How many of us had parents or grandparents etc. in the Military?

Both of my grand grandfathers(from my mother's side)and one grand grandfather(from my father's side)seved in WW2.Two of them as infantry(partisans)and one of the as political commissar...
 
My Great Uncle loaded ordnance onto the bombers and was there when the invasion of Italy (or Sicily, i forget) began. My other Great Uncle was on a submarine in the Pacific, which supposedly sank, but it was never found.
 
My granddad was ensign with the Air Force in wwII and died with 66 on the consequences of a bad pneumonia he got in Siberia as prisoner. My other Granddad was also soldier but he died when my father was a child- he started in the Luftwaffe, it's is possible that he later went to the Waffen-SS but it seems he tried to cover his tracks after the war (a letter from a comrade of him says that they were asked if they wanted to go to France with an Airborne Division or transfer to the Waffen-SS).
My ur-granddad served in an Infantry Regiment(Landwehr Infanterie Regiment Nr. 31) during WWI although he was in an music corps before the war.

I sure have also many grand-uncles and ancestors that served in the world wars- I can even trace some back to the German-French war up to the Battle of Waterloo (10th Generation - paternal)
 
Most Spanish Grandparents fought the Spanish Civil War, so did mine. One of them died and we don´t even know where he lies. His brother survived and was a high officer until dying.

My father didn´t fight any war, he joined Legion but he was thrown away for hitting a nun who made a soldier wake up one cold morning to clean a broken thermometer in hospital and that nite soldier died. When my father saw the nun punched her. He was going to jail but his uncle (officer saved his ass).

Many other uncles, cousins.. have been military, and also I did joining Spanish Legion. (All of them were officers, so I was the black sheep, because I joined from 0 even I had university studies)
 
My family tree has an extensive military heritage: my dad and one of his brother's were Royal Navy (1939-1955) and pop was Royal Merchant Navy (WWI). Great-grandfather was in the British Army. 2 of my brothers were/are Australian Regular Army and a nephew and niece are Army Reserves. Needless to say there are a lot of army vs Navy arguments in my family also I've served with both and have a liking for the Pongo's (Aussie Navy nickname for the Aussie soldiers) although I'm in the Puss (Aussie Army nickname for the Aussie Navy - although I've heard ruder references too).
 
on my mothers side:

Great grand father was a soldier in ww1. (grandma's dad)
Other great grand father (grandpa's dad) was a soldier in ww2 he died in a German POW camp couple of months after he was captured.

Grandfather - belgian army never fought in a war.

My fathers side:

Great grand father - was a lifer, spent his entire carreer in the army, he fought in ww2.

Grand father - Served 10 years in the Belgian Navy. was deployed several times to the belgian congo on riverine boats. Then he got out and spent the rest of his career as a Police officer, retired as a sergeant.

Father - Belgian army medical corps. But was assisinged to the belgian navy so he spent 8 years being a medic onboard ships. (this happens quite oftend, now the medical corps is a stand alone corps and as a medic you can be assinged to the army,navy and air force) He is currently still serving and in the future a possible deployment to Afghanistan or libanon is coming.

myself - hopefully one day i'll join the ranks :)

From my fathers side we have a huge military tradition. I know that my greatgrandads father was also a soldier and his father was a soldier and so forth. so you could call it a family tradition ;)
 
Father served as a 1st Lieutenant US Army.

My French Grandfather (a PFC) was captured after the Fall of France and spent time as a POW. Escaped.

Both of my French Great-grandfathers served in the RI (regiment d'infantrie) during WWI. One of them was wounded at Verdun as PFCs.

Great-Uncle served in French Air Force in 1940. Transferred to North Africa but transport ship was sunk from underneath him before he got there by RN Swordfishes. Interned in Turkey, repatriated a year later to France. Served in the resistence until end of War. Rejoined AF after WWII served in Vietnam at Dien Bien Phu, but was badly injured in a plane crash and repatriated to France before the Fortress fell.

Father-in-Law, Colonel French Army (Parachute Regiment). Served in Lebanonese War.

My American Grandfather served in both World Wars, first as a young man in the Merchant Marine, as a Cavalry Officer in the National Guard during the intra-war period, and Finally as a Lt-Colonel in the US Army during WWII.

And Finally My Great-Great-Great Grandfather was a Union Artillery Captain in a Ohio Artillery Battery. Army of the Potomac (we think).
 
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For generations it had been handed down that a distant member of my mothers family had fought at Rorkes Drift and survived the battle.

However, I had an interesting chat with a guy who has, and still studies the Anglo Zulu War. When I mentioned my mothers family member had fought at Rorkes Drift, he asked for as much information as possible about the man. Working from memory I gave him all the information I had. A few days later he rang me and stated, he didnt fight at Rorkes Drift and survived, he fought at Isandlwana where he was killed.

Its surprising what can turn up after 130 years.
 
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Mikefrombelgium said:
wow thats news must have shocked you at first brit
Click to expand...

I must admit it did, as I visited the site of the battle with my son a few years ago and have studied the battle pretty much in detail.

As I walked onto the battle field I had an overwhelming feeling that I cannot really explain, it was almost a feeling of hopelessness. Every where I looked were stone cairns covering the bodies of those who were killed. On the mountain itself are the stone cairns of Captain Younghusband and a number of troops who fought the Zulu hand to hand until each one was speared and disembowled.

For years after the battle, Zulu's living near the site reported sounds of battle at night, sometimes heard today.

The battle has been discussed over and over for over 130 years with various conclusions, in my opinion for what its worth, there were two main errors were the cause of the disaster,

(1) Instead of forming a defensive laager, the troops were spread out in a single line, instead of defence in depth.
(2) Problems of getting ammunition to the men in the firing line.

The Battle of Rorkes Drift which is situated about 9 miles from Isandlwana had a totally different outcome, the men were deployed correctly and ammunition was readily available.
 
My great-grandad faught in pearl harbor and got a Pearl Harbor Medal, then in the battle of The Coral Sea he almost got his leg shot off by a straffing zero, and recieved a purple heart.

My grandad on my dad's side flew combat missions over vietnam for the airforce.

my grandad on my moms side got drafted into the army, worked his way up to be a 1st Sergeant Forward artillery observer. (recon kinda thing) he got stiched by shrapnel and exposed to Agent Orange (american chemical used to kill foliage that they didnt test on humans) and he also recieved a purple heart.

Since i have a member of my family in every other branch of the service, I plan on going to the Naval Academy and going into the Marine Corps.
 
both grandmothers and grandfathers were in ww2. both women nurses as for men tank commander and a fighter pilot.
father VDV
 
My father was in the Marine Corps from '43 to '46, My grandfather was in the army from 1918-1919, and my great uncle was in the Marines from 1917-1920.:camo:
 
I'll just cover what I know of my family in the 20th century.

My great-great grandfather served as an artilleryman in France during WWI (AEF). His brother joined the NAvy and served in the North Atlantic during WWI and was at Pearl Harbor as a Master Chief Petty officer when it was attacked by the Japanese.

Both of my gandfathers fought in WWII, my grandfather on my dads side was a BAR gunner in the Pacific in the Army. My grandfather on my mothers side served in the Navy and was wounded at Leyte Gulf while transporting American troops on an LST.

Two of my great uncles also fought in WWII, one as an infantryman in the 1st Infantry division. He landed at Normandy and fought all the way until the end of the war. The other was a Forward Observer with the 3rd Infantry Division, making the landings in North Africa, Sicily, Salerno, Anzio, and Southern France. Apparently, he had 11 Lieutenants shot out from under him throughout the course of the war.

My father served as a Marine infantryman in Vietnam in 1967-68. Then later stayed on as helicopter door gunner until 1970.

My moms brother joined the Navy and he retired about 10 years ago as a Chief petty officer.

I have 4 brothers and 2 of them have served in the Navy...not to mention countless cousins that range from the Air Force to the Marine Corps.

Then there's me...just a guy in the Army.
 
I have distant relatives who participated in the Danish-German war in 1864. But I do not have much information about them

My grandfather on my father's side was not a soldier, as such, but he was a freedom fighter during the German occupation of Denmark. My grandfather's brother on my mother's side joined the Waffen SS and fought on the Eastern Front until his death in Berlin in 1945.

My father was a convinced socialist and conscientious objector.

I was in the Danish Navy from 1982 - 2008

My son is now a captain in the army.
 
Both my Grandfathers fought in WW2 in the Army. My uncle served in vietnam in the Army. My dad and mom were both Army. My dad was a gun bunny in Germany during the early 80s, did his 6 and got out. My mom did 10 as enlisted and then turned to the darkside. She made a career out of it and is still doing it. Shes been to Iraq and various other places. She is a MP type, has served as a base Provost Marshal and a Division Provost Marshal.
 
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