My step dad's father was in WWII. I actually interviewed him earlier today for a report. Here is a practice run!
He lives in England and joined the Royal Navy in 1943. he volunteered in 1942 but was too young. They accepted him in 1943, and he volunteered because all men had to join, but if you volunteered, you got to pick what branch of the services you got, and he wanted the Royal Navy. He started out as an engine stoker, but was moved to landing duty. He was actually on landing duty during June 6, 1944, better known as D-day. After all that, he was put on a corvette, which is a ship that protects convoys. He was stationed on the Corvette, Widgeon, which was a 600 ton ship, so very small compared to most. He actually had a funny story from there, it was a London barge that was fitted with a couple guns to make it a corvette. Once, they tried to attack an enemy sub underneath them and dropped some charges, but they damaged their own ship more than anything else! Something I noticed was hard for him to say was that of the 32 in his class from Naval school, 7 of them died. He said that they try to forget the bad things and remember the happy times of coming into the ports and having a round of pints. After his corvette duty, he was stationed on an Aircraft carrier, Triumph. He was de-mobbed in 1946, a few months after the war had ended. After he returned home, he got into the building trade. Then, he went into the fire brigade, which are basically the firefighters for England, which he did for his career. He would not advise young people to join the services, since war is just such a terrible thing, terrifying at times.
Oh and his name is George William Appleby Crawford. Bill Crawford for short
****Also, if anybody has any info on the corvette Widgeon (possibly Wigeon) or the aircraft carrier Triumph, any info would be greatly appreciated, since I cannot find much on the internets.