RC Tank Warfare community hobby forum

I thought of this theme for a topic because of a sentiment i find running underneath many of the personalities on the site. I am among the lucky few who have never "Had to go to War" due to the sacrifice of our previous generations. Whether It was a grandfather, or in my case father. Those who have brother's, sister's, Uncle's, member's of their family at war at this moment in time. I would like to propose that this thread should become a page in its own right..
Well anyhow; To start here is a picture i found again recently while researching Spitfire's that were sent to Malta. The reason being; the person sitting in the Spit on your left in the first row is James 'paddy' Filson. DFC. My father. Needless to say i am incredibly proud of him & would just like to pass his memory on.
Reading his pilot log's was i can tell you all a revelation into the nature of war.

With respect, Andrew wolftone Filson.

Excellent Idea, to remember their service is the best way to HONOUR their service,and for some their ultimate sacrifice. Perhaps this can become a place of record of their struggles, and their achievements.

Great idea Wolftone, A board has been created as this is just a brilliant way for people to remember their relatives and pass around the memory of the said people who were prepared to give their lives for us.

Hi,

This is a good idea. My father served in the Royal Signals in the desert during WW2 and after the war he was in Palestine.

He never told me much about his time in Palestine because I think he had too many personal experiences of the extreme violence there, but he did talk a little about Egypt and some of the things that happened there, including his work on radio and teleprinter intercept and the fact that the Germans proved that they had a sense of humour by placing dummy anti tank guns within sight of dummy Allied tanks.
He took hundreds of photos during and after the war and these have now been passed on the the Signals museum.

Peter

My father in law served in Greece as a signaler and often we chat about the BMW combo the used to spin round the island checking the line

A tribute to my dad,god bless him.
My dad was brought up in a childrens home in the county of lancashire uk,and at the age of 15 joined the army.The sherwood foresters regiment,he was serving in palastine when WW2 began. His regiment was sent to north africa.he was involved in both the battles of el alemain and was injured by shrapnel and patched up to fight again.The next campaign italy saw him land at the anzio beachhead .and after the breakout was involved in some of the heaviest and bloody fighting on the gustav line.He fought through italy up to austria where the war ended.He married my mum in 1946 and settled down to civy life and worked as a blacksmith.Well into the 50s and he was called to go and fight in the korean war.so of he went and returned back safely to start civy life again,where he found employment at the local coal mine as a coal face worker.Sadly for us on 26th january 1961 he was killed by a roof fall underground at the age of 40.He left behind mum,me age 5 my 2 brothers age 7,2 and our 2 sisters age 14,12.as it was the 50th aniversary this week of his death,thought i would share his story.thank you for reading my post
peter

Hi...........both my grand fathers fought..........on opposite sides, its all vague, the british side I am just researching, he fought in north Africa, then on to Italy....he was in the 8th armoured(still looking/researching)....

The german side.......well, all I have found is that he fought on the east front, got captured in 43....was released in 52....not a good talking point eh!....

Nic

Nic.H wrote:Hi...........both my grand fathers fought..........on opposite sides, its all vague, the british side I am just researching, he fought in north Africa, then on to Italy....he was in the 8th armoured(still looking/researching)....

The german side.......well, all I have found is that he fought on the east front, got captured in 43....was released in 52....not a good talking point eh!....

Nic

i think its a good talking point, both were fighting for thier country, doing thier bit, my grandad was in the desert rats in africa and italy, driving a bren gun carrier, my other grandad worked on a farm so wasnt allowed to join up ,but he did work as an observer and was in the home guard, and both my nephews are in the raf regiment, both have done a tour in afganistan and are out there again this year
regards, ice

Hi Ice...my brother is in the raf...couple of tours in Iraq and Afghan, like all the forces at the minute, they are stretched to breaking, anyway...I hope they are all safe

Nic

Hi all. While my mum was not serving in any of the services, she was to young, she was badly affected by the blitz on london at the beggining of the war.

my mum and my gran were in an air raid shelter off of the Tottenham court road , Hammersmith in London. mum and her brother and my gran were sitting along one wall and mums sister was sitting along another. The shelter took a direct hit and the wall mums sister was sitting along collapsed killing her instantly, mum and the rest of them were dug out and taken to hospital, battered and bruised.
Sadly it does not end there, a few days later they were at the funeral of mums sister when a prowling ME109 straffed the church yard and killed mums brother.

My mum and dad are both still alive and mum quite often thinks about and mentions this.

Dad on the other hand had a great war watching Spitfires and Hurricanes battling German fighters and bombers over the south downs, near Guidlford in Surrey and cycling down to Farnborough in Hampshire to watch strange aircraft under test including an American aircraft with a Merlin engine in it, the finest fighter of the war, the Mustang ,also Frank Whittles new jet engined fighter the Meteor.

So thats that, as I said not actually on the front line but affected none the less. Regards Andy T