name from the house they were clearing??
If you know the address, couldn't you trace the names of the owners? I mean, there must be a record somewhere!

Get some potential names together and then try and view the Air Force records!


Of course, that sounds too much like hard work, but, the answer must be there somewhere!

It was 30 years ago, and to be honest he wouldn't be able to remember after all this time, but I have thought of trying to find out more info. Maybe now there is online ancestry sites, I may be able to find something out

 

[Gravity Aided]

My father was an interesting character, played professional baseball through much of the depression, went on to work at a steel mill in 1937, and got laid off, so he took up firing steam engines. Got called back to work one day at the steel mill, and the factory had been transformed over a weekend. Guard towers, barbed wire, machine guns, armed guards, a gunboat in the canal. He asked the guards what was up, because he had been fishing on the Illinois River the day before and had gone to bed, only to be roused by the telephone about 4am. The guards told him Britain and France had gone to war with Germany.He worked there until he was drafted into the infantry at near 30. He started the Pacific Campaign in New Caledonia, and went from there to New Britain and the Philippines, then participated in the evacuation of the Japanese from Korea. His brother had been captured at Bataan, and spent much of the war in a Japanese POW camp, forced to dig coal in inhuman conditions. I never heard these men speak disparagingly about their former enemies, nor did they speak much about the war itself.

 

[Mattonsea]

My father was an interesting character, played professional baseball through much of the depression, went on to work at a steel mill in 1937, and got laid off, so he took up firing steam engines. Got called back to work one day at the steel mill, and the factory had been transformed over a weekend. Guard towers, barbed wire, machine guns, armed guards, a gunboat in the canal. He asked the guards what was up, because he had been fishing on the Illinois River the day before and had gone to bed, only to be roused by the telephone about 4am. The guards told him Britain and France had gone to war with Germany.He worked there until he was drafted into the infantry at near 30. He started the Pacific Campaign in New Caledonia, and went from there to New Britain and the Philippines, then participated in the evacuation of the Japanese from Korea. His brother had been captured at Bataan, and spent much of the war in a Japanese POW camp, forced to dig coal in inhuman conditions. I never heard these men speak disparagingly about their former enemies, nor did they speak much about the war itself.

It still amazes me all those men fro the mid west who signed up to fight in the war . Europe owes a huge debt to the those sons who fought over here. I am acutely aware of this ,right next to our farm is the manor house where a group of American soldier's were based in the lead up to D day. I found in the soil a Stars and Stripes belt buckle were they had there firing range on are land . The evidence of there time here is still around us 70 years on .

 

[ufkacbln]

My Grandfather was a Sergeant with the Royal Horse Artillery, but invaided abck home after becoming deaf.

He told the story of how they had unlimbered the horses and he was leading them away. He remembers a large bang and shock. Then found himself standing alone with the reins in his hand and no trace of the horses.

It was a fascinating concept for us as kids that you could be so near to death and yet survive with a relatively minor disability

 

[ufkacbln]

Slightly OT, but in St Albans, I found the "street memorials" where small memorials remember the dead of that street. A small street with a dozen houses and half a dozen names - a simple and all the more poignant memorial as it puts the effect on a community in perspective

 

[Gravity Aided]

In our park, we still have a little Renault Tank and some sort of gigantic artillery piece as a WW1 memorial, as well as a once large orphanage that looks sort of like a village in France, but with American Military Style support buildings. Now a business park.

 

[swee'pea99]

Friend of mine (the same one whose dad was in Bomber Command as it happens. I only have the one. But I digress...) had a job onetime as a sales consultant for Banhams, the security firm. It was his job to go round in response to people's enquiries, assess their homes, and work up proposals. Being a relative new boy, he tended to find himself with a lot of the less juicy-looking contacts, so wasn't surprised one day to find himself in one of those ticky-tacky '30s estates of small cheap houses, in the outer reaches of north west London.

He knocked, and the door was answered by an old feller, rather shambolic and dishevelled, with a pronounced central European accent. His hopes, already low, fell thru' the floor. But he was a nice bloke, and Banhams made it a point of principle to treat everyone with equal dignity, and he'd come a long way, and the bloke seemed like a decent sort, so in he went, and ended up having an interesting chat for half an hour or so - the bloke clearly being the kind who doesn't get to see people much. But he had a living to make, so eventually he asked if he could have a quick look around and maybe...(having long since given up on any idea that there might be business to be had - Banhams are not cheap, and from the look of the bloke and his house, there wasn't much money hereabouts).

The man apologised for keeping him so long, and said there was really only one thing he needed security for, and took him up to the first landing. He opened a bedroom door, and my friend found himself looking at what he could tell at a glance (his mum had been a fan) was several million pounds worth of those ghastly Meissen-type figurines. These things go for tens of thousands apiece, and the entire room was full of them - nothing in it, apart from wall to wall figurines and a single chair. The guy explained that he'd been a collector in Germany before the war, and had got the best of his collection out just in time. Now he used to come and sit in that chair for a couple of hours an evening, just looking at them.

But he had no money, so my friend said his best option was just to keep quiet and almost certainly nothing would happen. There was nothing about the house to suggest it was worth burgling. They parted on good terms, and that was that.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

The evidence of there time here is still around us 70 years on .

Walking through the Dolomite Mountains in Italy on the AustroHungarian line, it is not uncommon to find things that have recently been exposed due to the elements sticking out of the ground.

I found various pieces of shell casing, a bullet casing, shrapnel, a magazine for a handgun and a section of barbed wire, all of which I still have.

It wasn't just in France/Belguim it happened you know - They had to build tunnels into the mountains and the soldiers froze up there during the winter. Also, a lot of the tunnels were unlit, pitch black in fact so there are stories of the only way you could identify the enemy was to feel their uniform and just hope you got the shot in first!!

A true game of 'Murder in the dark'.

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

I found various pieces of shell casing, a bullet casing, shrapnel, a magazine for a handgun and a section of barbed wire, all of which I still have.

..... And if there was a museum somewhere that wanted them then I'd happilly donate - That piece of barbed wire has really scratched the shelf it sits on over the years!!