As far as I’m aware neither of my Grandfathers served in WW2 – one was a baker and the other a brewer – I think they would have been too old and one certainly suffered from ill health. One served in the Pioneer Corps during WW1 as I have his service medals.
My mother worked at Feltham Depot and the woman alongside her asked if she would become a penpal for her son in Burma….and they eventually married in 1948.
I know very little about my Fathers war service as he never really spoke about it but he does appear in a photograph that has the following written on the back…
17 Squadron (The 17 isn’t 100% clear and may be wrong)
6 Flight
15 I.T.W
Bridlington
14/1/44
He told me he had flown as a rear gunner in Wellingtons but not on ops.
For whatever reason he ended up in the Fourteenth Army and served in Burma.
My uncle was an RN DEMS (Defensively Equipped Merchant Ship) gunner on the SS Empire Hurst which was bombed and sunk by an FW200 Condor 400 miles west of Gibraltar in August 1941 – it was his first posting after completion of training at HMS President III and he was not one of the 9 survivors.
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