OT who had a family member fight

[Palos verdes]

Had two relatives that saw extensive combat in different wars. My grandfather was one of six brothers serving in the military during WWII. My grandfather was infantry and served in the European Theater. He was also wounded by German artillery and was eventually captured. He spent around six months in a POW camp in Nazi occupied Poland. They were fed raw potatoes and he lost nearly half his body weight. He and his fellow prisoners were liberated by the Russian army that had overtaken German forces in the area. He lived a good, long life after returning home.He was a proud MSU graduate and fan.

Had an uncle that served in the Army during the Korean War. He never spoke of his combat experiences, but I read about the conditions and they were horrendous. The temps were often in the subzero range in the upper plateaus and mountains. From what I gather, he was an expert rifleman. But was deeply scarred for the rest of his life after coming home.

 

[Palos verdes]

I know CV-67 was decommissioned years ago. What ever happened to it?

 

[grinnindawg]

Dad was in the Navy from 38 to 59.
Was on Guadalacanal, Numea New Caledonia, and some dinky little island I can't remember the name of.
He was a Chief in aircraft maintenance.

I need to write all his stories down for my kids.

I've got a lot of titles.
"The day my Uncle talked me out of the Flying Tigers and into a bar"
"Somebody is trying to kill me"
"Why did that soldier straddle that tree in an air raid"
"Your Dad saved our lives part 1"
"your Dad saved our lives part 2"
"Don't dig your foxhole too close to the fuel dump"
"We were expendable"
"Hey Admiral, What's in the case?"
"An Officer and a Gentlemen by an Act of Congress, I don't think so"

 

[Curby]

My dad was Army SSGT in Korea, basic training in Fort Benning, GA. Purple Heart recipient. One of the toughest guys to walk this Earth, but I am biased. Combat action in the region known as the Iron Triangle. (38th parallel) Took a bullet in the leg, which turned out to be a blessing, I guess. No one else in his platoon came back alive. He fought battles in his sleep the rest of his life...waking up in a cold sweat. He was too proud to get professional help. Back then they called it "shell shock" I think. Today, it's "Post Traumatic Stress Disorder" or PTSD. We lost him in '93. I would give anything in this world to wet a hook and haul in a "mess" of fish with him again.

 

[RocketCityDawg]

My great-uncle, Seth Gibson

A native of Williamsburg, MS grew up about a hundred yards away from where I grew up.
He lied about his age to enlist in the Navy during WWI, served two terms.
Then went to the Marines for two terms.

Then went to the Army for 20 years, discharged in 1946 as an E-8, Master Sergeant.
Was shot up in North Africa in 1943, was sent home to spend his remaining service as a guard with the German prisoners at the camp at Prairie, MS, not very far from Starkville.

He wanted to attend Mississippi A&M when he was a young man, he said, but he told me his math wasn't good enough.
I don't know the history of that.
(I do know that my math wasn't good enough to earn me an EE degree at MSU.)

He came with other members of my family to visit with me when I was a student at MSU, and he was in respect of our cafeteria, where I worked....back in the 1960s, just because

 

[Palos verdes]

I didn't know German prisoners were kept there. It's hard to believe WWI was nearly a hundred years ago.

 

[GloryDawg]

My Great Grandfather served in WWI. My Grand mothers older brother was on the Okalahoma on December 7th and survived. Her younger brother was on the Arizona but was locked up in jail the morning of December 7th and was not on his ship. He finished the war honorably but never got over the fact all his shipmates died whle he was in jail for fighting. My Granddad served in the Army Air Corp during WWII and was station in England. His younger brother lost his leg in France when his jeep ran over a land mine. My other Grand dads brother was a forward observer and went to shore on the d-day plus 2. My uncle was a marine in Korea and father did two tours in Vietnam. Broke his back on second tour.

 

[missouridawg]

My grandfather fought in the Pacific in WW2

He was called to action due to Pearl Harbor. I believe he was on the USS West Virginia. He passed away in 1997 and since then, I've heard a ton of stories about him from some of the older gentlemen in my small hometown. Apparently, my grandfather was quite the badass and had a huge reputation for fisticuffs. That claim was substantiated in the fact that he was the boxing champion on his ship during the war. I've also had cousins fight in Iraq in the early 90s and in Afghanistan in the recent years.

 

[Duckdawg]

Uncle was a paratrooper in WW2, BIL was in Iraq. Proud of em both.

 

[Chesusdog]

Both of my grandfathers were in the Navy and

served in the Pacific during WWII.

 

[CivilEngineerDog]

Brother in Nam, Uncle in Korea, Father, Uncle and Father in law in WWII, Great

Uncle told me he was gassed in WWI. Also, my great aunt tells story of Sherman coming to her Great Grandparents house in East MS south of Newton and all the women had their silver hidden under their skirts and General Sherman didn't burn the house because they were Masons.

 

[o_Hot Rock]

My Dad served three tours in WWII. He was in Africa, Italy, southern France, Belgium, across the Alps and he crossed the Rhine river with Patton, helped liberate 100,000 from Dachau concentration camp and over 100.000 allied POW's nearby.

He once crossed an open field under fire of over 200 yards with two other "volunteers" to hold a bridge until reinforcements came. He once said, "I have no idea how many men I killed that day."

He was once caught behind enemy lines as he was scouting German locations. He said if you ever got your hands on a German that you were in for a fight. They were the ulitmate warriror, well trained and with resolve. He said you couldn't see them or hear them. I asked how did he get out? He said, "I could smell them." I asked how close they had to before you could smell them? He said, "About ten or fifteen feet. He was trying to tell me how great a soldier the Germans were and I was thinking that he must have been pretty damn good himself to be here telling me about it.

His company was once in a tank battle. They stacked bodies to use as a bunker. They only had two bazookas left when reinforcements arrived. Only fifteen survived.

He was up for a silver star but everyone was killed that knew about it.

He is still alive at age 89 and and an American treasure. I once had the privileged of taking him to the WWII museum in New Orleans. I hope I never forget that day.

 

[Dawgpile]

I had several great-uncles who served in WWII one was key to the defense of Antwerp after the invasion, another was an MP who had a run-in with Patton over a closed road in North Africa, and the third was a teenager with the 101st Airborne who broke his ankle on a practice jump the week before DDay. He went on to serve in Korea and Vietnam, and retired a Lt Colonel.

 

[Macthebulldogfan]

My dad was an army medic in Korea. He contracted Hepatitis A his first year in 1951. Spent his last 2 years (52-53) in the hospital in Okinawa. My great uncle was a Hellcat pilot in the Pacific in WWII. When he came home he couldn't hold a job because he couldn't find someting that would give him the rush flying a fighter plane could. So he did the next best thing.... He became a crop duster pilot. Died in 75 when his plane crashed in the Ms. Delta. What the Japs couldn't do a cottonfield did.

 

[Macthebulldogfan]

On a personal note. Thanks for sharing you stories about your families service to our country. To me this is the best thread I have seen on the board. Thank you to all of you that have served. You are true heroes.

 

[boatsandhoes]

My grandpa fought the Japs in WW2. He was on New Guinea. Mostly he wouldn't talk about it either at all. He used to always say the Japs were straight crazy. They would not surrender at all, you either had to kill them or they were going to kill you.

 

[DerHntr]

Great, Great, Great Grandad fought in the civil war primarily out of Natchez and Vicksburg. We have a good picture of him in uniform and buttons from that uniform framed in the house.

View attachment 361View attachment 362

Grandfather fought in WW2 in Japan as a paratrooper. I don't know much about it because he died in the 50s. We still have some things he brought home including a sword and this flag:

View attachment 363

 

[TSUNBearHunter]

I had numerous uncles in WWII and several cousins in Vietnam.

One of my grandfather's youngest brothers was a POW in the Philippines for 42 months. He survived the Bataan Death March.

On his death dead, a fellow POW came to town to visit him. The guy credited my uncle with keeping him alive in the POW camp. He said they threw him in a cage with my uncle on the first day he was captive. The guards hit him over the head with a shovel as they threw him in the cage. When the guy didn't pass out from the blow, my uncle having never met this man said, "with a head that hard, you must be from MS." The guy replied, "yep, Biloxi." He was slightly younger than my uncle and my uncle had already been captive for some time when this guy showed up. He said my uncle told him to stick with him and they'd both get out alive, which they did.

During his time in captivity, my family presumed him dead. They still have a commemorative frame that Sears and Roebuck gave to families of deceased soldiers. In the photo, he is in his Navy uniform. The frame has DOB and dash for date of death. Even upon the release of the POWs, they still thought he was dead. The story goes that he ported in Nola upon arriving in the states. Collected his back pension, bought a car, drove straight to Memphis, never stopping in Panola county to inform his family he was alive. He supposedly partied in Memphis for a couple of weeks and showed back up at home to their surprise.

 

[LiterallyPolice]

My Uncle was in WWII. He was very old even when I was young. He passed away a few years ago.

I did a paper on him in 11th grade. I turned on a tape recorder and he just talked about his time in the army. Spent some time working in POW camps here in the US. He said most of the Germans were just normal guys and glad to be off the front lines. They'd all play cards together.

He was on Okinawa when the bombs were dropped. He wrote my aunt a letter every day he was overseas. They were all lost in Katrina.

 

[thekimmer]

Father. PTO WWII.....

PTL he is still going strong at 89. I cannot imagine seeing my strong, healthy 18-19 year old son with his whole life ahead of him get on a bus, train, or boat with the very real possibility that I would never see him alive again or even his body if he were killed. And if God was merciful to allow him to make it back home he would never again be the same boy I saw get on the bus.

They were truly the greatest generation. Climbed and conquered the mountain of suffering and deprivation called the great depression only to find another Everest awaiting them as they came of age. They conquered that one too and then went on to build the greatest economy in the history of the world, break the sound barrier, put men on the moon, etc, and etc.

 

[MaxwellSmart]

Revolutionary, Civil, WWII and Korea.

 

[RebelAlumnus]

Grandfather was a POW in Korea for 1,001 days.

He almost didn't survive. Came home weighing 70 or 80 pounds. He wouldn't talk much about it before he died, but I wish I had pestered him more.

Have a cousin who flew C-17s into Iraq (Baghdad especially) to pick up wounded, back to Germany, and then some back to the base in Virginia. Haven't talked to him much about it, but he has said that it was interesting trying to fly into Baghdad getting bullets and RPGs shot at them as they're trying to land.

 

[FISHDAWG]

you related to Lt. Dan ?

.

 

[Mjoelner]

Just looking at direct ancestors and not collateral:
Revolutionary War: I have a soldier on my mother's side. I need to research this further because there is a better than average chance he was a redcoat. Father's side is considered a 'Patriot' but not a soldier according to the DAR. He didn't fight but gave a wagon and horse to the Continental Army.

Civil War: 2 paternal great great grandfathers are the only ones I have researched and they both fought. One was a Sgt. in the 7th Ms Infantry Battalion and was wounded at the 2nd battle of Corinth. The other was 16 and joined a cavalry unit late in the war and probably never saw action.

WWII and Korea: Father served in the Pacific in the navy.
eta: If you've ever seen the Henry Fonda movie Mister Roberts, daddy said to replace the toilet paper they hauled in the movie with ammunition and that would be his ship. He said the guy that wrote it must have been on his ship. Their captain was just like Cagny. No liberty when in port, dress uniform inspection every morning even though they hadn't seen land in 3 weeks and they even had a palm tree.

 

[Maroon Eagle]

My father was in the Navy - Pacific Theater - in World War II...

...my great-uncle who was like a grandfather to me was in an Army Engineers outfit that served in Africa also during World War II before he came back to Mississippi as one of the many people who worked in oil & gas exploration & production and met & married one of my great-aunts who helped raise my father after his mother (and her sister) died when he was a little over two years old (so yeah, she was like a grandmother to me too).

 

[biodawg]

Mom's dad was in the Navy in WWII(European), dad's dad was in the Army Air Corps in WWII, and my uncle was Army during Vietnam. My mom's dad used to talk about all of the cool places he got to sail to, but none of them ever had much to say about it otherwise.

 

[BiscuitEater]

My Dad ...

Left Mississippi State after his JR year, was commissioned in the Army infantry, led men at Normady, wounded in the Battle of the Bluge. Was George Patton's motor officer after the war ended. Left the Army to return to Mississippi State.

He had a passion for God, family, MSU and Mississippi.

They were the 'greatest generation' and it is indeed sad that we are losing them every day.

 

[Drebin]

In one of the wars?

I had a grandfather from the greatest generation fight in WW2. Said a sniper picked off a guy he was talking to in a doorway. If that German picked off the other guy I wouldn't be here

True story:

My grandfather fought in WWII and was in the Battle of the Bulge in Europe. He never talked about it much at all. We new he had a couple of purple hearts from getting wounded in battle. Come to find out he saved the lives of several guys in his unit. We only found out about it because when he passed, Roger Wicker showed up at his funeral and posthumously presented several medals to my father. We never knew. It was very cool.

My other grandfather fought as well...he was part of the D-Day invasion, but was lucky enough to be in one of the later waves.

My uncle was an army ranger and later a chinook pilot, and he fought in Vietnam, both Iraq wars, and various encounters in between. He's told us some stuff, but he's done a lot of stuff that nobody knows about, apparently. My aunt told me one time that he received some official orders one day, sat down and read them, and burned them in the ash tray on the coffee table. The next morning he was gone, and she turned on the TV to learn that we were invading Grenada. Interesting stuff.

I hope we never have wars on the scale of the world wars again, because I don't think today's generation has the testicular fortitude to do the things those guys did back then. All who serve are true heroes and command respect.

 

[Fletch F. Fletch.sixpack]

Dad in Navy at Saipan, Iwo Jima and Okinawa. 3 Uncles in WW2 are combat veterans of the US Army, 1 at New Guinea and 2 in Italian campaign. Grandfather wounded on November 5, 1918 as the 5th Division crossed the Meuse River, and a Great Great Grandfather KIA by jayhawkers during the Border War between kansas and Missouri during the Civil War. He left behind 6 kids and a farm that had every building and storage bin burned to the ground and his cattle and hogs were all shot dead where the stood for no reason other than an attempt to starve widow and orphans.