What did your relatives do during the World Wars?

On this day of remembrance, would any of you care to share the stories of your family members' involvement with either/both of the two World Wars that humanity has so far managed to inflict up itself? What side were they on, where were they fighting, was their involvement good or bad, sad or lucky? Let us know so we can share in remembering that real people gave their lives for the rest of us to be here today.

My grandad was in the Parachute Regiment during WWII.

Among other things, he jumped out of a plane as part of Operation Overlord, specifically to help reinforce the boys who had taken Pegasus Bridge a short while before.

Don't know about WWI, I'll have to look into it.

My granddad fixed guns and fought on the frontlines during WW2.

Hell if I know. I, however, spent the time telling people that I'm totally not a Nazi. (Trust me, it was relevant.)

On one side of my family my grandfather was a soldier and on the other side my other grandfather was wealthy and of royal blood so he didnt do anything...  My grandmother's house in Nagasaki got completely destroyed

My great grandfather being Norwegian was around 19 years old when Germany occupied Norway. Funny story he told me which I have no idea if it's true or not but some German soldier said he would come back and kill him in 2 days for some reason. However the day he threatened him the war was over, so good thing that happened or I would not be sitting here typing this right now.

My Grandfather was in the Army Air Corps. The Air Force. . . before there was one.

He was stationed in India and didn't see any real combat or anything like that. . . I actually have no idea what his job was.

My other Grandfather was a drunken mail carrier at the time.

My dad's family lived on a small carribbean island during the wars, they drank rum and sat on the beach all day. My mom's canadian, so her father fought in WW2. He actually got a medal as well.

Gramps was a Navy Corpsman on Iwo Jima. Dude was big time, and a hero.

Needless to say, he'd find all this arguing over Call of Duty, Battlefield and all these war games and simulators shocking, disturbing and sad. He never talked about the war.

So your gramps was in the 101st? Wow... that's awesome.

My dad was in the 101st airborne in the 50s. My brother served in the Marines, and was a loadmaster on C130s. He told me a funny story about how he got to tell some air force brass to shut his mouth and sit the fuck down as according to him, loadmasters are considered sacrosanct on those planes because of weight distribution and such.

One of them was a Nazi soldier and all the others who were old enough shot Nazi soldiers.

My grandfather was a teenage volunteer fireman during the firebombing of london.

One set of grandparents were fleeing German occupied Russian territory (ending up in Manitoba) while my grandfather on my other side was a minesweeper for the allies.

My Grandpa was a Native American fighter pilot during WW2.

My grandfather fought near the tail-end of the war in the Pacific with the US. I don't know the details, but I know he signed up as soon as he was able.

One of my great grandads was a professor in a highschool at the time, he got shot for speaking out against the nazis, along with several students. My other great grandad fought in WW1 and WW2. My grandma was born just before the war, and that about covers it.

Grandfather on fathers side was in the marines during WWII. He said he hid behind the guy with the biggest machine gun and my other grandfather wasn't old enough to join. He was in the navy during the Korean War though.

I have relatives that fought in the Civil War too. Can't remember if they were Union or Confederate. Also have a relative who was married to one of George Washington's relatives. Got this here old book that tells me so.

Fought in WW2. AND MY DAD WAS A GERMAN!!!!!!! They had been in the US since before the civil war tho,' since Samuel ****** served in a state regiment for the north and himself born in the US. Like Blinky above I have a old regimental book. Just pure german for some generations....

My mom was a nurse during WW2.

@bybeach said:

Fought in WW2. AND MY DAD WAS A GERMAN!!!!!!! They had been in the US since before the civil war tho,' since Samuel ****** served in a state regiment for the north and himself born in the US. Like Blinky above I have a old regimental book. Just pure german for some generations....

My mom was a nurse during WW2.

Awesome. My relatives (On my fathers side) were German too lol. Lived in America though way before WWII.

My uncle was a combat engineer in WWII, he basically built bridges in enemy territory. He doesn't really talk about his experiences much but I'm sure it was a frightening job to have.

Black market arms dealing.

My grandparents weren't old enough to fight in WWII, but both of my grandfathers fought in the Korean War.

My Grandfather on my father's side was a Navy medic in the Pacific. One thing I know is that he was injured by shrapnel during a battle but refused to accept a Purple Heart because he said it wasn't a real wound. He never talked about it much even to my dad, but I know it was pretty bad. He never stopped hating the Japanese and when my dad first bought a Japanese car (Mazda) when I was a kid, he didn't talk to my dad for over a year.

My great grandpa was in the resistance, the others.... nothing (They were French by the way)

My great aunt who died over the summer was in the navy during WWII. She eventually made it to captain and I think was the first, or atleast one of the first do that.

My Dad was in the RAF (filming and picture planes).

My Grandad was in Poland he and a german officer helped Jews get out of the country.

My Grandad married said Germans sister.

My great uncle fought in the battle of Monte Casino - Poland represent!

Out of all of the Veteran's Day things I've seen today, this thread is oddly the most interesting.

Grandad was in the 101st Airborne, .30 cal gunner and parachuted into France. NEVER talked about the war, he was a life-long alcoholic afterwards. Toughest man I ever knew, it kinda hurts to hear Europeans say that the American forces hid for so long and weren't even needed, all the men died for nothing etc. At least i know it to be false, it still burns, anyways veterans day is always a day for reflecting and I know we Americans aren't perfect but I still respect the armed forces.

Nothing.

At least one Lithuanian ancestor of mine died in the Concentration Camps and other members of my family fought in the Pacific for the US Military.

My dad's dad was in the 101st and 82nd Airborne divisions, he was in the Bastogne area that winter. He was in a unit that was in charge of water cooled .50 caliber anti aircraft guns. He joined the Air Force in the Korean War era, though I don't actually know what he did in the Air Force, he didn't go overseas at that time. From what I understand he didn't talk about it much, which is pretty common. He worked for GTE (General Telephone, now part of Verizon I think) for the rest of his life pretty much. He died at 57 or so.

My mom's dad was in the Merchant Marines and then the Navy. He was on an oil tanker during the Korean War I think. Mom was born at the Norco, CA Naval Hospital just after he was discharged in 1956 because she was born a few weeks late.

My dad's mom was 17 when the war ended, but she did join the Women's Army Corps at some point around the Korean War I think and basically did secretarial type work with shipping equipment throughout the country and was part of a band group they had.

My mom's mom moved to California during WW2, and worked on building B17 bombers afaik.

Dad's mom's cousin was a fighter pilot, he was apparently shot down around Italy, and is still officially listed as MIA I think.

My parents were civilians here in Cleveland, OH.in WW2. My dad was in the printing trades, and did alot of map making , as his employer got military contracts. My mom worked for Thompson Products, where she inspected aircraft engine valves with a brand new technology - Infra-red light.

My grandfather just got out of Army service before Pearl Harbor, and then was immediately called back in. He served in the Pacific campaign. Never talked much about it, the only story I ever heard him tell was being volunteered to retrieve American dead while under fire. After we died we got a DVD from the Smithsonian, seems they sent people out to interview veterans and we had no idea he partcipated. Besides being a rifleman, he served as a machine gunner on Okinawa. Also brought home a Nambu pistol and Katana. Very gentle guy, but tough.

My other granddad served in the Navy and spent the war in Brazil. After the war he still got letters from Brazilian women. A frequent smoker with asthma, he died before I was born.

Two of my great grandfathers served in the First World War. One was an artillery gunner and the other was a medic, or about as much of a medic as you could have been back then. They fought as part of the British Army, a fact which didn't go down too well with some of the family at the time as at the time Britain still occupied the whole of Ireland. Nevertheless they were both awarded 2 medals each.
 

Must say these stories are all pretty cool.

hid under the bed hoping to avoid recruitment

My grandfather on my father's side was a communications officer in WWII.

One of my grandfathers was served in World War II, I can't remember how he was involved exactly.

My grandfather was in the dutch army. All I know is that he got a medal for carrying his commanding officer - who was shot in the leg - to safety through enemy fire. I always felt kinda proud of that fact, and sadly it's about all I know about my grandfather.

My grandfather was a Marine in WW2 and fought in Okinawa.

One of my Grandfathers fought in New Guinea, and my Grandmother drove ambulances and trucks for the US soldiers in Brisbane. One of the spoons my family uses has U.S.N engraved on it, apparently my Grandmother nicked it as a souvenir from the canteen of one of the US shipyards. My other grandfather had a bung eye, so I don't think he fought. 
 
Had a great uncle who served as well, came back really messed up.

My grandfather on my mom's side was a Philippine Scout (native Filipino recruited by the US army before the Japanese occupation) during WWII. He fought as a guerrilla and was supposedly shot in the leg. I was told once that my grandfather on my dad's side was a merchant marine. Neither of them ever spoke of the war to anyone in the family. All I've ever heard of were horror stories from my grandmothers about hiding in the mountains from the Japanese during the occupation.

I know one of my great uncles fought in WWI and sent a shitload of captured german medals back to New Zealand before running off with some belgian lady.

Any other members of my family would have been on the German side, but most of them just chilled during both wars I think.

yeah, i don't remember what he did. he has passed away. sadly, father cousin's lost the paper work for him being in the army so he doesn't have a tomb stone on his grave. it's just a place where he is berried.

No clue what they were doing during WWI and WWII. I know for a fact though that my Grandpa was in Korea, and I had several uncles in Vietnam..

My paternal grandfather was a pilot in the latter part of WWII, flew P-51s and P-38s. My maternal grandfather was a Merchant Marine.

One side of my family worked in the pits mining coal during the war. Dunno about the other side.

In WWII one of my grandfathers was a navy cook, and the other, I'm not sure what he did, but he lost his leg and later died due to complications from losing that leg. Now I feel terrible for not knowing. My mother doesn't talk about him much.