The Wartime Memories Project - The Second War

This website uses cookies. By continuing to use this site you agree to accept cookies. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation.     Site Home     WW2 Home     Add Stories     WW2 Search     Library     Help & FAQs  WW2 Features     Airfields     Allied Army     Allied Air Forces     Allied Navy     Axis Forces     Home Front     Battles     Prisoners of War     Allied Ships     Women at War     Those Who Served     Day-by-Day     Library     The Great War  Submissions     Add Stories     Time Capsule     TWMP on Facebook     Childrens Bookshop  FAQ's     Help & FAQs     Glossary     Volunteering     Contact us     News     Bookshop     About Advertisements World War 2 Two II WW2 WWII 1939 1945

231200 Commando Samuel William George Bracey Royal Marines Company E Portsmouth Division from:Downend, Bristol My father was Samuel Bracey and he served as a Royal Marine Commando from April 1941-April 1946 and spent much of his time in Burma (June 41 - July 44) as part of HBL/RM Sp MNBDO. He was from Portsmouth Division at Eastney Barracks, Company E. I don't know a great deal as like most War Veterans that fought in Burma, he never discussed very much about the war. I remember he mentioned that he was on 2 ships that were sunk and how he spent a long time in the water, certain that he would die. My brother also mentioned that my Dad said he was part of a military operation assigned to blow up the Japanese Oil Refinery and that many of his comrades lost their lives that day. My brother has also managed to do some research and believes that my Dad was part of "Force Viper". He also mentioned that he spent approx 6 months in South Africa after the war ended. My Dad passed away in August 2002. He was in hospital for 6 weeks prior to his death and during this time he seemed to be having very vivid flashbacks to the war and was sometimes screaming out. He was very distressed and kept shouting "They've forgotten us Mama". He cried and cried during his final weeks and briefly spoke about how they had been promised that their war efforts would never be forgotten. He said he no longer believed this but said "I have never forgotten; I have re-lived it every day of my life since in silence". It was so very sad for me to hear this. I would really like to know if anyone has a family member who remembers my Dad. I have a few war photos. Cheryl McGrath Add to this record.  Related Content: Royal Marines Burma & India Campaign Can you help us to add to our records? Add a record to our website. The names and stories on this website have been submitted by their relatives and friends. If your relations are not listed please add their names so that others can read about them Did you or your relatives live through the Second World War? Do you have any photos, newspaper clippings, postcards or letters from that period? Have you researched the names on your local or war memorial? Were you or your relative evacuated? Did an air raid affect your area? If so please let us know. Help us to build a database of information on those who served both at home and abroad so that future generations may learn of their sacrifice. Contact us. Celebrate your own Family History Celebrate by honouring members of your family who served in the Secomd World War both in the forces and at home. We love to hear about the soldiers, but also remember the many who served in support roles, nurses, doctors, land army, muntions workers etc. Please use our Family History resources to find out more about your relatives. Then please send in a short article, with a photo if possible, so that they can be remembered on these pages.

The free section of the Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers. We have been helping people find out more about their relatives wartime experiences since 1999 by recording and preserving recollections, documents, photographs and small items. The website is paid for out of our own pockets, library subscriptions and from donations made by visitors. The popularity of the site means that it is far exceeding available resources and we currently have a huge backlog of submissions. If you are enjoying the site, please consider making a donation, however small to help with the costs of keeping the site running. Hosted by: The Wartime Memories Project Website is archived for preservation by the British Library Copyright MCMXCIX - MMXXIV - All Rights Reserved We do not permit the use of any content from this website for the training of LLMs or for use in Generative AI, it also may not be scraped for the purpose of creating other websites.