My father....

[Elvis]

Les, or rather, Dan, knows this because he's Japanese?

Charles, What did you find out?



Elvis

[Njaco]

Les, or rather, Dan, knows this because he's Japanese?

( getting the popcorn, favorite chair and watching the fireworks)

[ccheese]

Originally Posted by Elvis

Les, or rather, Dan, knows this because he's Japanese?

No..... I think he's from Texas (all bow, please)

Originally Posted by Elvis

Charles, What did you find out?
Elvis

I spoke to him this morning (I forgot, yesterday). His reply was
"Not that I am aware of"

Charles

[AL Schlageter]

Interesting thread guys. Thanks for starting it ccheese.

Had 8 grand-uncles who served overseas in WW1. Three were killed (brothers), 2 within 12 days and the other 6 months later. Only one has a known grave. One was a boy-soldier.

[Elvis]

Originally Posted by ccheese

No..... I think he's from Texas (all bow, please)

That figures.

Originally Posted by ccheese

I spoke to him this morning (I forgot, yesterday). His reply was
"Not that I am aware of"

Charles

Ok. Thanks for the update.






Elvis

[ccheese]

Al: I think if some of the forum members would dig into it a bit, they come
up with a lot of WW-I veterans. Several have already posted things about
grand-fathers and uncles, but I'll bet there's more out there. If I ever get
the time (guess that's like a round toit) I'll scan my father's letters to his
mother from 1918 and put them up.

Charles

[freebird]

Originally Posted by Negative Creep

I know at least 2 (but probably all) of my great-grandfathers served in World War One. One was a cook on HMS lion, and was at Jutland. The other was with a West Kent infantry regiment, and served on the Western Front, but that's all I know. Great bit of history you have; I'd love to find out about my side. My dad did discover that one of my ancestors was at Waterloo - on the French side. Seems to be quite a long record of my family in the military until my dad

My Dad's Grandfather was born too early to serve in WWII & too late to serve in WWI. But 2 of grandmothers brothers were in the British army WWI, and the third brother was also at Jutland. Bad luck, on the HMS Indefatigable.

On Mother's side her father & his 2 brothers served, one Army, one RN, one Merchant marine.

Does anybody know the best way to find British Army records for WWII? Only one twist though, he fought in the Levant & N. Africa and was wounded, but he was in the Indian Army, not the British. (although he was born in the UK)

[DerAdlerIstGelandet]

Well my German Grandfather was a Major in the Wehrmacht. He was actually a Medical Officer (before the war he was a Lung Doctor specializing in Tuberculoses). He served on the Western Front (My mother has pictures of him standing in front of the Eifel Tower in his uniform after Paris fell.

He later was transferred to the Eastern Front and took part in the Battle of Stalingrad where he was later captured. What saved him was that he was later transferred from a Russian POW camp to an American POW camp and he was released shortly after the war returning in 1947 (I believe it was 1947 but it might have been 1946, I will have to ask my mother).

Several of my Grandmothers brothers fought in the war as well. I am not sure what there exact job was however. One survived the war but has since past away and the other is still MIA today. He was last seen somewhere in France. My Grandmother has very little information on what happened.

On my Step mothers side of the family she has an Uncle who was in the Waffen SS and fought in Yugoslavia. I have spoken to him once but only very briefly.

My American Grandfather was an engineer and he landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. He fought out the war in Europe and remained in the Army. He also served in Korea.

[ccheese]

As I said, if some of the members would dig, or ask questions, we'd have lots
of members with grandparents who served in the military during some of the
conflicts. My second step-father, Frank Waski, was killed on D-day. I believe
he is still interred at or near St. Lo. My brother-in-law, Anthony J. Dardozzi
was on Iwo Jima with the marines.

Charles

[Panzerfaust]

great thread Charles...



umh..maybe I can found something about my relatives during the WW1....umh...let me search...

[freebird]

Originally Posted by DerAdlerIstGelandet

Well my German Grandfather was a Major in the Wehrmacht. He was actually a Medical Officer (before the war he was a Lung Doctor specializing in Tuberculoses). He served on the Western Front (My mother has pictures of him standing in front of the Eifel Tower in his uniform after Paris fell.

He later was transferred to the Eastern Front and took part in the Battle of Stalingrad where he was later captured. What saved him was that he was later transferred from a Russian POW camp to an American POW camp and he was released shortly after the war returning in 1947 (I believe it was 1947 but it might have been 1946, I will have to ask my mother).

Several of my Grandmothers brothers fought in the war as well. I am not sure what there exact job was however. One survived the war but has since past away and the other is still MIA today. He was last seen somewhere in France. My Grandmother has very little information on what happened.

On my Step mothers side of the family she has an Uncle who was in the Waffen SS and fought in Yugoslavia. I have spoken to him once but only very briefly.

My American Grandfather was an engineer and he landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day. He fought out the war in Europe and remained in the Army. He also served in Korea.

Was your American grandfather in "Torch" as well Chris?

[chuckn49]

Awesome thread! My father was in WWI as an airplane mechanic. He was a sergeant. I have a pass he got to go to Paris and I also have his book on how to repair a LeRhone rotary aircraft engine. He used to talk about Spads and Nieuports and Sopwith Pups and Camels a lot.

His book is actually a little notebook with a hard cover. I remember him telling me about how much of the mechanic training he received was sort of apprenticeship learning where you studied under a more experienced mechanic and were expected to make your own manuals, etc. He got to be a mechanic because he worked for Packard Motors after graduating High School in 1912.

He talked a lot about repairing the Irish linen and doping it to make the aircraft skin, etc. I used to have his helmet but, I believe my sister-in-law has that now. Somehow, he was gassed when he went up to the front with some buddies just to see what it was like. I believe it was mustard gas. He always laughed about how that happened. I think he went into a shell hole out of ignorance and was gassed there. He was born in September 1, 1895 and died Sept. 7, 1967.

[Njaco]

Chuck, that would be a great addition here if you could scan the book or post some stories!

[ccheese]

Originally Posted by chuckn49

Awesome thread! My father was in WWI as an airplane mechanic. He was a sergeant. I have a pass he got to go to Paris and I also have his book on how to repair a LeRhone rotary aircraft engine. He used to talk about Spads and Nieuports and Sopwith Pups and Camels a lot.

Chuck: Just for grins, how old are you ? My father was born in Cinnaminson
Township (now Cinnaminson), NJ on March 4, 1891 and died in Baltimore, Md
on Sept 13, 1935. If you saw the first posts, you saw the info I have on
him. I still have letters he wrote to his mother in 1918-19, which I hope
to scan and put up one of these days. BTW, I'm 74...

Charles

[chuckn49]

Charles, I am just a young whipper-snapper at 59 having been born in 1949. I was, to say the least, a very late in life child. I had an older brother born in 1922 to give you an idea of the spread between us. He was a WWII P-38 & P-51 pilot with the 8th. He is since deceased.

My father was born in Worcester, MA in 1895 but grew up mostly in Oxford, MA on a dairy farm. His father was a skilled cabinet maker and wheelwright.

I used to listen to my brother and my father talk airplanes all I could. Eventually, I became an Army helicopter pilot. Aviation seems to run in the family. I still fly starch wings occasionally but, not choppers (way too expensive). None of my sons, sadly, are aviation enthusiasts. One just got out of the Army, though, as a Captain.

I grew up learning about Spads, Nieuports, etc. My father also knew Eddy Rickenbacker, Billy Mitchell and Quentin Roosevelt. My sister-in-law has a couple letters from Rickenbacher to him.

My older brother started in the Army Air Corps as a crew chief for Gen. Carl Spatz when Spatz flew to England to look for airbases there before Pearl Harbor, I believe. It was Gen. Spatz who got him into flight school despite fact he did not have any college or even a high school diploma before he enlisted. The Army sent him to the Illinois Institute of Technology or its predecessor school (I can't remember which) so he could qualify to get into flight school which he did. He eventually retired as a colonel from Air Force.