great grandfather:easter rising 1916 and civil war 20s nightguard of dublin castle when the crown jewels got stolen (i think)
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other great grandfather : blackwatch boer war not sure which one
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awkward wedding reception?
My Grandfather was a Ball Turret gunner on a B-17 during WW2 With the US 15th Air force. Was shot down over Linz on his 2nd mission was a POW till the end of the war.
My father was in the US Army during the '70s and was stationed in West Germany.
One Cousin Served in Desert Storm as a M109 Crewmember with the 1st Cav.
Father's Side:
Grandfather joined the Army to make a better life for his family...his three younger brothers would soon join him, all four became paratroopers and served fought in the Korean Conflict(The only name for it was that, and he never said anything else about the war).
Godfather served in Army Intel and was set to go to OCS after volunteering for Vietnam something like six times and was denied six times, got out because Tia Ester(Nino's mother) would end up having a nervous breakdown because her son was in service since he at time of joining had an education deferment.
1 cousin US Navy now out though, 1 Cousin USAF.
Dad never went said he almost got drafted...no idea why he didn't want to serve.
Mother's side:
Grandma's Brothers-Uncle Leroy was some type of huge pacifist and would end up being an army nurse or something in rear area hospitals. Uncle Keith Was a tail gunner on a B-17, still has shrapnel in his body today.
Grandpa serve a tour in the CG after the war transporting goods for reconstruction to Europe.
Mom's family is a bunch of pacifist Brethren...Uncle Dean got deferred because he had a screwed up back, and Uncle William worked in a Catholic hospital during Vietnam to get out of the draft.
my brother was in the army and quit shortly after graduating bootcamp in the late eighties, my sister was in the air force during the late eighties, her husband was in the army, he says he was in black ops as a demolitions specialist and a sharp shooter which i don't believe, and i have uncles on either side of my family which were green berets. My moms brother and my dads brother. i just don't have the photos cuz they're at their houses in PA and WV.
My grandfather was with the 2/26 battation of the Royal Australian army, and had the misfortune to be at Singpore in 1942. He was a SGT prior, but took a demotion to Private to sail with rest of the boys. Initially he had a Thompson, but, true to Army traditions as he was only a little fella, he got given a Bren gun. Which was next to useless in the mangroves! It was good for getting snipers out trees though - his unit came under fire and he rested the bren up against a root, and let loose. No more sniper. His accounts of the retreat is pretty harrowing - at one point one his mates was shot, and he picked him up and carried him back, his mate was saying "please don't leave me Kev", to which my grandfather replied "I won't leave you mate". Brings tears to my eyes just thinking about they way he said it.
Unfortunately, he was then made a POW, and forced to suffer the hell that so many other troops did at Changi. He was bloody tough though, he said a lot of blokes just couldn't deal with it anymore and just keeled over. One time he was working on a conveyer belt, smashing rocks up, and the japs told them to break 'em up small so they didn't stuff the machine up. Of course he didn't and killed the machine good! No one squealed on him, till some POS pommie officer turned him in, and the jap guards set on him with bamboo sticks and broke his back. Once that healed though, he found the officer and returned the favour! He was a guy you didn't mess with. When they were finally released, he said some of the other blokes wanted to get out and get back to fighting, but all he wanted was to get home. A great, and very much missed man.
Grandfather on my dad's side was in "the resistance" against the Nazis, I am not sure if he was involved in any physical confrontations. He had a Jewish family hidden in his home, the children survived the war, the parents were never seen again (killed). He was betrayed and arrested, if I recall correctly family told me the Dutch police aided in his arrest but I am actually not sure if that's true.
His arrest was very rough and my grandmother was pregnant during the late war time. He was deported to concentration Kamp Vught (Konzentrationslager Herzogenbusch). In the only written record I ever read about this he wrote especially about the cruelty and lack of any respect some other inmantes showed to resistance fighters, probably because they were just common criminals.
He never really spoke about it and I never got to know him. The only time he did say something to the rest of the family was when they were at a home close to a field where he had done something. I am sorry to sound so vague but I do not want to be mistaken. I believe it was about acquiring an arms cache.
After the war he planted a tree at Yad Vashem. As any person with a clear conscience he was very pro-Israel. He died a year before I was born.
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On my mothers' side my grandparents were quite young during the war. My grandmother's family did hide a Jewish family and resistance fighters but only for very short times. They lived in a village in the north east which was very important for traffic (now it really is useless and of minor importance). There is even a little bunker there which seems so useless to me. Many people in that village collaborated, as many did in the coutryside. My grandmother was called up for work (not in Germany of course, but in her town), she never went due to a fake illness.
Great Great Uncle (father's side) was J.E.B. Seely, commander of the Canadian Cavalry Brigade during WW1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JEB_Seely
Two great uncles on mother's side fought in WW2; one was a bosun in the RCN and was on the first Canadian ship to engage a U-boat, and the other was a tail gunner in Lancasters, RCAF. He was for a while the longest surviving tail gunner in all of Bomber Command. I believe the story goes he was wounded and stopped flying.
My grandma on my dad's side used to cook western food for British military officers in S'pore before and after the occupation.
My grandma on my mom's side used to do laundry for Japanese troops during the occupation. These were the 'nice guys'. She was properly paid, never abused, etc. Both their fears of the Kempitai were mutual however.
Great Great Grandfather was a Cossack then moved to Ukraine (from Russia) and had a farm (married a Polish Woman). Then the Bolshevik Revolution happened, and he served as a white Russian general, and my Great Grandmother (daughter) with her younger brother was told to leave the country and head west. After moving to Canada, she tried to contact family back home in Russia, but with no luck. No one knows what happened to Great Great Grandfather. We had then received contacts from family in Russia, but stopped coming around the 80's during the Afghan war.
Both of my maternal great grand parents fought in the Irish War of Independence, then the Irish Civil War. Both were IRA during the war of independence. When the Civil War came around in the early 20s one stayed IRA and one switched over and served as a Captain in the Irish Army. My grandmother said the civil war was always a very sensitive topic between her and my grandfather's families.
My paternal great-grand uncle served in the US Army during WW1. France. I still have his helmet and this German sword bayonet he brought back (grandfather gave them to me). He died of cancer in the late 30s. Don't know much anything about him at all. Not once, my grandfather said, did he speak of the war.
my dad was in the army but broke his leg, my grandpa was in the army as a mechanic but i dont know if he say anything. some my great unlce was in vietnam but dont know what he did tho. . great great grandpa was a medic on iwo jima but he died a long time ago. and Davey Crockett is 1 of my ancestors i found out.
One of my Grandfahters served in Rommels Africa Corps and was taken captive in 1942. He was send to a POW camp in Texas where he was relived later and then shipped to england. From there he was brought to france where he was relived in 1945. My second Grandfather was with the Submarine Division in La Rochelle. He was taken captive in late 1944 and was also relived in 1945. My father serverd during 1974 and 1978 in the east german army at a light armored recon unit.
From my africa grandfather i have some pics from POW camp Texas. Unfortunatly i forgot my USB cabel for the cam @ at my last visit in my hometown. My mom will send it to me. When it has arrived i will post the pictures.
My friend, in History, there has been Christopher Columbus, and in a religious prospective Alexander the great apparantly conquered the world in that he spread his name in all corners of the world. However, the muslims believe that Zulkarnain conquered the world in that he spread the name of god and the teachings of islam.
So some days ago i told the storys of my grandfathers. I gave the promiss to post some pictures from grandfather who had served in africa corps. So here we go
First pic shows the cantina in POW Camp Swift Texas. Second one shows my granddaddy. The 3rd is the german POW football Team inside the CST. And last one shows the backside of a postcard from CST.
(i think)
No one squealed on him, till some POS pommie officer turned him in, and the jap guards set on him with bamboo sticks and broke his back. Once that healed though, he found the officer and returned the favour! He was a guy you didn't mess with. When they were finally released, he said some of the other blokes wanted to get out and get back to fighting, but all he wanted was to get home. A great, and very much missed man.
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