Shipbucket Veterans

[Krakatoa]

None of my generation has served in armed forces, I wanted to join the navy at 18 but they wouldn't have me as I had smashed my elbow at 15 and they considered me too damaged. My Uncle flew with the RNZAF Dauntless squadron in WW2, I could never get him to talk about it. I lost three Great Uncles at Galipoli and one of their cousins (three of them within 15 minutes of each other at ANZAC cove and the other one a month or so later in the withdrawal.

[Trojan]

Both of my grandparents served in World War Two. My grandfather on my father's side served as a loader on one of the 5"/38 caliber twin mounts on the USS New Jersey.
My other grandfather on my mother's served as a cook in the navy as well though I am not sure on which ship. My great uncle served in the army, though I don't know of many details. In my room I have a World War Two service medal and an American Campaign medal from them, as well as their dog tags.

[Cascadia]

My paternal grandfather served with a 88 mm AA-Unit during WWII. First on the western front and later on the eastern front. He was one of the last soldiers to leave East Prussia vie the Baltic Sea.
My maternal grandfather served too, but I don't know where. All I know is that he was wounded by a shot in his head.
One of great uncles served as a sailor, although he could not swim. Another one went with the Sixth Army to Stalingrad and never returned. The most tragic thing was, that his mother refused to accept his death and kept beleaving that the russian kept him because he was a baker.

[Novice]

Had done my service first with mobile AA defence (Vulcan AA), and later with mechnised infantry unit. My dad was a sapper with the 8th Army at Al Alamein, the invasion of Sicily and Italy at Monte Casino where he was shot in the leg. On my mother side had an uncle who was with the Gouvermentsmarine where he served on a minesweeper having spent most of WW2 in Japanese POW camp.

[CraigH]

Call me a son of a vet. Gave serious thought to joining the USN or Coast Guard back in the late 1970's. At the time the Services were extremely unpopular in the US (hangover from Viet Nam). Between my folks and numerous teachers who went through that mess they went crazy compelling not to join.

Instead they convinced me to voicefully not sign up for Selective Service (the new draft). Being a responsible citizen I dutifully contacted the Selective Service, congressmen, etc. The response was to put me on the list of 1st to be procecuted by the Feds. Fortunately they didn't!

I had an urge to serve on subs or try for SEALs, Dad was UDT back just before they became SEALs. Guess I had to settle for a kid/teen version of Bud-S growing up. At least I got one hell of an open ocean diving education (and some other related skill sets).

Now that I'm older, i've learned that cold water diving really sucks.
I have a lot of respect for those that have served.
CraigH

[Garlicdesign]

Hello again!

I was drafted into the artillery (M109A3Gs) in 1990 and drove an 8x8 supply truck.

My maternal grandfather first served as a motocycle messenger with a bridging engineer unit during the occupation of Vichy France; then he was with the fuel section of the 501st heavy tank battallion (Tigers), participated at Kasserine and was captured in Tunis without ever getting hurt. He probably refuelled the last existing Tiger at Bovington a couple of times before they both were captured...

And an uncle of mine vanished without a trace in the 1950s, only to reappear at some point in the 1980s and tell us that he served 20 years with the French Foreign Legion and retired as a Master Sergeant (he had crashed a car without having a driver's license, panicked, went to a Legion Recruiting office in Mainz and signed up).

Greetings
GD

[Gollevainen]

Fellow gunner

So again, if my early introduction was bit unclear to those not familiar with Finnish army mythology, I served my conscription in Karelian Artillery Regiment back in 2004, I was the sighter or what you anglophones calls the guy who actually aims and shoots with the guns. We used Soviet 122mm howitzers and Finnish made 155mm/52 cal Gun-howitzers. I was promoted as lance corporal during the army times, but since Im now on energy business, my most likely wartime location would be at my very workplace as its "strategically cruical job"

My Fathernal grandfather served during the worldwar II as truck diver in the Finnish Armored Division (we only had one), and my maternal grandfather served his conscription in Coastal Artillery. My father and most of my uncles did their tour in the Armored Brigade, he was junior sgt. in a HQ version of the T-55 tanks.

[seeker36340]

US Navy 1973-77, FTM2 - Mayaguez rescue, evacuation of Saigon and other operations

Dad USMC, Korea, Pusan Perimeter, Inchon landing, Chosin reservoir

Uncle USN WWII, USS Hulse, land-based duties Pacific

[apdsmith]

Well, my family has never been a big military family but here it is, such as it is:

Great-grandfather ("GG") (Dad's Mum's Dad) - GG served in the infantry in WWI, he served alongside tanks in one of the early tank battles and was the only survivor from his platoon (They were told to cross a bridge that turned out to have a German MG at the other side. GG waited until nightfall to retreat.) Unfortunately, very short of details because (as I suspect is common with his generation) he did not want to talk about his service.

The only other member of my family who served was my Mum's Dad Thomas ("Emo" - He was Welsh. There were 5 kids in his class called "Thomas" so they were addressed by middle names, "Emo" being short for "Emlyn") - he was an armourer, then a quartermaster, in the RAF (with Emo's size and weight - he was about 8st / 112lb / 50kg pretty much his entire adult life - there was virtually no chance he'd be getting sent anywhere that involved being shot at, luckily...) and apparently supplier to the handbag trade ("No, these files are definitely for working the burrs out of the breech block on a machine gun, Sir, don't know anything about any thefts...")

Regards,
Adam

[emperor_andreas]

One of my grandfather's cousins was on the U.S.S. West Virginia at Pearl Harbor. My great-uncles on my maternal grandmother's side were all infantry and served in Europe. My maternal grandfather was Army Air Corps and later U.S. Air Force; he was a radioman on B-24 Liberators. He retired in 1965 with the rank of Master Sergeant. His brother was a gunner on B-26 Marauders and was KIA over Metz, France on 19 August 1944 when German AA guns scored a direct hit on his aircraft's open bomb bay. I have no idea about my Dad's side of the family. None of my four cousins serve or have served; one got into computers in the 1980s and never looked back; the other three wouldn't have survived Basic Training.

I myself currently serve in the volunteer State Guard at the rank of Corporal, having joined just under a year ago. I'm Company Clerk (Radar) for my unit, and love the fact that nobody wants to piss me off for fear of their paperwork getting "lost".