"Was Your Father in the Military?" Topic

Didn't have any direct influence as he was out of the military 10 years before I was born, and he didn't make a thing of it (though I have his DLI badges and buttons).

Dad wasn't in the 'military' during WW2 because they wouldn't have him. Deaf in one ear and partially so in the other he would have been a danger to others.

He did, however, serve in the Home Guard; manning anti-aircraft guns at Seaforth in Liverpool. I've always considered that he 'did his bit' but not as a full-time soldier.

His influence was as a modeller, a hobby from his youth that he passed on to me as a kid and is still with me.

At the end of WW2 my father brought back a large number of flats (probable looted) from Germany for me. This may be what got me started.

x42

My Dad was USMC in WWII. His love of history especially military history and firearms (target shooting, he was sniper/scout) influenced me, Now I read almost no fiction & wargame.

my father in law was in the military (3rd battalion Darby's Rangers), as was my grandfather (101 regiment, 26th Yankee Division WW1).

Well, Dad and one uncle were Navy. Another uncle was a coastie and a third was Army. None had the slightest interest in wargaming or military history, and none talked about their experiences much.

My dad was a private pilot (with his own plane) before the war. When the war started he tried to enlist in the air corps, but because he was a toolmaker working in an aircraft factory, they sent him back to his job. He spent most of the war making the Waco gliders. He did join the Civil Air Patrol, but there wasn't a lot of action in Ohio :). By 1945 the Government didn't need any more gliders and he lost his deferment. Amazingly, they didn't need any more pilots, either, so he was drafted into the infantry! He was just finishing training when the war ended.

He didn't talk much about his time in the infantry, but he had zillions of flying stories and I'm sure that had a big effect on my interest in the military and wargaming--even though my dad had no interest whatever in wargames. He was a golfer and a fisherman.

My dad was an RAF navigator on bombers during WW2. He was interested in history and had a great love of aircraft and flying. He got me into history, model making and photography. A great influence on my life and interests.

My (adopted) father knew how to type because he was on the high school paper, so he ended up as a typist in SHAEF HQ.

My (birth) father was a Marine who was a clerk in a transport (truck) unit, made it to the Pacific eventually in WWII.

Both my dad and stepdad was in the military, but Norway had an mandatory one-year conscription.

Dad was in the 9th Army Airforce in WWII. A "combat camera man" who somehow was briefly attached to Patton's 3rd Army where he was fined for not wearing a helmet when caught wearing his officer's cap.

My father enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force just before Pearl Harbor. Since he had attended a teachers' college for two years they made him a flying instructor. He taught trainees to fly the B-25 bomber. I still have some of the carved wooden aircraft models he made during his spare time. That inspired me to build models, which eventually led to war gaming.

My Dad was an Army pilot; served two tours in Vietnam.

My dad served in the US Army from March of '42 through January '46. Two of my Uncles also served in the Army, one a medic in the Pacific and one a radioman/infantryman who was wounded in the Ardennes. My wife's Uncle was a Seabee in the Pacific. Lot's of their cousins also served.

Dad was in the USMC (H-3-50) in Korea, made the landing at Inchon, and was wounded in the Battle of Seoul. He was on his way to to China and becoming a "China Marine" in 1950 when the war broke out and their ship turned back. Dad loved history before enlisting and played with W. Britains as a child so being a Marine just solidified those characteristics.

My dad was a ball gunner on a B-24, shot down over Germany (Schwienfurt) liberated by a british armor unit when the allies made the push in to Germany.

My father was in the USAAC in WW II. He served in India and was happy to return to civilian life.

US Navy World War II

My Dad, and his three brothers, were all USAAC (post WWII) and then USAF pre-Korea. Well, most of them. One unc served 25 and spent the Korea years in Greenland and Labrador.

These are great responses. Keep them coming!

My fathers brother was with 3rd Canadian at Normandy. Still have a public info pic of him and 4 others crouched beside a wall… Dad was too young for WWII. But he was in the RAF, an engine mechanic on both prop jobs and jets, mostly bombers, during Korea. Mother was also in the RAF, she was a computer (that job title still makes me smile), worked in those building sized beasts when a bug in the system really was a bug.

I am the first one in my family to serve since a great uncle who fought for the Kaiser, and my Great Great Grandfather who enlisted (twice) for the Union Army.

I may be a combat vet but I am a piker to their time in service.

My dad was US Army Medical Corp and served in Vietnam during Tet. Participated in Hue, but doing medical services stuff.

He started with miniatures while in Monterrey at the Navy Post Graduate School when he could take a trip down to Visalia and visit Jack Scruby's place. I went with him and bought my first miniature on one of those trips.

The Navy put my father through medical school, Then provided him with Marines to practice on.

My dad served in the Fleet Air Arm for two years during WW2, repairing planes in the South West of England. Had nothing at all to do with my love of Romans and Greeks !

Dad was US Navy(WW2),so was my F-I-L.(though he was pre-WW2 era )