Hi there FOXY...

I'm not sure about all that? But it's very kind of you to say so. In my former profession, I've been called worse, and often. Unfortunately, very few of our former 'clients' were very well-spoken; thus, their vocabulary was appropriately limited to mainly cursing phases and profanities. It was a funny ol' job at times, I can tell you? Many thanks, FOXY and take good care of yourself, please.

My immediate ancestor my father did it terribly bad. He was wounded by bomb shrapnel that tore through his knee after it went straight through his mate's heart.
Dad ended up in Russian prison from which they got away into Czechoslovakia. He had just recovered after some weeks when he received news of his wife's death at childbirth. He was given one week's leave to bury his wife & arrange for his three little toddlers to be taken on by people in our village.
After WW2 he returned home with nothing but his torn uniform to children who didn't know him.
He managed to build a family home & retired at 65 & died at 74 of multiple cancers.
I was too young to appreciate what he had to endure.

Dear individual,

Your father certainly faced terrible tragedies and
heartache. Thank You for sharing your ancestry with
us. When we think life is hard now - we should
remember what it was like for our parents back then.
They faced things that might seem impossible to
overcome. But they overcame them. We owe them a
great deal - it allows us a sense of self-worth and
gives our belonging a boost. It increases our
happiness. And hopefully it makes us more reilient
and better human beings.

Reading your story I was deeply moved.
Thank You.

Hi there INDIVIDUAL...

I realize you probably didn't get to know your Dad as well as you should have due to his many medical afflictions and his premature passing at age just 74 years. But he sounds to me to be a very stoic, heroic sort of gentleman, the kind that made this country with determination and sheer hard work. I expect you're immensely proud of your Dad for the privations he had to endure, so you and your family had food on the table and a roof over your heads.

I believe you to be a chip off the old man's block, and he, in turn, would be as proud of you as you are of him, INDIVIDUAL.

Dear individual,

My mum gave birth to a baby boy during during the
war in Germany. He died of starvation. She wasn't
able to feed him as she couldn't produce any milk
due to not having enough to eat. She didn't talk
about it much. I've got two other brothers now,
but I still think how hard it must have been for
my parents during the war years.

Hi Indy and Foxy,

I don't think we appreciate how tough some of our relatives/ancestors had it, and what they went through. Could we survive such savagery ourselves? We don't know, and hopefully none of us or our children, or their children will never have to find that out.

My maternal grandmother had 13 children, only 8 made it to adulthood, 4 of the 5 who didn't died under 2 described by grandma as "born sickly". A 5 year old uncle died when he breathed dry corn into his lungs. According to Mum, he died a terrible death over several days at home out in the bush. Something that most likely today could be prevented with hospitalisation and proper treatment. My GG Aunty, who was transported with Constance died in the slums of Sydney from TB aged about 52. her story was one of failure, whilst my GG Grandmothers was a story of success due to a serious of what I would describe as lucky breaks. I think my GG Grandmothers story has given me an insight into life for the real battlers of 150-200 years ago.