Our grandfathers and fathers and relatives in military service!

[Robin]

Hi

Here is a photo of my great uncle and Grandads Brother Lance Corporal Walter Robson (6350810) He was a stretcher bearer with 1st Battalion The Queens Royal West Kent Regiment. He was a conscientious objector but still went to war as a stretcher bearer in North Africa, Greece and Italy. His letters home about the war were later collected and published in the book Letters from a soldier . Some of his letters from the Battle of Monte Cassino were quoted in Matthew Parker's book Monte Cassino ( the audio book gave him a Yorkshire accent but he was from north London) He was also a keen artist and liked draw cartoons. Just after the war ended back in Greece he fell ill, and went to the hospital with 'heat stroke' and died almost at once-of unsuspected pulmonary tuberculosis in both lungs on the 13th July 1945. He is buried at Phaleron war cemetery in Greece
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[sandgroper]

Hi here is a photo of my Grandad Victor (Ben) Robson he joined the Royal Fusiliers where he did his basic training he was then transferred to the Queens Royal Regiment; he arrived in Egypt where he joined the 8th Army's big push. He fought though North Africa where he was wounded by a mortar bomb in the thigh on the push to Gabes in Tunisia but refused to leave his unit. One of his commanders near mareth line needed to bush up on his tank recognition as the Sherman's that they were waving out turned out to be tigers.

HE was captured on a recce patrol in Tunisia. He was sent first to Sicily and then on to Italy there he was moved POW Camp Campo Concentramanto P.G. 53 near Mercerate were he did his first escape of the war by cunningly walking out the front gate. From then on he spent the rest of the war playing cat and mouse with Germans, he was helped by the Italians who risked there lives to help him. He was captured by the Germans again and sent to Chieti were he tunneled his way out .

THE last time he was captured he and a co escapee were found by German officer who was out hunting rabbits. after a struggle he made a run for it but didn't escape as the officer shot him with the shot gun (luckily he was hunting rabbits so only used a shot gun shells to kill rabbits not run away POWS and the wounds weren't that bad) The Germans were going to have him shot as a commando but the same officer revoked the order saying he would hope his men in the same situation would do the same.

Then he was sent to a camp in Laterina then on to Stalag 7A and then on to Stalag 383. Near the end of the war the camp was told to move out as the Americans were heading that way. On the march they were guarded by only few guards. On there way the column was intercepted by the yanks. He was moved to Rheims where he was handed over to the British Army and then flown to a airstrip near Amersham in Buckinghamshire were he vowed never to leave England agian

What a fantastic story! Thanks for taking the time to share this with us mate, it's a fascinating read and I just love the tenacity of the bloke, great stuff!

[Robin]

Thanks Sandgroper
All his story's he told us about the war when i was a kid is what got me interested in history. At age 93 he still keeping to his vow never to leave home and still very tenacious

[sandgroper]

Robin, judging by the enormous effort he put into trying to get home he has every right to never leave home again if that's what he wants! Sounds like his story would make a great film or doco, really enjoy these sort of stories.

[Wilhelm Saris]

It's quite a while since someone posted some nice shots from family and relatives.
There must be more..................or...............???

Me at the age of about 98, sitting and waiting with my "Alzheimer Light"!!
Telling about collecting and friends and the great War Relics Forum.....

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[Vegard T]

I went through a family photo album a while back, and this picture popped up. It is of my grandfather (on the left) and a fellow soldier on neutrality guard just before the German invasion of Norway, needless to say, I now have a new favorite picture
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[Aleksander P]

My third cousin, once removed: Colonel Kalle Keränen

Keränen served in the Continuation War, earned the rank of lieutenant and was wounded three times during the course of the war. After the war he was involved in the Weapons Cache Case and fled to United States, becoming one of "Marttinen's Men".

In the US he had to start from scratch and served in the 11th Airborne Division in Fort Campbell. When the Korean War started, he volunteered and was thus transferred there as a lieutenant, leading a company in Sandbag Castle, later serving as an intelligence officer of the battalion and was wounded for the fourth time.

In 1961 he was transferred to the 5th Special Forces Group (Green Berets) and volunteered to serve in Vietnam, where he served as a supply officer and later as an intelligence officer of the group. After his tour ended in Vietnam, he served in Dominican Republic during the revolt, Norway, Iran and finally in the US till his retirement in 1973.

He met Törni numerously due to being colleagues and one of the Finnish officers who had to flee to US.

Keränen 3rd man from the right, Törni first from the right:

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[Aleksander P]

You guys got some nice and brave ancestors btw, keep it coming!

[UK Cousin]

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This is my great x3 grandfather, Jonas McClain. Veteran of the american civil war. 60th Georgia confederate infantry company E. Elisting in 1862 he was involved in numerous battles including Antietam, cold creek, and Petersburg.. Wounded at Petersburg he was captured by the yankees..um I mean the union. Was then taken to Maryland for the duration of the war. Made to take the oath of allegiance to the Union he was then released.. Official hospital reports which we actually have copies of state he suffered a head wound... If you zoom in on the pic I provided you can see his left eye is very much lower than the right one because of the wounds he sustained at Petersburg. The one thing I know for sure is that if his wound would have been 1 cm more to the right, I wouldn't be posting on this thread right now.. The infant in the picture is my great x2 grandmother... these records have been in my family for decades and now recently backed by dna evidence..

[MAP]

No pictures, but my great grandfather x3 on my mother's side, emigrated from Germany (who knows from where), got off the boat in NY and was "enlisted" in the Union army...or so the story goes....maybe the fought against each other.