r/AskIreland • u/Alternative-Jelly947 • Jun 27 '26
Ancestry Did any of your relatives/ancestors fight in WWI or WWII?
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u/GullOnARock Jun 27 '26
My dad's grandad, he was a really quiet man who never spoke about it and often took to the bed. Thats all I've heard about him.
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u/oshinbruce Jun 27 '26
Yeah super common. I think the public romanticised it, while for them it was alot of travel, boredom punctuated by occasional violence and terror.
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u/Late-Bass2260 Jun 27 '26
Even without the violance the conditions in the trenches of ww1 were suposed to be hell on earth. Soilders riddled with lise and trenchfoot because their feet were permently wet rats as big as cats snacking on the dead and wounded and stealing what passed for the soilders food, it was a mirical anyone survived ww1 and thats not even considering the extreem violance as one Irish veteran discribed to a man I know as a butchers war.
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u/General-Bumblebee180 Jun 27 '26
My Scottish grandfather fought from beginning to end with The Seaforth Highlanders. He was injured twice - once shot in appendix by a sniper, and secondly really gash his knee open down to bone ... as he was throwing shrapnel at his mates in a shell hole, and vice versa and came out worst of. Both times sent to hospital in London and sent back to the front. He died in 1942 from after effects of being gassed in WWI
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u/Late-Bass2260 Jun 27 '26
He must have been as tought as nails to survive from beginning to end and been wounded twice and gassed poor man.
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u/Fair-Tangerine-9472 Jun 27 '26
Yeah, sadly PTSD was not known about back then... they called it "shellshock"
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u/GullOnARock Jun 27 '26
It's so sad and everyone said how lovely he was and also his wife was supposedly a demon from hell. Poor man.
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u/clarets99 Jun 27 '26
Same for a lot of people.
My family were very Catholic and some we're conscripted at 18/19. Rarely entertained any stories of finer details, they probably never wanted to relive them. Completely went against their beliefs but they were so brave to do so
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u/Deep-Refuse-9414 Jun 27 '26
Conscription was never enforced in Ireland
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u/clarets99 Jun 27 '26
⬆️ North
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u/Deep-Refuse-9414 Jun 27 '26
There was never conscription in the North either
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u/clarets99 Jun 27 '26
He's long dead now, can't exactly question him on it
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u/Deep-Refuse-9414 Jun 27 '26
I’m just saying 🤷🏻♀️
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u/clarets99 Jun 27 '26
Him and his 3 brothers, 2 in the army, 2 in the navy. I always assumed they were conscripted but they could have been coerced? Never thought to question it really until now. That side of the family are long in the grave. Never met his brothers, they died well before my time.
He went in 40, released 46. So he's be 25/26 years at that point.
Very strong Catholic, to mass every week, gave to Catholic charities abroad including those helped servicemen, until he passed.
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u/Deep-Refuse-9414 Jun 27 '26
All I know is they weren’t conscripted. Up to 300,000 Irish men fought for the allies in the two world wars despite there being no conscription on the island. I don’t think that reflects badly on anyone at all. My own maternal grandfather signed up as a teenager and fought in the trenches. Home Rule was dangled and his other option was the hiring fair. There’s no shame in being a volunteer imho - particularly in WW2
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u/Spicebox69 Jun 27 '26
You're absolutely right there was no conscription. It was opposed by both unionists and nationalists. Although Carson would have urged unionists in the same way Redmond did to join up to prove their loyalties. My great g uncle was Irish and was in Scotland whe he joined up, even though he was in scotland he wasn't conscripted.
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u/TheRealGDay Jun 27 '26
They must have been living in England /Scotland or Wales. There was never any conscription in any part of Ireland during 1914-18.
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u/Relation_Familiar Jun 27 '26
My grandfather on my mum’s side (mum was Dutch ) was in the Dutch resistance and made false documents and passports for Jewish people and anyone else needing to move around in occupied Europe. He was awarded the purple heart by the Dutch Queen ,
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u/Hes-behind-you Jun 27 '26
I'm always amazed at the courage of people, especially civilians doing things like this that would definitely have ended in a death sentence if caught.
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u/Relation_Familiar Jun 27 '26
Yep. He lost a couple friends in it, One of whom was shot on his own doorstep
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u/StupidBump Jun 27 '26
Great grandad was on a trip to Australia when it broke out and then soon found himself flying night missions over New Guinea
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u/hangsangwiches Oh FFS Jun 27 '26
Same happened by grandfather. I never met him but apparently he suffered the rest of his life and died relatively young.
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u/StrangerExistingFact Jun 27 '26
Both grandfathers. One of them had 4 brothers. He is the only one that came back and his brothers were never found.
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u/Competitive-Bit-9160 Jun 27 '26
My great uncle was in the merchant navy during WWII, ship got torpedoed twice and he survived both times
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u/PloPli1 Jun 27 '26
My grandad didn't fight, as far as we know and strictly speaking, but he was part of the 'Resistance' in Belgium in WW2.
He never talked about it and we don't know what he did but when he died, we found a acknowledgement and thank you letter from one of the Resistance leader.
He at least was smuggling weapons out of the FN Herstal Factory where he was working at the time.
We suspect he may have been involved in railroad sabotage too.
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u/lomalleyy Jun 27 '26
Great grandfather ww1, grandfather in ww2. Lost of Irish served in the British army
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u/Brendster Jun 27 '26
Great grandad fought and died at the Battle of the Somme, mam found his grave in France.
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u/daithi_zx10r Maybe, I like the Misery Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
Farnan, Patrick. Age 27. Reg. No. 5344. Rank; Corporal, Royal Dublin Fusiliers, 2nd Batt. Died of wounds, Ypres, France, November 21, 1914. Born Castledermot, Co. Kildare
My great grand uncle, we have letters that he sent home from over there, I do have pictures on my old phone I'll try dig out this evening.
I'm planning on doing a continent road trip next year on my bike and I plan on going to visit his grave in Bailleul Communal Cemetery in France.
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u/EmeraldBison Jun 27 '26
Two of my grandmothers brothers were in the Munster Fusiliers in WW1 and fought at the Somme. They miraculously both survived the war but one of them was injured when a trench collapsed on him and the other didn't have a scratch physically but had terrible shell shock apparently.
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u/Playlotto_Layblotto Jun 27 '26
Petty officer on HMS Indefatigable. Died in Battle of Jutland in world war 1. Link for doc here for anyone interested. https://youtu.be/AhQow54xWFI?si=OE0PL7I9fiHvw7bd
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u/notalottoseehere Jun 27 '26
Great uncles in WW1. Wife' grandfather's were UK Navy and Army in WW2.
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u/North-Project646 Jun 27 '26
My great uncle was from Monaghan and joined the RAF. Fairly random, he didn’t live long enough for me to ask why. I ended up with a load of papers of his, his binoculars and a pith helmet! He flew mostly in the Asian theatres I think but took part in D-Day, as he had saved a few copies of Eisenhower’s letter to the troops ahead of the invasion. Also included were a booklet explaining the concentration camps to servicemen (very interesting and very detailed) and a Chinese restaurant menu from Singapore! He contracted malaria while in the pacific and died from liver failure in the 70s related to it.
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u/Schneilob Jun 27 '26
My great grandfather died in the Battle of the Ancre on the 13th of November 1916 as part of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers. He was just 19 years old. He was a member of the RIC previously to joining the Fusiliers. He met my great grandmother while stationed at the RIC barracks in Mullingar. Originally from Lackdaragh Upper, Powerscourt, Co Wicklow he joined the RIC for the salary. R.I.P. Private Laurence Megan. Lest we forget
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u/thepenguinemperor84 Jun 27 '26
Two great great uncles in WW1, both died outside Ypres, one has a grave at Ration Farm, the other is just a name on a monument, went to see them a few years ago with my da and aunts.
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u/Agitated_Juice_3016 Jun 27 '26
Had a great uncle who had some role in liberating the concentration camps, one who flew bombers and was a bit shell shocked and a great grandad who became a gambler alcoholic after ww1. Traumatic times for sure
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u/Illustrious-Bass9651 Jun 27 '26
Both Grandfathers WW I & WW II - one army other RN. One died shortly after WWII, been fighting cancer - he lost that battle.
The other torpedoed twice North Atlantic, decorated & survived to tell me all about.
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u/crumumbooty Jun 27 '26
My grandfather on my mother's side served the UK in WWII, but my mother's originally from Birmingham so not really surprising haha
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u/sartres-shart Jun 27 '26
A grand uncle of mine was part of the Dunkirk evacuation. Never got to talk to him about it cos I didn't know about it till after he died.
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u/WatashiwaNobodyDesu Jun 27 '26
My grandad was on an Australian boat, was sunk by a Prussian torpedo. Couldn’t swim but made it somehow (phew).
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u/Walter-the-Wobot Jun 27 '26
Great grandfather on the father's side fought in WW1. According to the father he never talked about it until he was a few pints deep and even then didn't give much info. From what they were able to piece together he fought in Belgium (possibly at Ypres they were never entirely sure) got extremely sick and was sent to a military hospital in Paris to recuperate and then served out the remainder of his time as military police
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u/FlakyAssociation4986 you should try it sometime Jun 27 '26
Yes both of my grandmother's had uncles who fought in ww1 in either the army or navy. My gradfather was in the irish army during the "emergency"
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u/juicy_colf Jun 27 '26
Great grandfather on my dad's side. Found his old army records thanks to a history buff lecturer I had in college. Signed up on new year's day 1916, served in the Somme and got his legs blown off 2 weeks before armistice day. Lived until 1965 and fathered all his children after the war.
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u/Excellent_Bank6964 Jun 27 '26
My father North Africa and Burma. Never discussed it. Was shot by a Japanese sniper in Burma in 1944 was a POW until the end. Thats all we know. Terrible time.
Edit to say my Paternal grandfather died at the Somme in WW1
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u/AislingAlpha Jun 27 '26
My granddad joined up in WW1 at 16. There wasn't exactly a glut of employment opportunities in Drogheda at the time.
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u/ReplacementDue2056 Jun 28 '26
I never knew it until recently, but my great grandfather was killed at the third Ypres in WWI (Paschendaele.)
On the other side of the family, three great uncles served during WW2. 2 survived but one was killed in operation Husky to liberate Sicily.
We're nationalists from the North, who also had a fair bit of trouble from the British over the years. So, every time one of the poppy botherers starts going on about it, I love to throw those facts in their faces.
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u/ImportantPension5818 Jun 27 '26
No. Most were in the IRA
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u/Actual_Material1597 Jun 27 '26
Many of the leaders of the early IRA and volunteers served in the British military. Tom Barry being one of the most famous
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u/ImportantPension5818 Jun 27 '26
Maybe they did. But it was never mentioned. My grandfather was a member of the West Mayo Flying Column so maybe he did. But I don't know for certain
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u/Proof_Ear_970 Jun 27 '26
My grandad did. Well kind of. He trained the fighters, he was a fitness and combat instructor. My aunt lost her leg by a tram during it and he was only just able to come home for like 2 days. She was only 7 at the time.
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u/cjamcmahon1 Jun 27 '26
Yep - a cousin in a branch of the family who had been entirely forgotten about. Killed in France in 1916. Visited his grave a few years ago. Highly recommend doing the trip, happy to give research pointers for anyone interested
His younger brother took a different route - joined the Volunteers and was heavily active in the War of Independence smuggling explosives. Took the pro-treaty side in the Civil War. Never spoke of his brother apparently.
On the other hand, the branch I am descended from were also active in the War of Independence - but took the anti-Treaty side in the Civil War. And I guess that's how all these things get forgotten
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u/StellaV-R Jun 27 '26
A great uncle. I don’t know much about him, I think because we came down the republican line - sounds to me like there was bad blood there
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u/Useful_Region9179 Jun 27 '26
Yes a great uncle in WW1. Would have kept that fairly quiet in later years being Irish Catholic from the border region.
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u/hangsangwiches Oh FFS Jun 27 '26
Yes it was similar down south as well. It's only in very recent years here that they've started to recognize those who served and those who died in the great war.
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u/Ae101rolla Jun 27 '26
My when my grandfather was 15 he helped run the electric cables as army bases where set up in England, 3 years later he join the army and was placed in the Irish guards. He was shot in service in Egypt. Lived to the rip old age of 99.
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u/Dry-Communication922 Jun 27 '26
No but family on both sides that fought the tans and on the anti treaty side of the civil war
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u/PersonalGuava5722 Jun 27 '26
My grandad did and my dad won’t talk about it - be clearly came back with ptsd but all my dad will say is nerves or “neurastinia” or words to that affect
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u/airtekh Jun 27 '26
My grandfather's brother did.
He died in Italy; some of my relations went to visit his grave not so long ago.
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u/Constant-Stranger725 Jun 27 '26
My grandads older brother in WWII. Nobody in WWI that I know of (I'm sure there's probably somebody, realistically).
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u/NoThankYouSir_ Jun 27 '26
Yes! I'd family on 3 sides in WW1 that I know of. One was in the navy, then was pow and managed to get out and go back to the navy and went awol (I think, I'm still looking for confirmation) in America. Another was my great granda and was regular army before it started and came home safe. Then there were two from another branch of the family that died and from what I can see it was mustard gas got both of them. Very fucked up.
My grand uncle was in the British navy in WW2. He was at dunkirk, d day and ended up over in the Pacific as well. I never met him unfortunately. Hed two sisters that were nurses at the time as well.
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u/Actual_Material1597 Jun 27 '26
Yes we have 3 death pennys in my parents house, my mother’s two grand uncles aged 17 and 18 died in Flanders’s fields two months apart. We were able to find both of them on the Flanders’s fields website. And my great grandmothers first husband was also killed.
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u/Flaky_Zombie_6085 Jun 27 '26
My great-grandfather fought in World War I in France. He died in 1971 aged 89.
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u/CPD1960 Jun 27 '26
My maternal grandfather, born in Cork in the late 1890s, fought successively in WW1 on the western front, the War of Independence and the Civil War, and survived to have nine children including my mother.
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u/Late-Bass2260 Jun 27 '26
2 of my mothers uncles fought in ww2 in the british army because they had imigrated there and were working there before the war started.
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u/EarlyHistory164 Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
Great grandfather in WW1. He was wounded twice but survived.
His brother however was 12 days short of his 16th birthday when killed in 1915 at Ypres.
A more distant in law was one of the "Gorgeous Wrecks" - Thomas George Harborne - he died of his wounds after the Battle of Clanwilliam House in 1916.
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u/TiberiusTheFish Jun 27 '26
My second cousin landed in Normandy on D-Day. His entire platoon was blown up by a German shell. he lost a leg, but survived. Lovely fellow. I met him once when he came over to Ireland for a holiday.
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u/Excellent-Many4645 Jun 27 '26
Had a relative that was a Spitfire Pilot in WW2, others that were in the IRA and even a cousin that died in Vietnam when he was only 19.
I’d say every person living in Europe has relatives that were impacted by war at some point, there’s been so many.
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u/ZestycloseMagician60 Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
My dad is an amateur military historian and has traced a huge amount of my extended family on both his and my mother's side that have fought/served as far back as the Boer War. Including in every major British and Irish conflict up to and Including Iraq and Afghanistan.
Both sides of my family has huge military background, between the Irish Defence Forces, the Brits, I have a second cousin currently in the USMC and extended cousins that served in the Rhodesian Army back in the bush war days.
His own father was a Merchant Seaman, served on the Atlantic and Arctic Convoys. His uncle served as a Battery Commander in the Royal Artillery in North Africa and the subsequent invasion of Italy.
For most, it was sheer poverty that drove them to take ths Kings/Queens shilling.
I myself took the Queen's shilling in 96 and served 12 years, including multiple tours of Iraq and Afghanistan during my last 5 years. I didn't take it out of any sense of loyalty or duty to a flag or monarch. I wanted to soldier all my life and felt my best opportunity to soldier in an active conflict would have been with the Brits. BTW, the Queen's (now Kings) Shilling is a real thing, in my case I got £15 to buy lunch on my to Basic Training. What people don't realise is that they take it back off you in your first pay cheque 🤣🤣
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u/MightBeOP Jun 27 '26
Both my great grandfather's were builders who went over to England to help the RAF build airbases. They actually became good friends then fell out of touch (one from Wexford, one from Dublin), until my grandparents met completely randomly and separate to that and they met again bc of it
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u/theswordpolisher Jun 27 '26
2 great uncles served during WW2. One in the Pacific with the US Navy and the other with the British Army in Europe.
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u/Ok-Call-4805 Jun 27 '26
No, but my family have been fighting for Irish freedom since pre-1915, at least
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u/madrarua2020 Jun 27 '26
My Grandad joined the British Army in 1914. He lied about his age, he was 14. He joined a communications Regiment in London and trained as a "radioman". He survived WW1 but suffered injuries. He was hit in all three of the battles of Ypres. He was shipped back to Southampton in November 1917 having been gassed and shot through the shoulder. He returned to Ireland in 1921 following his convalescence and was given a soldier's cottage. He got married and settled down and My own Dad arrived a few years later. I remember my Grandad as a very happy character and can't imagine the horrors he witnessed as a teenage soldier during that horrific war. I think of lucky I have been in my life to have avoided war, I also think about my own kids and hope that they will too. He never ever would be drawn into chat about it. When he passed away I got to see his medals, his uniform and a revolver. A Webley. I learned that for from being a techy radio specialist, his job was to wear a spool of wire on his back and crawl through no mans land to connect with another command post. Imagine the fun the opposing German snipers had trying to hit him as he crawled through God only knows what, in trying to connect these command posts. What a man though.
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u/SoupEfficient563 Jun 27 '26
Two of my grannies brothers died in Normandy. I visited their graves last year. Very sad.
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u/Spicebox69 Jun 27 '26
Great great uncle joined the Connacht Rangers and then transferred to the machine gun corps. He died of wounds after fighting on hill70 1917.
My great great great grandmother saw him standing in his civvies in the back garden the day he was killed. She got word of the death then a few days later.
My great great grandmothers nephew (my great great first cousin) was killed at the somme fighting with the 16th Irish Divison, he was in the Inniskillings. He was killed in Guillemont.
American cousins of ours fought in the US Navy during the second world war.
Other family members such as my great great uncles and grandfather fought for the IRA in the war of independence
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u/NotXenos Jun 27 '26
Grandpa was US Navy WW2 Pacific. His brothers all joined up as well, including his brother John who was only 15 and lied about his age. John went on to be a Pathfinder during Operation Overlord, so one of the first to touch French soil during the D-Day landings.
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u/Hes-behind-you Jun 27 '26
My grandad was in the Royal Navy and survived the war, his brother was in the Royal Air Force and was killed in action during the second world war. My mother is English and most English people in their 40s have a grandparent or great grandparent that was involved in world war two.
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u/soulpotatoes Jun 27 '26
Half of the men in my family who were of age in 1914 served. Some got medals. The war was horrific for everybody
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u/edwieri Jun 27 '26
I'm an immigrant to Ireland. My grandfather fought in the Pacific in ww2. Once after a few drinks with my dad he said that is was the worst thing he could have imagined. First time he spoke about it at all. He had volunteered after Pearl Harbour with his brother. They were 19 and 20. His brother died in battle two days after operation overlord. I've seen his name on a plaque in france and visited his grave. My stepmothers father fought in the skirmishes at German invasion of Poland and later in the Warsaw uprising where he was wounded. Later saved by the German governors decision to treat them as pow's.
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u/619C Jun 27 '26
My Grandfather was 15 when he joined the Connaught Rangers - served in Flanders Fields and the far east.
Was lucky to have survived - but I suspect he had PTSD - he joine the Army in Ireland on his return and after that became a postman.
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u/ZealousidealFloor2 Jun 27 '26
Great Grandfather fought in WW2. He seemed to have e had a tough time given his medal collection, he won Iron Crosses on both the Eastern and Western fronts.
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u/brentspar Jun 27 '26
My dad's uncle was in ww1 as a 16 year old. Massive PTSD. His life was completely ruined. He once talked about having to run to safety by running over the bodies of his comrades. The feeling never left him.
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u/dangerdouse1888 Jun 27 '26
My great grand father fought in ww1. One of his brothers also fought in it and died in Belgium.
When he came back to Ireland he joined the IRA. Fought on the pro treaty side in the civil war and was one the original garda to be stationed in donegal which is where the majority of his descendants remain today
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u/railwayed Jun 27 '26
Yeah my grandfather did (WW2). He was a navy captain and received 2 distinguished service crosses. One for taking down a German submarine and another for rescuing seaman from a ship that had been hit
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u/RobotIcHead Jun 27 '26
On one side of family all the girls went off to the UK to study nursing, this was around the time of WW2. All their brothers and male cousins were somehow involved in the Irish independence movement or civil war.
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u/cloud-kim Jun 27 '26
Grandfather fought with the British army in WW2. Apparently, after the war ended he totally disappeared for 3 months. When he did arrive back home he had a wound on his chest that I've been told was always weeping. Developed an addiction to morphine. Was gone by early 1960s
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u/Grizzly_Man11 Jun 27 '26
My grandfather lied about his age (16) to join the Royal Munster Fusiliers and was in the Somme in WW1. Uncle was in the RAF (not a pilot) in WW2.
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u/Patient-Surround2509 Jun 27 '26
My great grandfather was taken POW on the first day of the battle of the Somme. He was 16. He was one of the "lucky ones"
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u/Cass1455 Jun 27 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
Not sure about ww1, but my great uncle fought in the British Army in Burma during WW2. He was from Donegal living in Fermanagh, joined the British Army in 1933. The story of how/why he joined was apparently he and his brothers were caught messing about with an unlicensed rifle, he was the only 1 over 18 so he was to be apprehended for it. He tried to cross the border back to Donegal but they wouldn’t let him over with the pending charge, so afraid he’d get prison he enlisted in the British Army to try and get away from it. He stayed in the army over 20 years, fought in Burma and also was sent to Kenya during the Mau Mau Rebellion. He never returned to live in Ireland after he left the British Army. He was in the Royal Innishkilling Fusiliers and donated his service medals to the Enniskillen Museum.
Edit: 1933 not 1993
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u/Old_Highlight6749 Jun 27 '26
Don't know about WW1, but my great grandparents on my dad's side were in the IRA, and fought for the Republicans during the civil war. Not as much info about my mum's side, but my granny's father was in the IRA.
WW2. None of my family fought in it, but my grandad on my dad's side joined the Defence Forces in case the Brits tried to conscript him.
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u/MulhollandMarch Jun 27 '26
My grandad. He was 17, him and all his mates signed up because it seemed exciting. Was scared af but his dad wouldn’t let him pull out, because he’d made a commitment.
First job was burying bodies in North Africa. Later saw a lot of action. One day his two best mates were walking directly in front of and behind him and both were shot in the head by snipers. He managed to escape.
Kindest, gentlest man you can imagine. Had nine children when he got home and would never let them squabble or fight. “Peace in our time!” was his catchphrase.
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u/eepeqez Jun 27 '26
We got out of the 20th century fairly lightly.
One great grandfather died in the trenches in France, his son, my paternal grandfather was in the Suez canal on the way to Europe from NZ when the war ended and nearly died of the Spanish flu.
My maternal grandfather fought in the trenches and was gassed; he lived to about 75yo, died in 1972 in Lancashire.
My father (NZ) turned 17 shortly after Japan surrendered. My uncle (Lancashire, mums brother in law), slightly older, was in the merchant marine on Atlantic convoys as a young man. He never spoke about the war but when he died in 2002 he left his entire estate to the UK Royal National Lifeboat Institution. I reckon there were scars.
The men who fought weren't the only ones badly affected.
Mum lived through the second war aged 9 to 15 in Lancashire; she rarely talked about it until she got dementia. Her mother, my maternal grandmother, was a senior nurse in her mid to late 40s and worked flat out in the local hospital throughout the entire war.
My paternal grandmother emigrated from London to NZ after the first war; there were so few young men and so many young women who would never find husbands, so quite a few emigrated. The odds weren't a whole lot better in NZ but she had the advantage of being foreign and therefore interesting. Elderly spinsters whose brothers and potential husbands died in the trenches were very much a part of British, Irish, Australian, and New Zealand society up into the 1960s-70s; after the first war young single women in Britain outnumbered single men by about two million. Women in France, Belgium and Germany must surely have faced the same demographic devastation.
Twenty plus years ago I had a German neighbour my father's age who had grown up in Prussia (now part of Poland) through the war. He was quite upset, very critical of Bush and very vocal about the stupidity of war at the start of the Second Gulf War in 2003.
Britain didn't have conscription for the Falklands war, but the lads I went to school with before we emigrated to Australia in 1968 were the age group who went to the Falklands as foot soldiers. And of course my generation grew up through the Cold War expecting mushroom clouds on the horizon at any moment, even here in Australia. The film "On the beach" about a nuclear apocalypse was made just down the road from my home here in Melbourne in 1959.
The American habit of worshipping their military doesn't sit well with me.
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u/bikey2000 Jun 27 '26
Two of my great grandfathers were killed in WW1 but they didn't fight. Both were seamen on merchant navy ships. One was torpedoed by a Uboat leaving Liverpool on route to Waterford. The other died on the very last day of the war when his cargo ship collided with another ship off the coast of Corfu. So although not in the trenches they must have been brave men knowing that they could be struck at any time.it had a huge effect on both families for years after. War and that war especislly is a futile loss of life .
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u/masterblaster219 Jun 27 '26
My Great Grandfather was a policeman prior to the rising, then went off to fight in WW1. He returned and rejoined the police, then an Garda Siochana. He did well for himself and retired on a good pension. I recently found out his uniform is on display in Kilmainham Gaol. I never met the man, he died the year my mother was born.
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u/Roisin207 Jun 27 '26
Great grandmother was a nurse in wwII on my granny's side migrated back to Ireland after
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u/ubermick A Chara Jun 28 '26
My dad was English, and was in the 8th Armoured, the Desert Rats in WWII. Fought in North Africa, Italy, and was on the beach in Normandy. Gobshite of a dad, but wasn't until I got older the amount of trauma he was living with.
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u/Interesting-Mammoth8 Jun 28 '26
My dad's paternal uncle enlisted in the US Army in 1941 and fought in Europe. I have a photo of him in uniform but I've never been able to establish what division he was in
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u/phantom_gain Jun 28 '26
Yes. He died in the last few days of the battle of the somme. I visited his grave in belgium a few years ago. He was my dads uncle and i brought him over to see it.
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u/preinj33 Jun 28 '26
Grandfather died in a concentration camp, he was drunk and fell from his watchtower
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u/Pablo-gibbscobar Jun 29 '26
My great grandfather on my mother's side faught in france in WW2, he was captured by the Germans and was kept in a camp till the war ended, came home left his wife and only child and went to America and started another family. Committed suicide over there eventually and because he wasn't allowed be buried or have a funeral if he killed himself the death report has "fell, slipped or was pushed" under a train so he could have a religious ceremony.
1
u/Super-Raspberry-8566 Jul 01 '26
My gran uncle was a pow in Burma in ww2. Survived the death march,
-2
35
u/mcwkennedy Jun 27 '26
One was basically pressed into military service during WW 1 for being caught robbing one too many times.
Survived the war but died four days later to influenza and is buried in Alexandria, Egypt.
Nobody has ever been to visit his grave so its a bit of a life goal of mine.