Great granddad and his brother Army,WW1 141ST Infantry, Great granddad died of flu an his brother came home wounded.

My granddad on my fathers side was Infantry , PVT, ETO, I don't know much other than that an he was in some bad battles. He drank himself to death in 1969, I was just a baby.

My other granddad was in the Pacific also Infantry SSG, was wounded in leyte, Philippines.. Threw himself on two other Soldiers when grenade landed in their position. Decorated with two BSMs an a PH. He was the grandfather all of us kids were scared of, had a snap temper an drank alot. Heart attack an died 1975.

Three of my uncles were in vietnam one was Navy on a carrier, one was a electronics an computer tech in Saigon an one was a Marine Grunt. The Marine uncle never really talked about Vietnam till I got back from OIF, he was shot three times in combat. When I got back from Iraq,  he was over once for dinner, we were outback drinking beer. That was the first time Id ever heard him talk about it. I think since I was Infantry too, he felt I could understand...when his grandson joined the Corps and went to Afghanistan, he opened up some more, I think it helped him get some shit off his  soul.

I struggle with this topic too.  My grandad was in 3rd ID 15th regiment from Sicily to southern France. Got wounded there spent a year at Walter Reed.  It was known he had bad nightmares and a pervasive fear of aircraft overhead. But he literally never talked about it at all other than one story of a German leather coat sweeping his helmet when he was hiding in a roadside ditch.  I always wanted to do research but I struggle with his right to have us not know.   Almost feel like I’m just not supposed to.   We do have his Purple Heart and a ring with Anzio engraved on which apparently was a common thing amongst that group.  I guess that’s all we will ever get.  

yes they do.

some examples

Or called him grand pa

My paternal grandfather was salt of the earth baptist growing up in the dust bowl of OK.  Only thing he ever told me was he just hung telephone lines in the pacific..... signal corps
He took care of grandma all through her path with dementia/Alzheimer's by himself until she passed, and several years later, rode it out in the Joplin tornado.  Cleaning up after I found a ziploc bag full of gold from teeth.  I didn't ask....
Saved for pic...ETA pic
Attached File


Papa

My uncle Was awarded the Silver Star for his actions as a UH1 door gunner in Vietnam.

The chopper was shot down on a hot LZ and his back was broken and had several other injuries when he was thrown clear.

The chopper was burning and both pilot and copilot were unconscious.

As the fire got worse, he walked into the fire and pulled one man out. Then he went back into the fire and pulled the other man clear.

As a result of his actions, both men survived.

He was severely burned over 40% of his body and spent months in agony moving from hospital to the next.

The old coot is still chilling at 84 and is worth millions from investments in California land in the 60s.

He moved from Northern California last year to what he calls "Little Waco" in the Arizona desert outside Tuscon.

The only time my grandfather spoke about what got him his bronze star during the bulge was not long before he died. I miss him.

A few years ago I saw a student produced film at a local film festival. A young lady attending college was approached by her history professor and asked if she was related to certain person. She replied that was her grandfathers name. Professor started telling her how her grandfather was an important member of Merrill's Marauders during WW2. Young lady did not believe him and said so. Professor challenged her to check it out. She did, and found it was all true. Even her grandmother did not know her husband's story.

The film was a class project where she told the whole story about how she (and her family) found out about her grandfather's history and what a great man he was. Very moving.  

My grandfather fought in the Philippines. All he ever told the family was that he was a mechanic.

He never spoke to me about it even after I joined the Army. I came home on leave when he had terminal cancer and spent his last month at his house with him. He opened up to me. As soon as they landed, his unit was attached to Infantry units and sent to the highlands on Luzon to flush out the Japanese. He pulled out a box of pictures nobody in the family had ever seen, mostly of dead Japanese soldiers and villages that had been destroyed. He even had a picture of him and his brother after his squad had called in a mortar strike on his brother’s squad after they ran into them in the jungle and thought they were Japanese. He hadn’t seen his brother in two years and didn’t even know he was in the Philippines. I requested his unit history from the national archives. They confirmed that he was, in fact, a mechanic (959th Ordnance), and that his unit was used as Infantry on Luzon. I also found a written history of the unit from a guy he had in an address book. The address book was a notebook taken from a dead Japanese soldier, someone on this site helped translate the Japanese writing in the notebook.

My grandmother was shocked by the pictures (they were pretty gruesome) and my father told me he’d never shared those stories with anybody in the family. He gave me his medals, his Basic Training graduation booklet (from Camp Sumter), and the watch he wore through the war. We were never very close growing up so I feel blessed he shared all that with me.

My uncle Don went to North Africa in early 45. They floated/puked around the Atlantic for 3 months stuffed in a fucking Liberty ship hold like sardines. His only WWII story was as he left the ship via a gangplank a GI headed aboard handed him his canteens saying "here fucker, you need these way more than me"

He eventually did 3 tours in Vietnam. I remember watching some home movies they made while visiting in 1969. He would never talk about it except to say it was a shithole.

Thanks for sharing, that made my day and Reagan presenting his MOH at the Academy and his internment there brought a tear.

It is not a CMOH, it is a MOH.

Linky?

This is GD after all.

The last part is awesome

The last part is awesome

The last part is awesome

I have seen Purple Heart plates here in CT, but I don't recall any others.

I have a feeling that they are "allowed" to continue paying tolls, this being CT.

My Grandfather was in the Marne offensive WW1 "Rock of the Marne 3rd Div."
I read a book based of his Captains diary.
My Dad was an Army Vet. and he would tell him some of his stories. This was my Grandfather on my Mothers side.
He was burned and wounded. Mustard gas, shell fragments etc. My Dad told me he was unconscious in a makeshift field hospital and came to, people screaming and dead laying around and said screw this and limped out.
He had no shoes and his pants were burned off, shredded or just gone. He took pants off a dead German and went back to his unit.
When I read his Captains account saying he was down to 10 men and they all were wounded, the hair stood up on my neck.
Hes not even on the WW1 memorial in his home town. He was a Cop and a Fire Chief. I had an arfcomer look his name up and all the records are lost.
No clue on his medals. I have his service info and the ship he was on when he came back home.

My Dad said he walked the walk. People who knew him said he had scars on his neck and would shoot rats in the jail with his pistol. Mostly freaking out the drunks he kept overnight to sober up. One was a friend of my Dad saw him first hand do that.

Wow.