What got you interested in World War II and the events that took place?

[IcecreamLtDan]

As a kid in the 70's I grew up in Fayetteville, N.C., which is the home of Ft. Bragg and the former Pope A.F.B.. Technically I am not a military brat however, I might as well be. My father was in the US Army and stationed at Ft. Bragg when he met my mother. My mothers family had been in the area for generations. My father had left the army in 1966 and I was born in 1967 so I'm generally not considered a military brat. My family has had several members who were, or still are, serving in the military so it's always been a part of my life.

As a youngster, one of my favorite parts about summer was the summer movie program a local theater had. Basically, my mother signed me up and once a week I went to the theater and watched a movie. They had a wide variety of stuff I watched over the years. Everything from Willy Wonka and the chocolate factory through 2001 a Space Odyssey. There were war movies as well, I saw Tora, Tora, Tora, Midway, and A Bridge Too Far. This last movie always stood out to me as the 82nd and 101st airborne divisions were involved. The 82nd is based at Ft. Bragg and even though the 101st is now at Ft. Campbell Kentucky, they always had a large presence at Bragg. I went to school with kids whose parents were in the 82nd and I saw members from the 82nd and 101st around town all the time.

My best friend at the time was a kid named Jim Wilson. His father was 82nd airborne as was their neighbor, the Sullivans, who had kids close to our age. Where they lived their houses backed up against a rather large wooded area. We "played war" all the time back there, we had a rather extensive collection of fox holes, trenches, sniper positions, etc. etc.. On the other side of the woods, across a large drainage ditch which we all had constructed a bridge, was another group of houses and we spent many hours in those woods having a "war" with them that lasted for many years.

Over the years I have collected a large number of books, models, tapes, dvd all relating to military interests. Not just WWII of course, I'm getting ready to start a 6 volume set of books I got from the history book club on WWI. It was apparent as a kid that I would join the military, I think it was just a surprise to my family that it was the USAF as, other than my cousin who joined the US Navy a couple of years ago, all my other military family members were US Army. So, what was it that garnered your interest in WWII?

[Bowkers]

Well first of all, it was essentially my father. He was in the Royal Marines, I am not sure of the equivalent in USA, Seals maybe? Anyhow, he was always interested in history particularly military, with his topics being American Civil War, First Gulf War,Falkland Wars and suprise,suprise, the Second world war. The two before this he had fought in, and so always had a fascination in them. Basically every summer up until his death, we used to go to France and visit the D-Day beaches, the other major battles of D-Day, and he essentially gave us a lecture on it.However, ironic, this may be, it was only after he died,when my passion for the subject grew.

Now I study history, and whereas the military aspect of World War 2 has,and will always be a major interest in it, I am growing steadily fascinated in such morbid topics such as the Holocaust. My library, on this subject and World War 2 in general is vast, and I was delighted, as you can see with my posts,apologies for the millions of posts already, and ready to share my knowledge. Like LtDan everyone expected me to go in the forces, but I am not going to go in the forces. I dont share the same enthusiasm as my cousins who have recently joined the Gurkhas.
I would also like to add, was it just us 'military' children that always used to play war? I remember playing that endlessly as a kid, the amount of Germans I killed and the Victoria Crosses I recieved for rescuing my sister from the evils of the woods, was vast.

[warforger]

I'm not really sure, maybe because of my love of warfare (well, not the consequences....) and was interested in the wars. I wanted to know more about these events of History and decided I was going to learn them myself and not wait for my school to do so.

[Methuselath]

For me, it would have to be the Japanese Bicycle Blitzkrieg of Malaya.

It wasn't much to go on, the historical details on the initial invasion of Malaya wasn't exactly easy to find, but it was something that pique my interest. I had a mental images of hundreds upon hundreds of samurai riding south (hey, I was 7 at that time!) and made me wanted to know more about the war.

Sadly, it did not turn out to be samurais.

[Hammerguard]

For me it was between Airfix and the plastic model soldiers they produced, having a father and two uncles who were in the army and a general love of history as a subject.

But most of all I blame those damn plastic soldiers.

[trebmal_ca]

Model building and having a step father who was bombed out of several homes during the London blitz.

I now have a collection of WW2 encyclopedias and books, and just restarted building U-boat models

[Heretic]

Constant conversations with my Granddad and his experiences in the Second World War, from his tour in Africa and his inclusion into the SAS, and his raids in Europe. The stories I heard from him are incredible tales of courage and the horrors of war, and the humanity one must have.

[NeCoHo]

It would definitely have to be my grandfather, and his stories from his time on an escort carrier and a battleship. He met Admiral Halsey (and even barred him from entering his ship for a period of time) and he later provided an escort for him on the island of Guam. His descriptions of Pearl Harbor after the attack were as realistic as being there. He witnessed kamikazes and more, took part in Leyte Gulf, Guam, and tons of other pivotal events. He was even part of the fleet which was supposed to be invading Japan. ("It was the largest number of ships I've even seen in my life. It must have been every ship in the Pacific.")

I can never forget his stories, or his sacrifice.

My other grandfather, who died before my birth, also served, and after I did some digging, I found out that he was in the Battle of the Bulge. But he never talked about his experience, as my father told me.

[Col Von Barring]

Yep, its got to be those lovely old Airfix models. First model - HMS Campbeltown (Ex USS BUCHANAN). My dad told me the story of the St. Nazaire raid when I was about seven (1962).

My dad was in the Coldstream Guards (Guards Armoured Division) in 1944/45 and he told me stories of the war including the tanks of the Grenadier Guards charging the Germans 88mm guns to try and take the bridge at Nijmegen during Operation Market Garden.

The old war films - In Which We Serve - The Longest Day - Reach For The Sky - Dunkirk - Away All Boats! - Merrill's Marauders - The Guns of Navarone - The Great Escape -Sink The Bismark - Battle of the River Plate. John Wayne, Audey Murphy, Jeff Chandler, John Mills, Kenneth Moore, Steve McQeen.

Purnell's History of the Second World War.

I was born in 1955. The war was still very fresh in peoples' minds. Large areas of Plymouth were still bomb sites and there was a lot of rebuiding going on. So I guess you could say that the evidence of the war was all around me as I was growing up.

[Grabnutz]

As a Brit, its part of my cultural history that the war is arguably the proudest moment of our country, in a time when Europe was under seige our quaint little island turned round and said "No". Currently I beleive there is very little british pride left to feel, so its this period that we can look back on and say "this is what it means to be British".
I was also raised on old comedies, as a kid I thought Dad's Army was brilliant, even if I didn't understand the setting so much. I guess the idea of a group of men, ill fitted for war but standing up for themselves anyway has always struck a chord in me, as has my Nan's stories of when she was a girl, and the yanks came over and gave her sweets and jam, then one day they were all just gone.
More recently, watching Band of Brothers, and reading the book has really piqued my interest, as has playing CoH.
The gamer in me also appreciates the WW2 setting, with the simpler technology (you've got comparativly basic rifles, machine guns, tanks etc) appeals to me, as it exemplifies the human effort of each man doing his given job. Modern day "button pressing" styles of warfare have never been as interesting (and I mean no disrespect to those fighting in current warzones when I say that - simply that the romantisism of soldiers not having all the modern day support and tech is more appealing to me).

So overall my interest in the war is a romantic (artistically speaking) one, it was terrible, yes, but its also something I beleive we can stand up and be proud of as a nation.

[Shoota Fodder]

My grampa got it into me really. He served in a communication company, traveling around with a radio on a jeep. He never saw much action, but most of his battles from what he's told me were pretty rediculous, and not heroic at all. His stories were the type you would expect to hear in a Flashman or Ciaphas Cain book.

For example, during the German Ardenne offensive (batttle of the bulge) his squad was cut of in a Jeep 20 miles behind enemy lines. They had no idea this had happened though. Their radio wasn't working properly and the Jeep constantly malfunctioned. After a week of travelling over crap roads at a sluggish pace, they ended up in Bastogne, got captured by the Americans (who informed them (to their disbelief) what had happened) who thought they were German spies and sat out the entire siege in inside a basement under armed guard.

Also, he landed on Juno beach during D-Day with the Canadians. It was 2nd or 3rd wave in, so most of the fighting was over. His squad ended up bottlenecking the advance for some time as their unreliable Jeep broke down on one of the main roads outside the beach. :p

I suppose after that, I have always been trying to find out more about the war, through games and films.

[Herr Kodax]

I was always fascinated by my uncle's WWII miniatures (he does a hell of a job on 'em). I'd watch a documentary every now and then, but the "final blow" came when I got my hands on Blitzkrieg (http://www.blitzkrieg.de/index.php?page=news.en.blitz). That game really got me to want to learn more and more about WWII - which I (try to) do since then.

[theluser39]

When i was 11-13 i was playing Medal of Honor Allied Assault with my friend i got inspired, then i also started to study german in my school.

[**Spetsnaz**]

my grandfather at first.
my grandparents lived in a small village in 1940. only the doctor had a car.
the village was situated at a main road, a "Krijgsbaan" - one of those military roads originally constructed by the Romans long ago. the name translates as "warpath" or something along those lines
my grandfather remembers standing in the door of his house, and seeing all those massive, big German trucks roll by. they had never even seen so many trucks.
He said they were fair & just, but strict. people werent so unhappy with them, if i understand correctly.

my other grandparents had German troops quartered in at their farm. one of my grannies sisters was very ill in her youth, dunno what, but she had to lay still in bed all day long; so the germans spoiled her with chocolate & sauciges etc, while the other troops helped my grandfather's father on the fied, while discusing of farming and crops... neither of them seems to have been badly treated.

the parents of my granmother on the other side, also had a farm and their story is a bit different though. they were not fond of the germans, especially not after they had rounded up all farmer boys & sons in the area to deport them to Germany to work. after this there was an inspection and whoever young men that had been called up and would no have come, were then found, were shot...

in 1944, those greatgrandparents hid 2 english airmen until the liberation. they were decorated by the gouvernor for that.

anyway, growing up with such different views of this, i became quickly fascinated. even more so by the mystery of how such a (relatively) small nation as germany could occupy the whole world (ie the whole world needs to work together to defeat Germany alone)
very curious stuff for a young boy...

i now have 150+ books, most biographies, a range of wargames, of which the latest addition is CoH (and one of the Best i may add)
and a lot of movies off course

[Kirjava]

WW2 was never my biggest fascination- I usually maintain that my interest in history ends after 1900- but as a kid I was into all sorts of war stuff, whether historical, fantasy or sci-fi. When that led to doing War Studies at uni it was inevitable that Dubya Dubya Two would feature somewhere, though nowhere near as much as it did for others: I was the only person in my dissertation group doing a topic that wasn't WW2 (it was the Second Punic War, if you're interested). My focus, infrequent as it is, tends to be on the Axis (I'm re-reading Richard Overy's 'The Dictators' right now), and I'm occasionally drawn to the Pacific theatre, though more to the fighting on the mainland than the US island hopping.

Basically I'm fairly interested, but I'd probably be happier talking about the 30 or 7 Years' War.

[SubZero]

I was into toy soldiers and stuff as a child first of all, and always wanted to join the army (I guess nearly ever kid does?). Eventually I took a hiatus from study and went for the Marines.

That didn't get very far at all though thanks to interventions by my mum and I found myself back at the academic grind.

I then grew up a bit more, and found that I had a sense of honour - and really respected those who did honorable things in their times. The soldiers and people who took part in WWII have some incredible tales of heroism, honour and fortune which are inspirational and always a pleasure to hear/watch.
There are sometimes tales of misfortune and mistakes which just highlight the humanity and emotions of the time which once again bring these global events down to earth.

[Roysalipuran]

I'll have to say the Tanks and Major Operations like Market Garden and Husky, and if your going to ask where i got connected to tanks look no further then http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS805sJ-Q6M so don't ask!

[ÜberJumper]

My father had the entire Time Life History of World War 2 series that I'd read all the time from when I was about 7 or so.

[Mirehn_Bielann]

I was brought into World War II by my father.

My first PC game wasn't Doom, or Duke Nukem, it was Aces of Pacific on DOS. Let's just say that after that, the rest is history (I'm now an International Political Science/History double major, go figure).

To be honest, I'm slowly getting turned off by WWII however. The more and more I know about it, the more and more I dislike the American version of what took place (the "PC" version). We did some dirty things during the war, and yet all of that seems to disappear in the wankerfest that is America's "Great Patriotic War". I mean shit, we dropped two atom bombs, firebombed whole cities (ever seen pictures of Tokyo or Dresden? yeah...), and THEN let the Russians run ram shod over the Eastern European countries.

Yah, go Switzerland.

[**Spetsnaz**]

and THEN let the Russians run ram shod over the Eastern European countries.

well, they overran eastern europe well before the US dropped the big A on japan....

[Bowkers]

And Switzerland did agree to hold Nazi money :D On the topic of Switzerland I really want to find out more about it, and its stance during WWII. I know it was neutral, but so was America until the bombing of Pearl Harbor...

[IcecreamLtDan]

Keep in mind, the Japanese also slaughtered millions of Chinese, and that was before the US even entered the war.

[Bowkers]

But to make you think that your not getting ganged up on-good on you doing history as a major :D

[Webwolf]

Well, I started by reading books about the subject, and when the Medal of Honor 1 game came for the playstation 1 came, I was totally hooked.

I also have a liking for the "occult in ww2" and "what if? scenaries. So the RTCW game is a hit in my book.

[V6PAUL]

I read 'Barbarossa' By Alan Clark (ISBN NO: 1-84212-434-X). It's a quality book and literally got me hooked on the Eastern front during WW2. I have since read over 200 books on the subject and i'm still going!

[Skyhawk]

My father flew bombers in WW2 with the RAF. Virtually every 3rd family that lived in the area I grew up in were ex- bomber crews from England who resettled in Australia. Its hard not to have an interest in something all the parents talk about.

Years after moving away I met an SS Tiger tank crewmen (since passed away). Many SS escaped to Australia and began new lives. It was like his family secret but he was very pleased to talk to someone about his life who was interested. He was with the 9th Hohenstaufen, and was captured at Caen. His biggest disappointment was not being at Arnhem when his division defeated the 'Red Devils'. He considered it his divisions finest hour. He had plenty of old gear too, including the whole divisions log books.

Interestingly, my father was quite livid about me talking to him at all. Old prejudices certainly die hard.

[zakublazer]

to be honest i was more interested in Calvary tactics in the acient times.
but that naturely led to the usage of armour in both WWI and WWII, and i was actually quit interested in what's his name (Guerdian?) the guy that proposed tanks as the ultimate weapon?

[Kasrkin]

granda's war storys were awsome and got me intrested

he was a Royal Marines Commando special forces of the time served with 6th and 9th scottish regiment served in 40 or so country he also lied about his age so he could sign up

[Kent_Lang]

Company of Heroes probably fueled my interest of WW2 history. Before that game I barely cared so much about the conflict, poltical situation except that some of my family was imprisoned on Soviet work caps because of it. Then I bought Red Orchestra, but it wasn't until I started modding I started activily researching the subject. This happened in the summer of 2008. I have learned alot in this short time.

[Iheartkillakanz]

it is such a major turning point in human history. a crash course in the true modern world. warfare will never be the same, and the world is still experiencing the results of ww2, and the subsequent cold war that can be almost directly connected to ww2.

warfare in the 20th century is a great field of study, and ww2 is the best of all. its almost surreal how it all happened.

[Svartmetall]

posting from the hell that is work

I find war history fascinating because it's humanity with the gloves off, it's what we're truly capable of as a species laid bare; the heroic and the depraved, the development and the destruction all together.

Read the accounts of how people won the Victoria Cross or the Medal Of Honour to see how incredibly selfless and courageous humans can be; read about Babi Yar, or Auschwitz, or Unit 731 to see how low we can stoop as a species. Look at the Manhattan project or the achievements at Peenemunde and Bletchley to see how far and fast we can advance our knowledge when we put our minds to it; look at Dresden, or Lidice, or Hiroshima to see how quickly we can reduce all our works to rubble and blood.

Wars are almost always the result of the previous few decades' politics, in the same way as earthquakes are the result of the previous few millenias' tectonic movements; and as such they're also very interesting as exercises in Consequences from a purely political standpoint.

[say1988]

While I was interested in history, especially 19th/20th century warfare, the things that actually got me into it was first watcching "Black Sheep Squadron" and later the key was in grade 10 we had to do a paper on some aspect of WWI, I did mine on the evolution of tanks. I have always been more interested in WWI than WWII (I get sick of all the US propaganda in the media, hence my very limited knowledge of the Pacific war), but it is much easier to find stories about WWII, so I read more about that. That same project intorduced me to wiki, which I would later spend a lot of time just reading about many things on as it was easy to find info, free, and easily accessable.
I also am patriotic and like to learn about the history of Canada, and where better than one of our greatest moments on the world stage (though WWI was even better).

[churchill rifle]

my grandfather was in an elite marine unit and he used to tell me all these stories
and when i got older he told me about how his freinds got gunned down on iwojima but he didn't hate the japanese for it because they were just doing their job
he just died he was 102 their was a big military funeral and they read this thing about how he got each of his medals

[Panzer General]

I am not really sure what sparked my intrest in History.

My 3 most favorite History time periods are:
World War 2
The Roman Empire, especially Hannibal
Napoleon

[say1988]

Hmmm, I mainly focus on Napoleon up through Korea, but WWII is the easiest to find nice things to read about.

Odd seeing almost everyone here had a grandparent that served during the war, meanwhile not one of my ancestors served in either world war (to be honest they had bad timing age wise and were working farms). One of my fathers cousins [I think, or even more distant] served in Newfoundland during WWII, that is the only one I know of (must have been about the best place to serve, got payed the same as anyone serving overseas, and could take a train ride home for an extended leave).

[Fyfer]

I'd have to say models and miniatures influenced my interest, and my father also bought me many books about the subject. Although personally I find WWI more interesting.

Company of Heroes and Flames of War kind of keep me interested as well.

[Kasrkin]

i like ww2 but i do like watching the ww1 documentrys those men were truly brave

[Panzer General]

Odd seeing almost everyone here had a grandparent that served during the war

Well my great uncle served on the USS Wahoo, a sub in the pacific. It was sunk.
And a 3rd or 4th coussin was shot by a snipper in the Battle of the Buldge.

[SubZero]

I think it'd be even odder to find someone with grandparents who didn't serve in some capacity in the War; whether factories, home guard, resistance, strategist, administration or active combatant (soldier, pilot etc).

Ah, misread from the misquote. I'm sure your grandparents played some involvement with the war - you must remember that during wartime, countries are on war footing which generally involves everyone contributing in someway or another.

[CPK]

what got me into World War two is Indiana Jones. the Nazi occults and the history my dad knew about the Pacific War got my interested as a little kid. i found out my grandpa had fought in world war 2 killing... Americans cause my family was in Taiwan when it was still under Jap control cause the Chinese had lost it in the Sino-Japanese war, so my grandpa got impressed into the Jap army. He fought at the Philippines and Okinawa though he didnt die (otherwise i wouldnt be posting this). i had also read alot of world war two books as a little kid. now as a 16 year old, i learned about world war 2 in history class these last couple days (though i knew everything) and the increase in time i have on Company of Heros and Call of Duty that i love world war 2.

[say1988]

Ah, misread from the misquote. I'm sure your grandparents played some involvement with the war - you must remember that during wartime, countries are on war footing which generally involves everyone contributing in someway or another.
In some indirect way, obviously everybody did. I mean actively. I am from rural Ontario, where a lot of families didn't have many people go off to serve, obviously a great many did, but a lot of the people I grew up with never had grandparents that served at home or abroad.
Like I said before, my family happened to be ages that slipped through for the most part over here and family and the farm were more important. I believe my uncle was born right before, or shortly after WWII started, my grandfather being about 25-30, at the oldest 15 in 1918.
I don't know much about my mothers side, but I know my grandparents were ~15 when WWII ended, and none of my great-grandparents served in the first war.

I suppose it likely would have been different if they lived in the UK (the last, my paternal grandmothers family came over in 1912 or 1913).

Not that it is bad or anything, just seems so strange when virtually every post says: my grandfather did this, my grandfather did that.

[Panzer General]

I think it'd be even odder to find someone with grandparents who didn't serve in some capacity in the War; whether factories, home guard, resistance, strategist, administration or active combatant (soldier, pilot etc).

Ah, misread from the misquote. I'm sure your grandparents played some involvement with the war - you must remember that during wartime, countries are on war footing which generally involves everyone contributing in someway or another.

I don't know, they were like 13 or so, but i'm sure they did something!

[SubZero]

I don't know, they were like 13 or so, but i'm sure they did something!

In that case then...

The way you spoke of them were that they were like adults at the time (or perhaps that was just my perception). In which case i'd imagine that your great-grandparents played a part. :)

./get-out-clause

[Panzer General]

In that case then...

The way you spoke of them were that they were like adults at the time (or perhaps that was just my perception). In which case i'd imagine that your great-grandparents played a part.

./get-out-clause

That would be an interesting question to ask them!

[Zombie Phlegm]

For me it was the propaganda i was fed as a little one (my teacher in year 3-4 was in WW2) he was very one sided and didn't express things properly so i decided to look further into it. I also loved and still do love German machinery just something about german machine guns makes me feel all tingly.

[Krisis]

I started reading history books for fun my freshman year in high school. Since then, I've been reading the Stackpole Military Series books like they were going out of style. Steven E. Ambrose and Samuel Mitcham Jr. are my favorite authors at the current time, along with Otto Carius. I started focusing on World War II because of my teacher in my freshman year, he was very interested in the war and was constantly sharing factoids with me. I occasionally go to his classroom now and present a lesson on World War II to his students, as its a break from the normal classroom routine they usually love it!

I'm beginning to piece together a modest collection of German weapons from World War II. I currently have a German kar98k and a bayonet. I'm looking to eventually have a dummy grenade (potato masher, preferably), a luger, a Walther P-38, and an MG 39/40. I'd dream of an FG 42 or an MG 44, but that is not likely to happen!

[JHuschke]

Ever since I was like 8 or 9 I started learning about World War I and II. Reading up on how the German army fought such a war against many countries for years influenced me to want to know more about it. There are still many unsolved mysteries about the war and everyone assumes this and that but no one knows whats true or not. Everyone's still got something to learn about WWII, even me.

[billo]

Been interested in WWII for as long as I can recall. Started out with a keen interest in the hardware (especially the aircraft). My grand-dad had a lot of Biggles books, which captured my imagination as an eight year old.

From there it sorta grew and grew. I did modern history in high school (focussed on the period 1900-1945), toyed with tertiary studies in that area, but ended up doing engineering instead. Still enjoy reading (or watching docos etc) about all facets of the conflict - not just battles and equipment, but also the rationale for decisions taken, the life of the ordinary "man in the street" etc..

[cooljunk93]

It started with both my Grandfathers, one who i had never met, but i have been told that he was in the Air Force during and after the second world war. And the other, who was in the Sherwood Forrestors Reg. This Grandfather used to tell me and my father stories, some not nice, about his time during the second world war, ranging from when he fought in Africa, and ended up a prisoner of war in Poland (i think) and then his accent (yorkshire) was recognised by a Polish soldier and then somehow made his way back to Britain (well Scotland actually) and met my Grandmother there. I have also recently found medals of his when my Grandmother moved from her bungalow into a Nursing home.

But since i heard those stories, i was always inspired, and me and my Father have long discussions and debates on Military and political history, to this day. Also, after playing a few World war 2 games. (as all teenagers do ;D) i gained an even larger interest in World War 2 History, and after doing a massive essay in year 9, i chose History for my GCSE's and have then enjoyed the topics on Britain in the first World War, Hitlers uprising, Stalin's Russia, and the Cold War (which we are just about finishing up on now, although i do not think it ends there, as I believe it is still a war that is apparent to this very day.)

Also, a few years back, we went to some Barracks up in Scotland, this enticed me even more, as i got to see Large Artillery pieces, weapons, and other military items, mainly from WW2. and I hope i can keep my fascination of History going, as it is something i believe is special to the whole world, and should be remembered.

[zdefiantonid]

History, modern history, like 1850s till the 1970s... born in 77, this interested me. More so the navally focused Japanese than the Germans... Actually, Harry Turtledove's alternate history novels are partially to blame, but most of it has to do with reading historical books when I was a kid. Also watching "war and Rememberance" a long time ago helped. One thing that I think got me interested in the Japanese side of things, if not the naval focus was reading a book entitled "Shinano!" [its more present title being Sea-something?] by Joeseph Enright. Thats a great story.

[ebevan91]

World War II is and probably will always be my favorite war.

There was so much riding on that war that it was probably the most important war ever besides the American Revolution. My interests are mainly in the Western front, then the Pacific theater, but I also have interest in the other theaters, too, like N. Africa, Eastern, and the Italian theater. I'm not exactly sure why I'm so interested in it, other than the fact that it was the most active war and there were so many things happening.

[Prophaniti]

For me personally, it's family history.

My parents were Russian, my grandparents lived in a small town in Russia (having lived through the Shtetls Jews of Eastern Europe for generations, along with enduring the pogroms for centuries). When the Nazi's invaded, my grandparents on my father's side were taken to Krakau, then Treblinca, where none made it out. Similarly, on my mother's side, they were taken to Warsaw, then sent to Auchwitz. One made it out, out of the entire family.

I grew up in Budapest, in the old Jewish Quarter with my step parents (another Jewish-Russian family), in an area which was used as a ghetto during such times. It was the sights seen (some often fairly macabre, mass graves, etc) which also gave me insight into the atrocities carried out. I lived there for seven years before moving to the States.

After studying the events of these times fairly extensively, I have put in time learning about how events like this can be prevented, having had family directly involved.

Another reason, is how short a time ago it was. 1945 wasn't too long ago when you really think about it, and people see how different the world is nowadays. I have some great friends who are German, I have traveled to Germany twice in my 19 years, and no matter how hard it is to forget and forgive, I find it fascinating how a Europe once so torn in hate are for (the most part) friends now. This is why I study WWII and am totally enthralled by all sides of the conflict.

[Butlermoz]

Sorry guys but mine is not very inspiring and romantic :D
My grandfather was a part of the auxiliary navy force, the ones who cleaned up after the vanguard fleets in the pacific. When I was young, he would always tell me stories of all the clean up operations, and occasionally some more harrowing stories of his marine compatriots.
One time, while he was stationed on some recon aircraft carrier, he and some of his buddies were drunk off some smuggled liquor, playing some cards in someone's cabin. In the middle of their game, one of the recon planes the carrier was... carrying... was coming in for a landing, but too fast, and ended up skidding off the other side into the water. Fortunately, the plane's model was buoyant and nobody was hurt, and it was deemed prudent to make my grandfather to dive into the water and tether the plane to the boat. I still howl when he retells the story.
But what really got me dedicated to WWII history was when one of his veteran buddies told me a story, where one Mustang fighter crash landed on the carrier my grandpop was on. the flight deck was ablaze. My grandfather, without hesitation, raced into the fire and pulled the pilot to safety, and suffered some severe burning in the process. about 2 minutes after the rescue, the plane exploded. To this day its unknown wether or not it was fearless courage or a drunken stupor that drove my grandpop, as he's never told anyone, but he had my eternal admiration. I began hearing more stories of unprecedented heroism, about men and women facing off against innumerable odds, about the unsung acts of bravery in the concentration camps, the famed snipers of Stalingrad, the camaraderie soldiers bestowed upon one another during Normandy.
How could I ignore such a period of blood, arbitration, violence, and the individuals who quietly bit their tongues and combatted it, against the enemy, and against their own allies. Never will such an age exist.

And lets not forget about The Winter War. People forget all to readily that the small nation of Finland withstood the might of the Red Army. Not a small feat there.

[Maximus Awesome]

I guess for me it was just cool. A world wide struggle to dominate the planet and spread ideals to every nation and all those who were caught up in it (yes I got that from Axis and Allies). The way the war was fought and how the turnout was really interested me when I was younger. Listening to stories of brave men storming Omaha beach, the Blitzkrieg tactic the Germans used on the USSR in Operation Barbarossa and island hopping in the Pacific to outmanuver the Japanese by America all facinated me. Plus my LGM (little green men) would wage great battles on my sofa as America would storm cities made of LEGO's and how the Germans would react to the attack and fail always kept me entertained for hours.

So there you have it. Why I like WW2.

[Boots262]

I started building 1:48 scale aircraft models at about 17, and from there developed an interest in what you could call the material culture of the war - tanks, planes, guns etc. I had that strict, operational military history beaten out of me in my third and fourth years of Uni (it took me six years to do my BA :) ), and by the time I came to write my Honours thesis I was far more interested in the psychology of combat, and the psychology of killing in warfare.

This stuff still fascinates me. WW2 has always been my hobby history, as there is something addictive about the story. It's told to white westerners as a battle between good and evil, where 'we' fought against 'them' and triumphed, to save humanity. It's really interesting to me to hear the diversity of stories in this thread - there are people of German, Jewish, Russian and Finnish descent talking with Americans, Brits and others, and the versions of the war they'd all have would probably clash pretty resoundingly.

For me, the 'grown up' historian, what interests me now is exactly that - the way we're all told the story of the war. The way the Western Front from 1944-1945 is treated as "proper" war - war between roughly equal, modern, industrialised powers fighting for opposite causes - while other wars are somehow not proper because poeple break rules. World War II is "the good war". It's a strange delusion, but a really addictive one. That really fascinates me.