What's your families military history?

[napoleon526]

My late grandfather's grandfather was an officer in a Georgia regiment in the civil war.

The same late grandfather was a surgeon during WWII who served in the ETO.

Family lore says that we're related to Francis Marion, the "Swamp Fox" guerrilla leader during the American revolution. Not sure how accurate this is, though.

A family tradition with more evidence is our link to James Graham, 1st Marquis of Montrose, who was one of Charles I's generals in Scotland. Here's some info on him:

http://www.caledonia-net.co.uk/Documents/G/graham-james.htm

My father's uncle was a green beret who served in Vietnam. After the war he just disappeared one day. We think he's either living alone in a national park somewhere, Rambo-style, or is one of the "Men in Black" (really).

 

[HuckFinn]

This is about my dad's uncle, Lauri Timonen... he was a quiet guy who didn't talk much of what he was up to during the Winter War, like many of the veterans, but his history came to light a few years ago...

First a little primer for foreigners. During the Winter War, Finns fought a lot using a tactic called "motti". This means that when the enemy is advancing in difficult terrain, you use the terrain to isolate the enemy, cut it to pieces and slowly wear down its strength, even if your numbers are greatly inferior.

In Winter War, there were several mottis around Kuhmo... the Finns had managed to isolate substantial numbers of Soviets, but didn't quite have the strength to annihilate them, so the situation was more or less a stalemate. The Russians then sent in Colonel Dolin's elite ski brigade (a rare piece of the Soviet arsenal at the time) to help in liberating the troops that had got stuck... he had some 1800 men.

My dad's uncle was the leader of a patrol of 11 men... he actually accidentally stumbled straight into Dolin's headquarters. The Russians were caught off guard, and his men managed to slaughter most of the top officers, including Dolin himself. His ski brigade was left in disarray and it was subsequently destroyed as it lacked any coherent leadership.

Had Dolin succeeded, the war might have taken a very quick turn for worse than what it already was for Finns...

Finnish-capable readers might want to check out this.

I find it difficult to believe he did not get the Mannerheim Cross... the highest Finnish military honor granted during WW2.

 

[Norlamand]

Various relatives on both sides of my family fought on both sides of the American Civil War, mostly for the South though.

Unclear on any relatives involvement between ACW and WWII

Paternal Grandfather was an artilleryman in Europe during WWII
Maternal Grandfather was a Navy corpsman in the Pacific in WWII

Maternal Grandmother was a Navy Nurse during WWII

Father was infantry NCO in Viet Nam (two tours, two bronze stars, three purple hearts).

Paternal and maternal uncles were in the Navy during Viet Nam.

Wife was a activated reservist (journalist) during Desert Storm.

Brother was Air Force computer network specialist (now works for Microsoft)

I'm currently 13 1/2 years into my period of servitude.....

 

[Martacus]

I think most of my ancestors came over here after the Civil War; I don't know much of my family history before the 1890s. I do know that I had a relative who died in WWI, and my grandfather (paternal) served in WWII in the 95th infantry division. They took Metz. Most of his time there he was driving supply trucks--once he almost got into an accident with Eisenhower, whose driver was going the wrong way on a one-way road. My other grandfather was in the army during the Korean war, but he never had to go over since he was seriously ill at the time. That's about all that I know of off the top of my head.

 

[Deep_Thought76]

If I'm remembering this correctly.. On my father's side, my great-great grandfather was a Union artillerist during the civil war, and someone else in his family fought in WW1. My grandfather was drafted in 1944, became an officer, and trained infantry at Camp Gordon, GA until the war's end. After that, he was stationed in Europe for a year or so with the occupation forces, and was going to be in Korea, but I don't think he ever saw action.

On my mother's side, I only know that my grandfather fought in the Pacific theater in WW2, including Guadalcanal(sp?) at one point. Sadly, i never got a chance to ask him about it (though I doubt he would have said much anyway- he was an even less talkative person than I am..)

Oh, and of course there's my father, who was in the navy for 21 years, as a helicopter pilot, aeronautical engineer, etc.

 

[Cuchullain]

I spent four years in the Marines.

My father was a tank commander in the 14th Armored Division in WW2 (he commanded one of the recovery vehicles). One of his brothers was in the Army Air Corps in WW2, and another served in the infantry (he arrived in Europe after D-Day). A third brother served in the infantry in Korea, and a fourth served as a forward observer during three tours in Vietnam (he later rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel).

One of my grandfathers was a sergeant in the cavalry in WW1 (and the Pancho Villa Expedition); the other served in the infantry in WW1.

Three of my ancestors served in the Union army's famous Irish Brigade during the American Civil War. Aside from that, I have ancestors who served in every major Irish rebellion against English rule, before they emigrated. One of my ancestors (according to my grandfather) was Brian Boru.

 

[Hitro]

Well, these kind of things aren't regarded as particularly great over here, so my knowledge is restricted to the last century, though considering the number of wars before that it is likely there's been much more.

My grandmother's (paternal side) father was in the Navy in WW1, he later got his son into it as well with the result that he was killed early in WW2 when the destroyer he served on hit a mine. He recieved some medal for it posthumously...

My grandmother's and grandfather's (both maternal side) fathers both fought in the Wehrmacht in WW2, both got killed later in the war, as did about 15 more male members of their immidiate family.

My grandfather (paternal side) joined a "Volkssturm" (the militia of kids and old men) unit in the spring of 1945 but escaped the war without any serious fighting.

My father did his compulsory service in the West German army, in a rocket artillery unit.

 

[cgannon64]

Father: Nothing. He was 18 in about '78, so there were no real wars for him to fight. I think I have an uncle who great-uncle who fought in Vietnam, and supposedly he came back very weird and spacey. They say he doesn't talk much anymore, kind of spaces out alot of the time.

Grand-Father: My dad's side didn't fight, I think. I might be wrong. My mom's side fought in WWII, but he has a glass eye (he lost it as a kid - don't play with power tools!) so he fixed tanks.

Great-Grand-Father: I beleive one of my great-grand-fathers fought in WWI as an infantryman. In fact, he almost died. The Germans gassed his trench, and he was unconcious at the bottom of the pile. They were kicking all the soldiers before they put them in a mass grave, and when they kicked him, he didn't move. After they put the soldiers in the ground and were about to bury them, he woke up and coughed. They dug through all the bodies and found him, and so I am alive.

Farther than that, I do not know.

 

[Wyrmshadow]

Paternal grandfather was volunteered into the Red Army after having fought with the AK (Armya Krajova), the partisan forces fighting the germans. He made it as far as Berlin and saw the Red Army soldier plant the red banner on the Reichstag.. That's about as far as I know. No other military service except my dad was drafted into the Polish army for a time. I'm sure my ancestors were just serfs being chased by Cossacks.

 

[PantheraTigris2]

Mine goes back to the 1600s, but if you think I'm going to sit here and type a novel you're crazy. I'll just stick with the 20th century, since the further back you go, the more and more ancestors you have to account for.

Father's side:
Great-grandfather lied about his age to join the Army in WWI. He had only just immigrated to the U.S. a year or two prior [completely by himself, I might add - he was heir to royalty in Lithuania - but instead he wanted adventure (probably best, considering what was about to happen in Russia)]. Before leaving Germany once the war ended, he had met my great-grandmother, and brought her back home to the U.S.

Grandfather was an airplane mechanic in the USAAF when WWII started, but soon won a commission and became a pilot. He flew several tours (nearly 200 missions) in Europe in fighter & fighter-bomber roles (P-38 mostly). Won Bronze Star, Silver Star, Distinguished Flying Cross, to name the highest ones - before coming back home. He never talked about the war, gave all his medals to my father (a kid at the time), and always tried to teach "War is nothing but pure Hell" to people that thought about glorifying it. Must have had a pretty rough experience over there, because he was never the same afterwards. After the war, he was involved to top-secret nuclear testing projects that to this day the family doesn't fully know very much about.

Father was an ICBM network/systems analyst for Minuteman II & III missiles during the Vietnam War, among other things I can't mention. From him, I've learned so much about secret nuclear weapons projects (that are still on-going) that the general public is completely oblivious to - kind of neat, I suppose. No further comment.


Mother's side:

Great-grandfather wanted to fight in WWI, but they said he was too old.

Grandfather, was originally a tank mechanic in WWII - but he wanted something more exciting. By early 1943, he was in the Paratroopers, in the Pacific theater. Saw lots of action - it's a miracle I'm even here, with all the close-calls he had (I reserve the right to call them 'JAPS', Curt). His unit was scheduled to be one of the fist ones to drop in Operation Downfall (invasion of Japan), but Truman saved his life before that one actually materialized. This grandfather, on the other hand, loves the Army, loved to talk about the war, and I have no doubt would go fight the Japs again right now, if given the chance. He was very proud of what he was a part of, and thinks back on all that close-combat with fond memories.

Wait a minute... nukes seem to be a big part of my more-recent family's history, now that I think about it!
Ah, well... they're not as bad as everyone says. j/k

 

[Quasar1011]

Originally posted by PantheraTigris2
Mine goes back to the 1600s, but if you think I'm going to sit here and type a novel you're crazy. I'll just stick with the 20th century, since the further back you go, the more and more ancestors you have to account for...

Wait a minute... nukes seem to be a big part of my more-recent family's history, now that I think about it!
Ah, well... they're not as bad as everyone says. j/k

A nuclear family! What a novel idea!

I had several uncles join the U.S. Navy during WWII.

My father spent 28 years in the U.S. Army. He fought in Korea and Vietnam.

I spent several years in the Air Force.

One family heirloom is a Belgian Army sword from with the year 1871 engraved into it.

 

[Esckey]

Not sure about my mom's side but my grand father on my dad's side was mobolized in WW2 but they quickly disbanded, from there he helped to hide a jewish child till the Allies retook Holland. She's now basically an aunt of the families. He also bought an Iron Cross and something else off of a retreating german soilder and picked up an artillery shell off the street and kept it to store canes and umburrelas and stuff, we have it now.

His brother got into the America's army and into Military Intel, learned recently he might of also of been in the CIA or had the chance to be in the CIA but I think that's just some story.

 

[wilbill]

On the maternal side, my multi-great grandfather fought in the American Revolution. A chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution is named for him.
My great-great grandfather served in a Confederate artillery battery which was in action at Lookout Mountain, Chicamauga, and lost its guns at Atlanta. He finished the remaining months of the war in the infantry.
My father's parents were from Quaker and Minnonite families so there was no military service until WWII. My father served in a field artillery batallion throughout the European campaign, won a Bronze Star. His brother won a Silver Star as an ambulance driver at Anzio. His sister served in the WACS.
I was drafted about 3 months before the draft was abolished . Served most of my two years as a company clerk stateside. I like to think that my typing contributed greatly to national security.

 

[PantheraTigris2]

Originally posted by Quasar1011


A nuclear family! What a novel idea!

I had several uncles join the U.S. Navy during WWII.

My father spent 28 years in the U.S. Army. He fought in Korea and Vietnam.

I spent several years in the Air Force.

One family heirloom is a Belgian Army sword from with the year 1871 engraved into it.

I had an Uncle in the Navy, too. I forgot about him. He was stationed in Alaska - that's probably why!

Hey... that's not funny, he died of cancer.

As long as we're counting Uncles - I had one that fought in Special Forces during Vietnam. He only served 2 years total, but rose to the rank of E-7 during that time frame! ...Ought to say something about how many in his unit were killed.

 

[Archer 007]

My grandfather was a gunner on a cargo plane in Vietnam.

 

[Shadylookin]

my granfather served in ww2, i don't know the specifics but i think he got a purple heart(i'm pretty sure you get one just for being wounded).

i think i've had some uncles go serve.

my father never got drafted for vietnam i think since he had a daughter(my sister) he wasn't a priority

my brother now serves in the US navy he is a senior chief and is supposed to retire in a couple years

other than that i have some native american blood so they were countlessly getting kick out by the US military. i'm irish, and supposedly have some dutch and italian blood also so whatever they did i'm sure i had someone die in a war over there.

 

[HighlandWarrior]

Great Grandfather(mothers side) fought in ww1, royal engineers won the victoria cross.

Grandfather(mothers side), Royal engineers ww2, he didnt talk about it much, my mom said he did something with POWs & mine fields.

Father, navy, vietnam(guess where he was stationed )
Uncles, army(vietnam) & air force(vietnam)
Fathers first cousin, marines(vietnam)
Brother navy, submarines, no wars.
myself, bootcamp jan12th(usmc)

that's all i can remember.

 

[Desmond Hawkins]

Members of my family were too valuable to be used as mere soldiers, so they were placed on radar development duty in WWII

 

[Mariusz]

My grandfather fought in guerilla troops during WWII.

 

[Eli]

My paternal grandfather fought for the Red Army in WW2.
He was 19 when he was drafted and didnt know to read or write, but when all the fresh recruits were gathered and the officers asked for the literate ones to step ahead he did. Those who didnt became infantry man and those who did went to the tanks. That's how he avoided certain death.
He was either a tank crewmember or a commander and his tank got hit in some battle, but he managed to both escape from the tank badly wounded and from the medics who wanted to amputate his hand. Until now he has hundreds of shrapnels in his body.
His father also fought for the Russians in WW2 but I have no idea how and where.

The sister of my maternal grandfather fought with the partisans in Belorussia.

My father and his four brothers served in the Red Army, but they all avoided fighting in Afghanistan since the Russians didnt send Jews there.

In Israel, 2 of my cousins were airforce technicians or something like that. And two more distant cousins were in Border Patrol and Combat Engineering.

And I sold my soul to the devil and went for the ROTC program thingie so I have about 4 years before my actual service starts.