How far back does it go?

[KaKass Acres Homestead]

On this Veterans Day I couldn't help but wonder how many men in my family have actually been in the military? I got to thinking about it and it goes back several generations as far as I could tell. how about you all? how far back does military service go for you? Has it been consistent generation after generation or have there been gaps?

 

[DrHenley]

Goes way, way back in my family. Unfortunately I am the gap. I got 4F'd when I tried to enlist.

 

[KaKass Acres Homestead]

@DrHenley does 'way way' imply revolution way back, or like roman raiding party way back? Lol im right there with you...im the gap

 

[jimLE]

does being related to william the conqueror count? lol

 

[DrHenley]

@DrHenley does 'way way' imply revolution way back,

Back to when they came to this country. Some before the Revolutionary War, most afterwards. My father has compiled a genealogy and military history going back as far as he can til he hit dead ends.

 

[Silent Bob]

A split here when it comes to the my ancestors. My father's side traces their ancestor back to both Ireland and Scotland. I guess we Celts tend to be a warrior class, as such, we just picked the wrong religion to back, some met the reprisals of the English at Culloden and others were smart to get passage to America. All of them you could say, were on the frontier of New York. According to my great aunt, who is the family genealogist our family has served our nation faithfully for over 200 years. Our link is back to the Battle of Brooklyn Heights, 6 years in the New York line and others who served in the New York militia, one at Saratoga. A family member participated in the invasion of Canada in the War of 1812. We lost family on both sides during the American Civil War, 3 family members in the Union side lost their lives at Antietam and 2 from North Carolina in the Sunken Road. One other died at Fredericksburg. World War 1, Grandfather lost his brother, World War 2 (3 of my father's brothers served, two in Europe, 1 in the Pacific). Father was part of riggers who jumped into Chosin, Korea, 3 tours in Republic of Vietnam, 1 tour in Laos, and a stint at the embassy in Phnom Penn. Uncle served three combat tours as part of Studies and Observation Group. My first cousin paid the ultimate sacrifice in Vic Thien Phuoc Special Forces Camp, Quang Tin province, Republic of Vietnam, he was part of D, Company, 1st Battalion, 46th Infantry, 198th Inf Brigade. My aunt and her husband (82d) also served in the Army, all during the Vietnam War. Both my father and uncle both retired. One of my cousins, daughter of my uncle who served as part of SOG, did 4 years. I ate some dirt for about 20 plus years.

As for my mother's side, 2 cousins died (Japanese Imperial Naval Infantry) in the Solomon's, most Marines know it as Guadalcanal. 1 cousin died as an aviator in the Imperial Japanese Navy. My mother's family has direct lineage to Oda Nobunaga, the first great unifier of Japan. Many of my mother's family served either in the old Tokugawa regime or in the Imperial military. My cousin serves in the Japanese Self Defense Force. You could say that if you were a male in my wife's family, you were duty bound to serve.

As for my wife, her dad served in the Army during WWII, as an artillery man. Six uncles served in the Navy, Marine Corps, Army and Air Force. My wife's cousin is a retired Command Sergeant Major in the Marine Corps (the Marine Corp's Crew Chief award is named after him). His son serves proudly in the Marine Corps and has several combat tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. My wife's cousin is now a contractor at Beaufort and his son is stationed at Lejeune.

I worked in the company of a group of heroes in my military career, but the true heroes are my wife and my two children. They often had to deal with the stress of not knowing and praying. I'd say, they more than deserve, as many wives and children of military members that serve our nation deserve a medal. I am sure many of us who have served would agree with that statement.

So in summation, as I spoke to my students today, Veteran's Day has is a moment in reflection for service and sacrifices of those who have served.

 

[KaKass Acres Homestead]

So interesting Silent Bob! Such a brave heroic bloodline I need to look into mine deeper and see what i can find

 

[KaKass Acres Homestead]

How complicated were these genealogies to put together? Were you pretty lucky in primary sources or did you have to rely on a bunch of damily stories to connect the dots? How far back did the military start keeping acurate records? Anyone know off hand?

 

[Silent Bob]

So interesting Silent Bob! Such a brave heroic bloodline I need to look into mine deeper and see what i can find

Cant take the credit, just the holder of some of the documents. Aunt and my father both were into the family tree thing, that is until my dad was struck down with ALS-Lou Gehrig and passed away. As for the Japanese side...just good record keeping and the fact that family hierarchy demand that the eldest serves. Wife's cousin and my cousin who was killed are the real true heroes.

 

[Brent S]

By the way, thanks to all the veterans out there. I jokingly tell people I wasn't in the military, as I was in the medical field, but yes I was in too. I would have gone and played mash if I had to, but was fortunate enough to stay stateside during my 4yrs. My grandfather was in Africa in ww11. It's a shame I never got to talk with him about it. I honestly think it would be good for us to have a mandatory 1 yr of service. Some of the skills you learn are valuable throughout life.

 

[jontte]

here in Finland it's mandatory to do service in the military,we have still conscription,which in my books is a great thing..usually the firts time when young men and women leave the comforts of home to learn new skills..and with only 5,6 million this country needs that system.

my grandpa fought the russkies,and propably took part in the civil war also as he was born 1900,alot of fighting after 1917 in this country.
my dad spent a few years in France when a young man,never told much about that time,but repeting nightmares told us kids it was nothing pleasant..

 

[Silent Earth]

I can try my military heritage back a long time, I served in the Light Infantry, My Dad in the Durham Light Infantry, his Dad in also DLI his dad in the 68th Regiment of foot etc who fought in Spain and the US (against tax avoiding colonial traitors ) We have Cousins, Uncles and Grand Parents who have fought in the Boer war, First Afghan war, War against Napoleon, Two world wars, Korea, Ulster, The Cold war, The 1812 war ( sorry bout the Whitehouse BTW ) My Bro in law has fought in GW2 and Libya and Afghanistan. And its a complete lie that the Centurions in my day were Romans not Tanks.

 

[KaKass Acres Homestead]

I have always thought it was interesting to hear about mandatory service. My sister lives in Switzerland and from what I understand that's how it is there too

 

[jontte]

yup,atleast here every male between 18-60 are subject to it,usually you enter when 19-21,do your service and after that do reserve training and your exempt when you turn 60..thouhg I do belive if war would come,males over 60 would do some homefront duty
for women it's on voluntary basis and more and more women do it,here in Finland if a woman does it,you are then prepared to do front line aswell.

 

[DrHenley]

My wife is from Taiwan, and she had to go through basic training. She has fired a fully auto M-16, (and I haven't...)

Only the men actually served, but the women were basically reserves. I find it ironical that everyone in Taiwan had mandatory marksmanship training, yet private gun ownership was (and still is) strictly prohibited.

 

[Gazrok]

My family came here in 1635, arriving in Virginia, then going from there. Each generation has had someone in the military, as far as I can see, though not always each branch of the tree. Granted, being here that long, is a lot to really check.

My father and grandfather were both in the military, on both sides, but yeah, I had a medical condition (since outgrown) that kept me from entering then. With today's standards though, I could have served, but they were more stringent then.

There are actually two spellings of my surname, but both are descendants from the Virginia immigrants. My grandparents who passed away a few years ago, were buried in a family cemetery that still has graves predating the Civil War.

 

[Maverick]

The battle of Hastings.
My dads side settled in New England in 1648, in fact we have a pretty good size family plot in Virginia that is in the US historical registry, the last time the family used it was 1933, my granddad brother oldest brother is buried their, killed in WWI in the Argonne 1918 the only other one in the cemetery that appears to be Military was his name followed by

"Virginia State Militia
killed 1813"

A good portion of the family moved to Texas just before the outbreak of the Civil War, a good number more then 8 was killed but only one confirmed burial in Texas, the family stated that the rest was put in holes as groups of other Confederate dead thus the family said, the Union never gave a damn about the Confederate dead.

 

[Gazrok]

Nice that you have that history. Mine is mostly due to the efforts of one family member (Tommy) with a keen interest in genealogy. Now, we all send him our updates, so he doesn't need to do the work.

Was some kind of big schism in my family at some point. In the late 1800's, a branch left Virginia for California (went on to make wine), and another branch left for Florida to concentrate on farming (mine). Almost like they all wanted to get as FAR as possible away from each other, LOL! Still another also went west, but changed to the different spelling variant.