Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What did your Grandpa do while in the military?

My grandpa enlisted in the US Navy in his early 30's and was on an ammunition supply ship in the South Pacific. Sadly he did not talk about it much or maybe I did not ask him the right questions. I do remember him talking about some of the things they used to do to a "newbie" the first time they crossed the equator.

Great, great grandpa served in the CSA # 2016 Company F, 11 Virginia Infantry. He was wounded at Gettysburg July 3, 1863 and wounded again at Richmond, May 16 1864. I have been impressed with the records that were kept in those days and have a few of the muster rolls and receipts of items that he was issued.

Mine was an ANZAC troop and got gassed at Gallipoli.

One Granddad was in the Army in WW 1, but was stationed stateside training troops... his older sons fought in WW2, with 3 being killed in combat.. his younger sons fought in Korea, and all survived...

the other granddad was too young for WW 1, and considered too old to enlist for WW2.. plus had 5 young daughters at home.. which helped in him being turned down..

but their brothers saw combat in WW 1...

descended from guys who saw action in the Spanish American War.. both great grandpas..

and back before that, ancestors who fought in the Civil War..
for Virginia, wearing Gray...

and a batch of ancestors who fought against King George in the Revolution, once again from Virginia....

one interesting character, that I am a direct descendent of was one Francis Meadows...whose wife was Francine... he saw a lot of action in the Revolutionary War.. and afterwards, migrated into what is now Monroe County WVa... at that time, that was way out in the frontier...

he and his wife were called Frank and Frankie.. and they ended up having 16 kids before they finally went to a preacher and got married.. guess there wasn't many around..

after getting married, they had 3 more kids.. he died around 1836, at 90 years old... Frankie ( his wife ) lived to 101, and died in 1851 or 52...


my grandmother's, grandfather fought in the Civil War during the last year of it, at 14 yrs old, in the Confederate Army...

he came home and got married, and had 10 kids with his first wife, when she died at child birth of the last kid...
her cousin, came to help take care of the kids...when she was old enough, GreatGReatGreat Grandpa Lilly married the cousin of his first wife, and they had another 9 children...

so he also had 19 kids, by two women...

he passed away at 85 yrs old in Beckley WVa, where he was born... and raised his family at...

have a book written by an Aussie that was a sniper on Gallipoli, Aussielad sent it to me....unreal what they went through fighting the Turks...

Both Grandfathers were too young for WW1, and too old for WWII. My father got called up but didn't go to Korea, and I've been in since 1988, and figure on 7 more years.

My FIL crewed B-25's in the 57th BW, 321st BG, 447th Squadron in 1944-45. Flew out of Corsica and was shot down over northern Itlay in Feb of 45 and spent the rest of the war as a POW. Passed away in 2003.

I had one uncle that served in WWII, but never saw combat, and one that served in Korea and saw plenty.

My Grandpa was too young and then too old for WWI and WWII but my father-in-law DID NOT have to shovel schitt in Louisiana! He was with this guy....and was the Sargent that built the Squash court for him in upper Austria.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlzIPoRbF_A

Similar story. My grandfather was born in 1896 and fought in France - WWI. He was a gunsmith who repaired machine guns. He lived into his mid 90s so I was lucky enough to have him around until I was in my early 30s. I miss him. He liked Jack Black - straight. Beer was for wimps in his mind. I still think of him often.

My grandad on my fathers side was in the US Army marching towards the front to fight the Ottoman Empire when WW I ended. He told us about knee deep mud and rats and sewage everywhere. They shipped back home and the troopship ran aground in NY harbor, we've got an old photo of the ship painted in dazzle camouflage around here somewhere.

My grandfather served Great Britain in World War II. I think he was in the infantry, not sure because he would never talk about it.

None of my grandpa's was in the military so I have no idea.

Drove a stagecoach!!!!

None of my blood grandfathers served in WWI or WWII. I have a step grandfather, Dick Mapes who was born in the Oklahoma Territories in 1904. He joined the Navy in 1920 and served as a fireman on the USS Arkansas. A Fireman at the time shoveled coal into a boiler 12 hours a day. He was a light heavy weight boxer for the Arkansas for 18 months while he was on board.

He Joined the Navy for a second time in 1943 and served in the Atlantic chasing submarines in a Corvette, Uss Ashville (patrol frigate) and then was transfered to the Pacific side and took the USS Missoula into Iwo Jima with a boat load of Marines. He was a fireman again but this time he kept the boilers lit with oil. He was on the Missoula when the visible flag was raised on Suribachi. As soon as the ships saw the flag he said every ship sounded it's horn. The first flag, a small one went to Iwo on the Missoula with his marines.

After a week they took wounded Marines back to another island and moved frieght back to Iwo again. They were on their way to the next battle closer to Japan when he got promoted to Chief Petty officer and they put him on a boat back to the US. Dick said they stopped in Hawaii long enough to pick up some "yard birds" (shore duty Navy) and on the way to California they heard that the war had ended. He landed at San DEigo and they sent him home instead of sending him to his next duty station.

He spent the next 20 years as an LEO and retired in 1965 from that and was a sheep inspector for 10 more years for the federal government.

He passed in 2000 at the age of 96. kwg

One grandfather was in communications in WWI, too old for WWII but ran the local air raid warning patrol.

Other grandfather tried to enlist but when they found out about his occupation they left him stateside to continue to build submarine dry docks up north. He lost a brother in the Pacific who was a fighter pilot for Canada since he was too young to fly for the US.

He served in Korea and I found out at his funeral that he was an Honor Guard for Eisenhower.

That is about all I know, he never talked about it and my Dad said not to ask so I never did. I asked my Dad what he did after he passed away and my Dad didn't know either. His records are sealed so we can't look it up.

He was in the Navy aboard the USS Wasp during WWII.

I posted earlier in this thread about my dad's service in WWII as a Merchant Marine but I forgot to add one other thing.

He was a volunteer in the Coast Guard/Navy ??? manning an anti-aircraft battery somewhere near NYC. He did the best he could do even though he was too old to join the armed services. I'm only mentioning this cause I'm proud of my dad. He wasn't recognized for his service, as a war veteran, until after he died.

Grandpa was a marine in ww2 and korea.

His first battle was landing on guadalcanal august 8 42' and takin henderson field, was in theatre all the way to iwo jima when he got "jap bit". Gramps stayed in and fought in Korea, fought at Chosin resivor. He left the corps in 59 as a Msgt. Toughest SOB that ever walked, didnt take [bleep] off anyone, never started anything with anyone, but finshed everything started with him. He didnt talk much about it to anyone but me, I was in 8th grade when he died, i felt like my world was gone, helluva great man, and had seen the worst the pacific theatre had to offer.

Grandpa on other side was a paratrooper 101st 506pir I company. Never talked bout his time in the bulge, and he was gone before i ever know about "band of brothers"

My Grandfather, Homer Robins, flew 37 missions in a bomber over occupied Europe as a radio operator. I never really grasped what a huge thing that was until he was gone.

My mother's father was a butcher for the USN and retired sometime in the early 50's, took a civil service job at Fort Leonard Wood for another 20 years and retired. Lived to a ripe old age of 87. Never mentioned a word about his service during the war, all of it spent in the Atlantic.

My Dad's father died at 42 on the operating after suffering a brain anorysm (sp?). USArmy in Europe, my father never talked of his service.

My Dad's mother served as a nurse at the VA hospital for close to 45 years.

My Grand Dad was born in 1896 or 1898. They were never quite sure years later as he had lied about his age to join the Army with his brother before WWI.

When the war broke out he joined again and went to France as a squad leader. Poached a deer on some French nobleman�s estate for the company cooks.

His only son served with the Navy in WWII. Both lived a long and good life.

My mother was his oldest child and my Dad worked in defense plants and farmed.
Mom�s sister was the youngest of the three kids and her husband also served in WWII.