War stories from YOUR ancient relatives
- Thread starter Haig
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TheLastOne36
Deity
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Normandy?
No, that's too obvious.
I believe it was on the Aquitaine coast as that was where the eventual Haitian Plantation owner ancestor of mine originated from. If anyone knows anything about Viking expansion in France outside of Normandy it would be neat to learn.
Gen.Mannerheim
Grand Moff
No, that's too obvious.
I believe it was on the Aquitaine coast as that was where the eventual Haitian Plantation owner ancestor of mine originated from. If anyone knows anything about Viking expansion in France outside of Normandy it would be neat to learn.
It depends on what you consider as "substantial" Norse expansion. When the Norse settled in an area they seldom became the majority in terms of "ethnic" population. Even in the famous Danelaw in England the population was predominantly what we would call "Anglo-Saxon". Scandinavian Scotland is the only major exception to this rule for a verity of long reasons.
The Norse settled all over the Atlantic coast of France, but this low scale inhabitation made it easy for them to become assimilated in to the culture at large. Outside of Normandy in what today we would call France the largest permanent Norse settlement that retained its cultural distinctiveness for a lengthy period was in the Loire Valley region. It should be noted that Norse expansion and Norman expansion should be considered two different things as the Normans were a cultural fusion of Frankish and Danish peoples and their expansion was very different from earlier Norse expansion.
madviking
north american scum
So my father's family has a lot of ties to the military of the Soviet Union.
- uncle: midshipman on a nuclear submarine in the Arctic and Pacific during the 70s and 80s.
- great-grandfather: a soldier in the Red Army during World War II, took part in the siege of Budapest.
- great-great-grandfather: a Bolshevik in Smolensk during the Revolution. Probably fought in the Civil War.
- uncle: midshipman on a nuclear submarine in the Arctic and Pacific during the 70s and 80s.
- great-grandfather: a soldier in the Red Army during World War II, took part in the siege of Budapest.
- great-great-grandfather: a Bolshevik in Smolensk during the Revolution. Probably fought in the Civil War.
Wow. That's not something he spoke about often, I bet.
SamSniped
DJ Goodboye
I only remember one of the stories my great-grandfather told me. He was the top-turret gunner on a B-17 flying over Germany in World War II, and one day an ME-109 blew out the canopy of his turret, barely missing him.
bonefang
Emperor
MY granddad, my mother's dad, was a lance-naik, in the Poona Horse, in the Indo Pak war of 1965. He lost his left leg. I have spent a lot of time listening to his stories.
madviking
north american scum
I haven't met any of the guys I listed. Everybody but my uncle has died. This all that my father told me.
You're going to have merry hell if you ever apply for a job that requires higher-level security clearance.
madviking
north american scum
Good thing I'm not doing that.
Domen
Misico dux Vandalorum
Do you know when he was recruited to the Red Army? In 1945 or earlier?
madviking
north american scum
If there was a way to search through Soviet military records I could tell you but I'm 99% sure such a thing doesn't exist.
_random_
Jewel Runner
So you're of immigrant stock then?
_random_
Jewel Runner
I can't find any ancestors of mine who never lived in America. While this is frustrating, my jingoistic side is kind of proud of it.
_random_
Jewel Runner
In the most literal sense. And in the "My dad's mom said she was a quarter Cherokee" sense.
History_Buff
Deity
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- 6,529
So you're of immigrant stock then?
_random_
Jewel Runner
Yes, but I can't find any ancestors from prior to the first in my family to come to America from the Palatines, or any Europeans from outside my patriarchal lineage.
madviking
north american scum
Welcome to the club.
