WW11
Survivor
When Teresa Romanowska was eight years old the war tore her childhood from her.
On September 1, 1939, she held her plush fox toy for dear life when the German air assault finally announced the outbreak of WW11. Fifteen days pass and Polish soldiers dug foxholes in their family garden. Horses were galloping through the meadow as Polish soldiers joined the defence line. Germans attacked and “Killed them-just like that” Teresa expressed by the snap of her fingers. Her home roof was blown off as well as a large hole in her bedroom wall by the Artillery shells released overhead. Her brother Thomas, her parents and Teresa held each other in the cellar for hours. Teresa recalls hearing dying soldiers pleading for help which she says has “Scarred her for many nights and still gets scared on occasion by it.” |
WW1 & WW11
Soldier & Survivor
Leo Christian Albertson was a soldier registered in 16/02/1917 in the WW1 service. He was a lance corporal who is the corporal in charge of a small group of enlisted marines. He is commonly known as the combat leader with responsibility for the actions and the behaviours of his team members. He will also have a duty of care toward their welfare. On the 12/09/1918 he was gassed in France but ended up surviving long enough to finish the fight on 07/07/1919.
On the 15/07/1940 was was once again registered to fight in WW11 however he was a private. We don't have much information and he never shared his story. Some people in our family believe that he was still reliving the traumas every night and was embarrassed by this because it was seen as "not manly like." He came back home to his wife on the 10/03/1945. |
WW11
Soldier & Survivor
John Alfred Leo Albertson was a signalman in WW1. He was born on June 6th, 1922, after his father Leo Christian Albertson returned home from the first world war. He was recruited on the 21/07/1942 two years after his father was recruited. He came home on 24/05/1946 to his mother and father. John and his father swore to never tell our family what horrors they witnessed during these horrendous events.
Our family had no clue that he was shot, however, we are also not sure if Leo Albertson knew either, but as years went on he refused to march or even attend the services until his wife Molly convinced him to go stand proud with the metals. When it was mentioned he had a 150% disability. Because of this we now knew that during that war John had been wounded in action which he kept from us for a very long time. Sadly the memorial service has not much information on him because he abandoned everything from the war after. |
WW11
Soldier
Another man who I'm related to, that I don't know the name of also fought in the second world war. He was under the age of 18 and was in the air force, he was placed in Darwin. Not once did he come into contact with any form of battle ,however, when the recruits could come home he never did. He vanished like the bullet that was shot into his mothers heart 4 months later.
A Soldier's Story
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94 yr old WW2 Veteran Shares His Story | Memoirs Of WWII #1