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This is a copy of a thread I made in the BiA forums. Its a pretty interesting topic and its still up. Anyways, As far as I know, My Great Uncle saw the Bismarck sink the Hood and my Great Grampa flew sopwith camels in the first World War.
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Thats really neat 
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My grandfather was a radio operator/50 cal machine gunner on a ww2 Balao sub in the Pacific.
His brother, my great uncle i guess, was a captain in the Army and fought in the Battle of the Bulge. He still has his original 1911-a1 45 pistol and, you guessed it, a captured Luger.
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Grandfather landed on Omaha. Dad served on PT boats in Nam.
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Ive got a Cousin on the Carrier Harry S Truman over in Iraq, Another cousin in the Coast Guard stationed on Statten Island NY. Grandfather flew P38's in WWII, other Grandfather served in the Army during WWII, never knew him though, he died when I was 3, 2 Uncles, one served in Korea, the other in the Coast Guard (father of the cousin in the CG right now) but was discharged after being diagnosed with MS. And another Uncle who served in the Army in Nam.
As far as I go, I have 2 more classes until I graduate College, then plan on going into the Law Enforcement community. If I dont get any offers right out of school, I may join the Coast Guard to gain some experience. Keep the tradition going Hell, Ive got a step ahead anyways, I love boats and work at a Marina while not in school.
*one notable moment I had working at the Marina...one year we had a transient come in (people traveling on vacation who stop in for the night) This was a 125 foot yacht, completly refurbished. Probably cost around a few million. Found out it was the CEO of Compaq computers yacht, however, he wasnt aboard, he had a crew of 8 guys however. One of them, I asked, his only job was to polish the brass on the boat! Anyways, while I was refueling it, I noticed an emblem on the side that said Dunkirk on it. I inquired about this. One of the crewmen said that it was one of the boats that transported British troops from Dunkirk during WWII. Really neat.
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My Grandfather was also a pilot in WW1. He was in the RFC when the transition to the RAF took place in 1918. He actually lied about his age and joined up at the age of 17. He flew Sopwith Pup's, DH-9's and Se5a's.
My uncle in the Military Police during his national service and was on board a ship en route to Suez when the French and ourselves were forced to withdraw.
My father and his brother (twins) were both in the RAF for their national service, but swear blind they had nothing to do with their Corporal being discharged due to nervous problems while they were under his "care"....!! My father was given a medical discharge, but his brother served his full 2 years, and met his future wife along the way.
Here's a picture of my Grandfather:
And an inflight picture he took while in France.
Apologies for the quality, the original scans were done as TIFF's (no idea why) and converting them to JPEGS and reducing the size has effected the quality somewhat.
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Senior Member
My Dad was an infantry man in the Pacific in WWII with the 1/172nd Regimantal Combat Team which was mostly from New England. He Basic at Fort Dix, and did a lot of manuevers at Camp Blanding in Florida and Camp Shelby in Mississippi. On the way to Guadalcanal, the ship he was on, Calvin Coolidge, hit a mine and sank. It turned out to be an Allied mine. He was in the Phillipines getting ready for the invasion of Japan when the war ended.
My Mom's brother was a B-17 gunner in WWII. He got shot down and spent a few years in a german pow camp. It really messed him up, and he became a terrible alchoholic. People didn't really understand that type of thing back then, so this is a very sad story.
My Dad's youngest brother and Mom's youngest brother were submariners at the very end of WWII, but never saw combat and mostly served after the war ended. They both said they were never so sick in their lives as being on those subs. My Dad's brother met his wife while at training in Texas.
I was in the same unit my dad was just 50 years later. We had given up infantry, to be anti-aircraft, and by the time I joined we were armor.
...and as the saying goes
PUT THE VERMONTERS AHEAD!
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Senior Member
My great grandad and my great uncle both fought on the Somme in WW1. My grandad fought at Passchendaele. I also had an uncle who drove a tank at El Alemein, and another uncle who was killed while serving with the British army in Cyprus.
Further back, I have an ancestor who was a midshipman aboard HMS Victory during the Battle of Trafalgar.
My wife's grandfather was a merchant sea captain during WW2 and had three ships sunk under him by U-Boats.
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Senior Member
Grandad (My Mother's dad) Boer War / WWI
Grandad (My father's dad) WWI
Uncle (My Mother's brother) WWII Killed in Holland when the jeep he was driving went over a mine!
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My grandpas both served in the Wehrmacht as little soldiers. They didn't talk much about it, and sadly both died of natural causes before i got old enough to ask them the interesting questions. The last one died 1988 when i was 12.
One of them became a POW and was brought to the U.S. where he stayed in a prisoner camp until the war was over.
The other one got lucky when a hand grenade almost killed him while he was taking cover in a bomb funnel. A part of the nade ripped through his lower leg, though, and he had problems with the wounded leg for the rest of his life.
My father was an AA-missile operator in the Luftwaffe in the early 70s. "Make peace, not war" all the way. 
I also was in the Luftwaffe for 10 months. For males, who are fit enough and who reach the age of 18, we have a general conscription for a short period of time (less than 10 months right now) here in Germany. I served as a dispatcher for the Lufttransportkommando (air transport command) from 1996 to 1997. I had to keep track of starting and landing times of transport planes and helicopters and to assign cargo space of the daily air freight line. I also had to operate the overhead projector when the command staff got briefed on the weather situation. It was fun... although boring at times.
That's about all i know.
