My maternal grandad

[Jaws]

He worked in Fleet St on the presses as an engineer, and was a FWW during the blitz ( Fire Watch Warden )
One the first on the scene when St Pauls was hit, he got a commendation for that..



At the time the picture was taken my dad was in a POW camp ( Milag Nord ) in Westertimke

If of any interest I have a few of his pictures taken IN the camp...........
The Merchant Marine camps were very lax compared to the RN ones..

 

[slim63]

Yes john, any sort of history like that always gets my interest

My own grandad worked down the pit from aged 14 to 65 & as it was a reserved occupation during the war so he couldn't join up & he was in the position of spending 12 hours a day being safer than most while working in one of the most dangerous environments, I found his pit checks along with his & my granny's id cards from 1943 & some other bits only this morning while rooting in the attic for something for the missus

Grandad lost one brother on the somme (ww1) while the other survived only to be lost in the cov blitz a few years later

 

[Jaws]

Appell ( Roll Call )



Beside the mess hall



Camp beside the wire




Camp Commandant and visitor



Camp hospital



Camp theatre




Not sure but this is thought to be the captain of the SS Maimoa ( ship my dad was on )



All I know about this one is she was a lady that worked in the camp



Some of his shipmates



This one is interisting.. The camp plan

 

[Lee337]

I find this stuff very interesting. Aside from an old movie reel, there's nothing of my family as far as I know other than stories. My paternal grandfather was stationed in Africa during WW2 but that's all I know. When he returned to civilian life, he worked for the Post Office. I remember waiting on the corner of the road for him to come home as he had an old Honda C50 & he used to pick me up so I could ride down the street with him. My paternal grandmother was a nurse & was the first home help in Buckinghamshire (which I only found out shortly before she died.

On my mothers side, my grandfather used to be a train driver, so was in a reserved occupation. He worked on the trains until he retired, only giving up train driving in his late 50's when his health started to deteriorate. My grandmother used to work in Bletchley park & later for Barclays. No idea what she did in Bletchley park as she took that knowledge to the grave, as I believe most of those that worked there did.

I had a behind the scene tour of Bletchley Park many years ago as one of the members of a sporting car club I used to belong to was a volunteer there. Aside from having the chance to speak to one of the last surviving code breakers there while in the main house, there was a photo on the wall of my grandmother (paternal, the nurse) who I didn't even know worked there - no one in the family ever mentioned it.

 

[Malone]

My maternal granddad spent the war in Reykjavik but had died by the time I was interested enough to ask about the war.
My paternal granddad served in WW1 and also died before I could talk to him about it. I did see a photo of him and colorised it on a website. He’s holding the dog, not the native baby