"Was Your Father a Veteran?" Topic

Yes. He spent his time in the Marines (They let him out after that) reassembling Corsairs after uncrating them and working on truck engines in the States during Korean War. The war ended shortly after he enlisted and he was done after 6 months active duty. They let him out to go to college and never wanted him back. I'm not sure what that says about him!

My dad got in at the end due to his "youth," but served in the occupation forces in Japan.
Every uncle served except the oldest brother who ran the farm. They were in Europe, the Islands, and the coast guard. My aunt was a WAC, and maintained aircraft engines to free men to do other things.
Service was the bond the men had at all the family get togethers. I never heard a regret voiced.
That certainly was the USA's greatest generation.

Yep, Korean War. However, spent his whole tour in Japan working at a hospital.

Yes, my father (10th Mountain in Italy) and his father before him (Imperial German Army0.

My dad was in the 32nd Infantry Division (The Red Arrow) between Korea and Vietnam (lucky for him). He was too young for the first, and out before the second.

He doesn't talk about it much, and all I can wrangle out of him is that he somehow broke his leg during his duty there, but did his stint and was home in time to meet my mother and marry her.

My dad was a Lancaster navigator, RAF, in WW2. One of is brothers was a Hurricane pilot, Battle of Britain and beyond and the other was RAF ground crew in North Africa and Italy. Not a scratch between them thank goodness.

Both my granddads were in the army in WW1. Paternal granddad was a territorial in the East Riding Yeomanry in Egypt and Palestine before his time was up, after which he was called up to the East Yorkshire Regiment but served training in England. My maternal granddad was in the Royal Army Service Corps in France. He had some hairy tales from the Ludendorff Offensive in 1918. He was gassed, developed TB, was invalided out and given two years to live. Needless to say he was too stubborn for that, was in the ARP in WW2 and survived until 1983. I still have a tin full of the souvenirs he brought back with him.

I still miss them all.

Yup! My dad was a tank driver in the 3rd armored. Was in Africa and then Italy. Won a purple heart when an 88 shell entered his tank just behind his seat, exited through the other side and then exploded. Got out in 1943, flew back home in a B-17.

He didn't talk about until once when he was sick and out of his head, but he did bring back a lot of photographs he had taken, and some other stuff.

My father served in the AFS (Auxilliary Fire Service) during the London Blitz after he was thrown out of the Home Guard for being underage!

He joined up when he was 18, and became a Gunner (later rising to the rank of WO1). He served with 53rd Worcestershire Yeomanry Regiment (Air Landing Light Regiment RA), 6th Airborne Division until the end of the war, when he was posted to Burma to help train the new Burmese Army, in particular the Chin Hills Regiment. He was demobbed in 1948, came home, got married, and I was born in 1950.

My maternal grandfather was also in the Royal Artillery, being a BSM in a Territorial unit in 1939. He served with the BEF in France, and was evacuated (and wounded) at Dunkirk. He then became a Ship's RSM and served on troopships all over the World. His medals are on display in pride of place in my house, and include:
•The Italy Star
•The Atlantic Star
•The Burma Star
•The Pacific Star

My Dad did a few years in the Irish army but did not see active service, his uncle (my fathers fathers brother) served in both world wars, not a scratch in either.

Nope, his brothers all served in WWII but he was the baby, never joined up or got drafted.

My Dad volunteered in Sept 1939 when Australia declared war. He was 18. Had served in the Militia before the war. Joined the Signals Corp (Radios) and a Signals unit that went to North Africa with the 6th Division of the 2nd A.I.F. After Bardia and Tobruk was attached to the 7th Division for the Syrian Campaign and missed Greece and Crete. Then recalled with the 7th Division for the defence of New Guinea and the South West Pacific Campaign – Buna, Gona, Santander and then the fighting in Papua, westward through Finchafen, Wau, Salamua, Scarlet Beach, the Ramu Valley, Huon Peninsula and then Borneo. 6 long years of war.

His father fought with the 1st A.I.F. as an Engineer at Villers-Brettoneaux (SP?) and I don't know where else.

Yes. He was a crew chief on a UH-1 in Vietnam. He flew missions in the tri-border area for CCC. He was almost set against me joining the Army out of high school.

Yes. USMC at the end of WWII. He missed the fighting thankfully but for some reason felt that it totally negated the fact that he enlisted during the war and was classified as a WWII vet. I believe that in many ways his service was more important to me than to him.

Yes, USN from high school graduation in 1942 through February 1946.

Sonar operator on a DD – North Atlantic, the Med and the Caribbean. The DD, in late 1944, transferred into the Pacific Fleet for the last operations at Luzon and Okinawa.

Yes, U.S.M.C. Fought in the Marshall Islands and on Okinawa.

My dad served in the US Army in the '60s. First stationed in Berlin/Frankfurt, then off to Vietnam, just missing the Tet Offensive.

My Grandfather served with the Marines in WWII. He never talked about what he did, except to brag about how he got lucky and got a job in the Public Relations office.

My great-grandfather (who predeceased me, so I never really knew him) served in the US Army in France in WW1, then served again in WWII, though this time guarding shipyards in Philadelphia. Being a veteran of 2 wars, he was finally granted citizenship (Italian immigrant) after the war.

Damon.

No. Dad was too old for WW2 (38 when the war started) and was working for the railroads which was considered a vital industry so they did not consider drafting the older guys in his line of work.

MY wifes dad was infantry in WW2 with the 90th division. Landed in Normandy on D+1 and fought his way across Europe til the war ended.

Yes, Korean War. Never wanted to talk about it.

22 years in the USMC. 3 tours in 'Nam.

Real Dad was an E8 in the Army and served in Japan…One of the first troops onshore after the surrender, he used to tell stories of many of the japanese military refusing the surrender and how when they saw the piles of radios, and weapons being piled up and burned by the Allies, they would run into the flames to try to save the equipment and keep fighting a lost war. He told stories about finding Japanese snipers that had tied themselves up in trees with their belts, and starved to death waiting to shoot a GI…
He told stories about the amount of war "stuff" that he had to destroy: Planes, uniforms, flags, weapons.
According to my mom and my aunt, when he came back he brought back two duffel bags full of Japanese officer swords, rifles, and other weapons. Said that there were "piles of it just laying on the beach and you could take whatever you wanted, (except explosives or machine guns)."
He sold them piecemeal over the years to pay for his alcoholism…
One of the few good memories I have of him is him teaching me at a very early age how to sing "London Bridge is falling down" in Japanese…

Stepfather left highschool in his senior year, and joined the Coast Guard. Served on two ships on the West Coast, and basically ran mail from California to Pearl Harbor three times a week….
Got out and, went back and got his HS diploma, and then served two years in the AF Reserve at Ellington Field as a radar operator, and he says he never touched a radar set in his life..spent most of it shooting pool in the dayroom, or sweeping flight lines, or mowing grass…

Yes. Joined the army towards the end of WW2 and had a number of gigs. Started in coastal artillery, then armor, finally airborne. Stayed in after the war as part of the occupation, then Korea, then training the Shah's army in Iran. He volunteered for a training mission in Vietnam in 60 but was told they did not need any new blood over there. He died shortly after that from pneumonia officially, but we suspect it was from an injection of penicillin to which he was highly allergic. INteresting sidebar is that my mom said he was almost two inches shorter at the end due to spinal compression from his airborne days.

Yes. He was in the Air Force and served as a radarman in Korea.
Interesting story; he signed up and auditioned for, and was accepted by, the Air Force Band. (saxophonist) In the confusion of the big build up of men for Korea, he got sent to the wrong place, and all the officers he tried to get help from, told him it would get straightened out at his next stop, and then the next stop, and the next… It never did, and he wound up on top of a freezing mountain in Korea guiding bomber missions in and out.
But it all ended happily because he met my mom soon after the war ended while stationed at a radar station on Cape Cod.

My father was in US Navy for WWII---gone now 30 years ago. My wife's father was in Army---first wave on Omaha beach, wounded at St Lo and returned to US. Celebrating his 100th birthday next month. Doesn't talk much about his service.

Mike

Yup. Navy photographer in WWII.

Doug

Yes. 8 years USMC.

Chalfant

Mine wasn't, nor was Nadine's, but Jeds father served in Kenya during the MaoMao troubles in the Kings African Rifles.

Yes (Korea), and my wife's dad as well (WWII).

Yep. He defended Fort Indiantown Gap from the Germans, and went home on weekends to court my Mom.

Nineteen yrs. USMC.

Yep. U.S. Navy;WW2,even though underage. Hospital Corpsman. Wounded during stateside combat training aboard a(lucky for him) surfaced submarine.

Yes. US Army.

The Navy put my father through medical school in three years. Someone had to reassemble all those Marines.

My father-in-law drove a B-17 at the tender age of 19. He went on to fly an F-86 in Korea and Cessna 0-2 in Viet Nam.

Yes. USN WWII in the Pacific. One sister, her husband and I are all retired USN.

Grandfather (WWI), father (WWII), uncle (Korea), 2 older brothers (Vietnam) -- all combat vets.

Nope.
But my grandpop was.

CMSGT with 21 years in the USAF. One tour in Vietnam. After the Air Force, he did 14 years with NSA.

My dad did 4 years in the U.S. navy reserve as an enlisted man, followed by 20 years active duty as an officer. He volunteered for a tour of duty with a Seabee battalion in Viet Nam.

In WW2 father served in first the Yorkshire Hussars then was transferred to the East Riding Yeomanry.

x42

Yes, My Dad was a member of the 82nd Airborne Divison, 508th PIR. He served during WWII, 1943 – 1945 and received the CIB, Purple Heart and Bronze Star metals. He wrote a short history of his service that was published in the HMGS Mid-South Dispatch several years ago.

Nope – too young and a farm kid – was slated to be join up when the war ended

His brother was an infantryman and my mom's brother was an RCAF fighter pilot

Yes, served in the USN in WW2, 1944-46, in the Pacific, mostly on LSTs. He was at the several landings during the Liberation of the Philippines, at Okinawa, Iwo Jima, and Ia Shima and was under way for the landings in Japan on VJ day. He also served for a year after the war and was in the Chinese port of Tsingtao when it fell to the Communists (he said they didn't even know a civil war was going on in China until stray shell starting landing near his ship.)

He passed away in 2004, a month before we were going to the dedication of the WW2 Monument.

Also had one uncle (Dad's brother) serving in the Pacific with the Coast Guard – they actually met up in Tokyo right after the surrender. My mom's brother was in the army, a tanker with Patton.

Both gone as well, RIP

Dad and mom both WWII vets. That's how they met.
My dad served in the unit that saw more days of combat than any other battalion sized unit in the ETO.
Lets see if anyone can figure out which unit.
Here's a hint. They landed dasy one in four invasions.

Dad and his brother in Navy right before Vietnam heated up. Paternal granddad PT Boats during WW2, Maternal served on oil tanker in Pacific during war. Even brought a Japanese rifle home.

My father met my mother in US Airforce. Both were keeping the world safe for Democracy in Omaha in the 1950's.

Served in WW II in the Army Air Corps. Flew the "Hump" as a load handler on a C-47. He hated every minute of military service but did his duty along with so many others.

My father served, but to my knowledge, he never saw combat.

All I know is that he was stationed with the Air Force in Alaska. He never said what it was he was doing up there, though he always seems very interested in any news involving Russia…

Paternal Grandfather was in a unit that saw combat in WWII Germany, and there were stories concerning "tankers liked to put a round through a house every now and then, just to be sure" and "I saved our entire unit by being the only one who knew how to cook chicken feet". He never really wanted to talk about it when I asked (I was 7 or 8 at the time, so I'm sure I wouldn't have absorbed the information properly), but I'd bet my Uncle who stayed in that neighborhood knows more.

Maternal Grandfather was in the Navy Air Corps, a tail gunner in a B-24 Liberator. I have much of his correspondence, uniform, and log book in my attic, and haven't looked at it for years.

Yes, WWII coast guard. Was part of the later Murmanks convoys. His favorite stories to tell where that he was in the line for the Marines (early in the war) and someone pulled him aside and shoved him in the Coast Guard line, also that his CG commander liked him and so would not approve his request to get convoy escort duty earlier – he credits both of them with saving his life.

Yes. USN WWII BB-56 USS Washington. Seaman 1st Class 1944-45. For shore bombardment, he loaded ammo for the 16" guns into turret elevator. Was at the bombardments of Saipan, Iwo Jima & Okinawa. Obviously he couldn't see a thing from his battle station. For AA support of carriers, he ran magazines to and from the forward 20mm port AA guns. Carrier task force support at Palau, Taiwan, Indochina, Hong Kong, Kyushu, Tokyo & Okinawa. This battle station was on deck and he witnessed the sinking of the carrier USS Franklin off of Okinawa. Thanks Dad. RIP.

God bless him. 87 and a former door gunner on a Navy PB4Y2 flying out of Bermuda looking for German subs. Not the worst job but when you think back to the technology, still risky.

One interesting note, he stayed in for a while after the war and their plane was part of the search for that flight of Avengers that went missing and became part of the Bermuda Triangle myth.

Not my Dad, but my Grandpa was. He was a sailor on a Kriegsmarine tender/supply ship. The ship was hit by allied artillery (I think) near the North sea (or was it Ostsee?) coast and started burning. My grandpa jumped into the water and rescued a friend while swimming through the burning oil on the surface. He had some burn scars on his arms for the rest of his life but luckily was fine otherwise :)

He also liked to tell the story of how the crew brought their girlfriends onto the ship by boat one night like in "Operation Petticoat" :D