My Uncle was called up into the Lincolnshire Regiment at 18 and put ashore on D Day not long after. Miraculously he survived, but was injured by a land mine and sent home to be treated. To delay being sent back he volunteered to be trained as a sniper, and was such a good shot that after the was he was banned from the shooting range in Blackpool Pleasure Beach. He ended up in Palestine and one day when his watch strap broke, he bent down to retrieve the watch and a sniper killed the soldier behind him.
My Great Uncle was an armourer on Lancasters at Scampton and Hemswell. They ended up in the far east where they set up camp on a mosquito infested swamp, and many of the airmen contracted malaria. His stories from the war are legendary, especially from just before war broke out. He came from a tiny village near Gainsbrough, and volunteered for the RAF because he didn't want conscripting into the army.
A bloke I worked with....his mother was German. She had three brothers, Infantry, Tank Commander, Sniper. Only the sniper survived the war.
There must be so many great stories from the war which will never see the light of day. I visited the museum at Scampton with SBM and Kev a couple of years ago, and it's worth a look.
