My father served in Europe in the Second World War. After Germany surrendered he was slated to go over to the Pacific theater as part of the Canadian contribution to the invasion. Fortunately things ended just before his artillery unit was to leave.
My uncle did serve in the Pacific theater very briefly. His regiment, the Winnipeg Grenadier Guards was part of the Hong Kong garrison. They arrived in Hong Kong about a month before the Japanese invasion. He was lucky, he had applied to the RCAF for pilot training before being shipped off and his transfer was approved about a week after his arrival in Hong Kong. So he was quite lucky. Unfortunately many in his regiment were not so fortunate. Of the 900 or so soldiers, less than 200 returned to Canada after the war. The rest were either killed in the invasion or as prisoners. My other uncle served in the Royal Canadian Navy. He spent part of the war in the North Atlantic on a destroyer and the rest flying antisubmarine patrols. larry On 8/12/05, Gruss Gott <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 60 years ago this Sunday was VJ day and I'm wondering if any of you > have/had relatives that took part in the war and have any quick > anecdotes to share from them. I'll start: > > My Grandmother and Grandfather had been married only a year before my > grandfather left for pilot training and was eventually stationed in > the South Pacific. My Grandmother was pregnant with my Uncle and had > to move from rural MN around the country to different military housing > which was cheap and roach filled. > > She relied on the kindness strangers to help her through that tough > time and, while my Grandfather was leave, got pregnant again with my > mother. Luckily, despite a few close calls, my grandfather made it > home and they had a great life together. He died in 1992. > > Here's to the vets! *clink* > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:169195 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
