To all my fellow vets - Thank you for your service.

[RV_]

Regardless of time in service or branch, DOD or DOT, active and Reserve, thank you.

My Dad was English and came to New York City in 1949, met and married my mom and I came along in 1952. He served four years in the USAF as a foreign national British Citizen Resident. After he and my mom split he went on to serve in the British Foreign Service. He was honorary Consul to Mexico at Acapulco when he died. He was awarded the MBE "Member of the British Empire") by the queen for his service.  Here he is as a one-striper at Air Police tech school. They were called APs (Air Police) not MPs, or as later SPs (Security Police), now called SF (Security Forces.)

Here he is later in life during his Foreign Service years with the King of England:

 

My American Father-In-Law GW Green served in the Army first for two years and then his last 18 in the USAF. In 1948 he served as an Aide in Gen MacArthur's residence in his GHQ Honor Guard. We framed his certificate with an original fountain pen signature of MacArthur. You can see it at the bottom left:

He was a Louisiana Farm boy when he enlisted in the Army. In this pic he is just out of USAF Tech school after leaving the Army for the USAF. He's in the back pasture of his family's farm in NE Louisiana.

 

 

NE Louisiana.

He was like a father to me and is missed. He passed on Dec 2016.

I am proud of both of them and continued the tradition serving 27 years in the USAF retiring in 1997. Although I had three career fields, my last as a Combat Arms Instructor where we fell under the Security Police Squadron, but were a separate career field, I actually had a fourth career field for the last six months of my service. In my last year, mid-1997, there was a major reorganization of the USAF combining many career fields. They made us COPS! So for my last six months I wore the blue beret and was officially a cop, a member of Security Forces, badge and all. So briefly in the end, I actually served in the same career field as my dad did.

Since I posted their one-striper pics, here is my Basic Training Graduation pic March, 1971

Please let us know your service and family service if you want here too.

Thanks again.

 

Edited November 11, 2022 by RV_

[Kirk W]

And to you also!   

[RV_]

👍👍

[Ray,IN]

Derek that is a heritage to pass to your offspring that few ever accomplish.

Thank you  for signing that blank check!

[Hill_Country]

Thanks for sharing your family member's stories.  They deserve to be remembered.

And thanks for your service.  Welcome home, Brother.

 

[sandsys]

That "welcome hone" made me cry. So many of our service men and women did not receive a welcome home on arrival back stateside. I'm glad they are finally getting it now.

Linda Sand

[Jim & Alice]

Thanks, Derek, for the family history... and for Your service!

 

[RV_]

Thanks for your service too Ray. We are both proud of our parent's service and enjoyed many projects and trips together with GW and Chris, Lynn's folks. Boy did they have some stories.

[RV_]

14 hours ago, Hill_Country said:

Thanks for sharing your family member's stories.  They deserve to be remembered.

And thanks for your service.  Welcome home, Brother.

 

Hill, 👍👍

You didn't say but I assume you served too. If so Welcome home. Thank you!

Edited November 12, 2022 by RV_

[RV_]

Me too Linda, I was a Medic when our base folks returned home from Vietnam 1971-1975 and all the returning active military to the Shreveport area came through our military hospital, the medical discharges and non retirees used the Overton Brooks VA regional Med center there. Some were broken physically and mentally. They got little in the way of thanks or help from that war.

Edited November 13, 2022 by RV_

[RV_]

YW Jim, YW! Thank you for your service too big guy! Please stop by if you guys ever pass by the Springs.

[bigjim]

I am a little jealous that you were able to have all the information about your dad and step-dad. You were also smart enough to ask questions and listen to get the information. While I am satisfied with my family we were so disjointed for multiple reasons that a lot of information was missed or lost. . Worst of all when my step mom passed my step sis had a lot of pictures and records that only related to my side of the family before she became part of the family hauled to the dump.   I know I have not shared much of my service time with my kids.

At any rate I hope everyone had a good veterans day. 

[RV_]

Jim  don't be jealous. My dad skipped the country to Bogota after separating from my mom there. I was six. We never heard from him again until I found his death announcement from the British Consul's office he served at last just after my mom died doing Internet searches. I found a 1/2 brother from his later marriage and we stayed in touch for a bit and talked on the phone/are friends on FB. I had the pics from my mom and his AP armband and hat. I asked and had my mother's only sister that just died at 93 April of this year who I was close to. Since my mom died in 2003 I got all the information I could from her. I have all the pics from our side. However mom remarried and that jerk threw out years of 8mm film movies when he got angry with her one time when I was about 10. So I know the feeling with less than loving family members. But mom and her side were great family. My maternal grandparents and aunt were who filled in the gaps. I even have pics of my grandparents in the 1920s in front of their NY City Brownstone they bought and of them at an Astor hotel dinner dance in NY City. I have digitized the important ones as well so my two boys and our 5 grand-kids and great grand-kids will be able to get that puzzled leek we get when we ask each other if she or me recognizes the person in the picture.🙁😏

I have more the 50 Hi8 Tapes getting converted to digital too now. It has all our Career and European tours, ski trips, Egypt and Karnak and the valley of the kings etc. I also had the 8mm films I did have converted to digital a couple of years ago. Once thoise are done they should fit on one 1TB 2,5" HDD and I will send one each to our two boys. The rest will be up to them but those also have their ball games and early years too.

My uncle wrote a book that details his family long before he died and we are in that too so I treasure that copy I have.

I am now the oldest member of our family from my mom and her sis with two of my younger brothers dead of five of us boys no sisters. The other two were 8 and ten when I was 20 so we never really lived together after they moved to California while I was still in CT staying with my grandparents from age 12 until I enlisted. My one full brother died at 56 of a massive coronary in 2010. I also have three surviving 1st cousins one my age when he died at 59, three of which I grew up with until age ten or so visiting. We are on FB and stay in touch. One is still in Boca Raton FL so we talk after every hurricane. They weathered the last two fine.

So with all I spent and am spending digitizing our family history they or my grandkids will like throw it all out years from now.

From when my FIL served with MacArthur in Japan through his burial flag and his Japanese officer's sword we made a wall display along with the Time Magazine he saved in great shape from 1948 when he was in Japan. It has an article about MacArthur as Japan's post war governor  and it is now sealed into that frame with the GHQ certificate in the pics above. Under the sword is the letter honoring his service from President Obama who was president when he died in Dec. 2016 as a part of the military response to his death along with flag encased with three of the cartridges fired in his gun salute as he was buried. Here's a pic:

 

 

Edited November 13, 2022 by RV_

[TXiceman]

I was not in the military, but I profoundly thank all that have served.  My Dad was in the Navy and was a Pearl Harbor survivor.  His younger brother was killed in a Japanese attack on his ship in the pacific.  His older brothers served in the Army and Army Air Corp in Europe.  His older sister was a nurse for the Army in Europe.   Without a doubt, this was The Greatest Generation.

My dad was on a destroyer escort that came into the harbor late on December 6 and left Pearl Harbor with limited supplies to furnish screening for the carriers that were at sea.  They were at sea and did not see  port for many months as they took all supplies ate sea.  We found the ships logs online for the December 7th attack and their sinking in late 1943.  He was injured and woke up on a hospital ship headed to Pearl Harbor.  After his 3 months in the hospital and rehab, he was assigned to a sea-going tugboat on the east coast.  He had made the rank Chief and his CO wanted to send him to OCS when the war was over.  At that time, he had enough of the navy and chose to muster out.

He did not speak much of his service except to other navy vets and I am grateful for the information we found online and his service record which my mother had after she passed.  He always favored hiring retired military folks for the jobs in the shop that he was foreman over.  He said they were better trained and much better work ethics than a lot of others.

Edited November 13, 2022 by TXiceman

[RV_]

15 hours ago, TXiceman said:

My Dad was in the Navy and was a Pearl Harbor survivor.  His younger brother was killed in a Japanese attack on his ship in the pacific.  His older brothers served in the Army and Army Air Corp in Europe.  His older sister was a nurse for the Army in Europe.   Without a doubt, this was The Greatest Generation.

He did not speak much of his service except to other navy vets and I am grateful for the information we found online and his service record which my mother had after she passed.  He always favored hiring retired military folks for the jobs in the shop that he was foreman over.  He said they were better trained and much better work ethics than a lot of others.

Thanks for sharing that Tx. Your family's service and sacrifice is appreciated and honored.

You remind me of my other family members of the greatest generation. Lynda's maternal aunt in Carthage, who is over 90 now, and the oldest in her family, lost her husband in a B-52 crash. Her paternal aunt was married to a Navy officer who lived a long life in Virginia. We lost her paternal aunt too early to cancer before 50.

Keep their stories and pictures alive for the next generations. They may not care when they are young. But like knowing the stories of vets from WWI and the Civil war which was about 40 years before WWI, we don't. But today we have the technology to preserve what we do know. I learned from all the pics of people we don't recognize to annotate every picture and video with the who what when where and why.

My uncle Rudy wrote a 430 page book of his family's history from his parents to just before his death, full of pics. He published copies just for family. He married my Mom's sis and served in the Navy in WWII. It covers a bit about our side but is a chronicle of our family and puts the timelines straight. I am working on one for our side and ours will also have a digital version. Here's pics of my copy:

Here he is during WWII. He served in the Pacific 1944-1946 as a Pharmacist mate and medical corpsman and was onboard during the end and the fighting at Leyte then the Philippines and then Okinawa. He tells those stories for the first time to his wife and the rest of us in that book he finished in the late 90s.

Here he shows his first date with my aunt post war.

Through each chapter he at least once mentions the top ten or so songs in the country reflecting our mood during his teens, service through the war and after, which makes it so real. He details his draft, orders, and report dates.

In that generation, every family had stories that are compelling and full of courage at home and at war. And we pulled together as families and a s a nation. My grandfather and uncle inspired me to keep our stories for our kids. My FIL only had us to hold their family history. We've got it.

 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2022 by RV_

[Kirk W]

Discharge document from Oct. 19, 1864 from the US Army of my dad's maternal grandfather. While my dad was a 34 year old farmer when WWII began and so didn't serve, I spent time in the Navy with 2 of our 3 sons born in Naval Hospitals, all 3 sons were in the Army with the youngest having retired with 24 years, a Combat Medic's badge & a bronze star from Iraq, and presently we have a grandson in Army intelligence and another a nuclear power plant operator on a submarine, with the one who is a senior in HS currently trying for a vision waiver to get into the Army. I guess the military is kind of a family tradition. 

[Ray,IN]

If I may, I'll add my Dad's military service as I understand it. He an Mom were married March 15, 1942. Dad joined the Navy in April 1942. Boot camp at Great lakes, then assigned to the brand new Navy minesweeper USS Implicit under construction, , therefore it had a wooden hull.. When it was launched it was assigned the lead mine sweeper of the Atlantic fleet. Dad in his later years related some of his experiences; ports of call in Europe, etc.

One time he told of the air attack sirens and general quarters alert. He was a gunners assistant on a deck gun. He strapped himself in,and began his job, but the lead gunner never showed up so he did both jobs.

After the all clear was sounded, dad looked around and he was the only person on deck. Turned out the Captain had ordered everyone below due to the intense enemy straifing(sp), but he didn't' hear it over the noise of the gun.

Towards the end of WWII Dad was assigned to the Navy guard for President Roosevelt at the Yalta conference. He asked me to shake his hand, then said "now you have shook the hand  that shook hands with President Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill" He was so very proud of that event, being a plain man with a 6th grade education.

He said Roosevelt was the last to arrive at the conference, and by then Stalin and Churchill had already decided how to split up Europe;  President Roosevelt was very upset over that.

After it was reassigned to the Pacific fleet, Dad told of the ports of call there and finally docked in Japan after the pacific war ended. That minesweeper, USS Implicit, was sold to China after WWIi. Dad and his shipmates came home on a aircraft carrier, the deck of which was full of military vehicles.

 Dad said the ship stopped somewhere in the Pacific ocean, and military bulldozers were pushing all the military vehicles over the side. When Dad asked why that was happening, he was told if all the military vehicles were taken to the U.S.A. the flood of vehicles would ruin automobile companies that had so faithfully constructed military equipment.

 

That's all I care to share now.

Ray,IN

 

 

 

 

 

Edited November 13, 2022 by Ray,IN

[Ray,IN]

Kirk, FWIW, I was drafted Aug 18 1966, I had 20/300 vision and wore coke bottle-looking lens in my glasses. the Army readily issued me 2 new pair of issue (BC) glasses during basic training. Then handed me orders for RVN,  34HQ 34 GP (individual replacement) 3 weeks after basic. I had been in the Army 9 weeks.

Edited November 14, 2022 by Ray,IN

[Hill_Country]

I don't think any vet I've met thinks of themselves as heroes.  We did our jobs, came home and went about life.  I did nine years in the Army.  Did two tours in Germany in missiles, then two more tours in Nam doing "odd" jobs.  I was an E6 with five years in grade when Nam was over and Sam made it plain that there would be no more promotions and he'd rather we all just go home.

But I think we've all been inspired by the generations that came before us.  Those guys were heroes.  Let me tell you my story.

My Dad, Uncles and even an Aunt all served overseas and all came home - except one, my Mother's cousin.  No one ever spoke of him until one day when I was 15 and I asked my great aunt about a photo on her wall and she just choked up and sobbed.  When I got home my Mother told me about the Bataan Death March and they never knew what had happened to Bud.  No one in the family ever spoke of him as it was just to painful.

Fast forward about 50 years and I was looking for a genealogy project and tracked down Bud's records.  He died after 9 months in a POW camp in the Philippines and was buried in the camp cemetery.  After the war, his remains were moved to the Manila American Cemetery and buried as an Unknown - because the Army couldn't be bothered to find his dental records to identify him.  

His dental records were pretty easy to find since Bud's older brother was a dentist and had placed some distinctive dental work in his mouth.  However, the DoD found this a little embarrassing since it revealed many, many other erroneous identifications.

Now, twelve years and four federal lawsuits later, Bud is buried with his parents.  

The irony of the whole story is that while I initially only asked for Bud's records, I got the records on all WWII deaths and these have lead to something over 300 additional Unknowns being returned to their families for burial.  These guys are the real heroes and I am absolutely humbled beyond words when I see their stories.

Let's never forget the sacrifices of those who came home and those who didn't.

[RV_]

On 11/13/2022 at 1:09 PM, Kirk W said:

 

Discharge document from Oct. 19, 1864 from the US Army of my dad's maternal grandfather. While my dad was a 34 year old farmer when WWII began and so didn't serve, I spent time in the Navy with 2 of our 3 sons born in Naval Hospitals, all 3 sons were in the Army with the youngest having retired with 24 years, a Combat Medic's badge & a bronze star from Iraq, and presently we have a grandson in Army intelligence and another a nuclear power plant operator on a submarine, with the one who is a senior in HS currently trying for a vision waiver to get into the Army. I guess the military is kind of a family tradition. 

Thanks Kirk for your family's and your service.

That's a helluva military heritage to be very proud of.

[RV_]

On 11/13/2022 at 4:09 PM, Ray,IN said:

If I may, I'll add my Dad's military service as I understand it. He an Mom were married March 15, 1942. Dad joined the Navy in April 1942. Boot camp at Great lakes, then assigned to the brand new Navy minesweeper USS Implicit under construction, , therefore it had a wooden hull.. When it was launched it was assigned the lead mine sweeper of the Atlantic fleet. Dad in his later years related some of his experiences; ports of call in Europe, etc.

One time he told of the air attack sirens and general quarters alert. He was a gunners assistant on a deck gun. He strapped himself in,and began his job, but the lead gunner never showed up so he did both jobs.

After the all clear was sounded, dad looked around and he was the only person on deck. Turned out the Captain had ordered everyone below due to the intense enemy straifing(sp), but he didn't' hear it over the noise of the gun.

Towards the end of WWII Dad was assigned to the Navy guard for President Roosevelt at the Yalta conference. He asked me to shake his hand, then said "now you have shook the hand  that shook hands with President Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill" He was so very proud of that event, being a plain man with a 6th grade education.

He said Roosevelt was the last to arrive at the conference, and by then Stalin and Churchill had already decided how to split up Europe;  President Roosevelt was very upset over that.

After it was reassigned to the Pacific fleet, Dad told of the ports of call there and finally docked in Japan after the pacific war ended. That minesweeper, USS Implicit, was sold to China after WWIi. Dad and his shipmates came home on a aircraft carrier, the deck of which was full of military vehicles.

 Dad said the ship stopped somewhere in the Pacific ocean, and military bulldozers were pushing all the military vehicles over the side. When Dad asked why that was happening, he was told if all the military vehicles were taken to the U.S.A. the flood of vehicles would ruin automobile companies that had so faithfully constructed military equipment.

 

That's all I care to share now.

Ray,IN

 

 

 

 

 

Ray, you too have a helluva family record of service. Thanks bud and thanks for sharing with us.

[RV_]

On 11/13/2022 at 8:55 PM, Hill_Country said:

I don't think any vet I've met thinks of themselves as heroes.  We did our jobs, came home and went about life.  I did nine years in the Army.  Did two tours in Germany in missiles, then two more tours in Nam doing "odd" jobs.  I was an E6 with five years in grade when Nam was over and Sam made it plain that there would be no more promotions and he'd rather we all just go home.

But I think we've all been inspired by the generations that came before us.  Those guys were heroes.  Let me tell you my story. These guys are the real heroes and I am absolutely humbled beyond words when I see their stories.

Let's never forget the sacrifices of those who came home and those who didn't.

Thanks for sharing Hill,

Your identification of your uncle Bud's remains is great to read. As you see by my pic here MIAs are close to my heart too. But thanks for helping out yours and by extension and example inspiring others with missing loved ones and family.

Thanks for sharing you story and your service.

 

[Kirk W]

On 11/13/2022 at 9:55 PM, Hill_Country said:

I don't think any vet I've met thinks of themselves as heroes. 

I would pretty much agree with that. I entered the Navy right after graduation from HS at 17 and with that being in 1960, there were still a few WWII veterans in the serivce.  Because the sub service had such a high loss rate, prety much all of those I met or served with had seen combat.

Quote

In World War II, 52 US submarines were lost, with a total of 3,506 officers and enlisted men killed. The US Navy Submarine Service had the highest casualty percentage of any American forces in the War: about 20%.Jul 8, 2022

Very few of them spoke much about what they experienced and the one I did hear stories from was a chief on my first sub who would occasionally talk to shipmates with tears in his eyed and only when drunk. The only veteran that I currently know who is quick to tell war stories happens to be one who was medically discharged after suffering a traumatic head injury while off duty playing baseball at Ft. Polk, LA with 3 years of service. He has more war stories than our youngest son who spent 24 years in the Army and was depoloye 3 different times. 

My favorite WWII veteran story comes from my first shipboard assignment in Pearl Harbor. Shortly after my 19th birthday I (E-3) became very ill one evening and since we were in port I was taken to the subbase medical clinic where a young doctor diagnosed appendicitis as a mild case and sent me back to the boat with some meds to settle my stomach and to return in the morning. Attack submarines do not have a doctor on board (crew was about 80 men) but 2 corpsmen. The next morning the chief corpsman(E-9) who was a WWII vet came aboard and questioned me, then with the other corpsman (E-5) rushed me to Trippler Army Hospital rather than the base clinic, insisting that I be operated on ASAP. When the doctors there didn't see any reason to rush the chief became very angry and demanded to see the chief surgeon. About 15 minutes or so into this adventure my appendix ruptured and so the chief won and I was taken for emergency surgery. As grateful as I was to the Chief, I never saw him again after I was transfered to Nuclear Power School. When I was on the Seadragon with him, all that I knew about him was that he was a WWII vet with a chest full of ribbions who rarely talked much but everyone liked and respected. He was following the tradition from the diesel submarine of that same name but I never knew if there was any connection. 

[k4rs]

My father was in the Air Force.  He participated in the Berlin Airlift and then served in the Korean conflict.  My older brother also served in the Air Force with two tours in Viet Nam.  My step father was Army and was KIA in Viet Nam.   When I was old enough to enlist I decided to follow my step father into the Army.  I joined the Military Police Corp in 1975 and served until 1987.   I don't have many photos from my time in uniform but found one of me with my platoon sergeant taken at Fort Benning in 1976.

Safe Travels...

 

[Ray,IN]

K4rs, a coincidence. My first assignment to Ft.Benning was in 1976; Drill Sergeant school at the old harmony church area.

Edited November 18, 2022 by Ray,IN