Your families military history?

[jeep]

With Memorial day just gone it may be a time to ask who on the boards has had military service and or had parents or grandparents who served in the various conflicts of the last 100 years

I come from a family of army lads. My Great great grand-dad was in the Boer War in South Africa in 1889-1900, Great Grand-dad WW1 in France and Egypt in 1916-18, Grand-dad in the pacific on Guadalcanal, and the treasuries and Green Island 1942-44, His wife my grandma was in the Womens Naval Corps for the duration, and my Dad was in the NZ Army Regular Force cadets then infantry in the late 50s. As for myself i served in the Royal NZ Artillery in the 80s through 90s seeing overseas service in the Solomons and Yugo.

My son is soon to join the navy

[Sunseeker]

I dont know if you know this but the word "boer" means farmer in Dutch.
Do you have Dutch ancestors? South Africa was mostly colinized by Dutch people.

[ElKhazike]

thats an awesome family legacy jeep, very cool.

[xgsft]

Lets see...

My one grandfather was part of the US Army, he was too late for WW2 but he was part of the occupation of Germany after the war. 

Another was a Medic, he flew on C-47's in the Italian campaign.

I have another relative whom was a B-24 nose gunner, he was part of the 461st bomb group and flew out of Italy against axis targets.  He ended up being wounded and was grounded, the next mission his aircraft, The Dragon's tail, was shot down over Lenz, Austria while attacking the Hermann Goering ball bearing plant.

I have a uncle whom was a Marine embassy guard.

My dad was a ordience loader on F-4's and B-52's right after Vietnam. 

Although I ended up as a civilian, Lady and I do WW2 re-enacting on the German side (2.SS Panzer Division, Das Reich).  Our reasons were by no means politically motivated as some would believe.  Our research has given us a enormous respect for the allied forces fighting against a well trained, well armed, and very determined foe.  We have been complimented many a time by vets for our work.

[DragonSoldier07]

Umm, well I'm an officer in the Army, both my dad and his brother are US Air Force (my dad is retired, and my uncle is someday getting ready to retire, one day).  Both grandfathers served in the Army in the post WWII/Korea period, but both getting out prior to US involvement in Vietnam.  As for ancestors I know about, no one fought in WWII, perhaps one fought in the Great War (not sure though), one (possibly 2) fought in the American Civil War, and one was killed in a Native American raid during the American Revolution (an auspicious start for my family in America).  Prior to that my mom's side of the family disappears to me in the mists of Ireland and Scotland, but since military service seems to be a trend in my family, I am certain more than a couple found themselves with the King's schilling in hand.  As for my dad's side, he is from Puerto Rico, and it is more difficult to trace things prior to the Spanish American War of 1898.

-Felix

[kensington25]

Very interesting subject as history is fascinating and we are all part of it. I too come from a long family military history. One of my great great uncles was a British spy in the first world war as his mother was German and the family spoke German at home. I was told one of his missions was to go to the Netherlands and pick up a brief case from  bar and bring it back to England. He never found out what was in that case. Another great great uncle was a General in the Gurkha army in the second world war and a great uncle was tragically killed by "friendly" fire after a Spit Fire destroyed his submarine after they got the wrong code. My father's cousin is an Admiral in the British Navy. But perhaps most interesting of all was my grandfather who was a prisoner of war in Japan for three and a half years after being torpedoed whilst serving as a lt commander on the HMS Exeter. He wrote a diary which I have read part of and even witnessed the bombing of Nagasaki as he was held nearby the city. My own experience of the military is only three and a half years in the Air Training Corps making it to sergeant. Well I tried

[jeep]

Those are excellant replies guys, most facinating. yes i am part dutch (Dad is from Eindhoven) and part Scots/english (Mums crowd from Kilwinning, glasgow and Cornwall). My Ducth granddad is reputed to have worked for the resistence in holland. he was a cabinet maker and carpenter and was hired by the germans to do repairs etc in thier buidings whereon at one point he stole a soldering iron from them (that i now have) and transported documents in a fake broken arm cast/sling. It was one of my Mums ancestors fighting for the british who was in South Africa for the Boer war.

If your not too sensitive i would love to hear if any of our german members know thier familys military history? No matter what units they were in or what they did as an ametuer historian all history is interesting. I have one friend here in NZ who had an uncle in the german army of WW2.

[neonpain]

Not much military service here in my family As far as i know, know one on my dads side served. My pop on my mums side was an army driver during WWII i dont know if he ever saw any action though. On a side note though i seem to be attracted to girls whose family have been in the service. My last girlfriends dad served in WWII and my current girlfriends dad was in Vietnam, she was born while he was on his tour of duty.

Cheers

Josh

[Bostjan]

I'm sorry to say that I'm the biggest pussy in my family. My father was at the army for 8 years, before being discarged (he liked women too much). My grandparents were all part of partisan guerilla fighting against the Germans in WW2.

[xgsft]

I'm sorry to say that I'm the biggest pussy in my family. My father was at the army for 8 years, before being discarged (he liked women too much). My grandparents were all part of partisan guerilla fighting against the Germans in WW2.

That is really cool! Did you get to hear some of their stories about the war?

[Bostjan]

Yes lots of them. Especially from my grandmother from my fathers side. She was a partisan nurse. Germans chased them all accross Yugoslavia from Southern Slovenia through Croatia and Bosnia during the winter. Many people froze to death or in combat with Germans. She married a Russian army officer who was killed in fight with Germans in 1944. She helped to organize a resistance here so Italians put a "wanted" add, a bounty on her head. Here is a movie clip from one of our most famous battles:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/6dA08DOLSMU&rel=0" target="_blank"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/6dA08DOLSMU&rel=0" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/6dA08DOLSMU&rel=0</a></a>

[Bostjan]

I have an idea. Can you put here links of your favourite war movie? It should only apply to movies of domestic origin. So Germans can't post links of USA war movies but only native Germans war movies, like Das Boot for example. It would be very interesting so see.

[xgsft]

I have an idea. Can you put here links of your favourite war movie? It should only apply to movies of domestic origin. So Germans can't post links of USA war movies but only native Germans war movies, like Das Boot for example. It would be very interesting so see.

I'll PM them later, however one of my favorites was Enemy at the Gates.  There aren't all that many that I like due to serious inaccuracies in the story lines.

[Bostjan]

Yes that's exactly why I'd like to hear their opinion also. It's not interesting to see only American versions of history, because we all know that. Hollywood has been flooding us with their version of history since the times of Adam and Eve.

[xgsft]

Yes that's exactly why I'd like to hear their opinion also. It's not interesting to see only American versions of history, because we all know that. Hollywood has been flooding us with their version of history since the times of Adam and Eve.

Check this site out,  I use it as a reference to just about anything regarding the axis powers...

http://forum.axishistory.com/

I usually get my info from books, or from there.  Even films such as Das Boot were inaccurate, the book/film was written by a German propagandist who played up alot of what went on. Cutting through the propaganda that was being pumped out by everyone at the time is the most difficult part of analyzing the events that happened then.