Have any of your family members fought for their country?

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Robin2

Robin2

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i think it would be interesting to find out how many members family members have been involved in war in one way or another.

my german grandfather (on my mothers side) was a part of the SS in WWII, his brother was a pilot in the luftwaffe and their father was an officer in WWI.

my australian grandfather (on my fathers side) fought in vietnam and lost his life.
 
My grandfather on my mother's side was in the army in WWII and was stationed in Sicily. No combat though. A desk jockey. But he's still got stories.

My grandfather on my father's side was in the Air Force in WWII and was stationed in England. He was a B-17 navigator. One of the few to survive the campaign over Germany.

My grandfather-in-law was a B-17 pilot Stationed in England during WWII. Another survivor. On Veteran's Day a couple years ago they did a big write up about him in the Arizona Republic with color pictures and one big one of him holding a bomb he still has in his house.
 
My uncle was a Medic in the Veitnam war and he flew Hueys...but was shot down by a rocket.

My dad was an MP in Germany during the 70's.

My Grandpa was a CAT offericer on a Carrier during the Korean War.

Thats all I really know.
 
my dad's brother was in Vietnam and survived to come back
my grandfather on my mother's side was in the Army in WWII
my dad's uncle was a chef on a carrier
and someday i'd like to be in the Air Force
 
Grandfather (dad) - WW2 flight naviagator)
Grandfather (mom) - Seabee for a few year when my mom was born, early to late 50's
Dad - 26 years Navy, retired as a Master Chief
Mom - 20 years Navy Retired as a Chief.
Uncle - 12 years Navy, works on Subs
Uncle - Navy - works with the US Navy Reserve
Aunt - Navy, got out back in the late 80's- Early 90's, was in the US Navy Reserves until about 2-3 years ago.

Those are all the one i remember, but there are more i'm sure.
 
Dad - Fought for Portugal in Africa. In Angola, during the Angolan independence war. was 21 at the time.
 
My dad was in Korea in the '50's and was awarded a purple heart.
I spent a few months off the coast of Beirut in the early 80's. I was on the last ship to fire on Beirut.
Hopefully, I won't have to come back to this thread sometime and tell you guys that my son is off somewhere fighting.
 
Both my Grandfathers served in WWII, one from the start and one was a replacement.

My uncle served in the Gulf war in the RAF.

That's it that I know of.
 
My grandfather was served in the Scottish Navy in the ship Achilles during WW2. He was a boiler room worker (wow :rolleyes: ) and he contracted malaria and was sent to Fiji for treatment and just hours after he was lifted off the deck, the ship was torpedoed and the torpedo struck his boilerroom and he was the only one to survive, 19 out of the 20 workmen drowned or were blown up. He was discharged from the Scottish Navy and was drafted into the New Zealand navy, hooked up with my dads mum and thats why I'm New Zealander and not a Scotsman....

Im amazed, some impressive history amongst the GTP residents
 
Dad did national service and ended up in the desert being shot at by the Arabs. I think it was Aden (7 day war?) he was a sapper which means he got to blow things up. I remember once when i was a kid he dressed me up in all his ex army kit.

I've read some of the letters he sent back to his Mum while he was doing his service. He saw some very dodgey things.
 
My maternal grandfather was a Para. He was dropped into Arnhem in WWII, and then into the Far East, where he was captured and held POW by the Japanese.

My paternal grandfather was a Spitfire pilot. He then went on to be involved in the aid shipments to Berlin, and to be a test pilot before working his way up to be chairman of BOAC. He received the DSO and DSC while in the air force.

No members of my family since then have been in any of the armed forces.
 
Grandfather on my father's side fought in North Africa in WW2, and an uncle was on the supply side in Vietnam, but that's pretty much it - can't vouch for the family much beyond grand-dad though.
 
My uncle came back from Vietnam (Army special forces) with 3 purple hearts, and a alcohol problem that lasted 12 years. I've got one cousin in the Air Force, and another in the Army. My father retired from the Army as a master Sergeant. I've never inquired about my grandparents.

I was the only one out of 4 kids that went into the service.

AO
 
Originally posted by GilesGuthrie
working his way up to be chairman of BOAC. He received the DSO and DSC while in the air force.
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Are you in the military? My brother in law was and he always talks like this and my sister is always like "nobody knows what you're talking about."
 
My grandfather on my mother's side fought in WWII, he became a pyrotechnics expert...blowing up bridges and buildings so the Germans couldn't easily use the paths and roads the Allies were using. He was honorably discharged after getting shot twice, meriting two Purple Hearts.

I told him when I was about 12 that a life in the military sounded neat. He gave me a stern look, and said..."Please don't...unless our country has no choice. I fought so you hopefully won't have to."

When he died about 18 months ago, there was actually one member of his battalion (?) was present to say goodbye...'ol Abe never told me he stayed in contact with his army buddies, but apparently, one was present in full attire to say farewell.

When he was at the funeral, I had no qualms about crying aloud, and I suddenly understood how much that man meant to me and my freedoms.
 
Well, our family can't match the records of several here, but cheers to all who have put themselves in harm's way to protect freedom and sovereignty.

Arnhem, Giles? Man. The poor guy should have been retired after surviving that nightmare.

A cousin on my mother's side did two hitches in the New Hebrides during WWII, but never saw combat. My father was in the Air Force in the early 50s and worked at Cape Canaveral among other places in the missile program.

My father-in-law was in the Army Air Corps during WWII as ground crew chief for a B-24 Liberator, and spent several years hopping from one coral-and-dirt landing strip to another in the Pacific Theatre.

My nephew did a short stint in the Navy and served on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln after washing out of SEALS school.

I considered signing up as a wing wiper, and probably would have if I had been interested in some kind of technical career after my hitch was over.
 
My grandfather from my fathers side was a member from the Dutch resistance during WWII. Got shot in the leg 2 weeks before the liberation. Everytime he tells a stroy from those days, you can see the proudness in his eyes. He still doesn't like Germans:D
 
Good thread, Robin.

My father went to Vietnam and got shot (was awared the Purple Heart), came back home, and became quite resentful of the American way of life. He moved to Guam a few years later and refuses to move back to America and all of his relatives and children.

My uncle went to Vietnam, also, and now lives in Kentucky; my brother in New Hampshire went to the Persian Gulf to fight for America. No WWII vets in my family, and no service history at all on my mother's side (she's a native of Guam, though).
 
my great grandfather was killed in wwII, my grandfather fought in wwII and came home, and my dad did his national service in the RAF. If i hadn't met slip i was considering joining the navy as a nurse, but not now; i am too happy at home :D
 
My grandfather flew for the Air Force in the European Theater of WWII and Korea. After the war, he flew KC-135 Tankers out of Castle AFB, a Strategic Air Command base that stationed B-52 bombers during the Cold War. My uncle was in the Navy and served aboard the U.S.S Enterprise (insert Star Trek joke :) ), the first nuclear powered Nimitz class aircraft carrier during Desert Storm. My other uncle served in the Army during Desert Storm as well. My cousin just entered the Marine Corps.

If I had to choose a branch of the military, I would choose the Air Force. I wouldn't mind piloting a shiny new F-22 Raptor. :)
 
Not to get off topic but...

I sometimes envy the desperate determination to win WWII that most of our elder generation had... a definative enemy, a knowledge that the world, in a very real sense, needed to be saved. And we won with our allies.

Made in Holland's garandfather's pride is tough for any of us to really understand, I think. It has been said that only two things make a man a genius (in the wise sense of the word, not the eggheaded, useless knowledge sense): war and prison.

At the same time I am grateful for the men and women who won the great wars of the last century so we could live in relative peace and prosperity, I feel deprived of the raw, electric experience of absolute neccesity.

And real leaders like Churchill or FDR. I hardly think King Bush II measures up.
 
"Real leaders" only come during wartime. Churchill, FDR, etc. are perfect examples. Countries win ware based on their leader and a clear purpose, rather than anything else. It's why the north won the Civil War, it's why America gained independence, and it's why we lost Vietnam.
 
milefile: no, none of my family have been in the military for two generations. I think you're right on the pride issue, and you're definitely right on the leadership thing.

neon_duke: Yeah, my grandfather was pretty lucky to survive Arnhem!

M5Power: Not sure that your argument re Vietnam is quite that clear-cut. A large part of the loss has to be attributed to an arrogant belief in superiority, coupled to complete tactical inflexibility.
 
My dad was in the Navy during WWII. I know he was in the Phillipines, but I don't know any details. I was gonna join the National Guard, but I got pregnant.. haha.
 
My grandfather (my mom's dad) was in the American Air Force in WWII, he was a bomb reloaded on the bombers planes.
 
Originally posted by GilesGuthrie


M5Power: Not sure that your argument re Vietnam is quite that clear-cut. A large part of the loss has to be attributed to an arrogant belief in superiority, coupled to complete tactical inflexibility.
Click to expand...

If we had a clear purpose and reason for fighting, the support of Americans, and a good, powerful, respected leader, we would've won in Vietnam. In the Civil War, both sides had a fairly arrogant belief in superiority, as well as definite tactical disadvantages, but the side with support, the clear purpose, and the powerful leader won. They always do. Any problem concerning wartime can be traced back to those three factor (unless, as was the case in Afghanistan, there is a total military dominance by one nation regardless of any other factor).
 
My dad was in the Air Force for over 20 years. He served in Vietnam and also did a short stint in Korea.

My grandfather, served on a medical vessel out in the Pacific during WW II.
 

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