Family Thread

[The Mighty McLovin]

I am pretty sure a thread was made before, but I can't find it, so heres another one.

I found out about my great grandfather today. He was born in 1890s and was left on the steps of a church, abandoned by his real parents. He was orphaned by a large family, and was named Francis Melody. In 14 he joined the mines and in 17 he joined the WW1 under-age. I don't know much about him in the WW1, he didn't talk about it. After the war, he joined the Territorial Army to gain money and make a life for himself. He married and had kids and in 1939, he was called down to the TA Station and never returned. 3 weeks later, it turned out that he was in France. He was part of the BEF. He was at Dunkirk and he had to knock the soldiers unconscious to get them onto the beaches. While in France, he went into a pub with some other soldiers. He left and then German trucks rolled up and shot everyone else who was left in the pub. During the war, he was shot in the back and in the fingers, so two of his fingers were moulded off. When he returned from the war, he never talked about it, and then he had a heart attack when he was 65.

So yeah, share your stories!

[OttoFIN]

my grandma was a field marshal



Jk, we were plebs




Jk, my great grandfather was a pioneer in the Finnish army until 1942 (I think?) once an accident including explosions wounded him. He got home safe though.

[The Mighty McLovin]

my grandma was a field marshal



Jk, we were plebs




Jk, my great grandfather was a pioneer in the Finnish army until 1942 (I think?) once an accident including explosions wounded him. He got home safe though.

Cool. I'll try and get pics of my great grandfather soon..

[Dazzer]

I am pretty sure a thread was made before, but I can't find it, so heres another one.

I found out about my great grandfather today. He was born in 1890s and was left on the steps of a church, abandoned by his real parents. He was orphaned by a large family, and was named Francis Melody. In 14 he joined the mines and in 17 he joined the WW1 under-age. I don't know much about him in the WW1, he didn't talk about it. After the war, he joined the Territorial Army to gain money and make a life for himself. He married and had kids and in 1939, he was called down to the TA Station and never returned. 3 weeks later, it turned out that he was in France. He was part of the BEF. He was at Dunkirk and he had to knock the soldiers unconscious to get them onto the beaches. While in France, he went into a pub with some other soldiers. He left and then German trucks rolled up and shot everyone else who was left in the pub. During the war, he was shot in the back and in the fingers, so two of his fingers were moulded off. When he returned from the war, he never talked about it, and then he had a heart attack when he was 65.

jk

[The Mighty McLovin]

No joke.

[Black Watch 1745]

My Great Grandfather on my fathers side of the family was a Sergeant in the 251st Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers. It was their job to tunnel beneath No-Mans Land, construct a large chamber beneath the German lines, fill it with explosives and then blow it up, usually when there was a big offensive on. His company had the honour of firing the last mine fired by the British Army in WW1. In 1918 they were repairing a part of the frontline along the La Boisselle canal when in April they were caught up in the second great German offensive of that year. He never spoke about the war but it was around that time he was promoted to Sergeant. He was put in the z class reserve follwoing the Armistice (a reserve formed after the war incase we needed to get the army together again if Germany didn't accept the peace terms) until about 1920 when he returned to his job of tin mining although he had to go to Burma as his mine near Redruth of which he had been a Captain, had closed down. I can't remember if it was he or my other Great-grandfather who was a policeman in the Second World War.
  Another Great Grandfather, also on my fathers side, was in the Royal Navy. He worked in the dockyards at Falmouth and was even called in to help with the work on the Titanic before her maiden voyage (he was an electrical engineer) although thankfully he didn't sail on her. He did tell my father quite a bit. That his ship, HMS Indomitable, took part in the Dardanelles campaign and supported the troops at Gallipoli. The most famous action his ship took part in was Jutland in 1916 where he said he saw HMS Invincible (I think it was the Invincible, might have been the Indefatigable) blow up. Funnily enough, we always thought he was an only child but we just found out he had a load of siblings including another brother who served in the navy as well although he missed Jutland and probably saw little to no action.
  We are not sure on my mothers side as we are still looking into things, although there is an old family story of a relative who was a sergeant in the Norfolk Regiment who got killed at the Battle of the Somme. One relative we do know about was my Great-Grandfather on my mothers side who enlisted in the RAF in 1929. He was in India, briefly in Australia, Iraq and finally Egypt (he was a keen photographer so we have quite a few pictures). It gets a bit fuzzy when the war starts as it appears that he was in Egypt against Rommel but he said he was based back in England later in the war. Whether he was transferred to another squadron we don't know and are currently researching that. He was a bit affected by the war as he had to go and bomb a German city not long before the war ended. His family sadly did not understand the stress he was under.

[The Mighty McLovin]

My Great Grandfather on my fathers side of the family was a Sergeant in the 251st Tunnelling Company, Royal Engineers. It was their job to tunnel beneath No-Mans Land, construct a large chamber beneath the German lines, fill it with explosives and then blow it up, usually when there was a big offensive on. His company had the honour of firing the last mine fired by the British Army in WW1. In 1918 they were repairing a part of the frontline along the La Boisselle canal when in April they were caught up in the second great German offensive of that year. He never spoke about the war but it was around that time he was promoted to Sergeant. He was put in the z class reserve follwoing the Armistice (a reserve formed after the war incase we needed to get the army together again if Germany didn't accept the peace terms) until about 1920 when he returned to his job of tin mining although he had to go to Burma as his mine near Redruth of which he had been a Captain, had closed down. I can't remember if it was he or my other Great-grandfather who was a policeman in the Second World War.
  Another Great Grandfather, also on my fathers side, was in the Royal Navy. He worked in the dockyards at Falmouth and was even called in to help with the work on the Titanic before her maiden voyage (he was an electrical engineer) although thankfully he didn't sail on her. He did tell my father quite a bit. That his ship, HMS Indomitable, took part in the Dardanelles campaign and supported the troops at Gallipoli. The most famous action his ship took part in was Jutland in 1916 where he said he saw HMS Invincible (I think it was the Invincible, might have been the Indefatigable) blow up. Funnily enough, we always thought he was an only child but we just found out he had a load of siblings including another brother who served in the navy as well although he missed Jutland and probably saw little to no action.
  We are not sure on my mothers side as we are still looking into things, although there is an old family story of a relative who was a sergeant in the Norfolk Regiment who got killed at the Battle of the Somme. One relative we do know about was my Great-Grandfather on my mothers side who enlisted in the RAF in 1929. He was in India, briefly in Australia, Iraq and finally Egypt (he was a keen photographer so we have quite a few pictures). It gets a bit fuzzy when the war starts as it appears that he was in Egypt against Rommel but he said he was based back in England later in the war. Whether he was transferred to another squadron we don't know and are currently researching that. He was a bit affected by the war as he had to go and bomb a German city not long before the war ended. His family sadly did not understand the stress he was under.

Very interesting! I'd love to see some of the photos.

[Black Watch 1745]

  Here are a few pictures. First off is my Great Grandfather who was in the 251st Tunnelling Company:

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I cannot be sure when this was taken but I would guess October 1915 as that is when the Company was formed (they were sent to the front the next day). The company was made up of men from all over the place so you had some who were professional engineers, others (like my Great-Grandfather) who were Cornish tin miners, formerly of the 10th DCLI and even some Scotsmen.

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  His medals and his sergeants stripes. The medals are all general service. The one on the left is the British Victory Medal, the one in the centre is the 1914-1915 Star, given to all soldiers who volunteered and served at the front between September/October 1914 (when the first volunteer divisions arrived) and late 1915 as we began to introduce conscription. The one on the right is the Allied Victory Medal. With the stripes the one at the bottom with the four blue stripes was to signify how long he had served. Normally the army gave each soldier a little white strip if he had served 5 or ten year (I think) but in WW1 they gave out special stripes which were worn on the lower part of the arm. It was one red stripe for 1914 and then blue stripes for 1915,1916,1917 and 1918.

  I do have one picture of my other Great Grandfather in WW1 but it is in a frame so I cant scan it in.

  Onto the other Great-Grandfather. I believe most of these pictures were taken between 1929 and 1938. This is only a fraction of what we have, there are literally hundreds of them:

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[The Mighty McLovin]

Very interesting, thank you!

[Windflower]

I don't know anything about my family except where they were from.

Mom's side: Middle Eastern/Syrian, moved to Columbia, then after to Canada.
Dad's side: Irish/Scottish/British/French

Probably just peasants.

[CaseliusFIN]

Interesting topic.

I'm currently trying to find out where my great-grandfathers served during the war. Another got three medals from the war. I heard a rumor that the most meritorious medal was earned during Battle of Äyräpää-Vuosalmi. I believe most would have served along-side German units in Northern Finland and later against them.

From my mother's (and her grandfather's) side the origin is German from the 1600's Saxony. They were originally rich, however some made the call to move north and became poor in the progress. Bunch of staff officers and military musicians from that side, however mainly from 1800's and the more known branch of the last name diverges from "ours" in mid 1800's.

My father's (and his grandfather's) side is mainly from Karelian isthmus, near Taipale, they had to refuge to Southern Finland after the wars. Mainly farmers, traders and musicians.

Most "interesting" if not terrifying thing I have managed to dig out is the death of my great-grand-uncle (not sure if term correct?) in June 1944. Here is it translated from the diary of the battalion. He was Lieutenant and commander of the Jaeger platoon of the battalion which was basically a recce-unit.

30.6.1944
Weather: Sunny

03:00

• We arrived to the village of Varloi. Here, the Jaeger Plt. suffered great casualties: The platoon's building was hit by an Soviet light anti-tank gun.
  Lieutenant *--* died + 2 others and 5 wounded. From here we continued march towards the north.

I'm planning to personally call the archives to get the service records, I've wanted to do that for a while. Researching family tree seems interesting.

[Squidlfied]

I'm a descendant of President Zachary Taylor, English & Norman royalty, war heroes, & a ton of random nobles. On my father's side that is.

On my mother's side they were all farmers and criminals and shit, idk how they ended up loving each other.

My great grandfather robbed a bank and was shot dead in the middle of the street by police.

One of my Norman ancestors fought at the Battle of Austerlitz.

That's the only really interesting shit I've got, other than paragraphs of crazy ass criminals.

[Rhen]

I think my great grand father stole a bike after he was liberated from Auschwitz and bicycled all the way back with it to Rotterdam.

[OttoFIN]

Where do you guys find all this information?!

[Dazzer]

Where do you guys find all this information?!

I ask myself too. All I know that my family (probably) came from Poland. My last name looks kinda polish. But once when I was on holiday in Tunisia, the taxi driver told my mum that she looks a bit Arabian  .