I had three relatives in WWII + one in WWI
Grandpa who was a Radio operator Gunner for 2 years on a Catalina (RAAF) rescuing downed pilots in the pacific. Earned the DFM and has some great photo's log books, stories and other collectables from his 2 years service in the pacific. Passed away 5 years ago but a great man who worked tirelessly for legacy helping widows who lost partners in WWII.
Another Uncle (Australian army) who was an Infantry man in WWII fought in Egypt through to New Guinea against the Japanese at Kakoda. 4 years front line service against the Germans and Japanese without getting injured. For obvious reasons didn't like to talk about his experiences. Passed away this year.
Another was a Gunner navigator on Lancasters in WWII right at the end of the war with the RAAF and flew 6 missions before the war ended. He was pretty young and is still alive today.
I also had a great great grandpa on my wife's side the was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in WWI for action at the BATTLE OF POZIERES. A number of more junior officers (which he was) were awarded the DSO, and this was often regarded as an acknowledgement that the officer had only just missed out on the award of the Victoria Cross. He crawled out over an 8 hr period in to no mans land under heavy machine gun fire to rescue 6 wounded fellow soldiers. Our family has an amazing leather bound citation hand written from his commanding officer describing his actions over a 3 day period. He was later nighted and awarded a OBE post WWI.
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