Whats your families military history?

As far as I know, My great uncle saw the Bismarck sink the Hood and my Great Grampa flew sopwith camels in the first world war.

Great subj. Wrong forum. My great uncle was on the USS Phelps at Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7th 1941. My other two great uncles were on the Arizona. Sadly the Arizona didnt make it through the attack, neither did they. My great uncle (Jesse) who was later at Midway is still alive today and I love hearing his stories. However it is hard for him to tell the stories of war.

my great uncle died at sea onboard a navy ship,torpedoed or something in ww1

my grandad served in the welsh guards in ww2

Both of my grandfathers were officers in WWII, European Theater, but they didn't see direct action.

One was a Maj. with the U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers. He detonated bridges, made bridges, etc., but didn't take fire. An interesting story about him was that he only weighed about 105 pounds and was about 5'4". He almost didn't make it into the Army, until he proved he could carry 100 lbs. on his back. He was tough that way. He passed away years ago and I have his medals, insignias, etc.

The other served as an accountant in the Army. He followed up units that invaded Italy. He told us that all the officers each got bottle of vintage Italian wine for dinner every night after they liberated parts of Italy, and once they were housed in a castle. German prisoners passed through this unit all the time and he fondly remembers the ones who could speak a little English being astonished at the mountains of supplies the U.S. Army had stockpiled -- contrary to what the German propaganda had been telling the soldiers about the U.S. lack of supplies. (Not too exciting, but still part of the overall war story)

Both Grandfathers were in WWII. The one of my mothers side was in the 99th Infantry Division and fought in the Battle of the Bulge and a few other ones I think but I don't know what they are.

The one on my fathers side didn't really talk about anything to my dad a lot other then once he kicked a helmet off of a German soldier and maggots were eating his brain.

I think he was in the Battle of the Bulge also.

My dad was almost drafted into Vietnam but his number was never called so he was drafted. That's about it for military service in my family.

Some of my great grandparents may have fought in WWI but it's hard to find out.

My mom is trying to do research but most documents were destroyed during WWII so it's hard.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Praetorian_Elite,

My Grandad(RIP) was with the Royal Artillery (SGT),and was at Dunkirk at the time of the Evacuation,and brought back a couple of howitzer shells,which he passed on to his son (my dad,RIP) along with his medals.
And my older Brother is god knows where!

I can tell a story about my uncle in Vietnam.

Well my Uncle Ron was in the 1/52nd Echo Recon, 198th Light Infantry Brigade in Vietnam. He enlisted in the army in 68 and got sent to 'Nam in '69. He was a medic.

He wrote to the local newspaper on numerous occasions talking about his experiences in the Nam and answering question to folks back home.

In one of his letters he talks of going on a patrol and being ambushed. His Lt.'s back went up in flames by a white phosphorus grenade, my uncle being the medic was trying to put the fire out with a towel along with one of his buddies. While doing this, his buddie who was helping him, got shot right in between the eyes by enemy machine gun fire.

Then half way through his tour on Oct 4th '69 his unit went into a viallge called Quang Ngai to search for enemy weapons, intelligence, that sorta stuff.

Suddenly while patroling the area my Uncle got hit by a sniper. He died while being choppered out on a medavac. He was 20 yrs old.

I actually ahvve a site that my Aunt is running... PFC Huffman

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My uncle is in the army. Don't know what he does exactly. He's not in combat.

My cousin Amos, is in the army. He fought in Afghanistan, then in Iraq. He is now MP (military Police).

This message has been edited. Last edited by: jUsTiNcReDiBLe0,

uhhh my grandpa was a peacekeeper in Japan after WWII

I have a relative who was a Jedi in the Old republic, i also had an uncle who was a Republic Commando

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that was sorta funny Dat-Guy since I'm a Star Wars fan and all, but people can take it the wrong way.

My families Military history is quite prolific, My Great grandfather Pvt Harry Jones sined up for the british army at the beginning of WW1, at the tender age of 16. He lied to the enrollment officer along with a friend and went of to fight with the South Lancs Regiment. He was involved in the first major offensives at Ypres and Paschendale If I remember correctly. One of my favourite stories he recalled to my grandmother was of how he killed a german stormtrooper using a shovel/ entrenching tool and a knuckle duster.
Seriously im not s---ting you, i was mouth agape too!, get this aswell....he also at one point had a rifle bullet richochett of his cap badge, slicing his head open in the process, and knocking him out. Once he told me that a artillery shell landed in the trench he was in about 30 yds away, when they got to it, it had hit a sleeping soldier and was stuck right through him. It hadn't exploded and they just had to cover his body in sand bags in case it went off. That was in Ypres. Afer that he got postedin archangel in the russian arctic circle. He only got home in 1919. He got called up in ww2 but was to old to be a combatant so he was in charge of POW's at burtonwood airbase ( about 3 miles from my house it was the biggest US Airforce base in Europe in ww2 )and finished the war at the rank of Sgt Major. A remarkably tough, wonderfull man, like many combat veterans he was modest and rarely talked about what he had seen. Im proud to be his great grandson.
One of my grandfathers was a navigator in the RAF, whilst the other was in the Royal Artillery serving in N Africa. After the war, whilst still in the army he transfered to the Parachute Regiment and served out in Libya fighting the arabs. One of my great uncles was in the chindits fighting in burma against the Japs, another " My uncle Ernie " was killed in the Offensive that took monte casino in Italy. He was killed on boxing day 1944 aged 26. I recently found his grave using the commonwealth war graves commission he is buried in Forli war cemetary.

Read his citation here
http://www.cwgc.org/cwgcinternet/certificate.aspx?casualty=2207317

My father grew up in relative peace time and has never served in the forces.
And that leaves me, currently serving in the British Army (1Kings) Armoured Infantry, with one operational tour of Iraq and plenty of combat experience I think Ive done my family heritage proud.

My great uncle john was also on the HMS HOOD, although not when it was sunk by the bismark, he was torpedoed four separate times and survied. Ironically after serving 25 years in the british navy he was electrocuted and killed when working as an electrician in civvy life after the war. **** luck eh?, sad.

i must add my grandpa was 42 in 1941 so he was a tad old for action abroad but served as ???.whats below the home guard??....he was in that..he died in 1951 in a motorcycle accident..

My grandad was in the Royal Navy and served as a gunner in WWII. he joined at 16 and lied about his age. He never used to like to talk about he war, my grandma always said it was because he lost alot of his good friends at sea. I can always remember that my grandad hated me playing with guns as a kid as a result of his experiences.

My Grandfather flew P-38's on sub patrol, didnt really talk about it much, my other grandfather served in the army during WWII but died when I was only 3, so never got to ask him. Have and Uncle who served in Korea, have a cousin who is currently serving in the Navy on an aircraft carrier off the coast of Kuwait, (so our family thinks, dont give info on whereabouts) and have another cousin who is currently in the Coast Guard stationed on Statten Island.

Well one of my great grandfathers on my dad's side was a fighter instructor i don't know wher though. I know that one of my greatuncles on my mom side was fighting on Iwo Jima near the base of mt. sarabatie (i can't spell). You know where old glory was raised.My grandfather was a radio operater on a ship during the Korean war.
Besides that I had a greatgrandma who is 86 and she remembers all the men going away and how the cars would come and tell the moms their sons or husbands have died. My greatgrandma too had a brother served in WW1 but she didn't know much about him. Also my greatgrandma has old those rations from WW1,WW2 and the rations for the civilians during that time. I will make a post later with a picture of the rations later.

And how could I forget my Dad he was in the airforce during the Gulf War. He was on the ground watching a titan 4 rocket going up about a mile away.(When the others had to be at least 10 miles away.)He said it was like a second sun. Also on that same airbase I was born on. Which is Vanenburg Airforce Base.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: ertyguy,

My Grandfather on my mothers side was drafted to join the Japanese navy during World War II, his ship was sunk by americans and he was part of the small portion of the crew that survived(my mom is korean) and my Grandfather on my dads side was a medic for the American side in World War II. My uncle enlisted for Vietnam, my dad was in the reserves during Desert Storm.

My grandfather on my mom's side was stationed at Anzio, but the fighting had mostly stopped as it was 1945. So he did mostly policing duty.

My grandfather on my dad's side was Navy Seabee in the Pacific, and surveyed the runway that the plane with the second A-bomb took off from.

My father is the one who saw the most action. He avoided being drafted by the Marines and Army and enlisted in the Navy....to be a Corpsman. Which doesn't quite make sense, but whatever. His school closed after he got out of Basic, so he was attached to a PBR as the bow gunner (twin .50 Cals) mostly along the Mekong Delta and South China Sea. One story I've heard him tell was about a time they beached the boat for some reason, I think to rescue some downed piolts, and he was left to guard the boat. As he was guarind the boat, a Viet Cong soldier walked out of the bushes inspecting the boat, completely unaware of my fathers presence. My father, who was farther from the boat than the Viet Cong, turned around and reared his pistol up and aimed. The VC heard this and looked right at him, and my father pulled the trigger.

Since then, he's always been a fan of the Colt 1911 .45 caliber pistol.

Great uncle was @ The Battle of YEPRES when the germans first used mustard gas on the Canadians in WWI. in WWII my grand father was a lieutenant w Canadian Army, other Grand father was a flight sargent. And my Great Uncle was a PathFinder and got shot down in a bombing raid over Germany MIA, I have his medals, a letter written home, and a section in from the news paper stating missing/kia pilots.

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I had one Grandfater in the Coast Guard, he was stationed on a transport ship. And was the signalman (The flashing lights and morse code) My other grandfater was in the Navy in the Pacific, he was on a frigate but thats all i know. I had a great uncle in the Army who was killed in Normandy after throwing him self on a mine to save his platoon.