Forgotten Heroes

Casper_013

Casper_013

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Jul 24, 2011
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Seeing as how the anniversary to the end of WWII is coming up, I thought it would be nice for all of us to list any relatives who served in this conflict. It can be anyone from your family who fought on any side of the war. Short bio's would be great.

I'll Start us off.

KptLt Gustav Poel, (1917-2009)
Relation: Great Grandfather



Commanding Officer, U-413, Crew 36
Home Port - Brest, France
290 days at sea total. 5 Patrols

Decorations:
6 Jun 1939 Spanish Cross in Bronze without Swords
8 Nov 1939 U-boat War Badge 1939
28 Feb 1940 Iron Cross 2nd Class
26 Nov 1942 Iron Cross 1st Class
21 Mar 1944 Knights Cross
22 Dec 1944 German Cross in Gold
27 Apr 1945 U-boat Front Clasp

Ships Sunk:
14 Nov 1942, Warwick Castle
22 Jan 1943, Mount Mycale
5 Feb 1943, West Portal
21 Apr 1943, Wanstead
20 Feb 1944, HMS Warwick
Tonnage Total - 35,625

In August of 1944 U-413 met it's fate In the English Channel south of Brighton, by depth charges from the British escort destroyer HMS Wensleydale and the destroyers HMS Forester and HMS Vidette. 45 dead and 1 survivor. Luckily, KptLt Poel transferred to U-Boat Command in April 1944 as a tactical instructor. I was fortunate to meet him once in 2006 while he was in Australia. He was born and died in Hamburg, Germany 2009 aged 91.
 
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Petrus Jacobs.
belgian resistance fighter and belgian army volunteer
relation: grandfather he died in december.
He never wanted to talk about his experience in world war 2, the little things i know i got from my dad.

My grandfather joined the resistance in belgium and blew up a train/tracks. The germans had found out and my grandfather needed to run.
He fled to spanish/french border travelling the majority on foot walking at night, stealing food from farmers fields along his road or getting help from local french resistance fighters along his route.
When he managed to arrive in spain he went straight to gibraltar from where he took the boat to England, in England he signed up for the Belgian army as a volunteer, after that i don't know what exactly happend to him he never wanted to talk about it...

According to my dad he fought at the seine whit the belgian brigade
 
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All i remember about my Grandfather is how he was stationed at Japan at the end of the war. He said him and his buddies would make fun of the japs with jokes....most i can not say.
 
My Grandpa was in the Navy in WWII. He was on a sub-chaser in the English Channel on d-day. I can't off the top of my head remember the name of it.
 
All I can remember is my grandfather was in the US army stationed in Italy during WWII.
 
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my grandpa drove a Sherman in the Korean war and he also drive troop transports and half tracks
 
One Grandparent was a major in the pacific, the other was a captain who flew a B-26 in WWII and got his 50 mission hat. He served after WWII through Korea in a non-combat rule stationed in Dayton.
 
My late Grandfather, S/Sgt Kenneth Gernhart, 4th Infantry. Landed on Utah Beach on D-Day, was injured by shrapnel in the leg and eye on the beach. Received the Bronze Star, although he never would talk about the war, we later found out from a friend of his that was with him, that he received it for taking out a Panzer. Successfully marched on through France, taking Paris and later fighting through the Battle of the Bulge. To this day, I do not know how any of those men went though what they did....unreal.

photo1.jpg
 
I had two relatives that served in WWII. One was a B-17 gunner and the other was on the USS Bowfin submarine. I will get more information on them later when I find the scrapbooks we have about them.
 
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