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

Jilly

Jilly

Active member
My grandfather was an officer in the Army during WW2. My great uncle also served as a Colonel during that time. I was wondering how many of us come from a history of Military families? Does having that background influence us in anyway in wanting to join up?
 
Well

Both Grand parents served, but in different wars. the Grandfather on my dads side served as an american military policeman in france during WWI.

The grandfather on my moms side served in the Pacific theater in WWII. Because he was of italian decent, they didnt know if they could trust him in the european theater of operations.

Now, my fathers brothers and sisters served in WWII. One uncle started out as a man who drove a tank, transferred to the medical corps, got out, used the GI bill to become a doctor and went back in time for Korea. He served as an army doctor for 30 years until retiring in 1983 as a colonol.

Another brother served in the navy in pacific on a carrier.

Both my father's sisters were doughnut dollies (USO service girls).

My father and his nearest brother werent old enough to serve in WWII. They served in the newly formed air force in the middle 50's throuh the 70's. The brother was a warrant officer who flew heliocopter combat missions in viet nam. My father served as an TSgt (E-6) and was present during the end of the Korean conflict, the NATO Turkey Misslie crisis, the first visit to lebanon (yes there were two) cuban missle crisis and three tours in viet nam , retiring in 1975.

I am the last of the family, besides a cousin, who served in the armed forces. both of us made our 20 years in the air force.:drink:

yeah, id say the stories from the aforehand relatives had sumptin to do with it...
 
My grandfather on my dads side fought with the Middlesex Regiment from 1914 to 1918. He was wounded 3 times, gassed and frost bitten. Because he was gassed he lost all sense of smell.

My dad served in the Royal Army Service Corps from 1942 as soon as he reached the age of 17 until 1946.

My uncle John joined the RAF 1939, he was captured in Java, sent to Sandekan in Borneo. Died 26th March 1945 on the Sandekan death march aged 22. No known grave.

My uncle Roy joined the Royal Horse Artillery 1939, went to France with the BEF, evacuated from Dunkirk.

My uncle Charlie joined the Rifle Brigade 1939, posted to the Western Desert then joined the 8th Army Long Range Desert Group in North Africa operating behind German lines. All through Italy, finally ending up in Austria.

A family cousin joined the RAF as aircrew, ended up flying Lancasters as rear gunner. Shot down and killed. Buried some where in Germany.

My mothers Great Great (whatever) Uncle fought in the Anglo Zulu war. Survived.
 
Father in Bomber Command Radio operator/Navigator
Two Relatives Green & Kilbourne killed on HMS Hartland while attacking Oran Harbour 8/11/1942
Pelling Killed in north Africa 1942
Pelling killed Dunkirk May 1940
John Lister went from Private to Major in the RE ....Europe /Africa/Sicily/ Italy/Malaya There are a few others but the list is rather long
WW1 well I wont go into that as I could list about 40 of our family who fought and even died in that conflict.
Also I have a number of relatives from Australia who also fought died in nearly every major conflict of WW1.
How do I now well I have quite an extensive family tree which goes back over 800 years
 
My Mother volunteered for the Army when she was 19 and formed part of an AAA battery around 1943-45, the girls were used on the sights and predictors. My Father fought in North Africa and Italy, from around the same period.

My grandfather volunteered for the Army in 1914 when he was 17 (presumably illegally) and was captured during an early gas attack around 1915, ironically I think this probably saved his life since it is unlikely he would have survived 5 years of that carnage. His father also fought in WW1.
 
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So many of us that a Military history are more likely to join up ourselves it seems. My grandfather also died in WW2.
 
My idiot, stupid dirt spitting grandfather fought for the Cetniks in world war two. But my grandfather on my mothers side fought for the righteous Partizans.

My dad served in the Yugoslav JNA for 2 years, my brother fought for the JNA in the 1990's aswell.
 
I had a great uncle at Omaha Beach in the first wave (engineer) and another great uncle who was captured by the Germans in France. They marched him across Germany to Poland, where he remained in a POW camp until the end of the war. Ironically, he was only a few miles from his grandmother's house (his parents had immigrated in the early 1900s) but he had no way of knowing this... legend has it that a guard, who spoke Polish (as did my great uncle) offered him a chance to escape, with the thought that my great uncle would be able to blend in easily with the other Poles in the region, being able to speak the language. But, with the war obviously gong badly for Germany, my great uncle declined this offering, deciding instead to wait it out. He only had to wait a couple months...

My grandfather was in Poland, and my great grandfather was, ahem, "interviewed" by the Gestapo about a disruption in crop production. He survived that but not a firefight between Russian and German troops in his front yard.

That's all on my dad's side of the family. The other side of my family was exempt from the draft on the basis of providing goods crucial to the war effort (they were coal miners).

No one fought in WWI- either they were not yet naturalized citizens (fresh off the boats) or they were once again exempt due to providing goods crucial to the war effort.
 
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My uncle Fred served in the Royal Navy from a boy, served on HMS HOOD, and was put down twice on submarines; his brother, my uncle George served in the merchant Service throughout WW11, rushing back and forth across the Atlantic on the Queen ships. My uncles Harry, Danny and Stan and George served in the Army from WW1 - WW11 . My uncle Reg served long in India, Palestine, WW11 in Europe, and Monte Casino etc. and was early into Belsen, he then served with the Glorious Gloucesters in Korea (RSM); my uncle John was a desert rat with The Rifle Brigade; my cousin John was a marine, my cousin Laurie was a Scots Guard, before joining the Canadian Army; My Stepfather and his father before him, like myself served in The Highland Light Infantry and he served 18 years, 10 in India and survived Dunkirk; My father-in-law served 28 years (CSM) two tours of India, one of 10 years, China, Palestine, Ireland and his brother likewise. My uncles Johnny, Solly , Tommy and Teddy served through WW11 in Europe and India; My Father-in-laws brother served in the Australian Army and was transferred to Britain for WW1. My wife's Grandfather, a Dublinner, served for most of his adult life in the Duke of Cornwall's and the Hampshire Regiment, and his two sons and 2 son-in-laws served in ww11.

Those are some of my close relatives who served in the British Army; also my daughter worked with The Gurkhas and her husband as man and boy with REME. Of my own younger brothers, one ended as Major with the Greenjackets, and the other served served many years from a boy in both the British and Norwegian Merchant Service.
 
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I have many...

Brother - Navy
Brother-in-Law - Army
Grandpa - Army Air Corps
Nephew - Army
Husband - Marine
Daughter - Air Force
future Son-In-Law - Army
and the list goes on....
 
My Grandfather along with his brother, both in the Army fought in France during WWI. Grandfather was wounded November 4th or 5th 1918.

My father served served stateside in the Army working on new radar during WWII. His younger brother served in the Army and was in Japan during the occupation.

I served in Vietnam.
 
My grandfather served as a doctor in Vietnam and I also had two uncles go through the military to become doctors.

Currently myself and five of my brothers are all serving in the United States Army.

We give more credit to our mother for raising us to love our country then the fact that our grandfather served.
 
Uncle of my grandpa was a general in the Polish army during WWI and WWII. My grand grandpa was a Ułan in the Polish Army (cavalery - quite prestige).
 
I looked it up today; my grandfather on my mother's side was drafted February 11, 1953 and was honorably discharged November 18, 1954. He served in Company E, Second Battalion, 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, US Army, stationed at Fort Pickett, Virginia. Served overseas in Italy and Germany, most notably in Trieste. He was supposed to serve in Korea but the war ended before he was deployed; he was exempt from the initial draft when his father took ill to provide for his family. Some of the guys he knew who went in service during that draft were KIA in Korea.
 
I had a lot of relatives fight during the various wars, (from both sides of the family)..... The one I know most about was an uncle who'd ended up going to both wars, enlisting in the Great War by lying about his age, he went to Gallipoli as a reinforcement, wounded and sent to Lemnos, (I think), recovered and sent to rejoin his unit on the Western Front, (machine-gun battalion).

During the Second War, he'd enlisted into RAE and I have a lot of his photos, other effects, eg: Soldiers Book, wallets, etc from his time in the desert..

He lived on until almost 101 years of age. As last surviving member of the Great War in Newport, 2Cdo blokes would come each year and escort him to the local & Melbourne Service....

I suppose my family was lucky, while some of our relatives were wounded in action, they all came home, all lived long, productive lives.... (few spoke more than in general terms about their time in combat & we never pressed them for details)..........
 
re parents in milatary

Yes my grand dad , was iin the first world war he was a farrier looking after the horses for the gun team ,meding the leather harnes,s and re shoeing the horse,s .
My father in the second world war was a machine gunner middlesex reg.
 
Both, here.

Grandfather Major WWI, Father didn´t make it that far: Cadet WWII, West front.

Rattler
 
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