Family Military History

[Allos]

I just thought it would be interesting to know if any of your relatives have been in any of our past wars. I'm asking because I love to know about my family's military history. If you wish to respond do so in the format I use. I'll start about my history:

Family Member-Grandfather (mom's side)
Served in-U.S. Marine Corp
Wars-WWII, Korean War
Rank-PFC.
Occupation-Infantry Soldier
Areas Fought in-Guadalcanal, various Pacific Islands

FM-Grandfather (dad's side)
Served in-U.S. Army
Wars-WWII
Rank-Sergeant
Occupation-Combat Engineer
Areas Fought in-The Phillipines, more Pacific Islands

[PlatypusMaximus]

Well, my Dad was a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy, My Grandfather was a Vice Admiral in the Navy. He was quite a famous hero I'm told. When his ship was attacked and sunk he had a lifeboat carrying double it's capacity. True, only half of them survived, but still...

[Aredhel]

heh-heh-heh...

My mother was in the Air Force for 15 years, my father was in for 5. One of my grandfathers was in the Air Force for 10 years, another was in the navy for 26 years. My Grandma served in the Army as a nurse, and my uncle was in the Marines during Desert Storm. I'll be the first to not be in the military willingly, though I would if I could. If I had my choice, I'd join the Air National Guard as a supply technician - they never get sent to kraazzbooklostan 4 times a year, and the national guard pays 100% college tuition! Yay! Unfortunately, I had a seizure last October, and they don't want you if you've had a seizure within the last 5 years http://www.pso-world.com/psoworld/images/phpbb/icons/smiles/icon_frown.gif

[satoshi1]

My Aunt is a Chief in the US Navy. Though I dunno how you can be a chief when your job focuses on recruiting people..

[Dangerous55]

Uh I got a alot, Both Grandfather were in WW2. One was just a grunt in Europe, the other was a bombadier on a B-24 in(oveR) Europe. He was on the Polesti Raid. One of my Great-Grandfather was in WW1.

I had relatives in the Revolution and one in the Civil War, his name is on the PA Memorial at Gettysburg.

[polishedweasel]

My father was in the ARMY, made it up to Staff Sgt. then got out to take care of my kid bro and me. His brother was in the Navy I beleive.

I'm in the ARMY now, I don't leave until November though. And you guys won't be seeing alot of me for a while. So, it's gonna be interesting to see what happens everywhere when I get back from Basic and AIT. I'm not going to be a grunt though, I'm going to be a programmer. YAY go me...

[ABDUR101]

My uncle on my mom's side was in the first Gulf war maintaining tanks as a mechanic. My dad was in Vietnam, and my one cousin was in Afghanistan, haven't heard from him in a while so not sure where they pulled him now.

...thats all I got to say about that.

[Slicer238]

My Gramps (father's side) only son fought in WW2 U.S. Marine Corps 4th Division, He was and still is a 50 caliber specialist. Served on Iwo Jima, Siapan, Okinawa, and other Pacific Island. I have 3 great uncles that served in the European theater but do not know what they served in job wise. I have a Cousin in the air force and another is an army recruiter.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Slicer238 on 2003-07-29 21:19 ]</font>

[Guile]

Great Grandfather on fathers side was in WW2, grandfather on fathers was in Korean war.

Mother's father was in WW2

[AUTO_]

I have many so...

My great uncle (nickname "Red") was in the 101st Airborne division, and was one of the few to survive from his squad in WWII. He broke his back in the middle of a skirmish, and crawled through enemy territory back to the rest of his squad (with his broken back).

It's really cool--he used to write journals every day (cigarette papers) and when he got back his sister (think thats right) typed them into a journal/book. I read the entire thing, and it was really cool. In one of the logs he said it was the first time he'd killed a man--and that they lined up some german soldiers that refused to surrender. He also wrote something about female civilian snipers that they caught trying to kill them (some broke down town); so instead of killing the women they shaved their heads and took their weapons.

It's really cool...I should post it sometime.

[Dangerous55]

On 2003-07-30 00:46, AUTO_ wrote:
I have many so...

My great uncle (nickname "Red") was in the 101st Airborne division,




Do you have any idea what Regiment or Company he was in?

[AUTO_]

I'd have to check the journal (I have the copy)--I read it no longer then a month ago--as soon as I find it I'll post it.

I remember some of the other nicknames though--in his journal he talked about "blue" a lot--and towards the end of his journal blue dies. I'll post more when I get it.


EDIT:

Just asked my bro--he said he was part of the 82nd Path Finders.

I must have gotten my info screwed up...my bad. Bro also said Journal/book at my grandma/grandpa's (they live right next door), so I'll get it and post more info on it tomorrow.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: AUTO_ on 2003-07-30 01:06 ]</font>

[polishedweasel]

So he wasn't in the 101st eh? I live by Ft. Campbell so lotsa the 101st Airborne live around here. My dad was 101st I beleive..I gotta ask him later...I havn't been home in like 3 days, I should go there...meh.

[Allos]

Just found out that my Great Uncle was a Mustang pilot in WWII. He got shot down over Europe (which would explain why I've never met him). My dad just said he could've been in Vietnam but his draft lottery # wasn't chosen.

[Ness]

My great uncle was a war vetran.

[Dangerous55]

On 2003-07-30 00:59, AUTO_ wrote:
I'd have to check the journal (I have the copy)--I read it no longer then a month ago--as soon as I find it I'll post it.

I remember some of the other nicknames though--in his journal he talked about "blue" a lot--and towards the end of his journal blue dies. I'll post more when I get it.


EDIT:

Just asked my bro--he said he was part of the 82nd Path Finders.

I must have gotten my info screwed up...my bad. Bro also said Journal/book at my grandma/grandpa's (they live right next door), so I'll get it and post more info on it tomorrow.

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: AUTO_ on 2003-07-30 01:06 ]</font>



The 82nd is just as famous as the 101st.

[AUTO_]

LOL...bro and I were both wrong/right...

The following were the 'Pathfinders' (Radar Team) of the 501st Parachute Regiment, 101st Airborne Division who went into Normandy on June 6, 1944.

Captain Frank L. Brown
Sgt. Joe Taylor Bass
Sgt. Red Larsen
Cpl. Richard Beaver (captured)
Pvt. Robert Howarth (captured)
Pvt. Leonard Newcomb (captured)
Pvt. Ralph Newton (dead)
Pvt. Robert Sechrist (captured)
Pvt. Gene Sellers (dead)
Pvt. Russel Wallen (dead)

Here's an entry from his Journal on June 5th, 1944.

We had a nice breakfast and then went to a movie. They had a big tent where shows had been running since ten the night before. We ate lunch and went back to the movies. About two in the afternoon, they shut down the show, fed us another lunch, and then we headed for the air strip again with all of our gear. We sat around for half an hour and then started putting on our equipment and adjusting our chuts. It's funny, as much adjusting as we had already done, nothing seemed to fit that evening. The crew chief then came down and took all of our names for his personal satisfaction. Finally, about dusk, we took off for France and flew along just clearing the trees. We flew that way until we reached the coast, and as we flew over the water, it looked as though you could have lowered your helmet and touched it. I remember thinking that pack of mine was the heaviest 147 pounds I had ever seen. No one seemed the least bit inclied to strike up a conversation-it just seemed like a long, long ride. Finally the French coast came into view through the door, across from where I was sitting. We all stood up and hooked up, just in case we crashed-we were so close to the ground it would have been foolish to have jumped.

As soon as we crossed the French coast, we heard an antiaircraft gun start firing. The light from the tracers made it as light as day outside the door. I could see Captain Brown's chin strap and the outline of his haircut as he stood by the door. He said if he jumped, we were to follow him. I was scared, and I don't mean maybe. This firing went for twenty-seven minutes with no let-up. Finally the light at the door turned green and I didn't waste any time getting out of there. Even in the air, I was surrounded by tracers. Quickly, I spotted the source of the firing to my right in a hedgerow. I watched those little red tracers as they came up all around me. Then I saw another one who was firing at Newcomb, who had followed me out the door. All of this took just a fraction of a second, as I climbed those risers on my chute as high as I could. I knew I would hit'er hard, but I didn't need any hot lead for Willy! And let me tell you I did hit the ground hard. I never blacked out, but I remember him shooting quite a bit at me after I hit. Then I saw him shooting up through some silk hung up in a tree-I figured it might have been Sechrist. I thought, they sure got you kid.

I cut myself loose and then I saw that Newcomb was up on his hands and knees, and headed for a hedgerow on his left. I tried to stand up, knowing that I had hurt my back. I started to run for the hedgerow but fell flat on my face. Then I crawled the rest of the way.

It was clear that I was not able to set up any lights, and also that Captain Brown, Beaver and Newcomb had no firing on them, and they should be in the clear with the radar sets. I crawled through some very high grass to the hedgerow where the Jerries were. It was plain that they were all up and down this hedgerow. Within a space of one hundred yards, there were four riflemen and men with machine pistols at each end. I could clearly hear them count off.

I then decided to return to where Newcomb was. As I crawled down the hedgerow where he was, I was pretty close to the ground. I stopped where I figured he was, and sure enough, he raised his 45 calibre pistol. It was jumping pretty good, and I was hoping he wouldn't shoot, and he didn't. We talked things over. Hadley, from the plane to our left and First Battalion of the 501st, was with him. They wouldn't leave me when they heard that my back was hurt. There we waited for the regiment. They finally came over on the right azimuth at L + 128 minutes (L was midnight). We decided we would go back-away from that hedgerow where the Jerries were. Every little while they'd fire short bursts at us.

At daylight, I ordered Newcomb to lead out. There was no firing at us, but he wanted me to take the lead. I told him to follow me, about twenty-five yards behind, and Halley to follow at the same distance. I must have moved down the hedgerow about one hundred yards when I go opposite the farm house. We were along a side road when I heard someone coming up the road toward us with steel heel plates. I stopped in a thick bunch of briars. It was a Jerry Lt. with four men; one of them on horseback. When they approached the farmhouse, they asked the farm lady something and she held up three fingers and pointed to the field house where our chutes were still lying, and to the rest of the small fields around her house.

The Jerry Lt. then sent theman on horseback on a mission. I considered letting those three Jerries have it but I decided against it when I heard more men coming. There were now thirty-three Jerries there, and all of them with automatic weapons. I worried about whether they would hear my heart beating. They all stopped in front of the gate to the farm house, not six feet from me. Finally the Lt. placed his men up and down the road; there were two so close to me that, once in a while, I could hear one cough.

I lay there motionless until about midnight when I crawled into the high grass in the field to my left; I figured I might be able to cover Newcomb and Hadley from there. I was sure expecting a machine pistol to sound off, but none did. There was a small bunch of milk cowns in this field. As soon as they became uneasy, I stood up and walked into the middle of them. My back hurt some, but I sure didn't care much about being captured. I stayed in a bunch of hedgerows for the rest of the night and until the next evening.

For the first time I recognized the sound of an American rifle as it began firing; then Jerry opened up with his machine pistols and Mauser rifles. I tried to move in the direction of the Americans but the Jerries had built up a line between me and the Yanks. From where I was hiding, I could still see the place where Newcomb and Hadley had last been, but they never showed up. That fight went on for the next three days and three nights. I tried several times to get through the Jerry line but I couldn't make it.

I picked off a Jerry when I could get him located with my field glasses. More then once, those glasses saved my bacon! To keep Jerry from seeing or hearing where I was, I would only shoot during a burst of machine gun fire. That way, I got six of them before it was over; by then I was gettin' pretty high in the flank because I had left all my rations where I hit the ground that first night.

The afternoon of the third day the Americans got to the town of Houseville and put an artillery observer in the church steeple. They put an 81 mm mortar right on those Jerries. Every once in a while it seemed that the ditch in which I was lying would turn over and spill me out on the ground. It was then that I realized that it was possible for a man to go 'bomb happy'. I guess I was getting prety nervous, without eating and under those 88's. That night it became quiet again so I moved out into a swamp which seperated me from Houseville. After wading for a good ways, I cut out and waited for daylight.

After it got light, I noticed an American roadblock, and it turned out to be the 502nd Parachute Regiment. Those GI rations never tasted better. I then went back to where I had landed. Newcomb and Hadley had never moved a foot from where I had left them. They had been searched and captured, but they had left behind their paybooks and their equipment. There were four other Yanks dead there, but none from my squad, and there was also a dead Jerry there. The French civilians had burried the Americans, but not the Jerry-he already smelt bad.

It was late that night when I finally found my Regiment 501 camped near the village of Veneville. I hunted up Service Company first. It was raining a little and they were digging foxholes in an old orchard. Everybody had a deep hole except Moellet; he was humped up under a small apple tree, trying to stay dry. His hole wasn't over eight inches deep. Man, was I ever glad to see him. I then started looking for Captain Brown and later found him. We had quite a reunion. There were also a couple of Pathfinders from the 3rd Battalion who showed up that night. Out of the original thirty men that we started with, they were only fifteen still present. Sechrist, Sellers, Newcomb, and Hawarth were missing from my squad. They had been captured-because their bodies were not back there.

Jerry gave a good bombing that night. He was sort of taking a bedcheck, I guess, because he didn't do much damage. Captain Homan, the Company F Commanding Officer, ran out of a building and dived into a ditch. He would have drowned if it had been full of water; unfortunately it wasn't. You would have laughed too, if you would have known him. Damn him.


***********************************

I took out quite a bit from the above part--a lot of it was really descriptive and violent.

[Bart]

My grandfather on my dads side was in WWII. My dad was in Vietnam. My uncle on my moms side was in the navy.

[brillyfresh]

my father's father was in the USN in WW2, my father was in USN in Vietnam, QMCS (Senior Chief, Quartermaster) after 22 years in the service

on another off-topic note, my great uncle (mother's uncle) was a prisoner in the Bataan Death March in the Philippines and died in the concentration camp ... consequently, my mother doesn't like the Japanese very much ... while i'm completely fascinated by the language and culture



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: brillyfresh on 2003-07-31 19:50 ]</font>