Grandad and his brother fought in ww2. His brother died in Africa.
Cousin fought in the Falklands war 1982.
Grandfather was conscripted into the Italian Air Force, working at an airfield. I guess he dodged a bullet by not having to be in the infantry.
shareOne of my grandfathers flew in the RAF, another was a gunner on a merchant marine ship both in WWII.
sharegreat great paternal grandfather - crimean war - navy or merchant marine. not exactly sure. spent most of his time in the black sea/turkey
paternal grandfather- boer war. he was 17 and didn't see any combat. some kind of support role to the british. somehow, he managed not to get typhoid
maternal great uncle - served in the newfoundland regiment ww1. survived the battle of the somme. my mother says he was never the same. drank too much afterward trying to forget.
father- british navy ww2. battle of the north atlantic, north africa, supplied russia, france and western europe campaign. almost died from pneumonia in 1945. was exhausted and skin and bones at the end. he would sleep 18 to 20 hours a day after the war. took him months to get back to normal.
uncle - my father's brother - british navy ww2. same as father. considered making a career in the navy but never had the formal education.
uncle - my mother's youngest brother born in 1928. too young for ww2. joined canadian navy and served in korean war. no naval battles, always said he got off easy.
Gramps was in WW2 and fought against Fascists like Benito Mussolini...
shareUsed to hear that one of my Granddads was in the Navy. Never asked if he went to war or not.
Met him a few times. Was a very pleasant person.
My grandfather on my father's side served in the Royal Navy during WWII. He was lost when his ship went down
My grandfather on my mother's side served in the Royal Air Force during WWII
My father did National Service in the Life Guards (cavalry, not Baywatch!)
I served in the Royal Marines (1979 - 1990)
My Dad was a B-29 radio operator on bombing missions over Japan for the U.S. Army Air Corps (there was no Air Force back then).
He was a Jewish kid from Brooklyn, N.Y. who took his basic training on Miami Beach, Florida.
He did well on a certain aptitude test, so after basic, they sent him to radio school in Sioux Falls, South Dakota in the middle of February where he and everyone else froze their asses off.
Then they sent him to Australia as well as various islands in the Pacific theater.
During the last few months of the war he was stationed on Tinian, the island where the Enola Gay (Hiroshima) and Boxcar (Nagasaki) took off from.
He really didn't like to talk about the war, but he did tell me that the largest construction project he ever saw was the hospital they were building on Tinian in preparation for the anticipated casualties that would arise as a result of the expected invasion of Japan.
my grandmother had five brothers, they were all German soldiers in WWII
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