my dad told me a story about a time when he was in the air force...
he was out doin his job on the airfield and a call came over his radio of a F/A 18 that had a burnt out engine and needed a pit stop...the guy in the tower asked "whats ur position" and the pilot replied "New York"...tower guys asked "whats ur ETA" and the pilot said "15 minutes"
so about 15 -20 minutes passed and the plan landed and parked right into the hanger and after about 2 hours the plane was ready...pilot started everything up and broke the sound barrier damn near vertical from the base
Always loved that one
Grandfather was a gunner on the B-24 in WWII. During training, the gun popped out of its emplacement in the plane. ALmost shot the damn thing down, but let go of the trigger.
And my English teacher's father was with Easy Co., 506th PIR, 101st ABN. WHich I think is just ****ing awesome. He's told me a lot of stories but they're too long to type here at 0130.
My great grandmother, had a small drycleaning shop i sourthern part of Jutland, Denmark. She was the lover of an german Staff officer, at the local base. What her lover did not know, that she US and UK downed pilots from the bombing runs over the northof germany.
Grandfarther on my mothers side, he was an infantry soldier, but he was imprisoned after being in a firefight with the german troops, that were advancing up through Jutland.
My step grandfather, he fled Denmark and went to the UK, he inlisted and was sent of to Afrika.
My dad, he spent 4 years in the The Queens Royal Guard, in the MECH INF.
My brother did a tour in the army, ART. M109 Paladins. And then spent 2.5 Years in the Navy, on the inspection frigates in the north atlantic.
My self, well 10 years of active duty in the Navy and Army. In the navy i was a torpedo spec. Later on i went comms. A couple of tours in Kosovo and Macedonia. And alot of tours in the med. with the Navy.
My great cousin was a USMC, but unfortunately he was killed by insurgents in Iraq last year, in an ambush near Bagdad.
Semper fi, bro, allways in my heart.
My other great cousin is currently an intelligence spec. Were and what unit i don´t know.
Way back i have navy folks in my family, but thats another story.
Sorry to hear that.Originally Posted by Gnist
Thx Silencer87. He did his duty as a good marine. And i just hope that the sacrifice made by all the troops will bring peace and a free world to this earth.
I am very proud of my family's military history. My great-grandfather enlisted in the AIF on his 18th birthday, August 1916, and was put in the 60th Battalion. He fought on the Western Front, and the highlight of his service was being involved in the liberation of Villers-Bretonneux. I have his war medals in front of me, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal. He is the only relative I know of who was in WW1, I do not know much about my older ancestors.
One of my grandfathers was in the navy during WW2 and was stationed at Port Moresby in PNG during the fighting there. He told me how he and his mates were lined up on the beach with their rifles being yelled at by an officer who insisted that they would stop the Japanese Army right there and then. He told me he was scared stiff as the Japanese were advancing down the Kokoda Track towards Port Moresby. He has the 1939-1945 Star, the Pacific Star, the 1939/45 War Medal the Australian Service Medal.
My Uncle was in 53 Anti Aircraft Company during WW2. I am currently awaiting his service record to come through from the National Archives of Australia. I think he served in Africa before coming back to the Pacific, although I am not sure. The RSL took away his medals, unfortunately. The records should be coming through any day now.
My other Grandfather was in the Pommish Army and a tank crewman, I think he was the driver. They landed the day after D-Day. He told me that a Canuck tank fired on them and killed one of the blokes with him. He was the second tank in the collumn, and him and the tank in front of him sped off in front of everybody because they wanted to be the first to reach Paris. Suddenly they realised that there were German patrols everywhere and that they were on their own. They hid the tanks in one of those enourmous hedges and waited for the rest of their mates to catch up. They never did come. So after surviving for a week they were eventually starved out (they were afraid to ask the local farmers for help for fear of betrayal) and had to strike out on their own. They burned the tanks so the Germans couldn't have them but one of the men was overcome by the fumes while getting out of the tank and died in the fire. They left their weapons behind as they knew they would loose a firefight (being a party of just a few men) and this way they hoped they wouldn't be killed if they got captured. So after wandering around a bit they ran into a German patrol and they surrendered. The thing is, the Germans were more scared of them as they were of the Germans! But they were taken POW and spent the rest of the war as POWs. I don't know where or when, he doesn't speak of that time.
Had a distant relative who fought in the Civil War. His name was Joseph Hooker and fought under the Union.
Other than that, I have an uncle who fought in Vietnam in the Quang-Tri province. I don't know if he did any actual fighting, but he doesn't like to talk about it and I leave it at that.
Oh forgot... My cousin works in the NSA and my uncle used to be in the Navy during the mid-90s.
My father served in the US Army during the Korean War, he didn't talk much about it but I know he was wounded near the Chosin Reservoir. He would tell me how unsettling it was to hear the Chinese blowing bugles prior to an attack. Later he also served in the USAF and I know he was based at Thule, Greenland.
My younger brother also served in the US Army as did I.
My parents are both retired from the Army. Two uncles were in the airforce. One of them was a FAC in Vietnam. I have a cousin who spent almost a year in Iraq with the 1st Cav, and a brother in law who was there for 15 months with the 1st AD. Now he's in the process of becoming a Special Forces officer.
I enlisted in the USMC in 1993 and was on active duty thru 1997. Now I work for a PMC in direct support of the U.S. Gov't in Afghanistan.
Last edited by James; 03-31-2006 at 04:30 PM.
Moms side:
Father-
Joined the Royal Canadian Engineers in 1939, served in the 10th division Overseas Contsruction Coy. Basicaly digging trenches, building railways etc.. Served until 1945, left the army and became a carpenter and lost 2 fingers, Died in 1962. My mom was 4 at the time.
Mother-
Born in Scottland, and left for England in WW2 to be a nurse. While in England there was a bombing raid done overnight and the next morning when they went to see the damage outside her apartment building they found an unexploded bomb sitting in the courtyard.
Anywho, they met in England, then came back to Canada after the war to start a family etc..
Dads side:
Grandpa-
Joined the Winnipeg Grenadiers and was shipped off to defend Hong Kong in 1939. Was held as a POW by the Japanese for 4 years. Was rescued by the USMC in 1944.
Uncle (grandpas son)-
Joined the RCAF in WW2 and wanted to be a pilot, btu couldnt see well enough. Decided to be a door gunner, but was to big. SO he joined the logistics and bought and sold stuff for the Air Force.
Well I just talked to my moms mom about that side of the family so here goes...
My granpa fought against the nazis in serbia (not a chetnik so dont flame me) until he and his wife were forced to leave when Tito started cracking down. My uncle and his family stayed behind and lived through the communist period, but when he was called up to fight in Slobo's army they fled to Greece and moved back after things settled down; now he's enjoying a pretty slack career as a paratrooper (lots of training and partying).
Probably the most interesting story was my great-grandfathers, he fought on the Tsars side (teh whites) during the red revolution. Eventually, he realized that his side was going to lose, but he was committed to not giving up. He told his wife and 2 kids to leave and find a new home, and he stayed behind to fight. Noone heard from him again, and he was 18. RIP
Wow, intriguing. Salute.Well I just talked to my moms mom about that side of the family so here goes...
My granpa fought against the nazis in serbia (not a chetnik so dont flame me) until he and his wife were forced to leave when Tito started cracking down. My uncle and his family stayed behind and lived through the communist period, but when he was called up to fight in Slobo's army they fled to Greece and moved back after things settled down; now he's enjoying a pretty slack career as a paratrooper (lots of training and partying).
Probably the most interesting story was my great-grandfathers, he fought on the Tsars side (teh whites) during the red revolution. Eventually, he realized that his side was going to lose, but he was committed to not giving up. He told his wife and 2 kids to leave and find a new home, and he stayed behind to fight. Noone heard from him again, and he was 18. RIP
My dad fought in the Falklands with 40 Cdo Royal Marines. He was a SF GPMG gunner, and was chopped to various other units on the island, so he saw more action than the units that remained at San Carlos.
He once told me a story about a time he and the gun team were moving out through a minefield. To spread the weight (he was carrying L7 GPMG, 1,000 rounds, and personal kit; weighed in about 150lbs), he carried the gun mounted on the tripod with him holding the barrel, and the number 2 holding the rear tripod legs. As they moved through the minefield, my dad trod on a mine that thankfully due the extremely hard frozen earth, didn't detonate as the detonator wasn't pushed down far enough. Unfortunately, the number 2 trod on the same mine, and the extra pressure detonated the mine and blew both his legs off.
Unfortunately the number 1 on the gun team was killed by a sniper, reducing the three man gun team to...one. Dad. By the end of the war, he was carrying the GPMG, tripod, gun sight, L42 sniper rifle (taken from the gun team commander when he was killed; the thinking was if the ****e hits the fan, ditch the machine gun and use the sniper rifle) 1,000 rounds in a modified daysack, with the belt coming over his shoulder, through his epaulette and into the gun PLUS all his personal kit. To this day he still has knee trouble due the incredible weight he slogged over the island.
I've also heard a few excellent stories about his time attached to SBS when he was in Commachio Company (no FPGRM back in those days), but I don't think I'm at liberty to tell those
My grandparents were too young to fight when spanish civil war started but their brothers (all of them are still alive ) fought for the republican side. They are from Valladolid and Palencia , in the northern half of spain , and Valladolid was one of the strongholds of the fascist forces so they moved to Catalonia to defend Barcelona.
When the war finished all of them but two were captured by the fascists and after spending betweeen 2 and 10 years in prison they returned to civilian life in Spain. Of the two who weren't captured , one of them went to the soviet union in one of the ships the USSR used to rescue republicans and fought his fellow countrymen (again) of Blue Division. He returned safely from the USSR and now lives in Geelong (Australia). The other one went to France and enlinsted Legion Étrangere and fought the nazis in Africa. After the war he moved to Switzerland and never returned to Spain (except during holidays or special events like weddings).
I don't know much about them , personally i've seen them no more than 10 times and always for a short time.
My mom's dad did his military service in artillery near Valladolid. He told me lots of stories about German 88s (he was a loader ). Next time i visit my grandmom i'll aske her for his photos. He passed away in 2000 and i'll never forget him.
My other grandfather did his military service in Tetuán (spanish city in spanish morocco, now belongs to morocco) and returned to Spain but when the Spanish Moroccan war started in 1956 he was sent to Sidi Ifni. He was there but never saw action.
About my norwegian family (3 generations back ) i have no idea of their military past.
I have a relative who fought in the Boer war.
Grandfather SIB Maritime WW2 in Papua.
Dad Nasho then enlisted.
Oh and my grandfather was a lcpl yet had rank on his shoulder and carried (and took home) a pistol. Something sus there.
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