It was my uncle's father who sank in the tank. He was recognized for his actions that particular day, I believe the story is the whole crew had leapt out of the tank as it sank, they were dropped too far from shore and not in a duplex drive tank. The turret was the only thing left sticking out of the water, so the crew was huddled up behind it under machine gun and artillery fire. The tank commander was mortally wounded and fell into the water, he leapt off the tank under fire to keep his commanders head out of the water, but unfortunately he passed before it was safe to make it in to shore. He had to spend several hours in the water until things quieted down enough for the crew to make it ashore and wait to be issued another tank.
If I recall right, he lost three more tanks before Germany surrendered. One had the tracks blown off by a mine and they were pinned in the tank by sniper fire until after dark, had to spend the entire day a sitting duck during a battle. Another was hit by an anti tank round which penetrated the hull and lodged somewhere near his drivers seat but failed to light the tank on fire.
My great uncle was also in the infantry in Italy. He spoke very little of his experiences though. Despite somehow getting his service rifle home with him as well, he found he couldn't bring himself to shoot a gun for years after his return home. The only tale I can recall of his was riding in a truck somewhere in Italy, the soldier next to him was struck through the head by a snipers bullet. While they all dove for cover, the man jumped up and started running at the shot. He made it 100 yards back down the road before collapsing, dead.
The tales my great grandfathers left behind of the first war too are sometimes quite shocking and brutal. I recall my great aunt and grandfather discussing his war diary (which is unfortunately lost to the family now), he spoke of moving at night with full kit to avoid snipers and artillery attack. More than once they arrived at their destination short one or two men who had slid off the path in the muck and drowned in shell holes without so much as a sound.
