"Was Your Father a Veteran?" Topic

Yes, British Army KOSB in WW2, then Engineers in Australian Army in Korea.

Yes, Marine on Peleliu. Like so many other Vets, never talked about the War or what he did. Uncle Archer (Kodama) served in Europe after an internment camp for Japanese. Two Purple Hearts and Bronze Star. Uncle Archer gave us our first guns and taught us to shoot and handle them safely. Thanks to both. RIP.

Dad was in Malaya during the insurgency, fighting in the jungle. He never talked about it very much and only said he was other places as well but would stay quiet if asked.

I forgot to mention, my father-in-law who was a cryptographer in the Air Force, coincidentally operated data coming from one of the satellites my dad designed.
I got my USAA through my father-in-law.

Yes.
82nd airborne for Normandy & 17th for Bulge and rest of war.
Grandfather in trenches of WWI.
Grandmother's grandfather in ACW w/ Army of Potomac
(I have his discharge papers)

Kudos to Bill, he knows how to get his hit count up!

Like all norwegian males of his period, he served during his 1 year as a conscript, he ended up as a Sergant and Cook.

My stepdead was in the Airforce as Radar operator.

Noting happend to them, just something all men from that generation did.

They did Play around with alot of US hardwere tho, my stepdad used a Carbine during his first trip in, then later he used the AG3, My dad used Garand and K98.

And my Grandfater on my mothers side, fought in the resistance, got captured thoward the end of the war, was about to be sent to a concentration camp when the war ended.

Yes, he was a radioman in a Grumman TBM Avenger that flew ASW missions from the USS CARD in WWII.

My father served in the Royal navy. He joined in India ( he bent the rules by not joining the Royal Indian Navy ) . My father came down with Tropical Sprue ( link ) , Dysentery and Malaria, all at the same time and lost about half his body weight. He was in a Royal Navy hospital in Palumbo, Sir Lanka, for almost 6 months. After he showed improvement, and only weighing around 80 pounds, he was shipped off to England and ended up serving on board the heavy cruiser HMS Cumberland ( 1944-45 ) . He was a fireman.

My uncle Victor was in the 1st Paras and was at Arnhem. He swam across the Rhine back to Allied lines after the Paras surrendered. Luckily he had learned to swim while living the posh life in India while living in my family's hotel ( Laurentian Hotel in New Delhi -- in Donald Lopez's book, "Into the Teeth of the Tiger" he erroneously calls this hotel, "The New Delhi Hotel" ) . Last I heard, Victor was still alive, living somewhere in London, England.

My uncle Robert was in the Dutch resistance and was captured in 1943 by the Dutch Police and handed over to the Gestapo. He was put on trial and sentenced to 10 years hard labor. He was imprisoned in several death camps until liberated by US troops in 1945.

My other uncle, also Robert, was a captain in the British Army in India. He served as a driver for important visiting foreign officials. Later retired to Rhodesia in the 1960s.

I also had an uncle Bobby ( probably another Robert ) who flew Blenheims bombers in 1942, then switched to Spitfires from 1943 till the end of the war. Mostly in the Med./Indian Ocean.

My uncle Frank Tan was in the US Army. He was dropped off on remote islands with a radio. His job was to report on Japanese shipping etc. Several of these islands were Japanese held. Later he became a member of OSS, the "Deer Team", and was Para dropped into North Vietnam with orders to link up with Ho Chi Minh. His main task was to arm and train Ho's men to fight the Japanese, which he and his team did to great effect. He became Ho Chi Minh's "go between" with the USA right up to the late 1940s or early 1950s and appeared at Senate hearings in support of Ho Chi Minh. Rumored to have joined the CIA after its formation and probably an active agent throughout the 1960s and maybe into the 1970s, he received a medal from President Carter after his war missions were made public. Several of his team were killed during the war while fighting the Japanese. Most of these from torture after capture. My aunt never knew of his involvement in the OSS/CIA. She just remembered him getting a phone call in the middle of the night, and then he would grab his pre-packed suitcase and disappear for 6 months without a word about where he was going or when he would come back.

My grandfather was drafted into the Waffen SS in the summer of '43 (Volksdeutscher). Captured in the summer of '44, returned in the summer of '45 with scars on his face and a habit of eating every single crumb on his plate. My uncle was a radar site commander for the Kriegsmarine on the coast of France, spent the rest of the war in one of the coastal ports that held out. Another uncle was drafted young (unclear if Volkssturm or regular army), fought in post-Market Garden mopping up in Holland. Fired a panzerfaust once and surrendered to a US Army soldier, the first black man he ever saw in his life. My own father just has vague memories of burning tanks from his refugee flight west as a young boy, and he never had to serve as an adult. And the father of a good friend growing up was a Marine on the "Bunker Hill".

My Dad served on a V & W destroyer Two arctic convoys as support.Escort Atlantic Convoys. Mediterranean convoys /special landings in the Mediterranean help to partisans. Troop ships round Africa. East Cost convoys. lots of them.
On the Stop line for D Day and Up to Bergen to Take the German surrender in Norway.
Still picking shrapnel(bits of his ship) out of his back now at the age of 89
from a strafing run by a German aircraft

Dad was USNR, WWII, tin-cans and spitkits, as he called
them (DD's and DE's).

Surprised us all to find, among Mom's papers, HER service
record, USNR, 1944-1948. She had those records in the
package she'd prepared for me (she knew she was going to
die) for 'after'. She died in November, 2009.

She was actually my step-mother, but more 'Mom' than
my biological maternal parent.

Dad's dad was USA, WWI, gassed. My maternal Grand-
father was in an occupation deemed 'essential' and
wasn't drafted.

I've posted before in this forum about the service of
my Uncles, all of whom served, and one of whom was
killed (Tarawa, USMCR).

My maternal grandfather was the last serving direct ancestor – (British) army and wounded in 1916 (everyone always assumes the Somme when you say that, but it was later in the year and a few miles away.

My father was in a civilian reserved occupation – London Fire Brigade with a short spell in Portsmouth when London was quiet.

My cousin learned his trade as a conscriptee in the postwar army – unfortunately he was an armed robber so not so good!

Yes. My father was in 3rd (Belgian) Artillery from 1935- 1940. Fought in the Belgian campaign and was captured on May 27th 1940. Released a few days later, he went to England where he met and married my mother. Came back to Belgium as a resistance liason operator late 1942 or early 1943.
Wounded in the leg by a bullet during an operation late 1943. Joined a Canadian unit in 1944 as a scout and was, alas, shot again in the same leg during the fight for the Albert Canal. This time however his kneecap was shattered which crippled him for life.
Dad died in November 1982, at age 69.

Father served in the Korean War and his brother served in germany near the same time. My mother had a brother in Korean War as well.

In World War 2, I had 2 maternal uncles (mother's brothers)wounded in the European Theatre. Five of my Father's uncles served in WW2 with 2 being killed, 1 in France adn 1 in Italy.
Though I did not have to serve in Vietnam. I am classified a Vietnam Era veteran according to the VA. Not all of us especially tankers had to go to Vietnam.

My Father was a Squadron Leader in the RAF.

(Sounds like the start of a dirty song, to the tune of 'John Brown's Body')

It used to get me in to the RAF club near my old home, which had the best snooker table set up in Newcastle.

Pat

My Father was a Squadron Leader in the RAF.

His name Isn't Flashheart by any chance?

My Dad worked at Douglas Acft during WWII. He was a line person and a flight mechanic. One of the test pilots he flew with was Wrong Way Corrigan. Dad built C-47s and A-20s.

My Dad's youngest brother was in the Merchants. We traded a few stories after I got back from Nam. I mentioned that the first thing I noticed about Nam was the smell. He said he understood. Once they had gone to India and two days off the caost he could smell it.

My father was a WWII RAF Bomber Command wireless operator with 2 tours – that's 80 combat missions with a 1:20 chance of not coming back each trip. So he was definitely one of Bert Harris's 'Old Lags' – I only found out that at his funeral – he'd never talk about the war. He stayed on in '46. Fought in Korea and the Malay emergency. Came out in the 60's and into defence contracting working with the Royal Navy.

My grandfather on my mothers side didn't make it out of France in 1940.

My uncle was a wireless operator in the Royal Navy, transferred to the Royal Norwegian Navy by the Navy. He served on MTB's based in the Shetland Islands running supplies into the occupied Norway during the winter and case E-boats up and down the Channel during the summer. He wouldn't talk about his war either and I only found out that at my fathers funeral.

My Dad was in the USN during the Second World War. He took his Basic at Great Lakes, and then he had a '90 Day Wonder' course that made him an Ensign (j.g.).
He served on an attack-transport in the Pacific Theatre.

Being Danish, there's not many places he could have served, but in any event, he was a drunken criminal. Hardly army stuff.

My dad celebrated his 88th birthday last month, and I'm glad to say he is still kicking. He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps, attached to the Air Corps, during WWII -- first in British India, then in the Pacific Islands. Although he was a Jew from the Bronx, the Signal Corps company he served in throughout most of the war originated in the Texas National Guard. My dad was enthusiastic about joining up and doing his part, but he struggled with living under orders, and had some conflict with military authority in general, and with one of his Texan NCOs in particular. Still, he was an excellent technician who helped his unit earn several Presidential Citations working with what at the time were some of the most advanced pieces of communications equipment in the world, including a radio-powered "fax machine" scratch-built by an electronic genius in his company, used to send bomb-damage assessment photos from the Pacific back to the States.

Only once during the war did my dad truly fear for his life -- one night when he and another Signal Corpsman were manning a radar truck atop a mountain on an island in the Pacific (I believe it was Iwo Jima) and a US battleship in the harbor below started firing its guns into the air to celebrate what my dad later learned was the announcement of Victory in Europe, and the rounds started landing all around him. Dad and the other guy climbed out and took cover under the truck. Luckily the barrage ended quickly and they crawled out unscathed.

As far as I know, no relative I'm aware of served in combat as far back as the late 19th century.

My step dad was. In Korea in the Royal Engineers. I had a great grand father who was in the 2nd Boer War. And some in Monmouth's rebellion and the English Civil War.

BSAP in Rhodesia; one of my uncles was also in the BSAP.

Yes, 20 years Navy, 20 Reserves, and when he hit 65, the sons of €£%\~<}{\. Took away his medical and dropped him on MediCare.

If the public ever really understood how badly the government treats Vets,
Well first they would have to care, I guess.

Miss my Dad,
Lee

My father joined the U.S. Army in 1936, served in the 1st Division during WW2, was in the occupation forces in Germany, got out in 1950 as a Captain; hated civilian life and re joind as a Sgt. Served in Korea, re earned his Capt rank, was wounded, came home and in 1965 retired to teach at the Ft. Belvour Engineer School. He passed away awhile ago and we all miss him.

Yes and Grandfather too!

My father was a Naval Aviator in Vietnam in 68' and 69', my Grandfather was a colonel and field commander in the Republican army in the Spanish civil war and served together with his own father, and I myself have served in Afghanistan. Proud as I am I pray my own children will have the luxury of breaking a long family tradition.

Yes, a company clerk in mid 1950s Germany. Brave Rifles. He went down to see the 1956 winter Olympics in Italy, but still says the best spaghetti he had was made by a German!

Yup, my dad was a naval 2nd LT, his brother was an army Capt.. My mother's brother was also in the Navy. My grandfather served in WW 2, started out enlisted and while fighting up Italy, ended up an officer.

Dad was a clerk in the Northumberland Fusiliers (despite being from Birmingham), was nearly sent to Suez, served in Northern Ireland (where he met Mum), guarded Mau-Mau prisoners in Kenya, and was wounded in inaction (accidentally stabbed himself in the hand with his bayonet while sheathing it on parade).

Yes. B-17 pilot with the Bloody Hundredth, 350 Squadron….

Rereading the posts in this topic made me realise just how old the typical TMP user must be.

Colonel in the Austrian Army in WWI. Fought against both the Italians and the Russians.

In 1917 during a Russian attack he was hit by shrapnel and had part of his foot blown off. It was winter and he passed out. While he was unconscious, a day or so after the battle, the burial crews came along and had dug a long trench to bury the dead in. They piled up the dead by the head of the trench while it was being dug and my father was on the bottom. This gave him just enough insulation so that when they were tossing the dead into the trench and they got to him he was just able to wiggle his fingers and say "I'm not dead, I'm not dead!" They pulled him out and took him to the hospital.

My Dad volunteered with his twin brother in '41 and they became drivers. At their training base the RSM tried to avoid getting them sent to North Africa because they were under 21. Had he succeded they would have gone straight to Singapore … Instead they went from Palestine, up with the 8th Army to Tunisia, and then through Sicily up Italy ending near Rimini in Spring 45.

Their big brother (my uncle) was on AA guns around London for the whole war. My other uncle (mum's brother) was less lucky, he did end up in a Jap POW camp.

All survived the war more or less unscathed and although they are all gone now, I remember some great stories about their exploits.

My father served in the Malayan Emergency in REME as a National Serviceman. His father served in the 5th Tank Battalion in the Great War, and my maternal great grandfather was a regular army bandsman who served in the Boer War and on the Western Front until his lungs were damaged by gas.

Me? I'm 5'2', blind as a bat without my glasses and would probably have been classed C3…

My father served in the Army during Korea in the medical corp taking care of wounded returnees from the Korean conflict.

Father-in-Law served in the Air Force for 27 years pulling three tours in Viet Nam.

I served 20 years in the Air Force deploying during Kosovo and other wonderful excursions around the world.

Son is presently in the 82nd Airborne, having been to Iraq, once, and Afganistan twice.

My father was a P-51 pilot flying out of England in WWII. My mother was in the WAAC, and was in the first group that was sent to the Phillipines after it was liberated. My father's brother died in a training accident learning to fly. My father was a couple of classes behind him at the time.
My mother's brothers all served. My uncle Andrew was on the Tennessee when it was bombed in Pearl Harbor. He transferred to submarines and managed to survive several war cruises. Another uncle was in the Army. He was with the "Stick with Mac and never get back" guys. He was in several invasions in the Pacific. Uncle Bob was a supply sergeant in New York the entire war. He never heard the end of that from his siblings.
Just realized, in my parent's families they all served.

Joined RAF in 41' went to N.Africa in late 42 and flew Hurri-bombers, returned to UK to re-train and then fly typhoons – said he spent 3 months shooting up French railways prior to D-day, which he hated doing, thought it was extremely unpleasant to be attacking french civilians.
Carried on in Typhoons for the rest of the war.
Said that one of the few regrets of his life was that he had the chance to transfer to a Spitfire squadron and he turned it down, which meant he never got to fly one.

Claimed he never saw a German fighter for the whole war.

My step-father was a Korean conflict veteran from the US Navy sub service off the coast rescuing downed aviators. He served in a diesel radar picket submarine.

No, he had the same screwed-up childhood hip condition that I have. It makes us 4F. He tried to sign up anyway, but the doctor at the recruiting station was the same one who's treated him as a kid, so no dice.

Fleet Air Arm 1943-46, thankfully (not for him!) staying in home waters.

Grandfather joined Royal Field Artillery in 1914 and served on the western front from Loos to the armistice.

My Dad and my wife's Dad too. And Me. And my brother. And my brothers in law, and a couple sisters in law. We've covered every service but the Coast Guard.

No mine was a Korean War medic assigned to an Evac hospital due to his rare B neg blood type. During the Vietnam War he was a National Guard recruiter.

I am regarded as a Vietnam War era veteran but I did not have to go in country. As a tanker there were other places to be deployed.

Yes. USAF in Vietnam era. Did not go overseas, they kept him in the States as an electrician. He had clearance to go onto nuclear missile sites to do repair work. He hated that, because the security was always really jumpy and kept pointing their SMGs too close to his direction.

Father joined the USN the day after he graduated from high school in 1942. Stayed 20 years. Served in the Pacific (on cruisers and then small inter-island transports) and Korea (in the amphibs, conned the last landing craft off the beach at Hungnam and the first one in at Inchon. Yeah, he got around).

Mother joined the WAVES in 1943 and stayed to 1945. Served in Washington, DC at Navy HQ.

Yes. 29th division. Landed in France D-Day + 12, went towards Cherbourg, then back towards St. Lo. Never got into St Lo, but could see the steeple over the top of the hill. Got a Purple Heart there, and a trip home.

During WW2 my father as a Polish teen was abducted to be industrial slave for III Reich (unpaid, beaten, kept in camp, malnutrition, the like).

After the war and acquiring MD he served a compulsory military service as a medical lieutenant (yep, communist Poland drafted even MD officers). He never got a promotion, due to his anti-communist attitude.

Brother of my mother died at assault at Monte Cassino. (Actually 3/4 of her family died of hands both of III Reich as well as USSR, just because they were Poles).