"Was your father in the military? " Topic

Just had the odd thought as to whether there was any correlation to this and becoming a gamer/historian.

Mine was. USMC Captain. Went through Parris Island back in the 50's. He collected books on history, military and toy soldiers. When he past away when I was 8 I, of course, went through all his books and I was particularly struck by a Charles Grant book called, "The War Game."

The rest is history, so to speak.

Nope.
His father was though, WWII.

Yes and no. He was in the Merchant Marine during WWII, wiped the boiler. In 1942 they had a higher casualty rate (and higher casualties) than any other branch. Later in his life he was allowed to get veteran's benefits, i.e, he could go to the VA hospital.

My maternal grandfather was also in the Merchant Marine at the same time. He was a cook, stayed out of the engine room.

Yes. He served in the U.S.A.F.

Yes – USN.

Yes mine was and so was my father in law.

My dad spent the whole war in Hawaii with the Army Air corp, rough duty!!

My Father in Law was in 35th infantry Division (Kelly's Hero's) fought at St Lo, Mortain, and was part of the group sent by Patton to relieve Bastogne. Heavily decorated and was sent home in January 45, as he had enough points to do so.

My Daughter, carrying for her grandfathers, just comissioned an Offier in the Army as a Nurse, and is waiting orders for deployment.

Yes. Joined up in '57. US Army. Retired in the early 80s. Served 2 tours in Vietnam 68-69 and 70-71. Robert

Yes. Yorkshire Hussars then East Ridding Yeomanry during WW2.

x42

Yes, and more.

Paternal side

Father, US Army, Army Air Corps, US Air Force
Uncle, US Army Air Corps

Maternal side

Grandfather, British Army Coldstream Guard
Mother, British Army
Uncle, Royal Navy
Uncle, Royal Air Force

Me, US Air Force

Has this had an influence? … You bet!

Yup, started at tank school in Fort Knox. Tank driver. 1941 Went to North Africa and then Italy. Earned his Purple Heart when an 88 tasnk shell entered his Sherman behind his back and exited the opposite side before exploding. He left the army in 1943, flew home in a B-17.

Yes. WW2 Army. Artillery. He was 53 when I was born.

Dad built boats on the Clyde in WW2. His two brothers were merchant seaman. His dad was RN & at Jutland in WW1.

Mum's 4 brothers were in the Forces: HLI, RAF, Paratroops & Ally Sloper's Cavalry.

Yes, I think the military/navy influence had quite an impact on me.

Damn straight my parents served.

My father was in the 501st light pontoon bridge company which actually put up Bailey bridges. They put up more bridges then any other outfit in the ETO except a unit which had been in action from Sicily on. I think they fought, too. The army history shows the 1106 combat engineers on the MLR during the Bulge and the battle for Aachen. The 501st was part of the 1106th.

My mother was in the 8th Field Hospital, a forerunner to the MASH units in Korea. They used C-47s. Mom was selected by the Coca Cola company to explain the nurses role in the war during a special broadcast on the liberation of Paris. I think she was cut off from her unit. She did visit the front lines to teach GIs about avoiding trench foot. From bits and pieces of her rare discussions of the war, she seems to have been on one of those forays when the Battle of the Bulge started.

My dad was in the Navy, in after WWII and out before Korea.

Father's Side:

My father was drafted when he turned 18 in 1944. Shipped to France as a 'replacement,' he volunteered to serve in the cavalry hoping he'd get to ride a horse. Instead, he spent the rest of the war riding around firing from jeeps and armored cars at the jerries. Finished war in Austria and was part of occupation force in Vienna until sent home in 1946.

Mother's Side:

Great Uncle served in US Artillery in WWI. My grandfather enlisted in 1918, but was so weakened by influenza outbreak that he was discharged (had scars on his chest for the rest of his life from hot 'mustard plaster' applied to his chest in the hospital).

Great Grand Uncle served in the 10th Missouri Volunteers (US) from 1862-1865 under Grant and Sherman. Captured in November 1864, he spent the remainder of the war at Andersonville and nearly died in the Sultana sinking on his way home. Suffered for the rest of his life from disabilities from wartime experiences.

My dad was in the 2nd Marine division on Guadacanal,Saipan and Tinian. He was an orderly to Red Mike Edson for a while.

USMC: 1949-1952, 3 years, 3 months and 3 days

Part of the HQ that formed the Second Marine Air Wing. Working in G1 as a Staff Sergeant he became the Acting Wing Sergeant Major when the SGM died at breakfast.

Army tanker during Korea.

I was born in 1946. EVERY man I knew growing up had either been in the military or (if older like my grandfathers) worked in defense industries. (One grandfather was a pattern maker, the other a tool and die maker.)

I've told this before. My dad was an Eagle Boy Scout in 1936, in Shreveport, assigned as an escort for one of the veterans at one of the last Confederate reunions. A decade later, in 1945, he saw a ME262 land and surrender at his airbase in France.

So from spending a day with a guy who fought in the Civil War, to seeing one of the first jets, in a decade.

British Army during WW2; Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers then KOSBs; moved to Australia in 1946 and then the Australian Army until 1961 including Korea.

Dad with 1st Cav in Vietnam, Dad-in-law Army post Korea war.

Dad's Dad infantryman western front WW2, Mom's Dad sailor on the USS Hancock in the Pacific theater WW2.

No . But Grandfather was in the 7th Airforce. 2 uncles in Navy in the Pacific. Myself in Viet Nam.
2 sons ,one in Army ,one now active duty in USAF. Son -in -law was medic in 10th Mtn. and was in "the Great Haitian War". In fact he was the medic who treated the only Haitian civilian casualties as seen on CNN

No . But Grandfather was in the 7th Airforce.My other Italian Grandfather was in the Italian Army in WW1. 2 uncles in Navy in the Pacific. Myself in Viet Nam.
2 sons ,one in Army ,one now active duty in USAF. Son -in -law was medic in 10th Mtn. and was in "the Great Haitian War". In fact he was the medic who treated the only Haitian civilian casualties as seen on CNN

My Father was in the Home Guard from 1940 until 9141, then he was of age to be conscripted into the Royal Navy.

he did small boat handling, convoy exscort, Atlantic and Russia runs. On D Day he left Portsmouth taking a floating concrete prefab breakwater to Arromanches. On sinking of the item he was lost overboard and presumed drowned. He was pulled out of the water 3 days later when they were clearing the bodies as they were freaking the supply boat crews and found to be alive.

He was then posted to Australia, then the Admiralty Islands and finally onto one of the fast Carriers.

When the war ended they chucked the time expired aircraft overboard and loaded the carrier with POWs saved from Japanese camps.

ON the way through Suez they were diverted to Venice to drop off Marines and Seamen to Police Trieste with the trouble that had erupted there.

He stayed with the ship and she came home. He was demobbed in 1947, recalled to the reserve in 1950 for Korea duty but never actually needed.

His main influence on me was his involvement on D Day, which meant detached duty hence being issued a Commando dagger which I still have, his finding himself in a pic in a book on D Day, and his not minding if I wargamed WW2 as I asked him specifically.

He died in 2000.

His brother was conscripted a year later, posted to Fleet Air Arm Yeovil and never left during the war.

My Mother spent the war as a 6 -11 year old girl in Salford and could never hear thunder or fireworks without wanting to hide under the stairs again.

It is from her my love of History comes, she left school at 14 as her mother and stepfather wanted her to earn her own keep and repay them for bringing her up.

At 17 she married dad and they were married for 48 years.

After leaving school she attended night school in between working and raising 3 boys, got her BSC honours in Archeology and Egyptology and as a part time academic attained a high level of peer approval and interest.

In her day job she trained to become a theatre nurse and was working at Harefield Hospital the night Magdi Yacoub did the first Heart Transplant in the UK, as well as when Alan Rees did the first Heart Lung etc…

She died in 2007.

Father as in the RAF but I've never been a keen player of air combat.

Yes and he was on active duty until the end of my college days when he retired.

Oddly enough, I don't think this influenced my entry into the hobby at all. Otherwise I would have been drawn to micro armor and WWII early on than I was. I was drawn to the hobby because of family history. My Mom has an oil painting of a daughter of a Prussian princess in her dining room. So, I began to ask what Prussia was and then I bought a pack of Heritage Prussian Napoleonics at The Bunker in Copperas Cove, TX at the ripe old age of 10.

I did have Atlantic and Airfix HO scale plastics growing up. My father did buy me a Timpo castle set with Hospitalers. And my Mom used to let me get a Britain's soldier once a week or so when we lived in Italy. But I never did have much in the way of U.S. Army figures. I always seemed drawn to Romans and Napoleonics for the most part.

As stated by another poster, if you are of a certain age, you parents were in the military. Even after WWII, we still had the draft and many were in the military because of this.
Ironically enough, I was around helicopters and armored vehicles quite a bit when I was younger. I never got vehicles or modern military figures for the most part in my youth (although I did have the ubiquitous green and tan army men that most had and I had some Atlantic stuff)

To be sure I was drawn to miniatures because of my earlier having plastic soldiers. Also, I used to read the Asterix stuff as a child. And I would watch any historical or quasi-historical movie when I was younger. Spartacus, the Italian produced Roman era stuff, Waterloo, etc. I was also drawn to the history of things having Prussian heritage and my mother having some blue blood. Supposedly we are descended from William the Conqueror; I don't want to tell my mother that it is highly likely from illegitimate relations ;-) My Italian relatives don't care about the family heritage with the exception of one uncle. I suppose two World Wars and the history of bad nobility over there has something to do with it ;-)

Yes, he enlisted in the army as private before WW2 and died as a Major in 1960 after a tour in Iran as an advisor. I was less than two at the time so never really knew him, just from photos. But I do have a cool autographed picture of the Shah thanking him for his service.

StepDad was USN in WW2. Lied about his age to get in. Served on carriers in the Pacific.

Father in Law did 22 Air Force.

I did 6 USMC and 18 USA.

My daughter has been in the Coast Guard for a couple of years, and says she wants to go career.

My dad was in the USN in WWII & spent many months working in the Post Office at a landing craft repair base in the Soloman Islands. The funniest thing I ever heard him say was that while he was living thru air raids & suffering disentery in the South Pacific, my 2 uncles in the Army were shooting pool & drinking cold beer in Oklahoma.

Yep, dad was Airforce…and son is Navy

I'm too independant minded to go military although I was ROTC through college….then was more intersted in EMS and medical stuff

Yep.Dad was a MP in the ETO 44-45.
My oldest brother and brother-in law were both USN.
My nephew,his oldest grandson, is a MP in the reserves.He spent a year in Iraq and has been deployed somewhere in Africa too.Recently reupped and is slated for Afghanistan this year sometime.He says the reason he wanted MP was because of his grandfather.
His little brother is stationed in Georgia,RA.

My Dad was in the Royal Navy, my Mother worked making ropes for ships.

Yes, USN in the 50's. He was an electrician' s mate on a Fletcher class destroyer.

My dad was in the Army, and served in Germany in the late '60s (Cold Warrior) and then Vietnam in Mil Intelligence. He volunteered and requested MI because he wanted to do "James Bond" stuff (his words).

My Grandfather was a Marine in WWII. He rarely talked about it, but was always proud that he was assigned to Public Relations in California in the latter part of the war. He had a strange scar on his leg he used to claim was from a Polio shot, but I always had to wonder…

My Great Grandfather was also in the US Army in WWI AND WWII. In WWI he served in France, then later volunteered in WWII and served guarding the shipyards in Philly (too old for overseas service). As a reward for being a double veteran he was finally awarded with US Citizenship after the war. Not bad for an Italian immigrant. Sadly I never knew him…

Damon.

Yes, my dad was in Italian Airforce.

USN in WW2.

Dad navigated on Lancasters over Europe.

db

Dad was RCNVR, served on 3 escort vessels in the North Atlantic in WW2.

Father-in-law served in the US 28th Infantry Division. Dec. 16th, 1944 was an interesting day for him.

Rick

My father retired as a Colonel after 31 years in the US Army. He continues to be my role model as an officer.

I hit 24 years in myself (Army enlisted and Air Force officer) this February.

Yes, although there isn;t much choice when you are conscripted.

Dad: RAF, 1950s. Ground staff at a fighter station.

On my fathers side:

Grandfather, Signaller. Captured on Java in 1942, died 1944.
Step Grandafther. Regular Navy. Murmansk then landing craft. Sicily, Anzio, Salerno and D-Day.
Great Uncle. RAF armourer. Wounded in a bombing up accident.
Great Uncle. Royal Engineers. D-Day etc etc
Great Aunt. ARP, visited the site of my Dads house when it was destroyed by a V2.
Great great Uncle. Infantry. Killed on the Somme, buried at Gommecourt.

On my mothers side.

Grandfather. Royal Engineers. Operation Varsity.

I wouldn't say their service influenced me to be a wargamer, but like everyone of my generation, all I ever heard about (and still hear about from Mum & Dad) was 'the war'. It was the most exciting thing which ever happened to them. I think it is inevitable that such a key and life changing event had some influence on my hobbies an interests.

My Dad built/builds r/c models and I started as a modeller before I did wargaming.

Yes. He was in the Army. Later he served in the Coast Guard Aux. as well.

Yes my father was a Regular Soldier in the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, served for over 25 years, was appointed an MBE, retired as a WO1. His father was a Regular in the Royal Engineers, killed by enemy action in 1942, as a Staff Serjeant.

But I actually got the gaming bug at school, although there was a lot of crossover between the Wargaming Society and the Cadet Corps…

Yes USN

DM

Actually none of my immediate family died in either world war or the smaller wars. The last Milam we know who died in war, did so at the start of the Texas War of Independence…

And he is a cousin of a cousin sort of thing.

Yes, Coast Guard during WWII. Told me he wanted to join the marines but someone took him aside to the Coast Guard line. I probably owe my existance to whoever that was.

He said that later his CO liked him and so kept him stateside, later on he did get escort duty for the later Murmansk convoys.

Had nothing to do with my wargaming though, movies and the back of the Squad Leader box sealed the deal for that "this time Sargent Steiner was wrong…"

Yes. My father was in the Royal Engineers during WWII. Landed in Normandy on D-Day. Spent most of the afternoon dragging out beach obstacles with an armored dozer.

My mother was on the ack-ack down in Southampton. She operated the range finder.

JohnG

My father enlisted in WWI and went to France. I know little more than that about his service time. Neither he nor WWI had any influence on me getting into gaming.

My interest in naval gaming comes from growing up near a UN Navy Reserve Fleet base. Saw rows and rows of WWII ships in storage and gradually being sold off or broken up. Learned the national anthem of Chile in high school band and took part in the transfer of the ship from the USN to Chile.

My father served in the RN from 1940 til 1946.

My mother was born in 1912 and remembered seeing a Zeppelin raid on Sunderland. She was bombed in Lowestoft and talked of seeing Doodlebugs going over Kent

My Dad was too young for WW2, but did National Service as a surveyor in the Royal Artillery, rising to the exalted rank of acting lance-bombardier. He played rugby for his unit, and by virtue of getting his leg broken, twice, spent a good deal of his service time in hospital. IIRC he was demobilised in 1949, just in time to miss Korea, being called off the gangplank of the troopship that was about to take him over to the British Army of the Rhine.

Grandad was conscripted during WW2, but after a severe athsma attack after humbing shells for a HAA unit discharged as medically unfit, and spent the rest of the war -- and indeed the rest of his working life -- making weapons at the Royal Ordnance Factories at Swynnerton and Enfield Lock.

Other Grandad served in the first lot, but he died before I was born and I have no details of his service -- as I believe he was in a Welsh regiment, and his surname was Jones, I don't hold much hope of finding out more.

All the best,

John.