[Shoobee]

Yup, due to world affairs at the prevailing time, myself, my dad, and my grandfather, also my cousins and my uncles, were all military/naval at one time. I would not call it a tradition though. It was just a sign of the times.

[MemphisJim1]

On my mother's side, military participation has been traced as far back as the Revolution and virtually every major "live fire" exercise, at least through my maternal grandfather's participation as an infantryman in WWI. My paternal grandfather migrated to US from Ireland in 1915 or '16 and served as an able-bodied seaman on a destroyer through WWI. His three sons all participated in WWII (my father as an Army Air Corps P-47 pilot in the Pacific; the middle uncle as a Marine F4U Corsair pilot, also in the Pacific Theater; youngest uncle did basic and advanced as war was ending and did Occupation duty in Japan for 2 years. Dad demobbed in later '46 but was part of the Reservist recall in late '51 for Korea so he flew F-84Gs there and stayed in to make it a career, retiring as a colonel in the mid-70s. I was drafted in late fall '64, eventually went through Infantry OCS and made it to the Southeast Asia "live fire" exercise in March '67 for 14 months of "hands-on training in conflict resolution and nation building." A cousin (son of the middle uncle, above) was a Marine rotary and fixed wing pilot in Vietnam after I came home.

[Commocarl]

My great-grandfather was Army infantry in France WWI
My grandfather was in the Army Air Corps till a runway crash, He went Infantry after that, Pacific. WWII
My uncle was Airforce Vietnam, only one of us that made it a career.
I was Navy during Desert Storm/Desert shield. I was not in-country. Navy puts you where it wants you.
My daughter is one year away from a nursing degree, and a 4 year commitment to the Navy as a Officer (our first).

[Popgun]

My father served in just about the worst place on earth in the Navy during WWII. He served as Carpenter's Mate aboard a sea-going rescue/tug up along the Aleutian islands for a couple of years (cold as a titches witty). His fleet would raid bases and shipping north of Japan. My dad's small round-bottom ship was ordered to sit dead-in-the-water out over the Marianas trench and in complete radio silence for weeks at a time waiting for orders to rush in and rescue one of the fleet's war ships if they were to get into trouble. His ship could tow a carrier back to safety by itself. Once each day (or week, can't remember) a plane was sent over to verify that his ship was still there. My father almost died from boredom out their; the captain almost died from sea sickness. They did blow-up a whale once with a depth charge (thought it was a Jap sub, yea right). They had a couple of 3" guns on deck and a couple of AA turrents also. My father, who had never shot a pistol in his life, shot a 96 with a 1911 at the Marine base in Adak during testing and got some extra pay for it. I'm sure other's acts of service was a much worse experience than my father had, for not actually shooting at the enemy, his was pretty bad.

[hogdoc357]

My dad was a medic during WW2 and his brother was a B-17 pilot, who was shot down over Germany and died. That was his 3rd time to be shot down.

[zebramochaman]

My uncle on my mothers side of the family was a German American. He was a sergeant in the army who fought in Germany. He received a citation for having successfully wiped out a German machine gun nest and his story was published in the newspapers. My grandfather received numerous "hate-mail" letters from other Germans living in the US. My grandfather promptly turned the letters over to the FBI.

[rhyno13]

A member of my family has served in every conflict this country has had. I am retired from the military

[ricepaddydaddy]

Originally Posted by JD1969

Anyone here have any family members or relatives that served in the military during any historic WWII campaign?
My grandfather went through France with Patton and was wounded at Metz. I wish I had gotten to know him better, but he died when I was young. All that served have my utmost respect and heartfelt thanks, but these WWII are going so fast and are a true national treasure.

Was he in the 5th Infantry Division? The insignia is a Red Diamond. As far as I know only two of Patton's outfits went thru France and fought at Metz, one of them was the 5th (I could be wrong about others, but I know the 5th was there and lost many men.).
I was in the 5th in Colorado and Vietnam, and came to know some of the WWII guys thru the annual reunions of the Society of the Fifth Division. Great guys, and yes, each year their ranks are thinner.
If he WAS 5th Infantry, give our website a look, there's lots of history pages there. the 5th Fought in WWI, WWII, vietnam and Panama.
http://www.societyofthefifthdivision.com/

[TLuker]

My paternal grandfather served in the Army just after WWII. He thought that was greatest thing ever to get three meals a day and new cloths. He was so skinny when he joined that they didn't have uniform small enough to fit him and he's 6'2.

My maternal grandfather served in Africa and received a Bronze Star in Europe. I never met him.

My maternal grandmother's second husband, and the person I was named after, was Army and served in WWII, Korea, and three tours in Vietnam.

My great uncle joined the Marine Corp before he was 18 just after WWII. He finish his tour, went home, and then joined the Army. I'm guessing there weren't too many other soldiers with a globe and anchor tattooed to their forearm? He served in Korea and credited his Marine Corp training with saving his life there.

My great great uncle was in Pearl Harbor during the attack (Army). He was wounded and thought to be dead. His body was placed on a box car with all of the other dead and a nurse happened to see him move. He was patched up and sent home, but he never really recovered from that.

[paintsplat]

Had an uncle who served in the south pacific in WWII, I have the japanese saber and watch he took off a japanese nco with a news paper account of it. Also my dad volunteered for WWII but was 4fd, then he got drafted for Korea, where he got seriously wounded when the chinese made their push across the 38th parallel in 1951