I don't mean Vietnam, or the Gulf. Nor Korea, or 'The War To End All Wars.' Whenever anyone mentions 'The War' at a Benson Family Reunion, there's only one War they're talking about.
World War II.
My Grandfather -- George C. Benson -- had sixteen brothers and sisters. Two brothers served in Europe in WWI, and my Grandfather -- a Captain in the National Guard -- landed in Europe a few weeks after D-Day. He doesn't talk about what happened over there much, but the top half of his ear is still over there somewhere.
Other Great-Uncles and assorted Cousins also served in Europe, Africa, and the Pacific. My mother's father (he died before I was born, so it's hard to think of him as 'grandpa') went to Pearl Harbor after the attack and ran a Navy supply depot. Ironicly, quite a few cousins of his -- his parents came over from Germany after World War I -- served in the Germany army.
I don't think I've ever known anyone as strong as my Grandpa -- I've got great memories of him cutting paths through the woods on his farm in his mid-eighties. He's in his late nineties now, having outlived all his brothers and sisters (the first of whom died in a trench in France so many years ago). It doesn't cease to amaze me with such reverence they speak about Franklin D. Roosevelt (my grandfather to this day refuses to believe he couldn't walk), General Eisenhower, and the men they served with.
What did your ancestors do during the War?
[ November 05, 2001: Message edited by: Malnurtured Snay ]
Posted by BlueElectron (Member # 281) on :
My grandfather fought the Japanese and China Communists.
He didn't really avoid the topic of WWII and the fightings he's been in, but he did forbid me to went professional military.
According to him, he's got some pretty close encounters, but amazingly, he came out of all these war without a single scratch.
After retreating to Taiwan, he was in charge of a island very close to China mainland where he organized special recons deep into mainland with Taiwanese army special units.
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Killed Romans, mostly.
Oh, you were talking about more recent ancestors...
Posted by Michael_T (Member # 144) on :
I think my grandfather was part of the resistance group in the Philippines but I'm not sure. I'll have to ask my grandmother when I see her later this week.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Well, I know my paternal grandfather was in the US Army Air Force, and I think he was somewhere around India, at least for a while. Other than that, I don't know.
My maternal grandfather was in the US Marine Corps, on a ship at Okinawa. A kamikaze plane crashed into it, and he had to jump overboard, injuring his back. After that, he was part of the occupation force in China.
As a matter of fact, this link has a picture of the airplane-shaped hole in the side of the ship...
[ November 05, 2001: Message edited by: TSN ]
Posted by G.K Nimrod (Member # 205) on :
My father's father served as an ambulance driver in the swedish readiness forces. Our hundred year lasting neutrality notwithstanding, there were some bad times in Sweden as well, especially at the border to norway.
Posted by MIB (Member # 426) on :
I know my grand father served in Europe during WW2. One my ancestors was a rum smuggler in Australia while it was still a prison colony. Hey! The inmates needed rum! What can I say? I also have ancestors that were part of the Catabwa (spelling?) tribe of Native Americans.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
A shitload of foraging & gathering, I'd imagine.
I would think that somewhere back in the line, some of my ancestors were dying in showers & ovens. Others closer up to my twiglike nature in the tree were no doubt shopping a lot in New York.
I never bothered asking anyone. Everyone of then is dead, & anyone who's not I'm not much in the mood for talking with.
Posted by CaptainMike (Member # 709) on :
My grandfathers were on opposite sides. Not the same theaters though thankfully. I'd hate for them to have had to shoot each other before my parents were concieved.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
quote:Killed Romans, mostly.
Sol, the question was what did they do in World War II ... did you fail to read?
Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
Dad spent 8 months in a priosn camp. Uncle Wallace died two weeks before VE day. 5 of Moms six brothers served, as did Wallaces brothers.
Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
DAD? How frelling old ARE you, Kosh?
My maternal grandfather was a Seargeant during WW2, stationed at a base in Mississippi. His brother was killed in the invasion of Normandy. My paternal grandfather drove jeeps in Europe. He never spoke a word about it to anyone after he came back. Not one word.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
It's not necessarily a question of how old Kosh is, but at what age his Dad had him ...
Posted by Siegfried (Member # 29) on :
My father served as a second lieutenant in the US Army Air Corp during World War II. He was stationed at a base in Australia, I believe. He didn't see any action during the war. During a flight, the engine on his airplane failed, and he and his plane crashed into a barn. My dad broke his an arm and a collarbone, I think. This was around 1942 or so. His brother served in the US Navy during World War II. I can't remember which ship or rank, however. I know that he wasn't at Pearl Harbor on December 7th. He was part of the occupying forces for the small islands in the Pacific (nope, can't remember for certain either). My dad's other brother also served in the US Army, but he was a medic and not a soldier.
As an interesting side note, I was rustling through some stuff in my room this weekend and found the enlistment document for my paternal great-grandfather. He served in the Union Army during the US Civil War.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
I honestly don't know what they did, much less who my ancestors were.
The only ancestor I do know of is my great, great, great, great, great, great grandfather, Aleksandr Pushkin. Well give or take a great.
I know my grandmother was just a child during WWII. Fled Russia just before the rise of the Soviet Union to France. Where, years later, met my grandfather, an American Air Force officer. After my mom was born in Paris, they came to America.
That's pretty much it.
[ November 06, 2001: Message edited by: Hobbes ]
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Shik: Your ancestors foraged and gathered during WW2?
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
Ancestors.. my mom would love this.
Let's see... My mom's father wasn't in the war, for some reason, which I've always assumed was connected to his working in the coal mines at the time. He dies of a brain tumor in 1983.
My mom's uncle, however, was on the lines in Europe during the Battle of the Bulge. He's still around, and makes me look like a moderate liberal.
My dad's dad was a mechanic and worked on bombers out near Salt Lake. They say there's a plane at the bottom of the lake that is the fault of someone on grandad's team. He died of a heart attack at 49.
My uncle was in Vietnam, Grenada, Panama, and Desert Storm. He was in MI for most of his career and retired a few years back as a Colonel.
My dad was a Marine for a short time but was medically discharged JUST before 'Nam.
Farther back, one of my ancestral relatives (not on a direct line) served as a Union Admiral during the Civil War, and his ship was known for performing dangerous rescues of other sinking ships. They named a destroyer for him, which served in WWII in both Atlantic and Pacific.
And the grandfather of the first Farquhar was a man named MacDuff... the one who killed MacBeth.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Getting more recent, my Dad served as a French translator for the Army in Indochina after completeing school at the Presidio. Since he had to fly over Vietnam to get there, he got combat time for the month in which he was flown in, and again when he was flown out (go figure).
My Uncle Bill enlisted in the Navy, and aside for a short stint on the Cone was assigned shore duty in Norfolk for his 4-year service.
My Sorta-Grandfather (as in, the dad of the guy who married my aunt) served in the Marine Corps in WWII and served in various campaigns, including Iwo Jima.
Posted by MaGiC (Member # 59) on :
My grandfather was a Sergeant Major in the British army. I know he was stationed in Germany at the end of the war, as my dad was born in a Brit army hospital there. My grandmother ran the NAAFI (sp?) store. A german woman wanted some basic supplies for her sons wedding and offered my nan a watch in payment for the goods. Nan agreed. The watch is platinum set with diamonds and ebony. Its worth 1000's of pounds. I don't think she realised this as she wore it at work all her life until her arhtritis got too bad. My mum almost passed out when she had it valued. My other grandad drove a tank, but I don't know where.
Posted by Mojo Jojo (Member # 256) on :
Well, my maternal grandfather was a pilot in the RAF (Fighter Command) who survived the Battle of Britain and countless other escort missions deep into Nazi Germany. He has what seems like an inexhaustible amount of stories of which nobody ever grows tired - so vividly he tells them.
After the war he emigrated to the Netherlands, where he met my maternal grandmother - she was part of the local underground resistance during '43-'45, and provided shelter for a few jews (crawling through the eye of the needle on more than one occasion). She's still in regular contact with their children.
My paternal folks are more closed off... they keep their experiences adamently to themselves. I know very little about their backgrounds, but the little bits information I do have aren't pleasant - he was a slave-labourer, she a prisoner in a camp (she hasn't revealed to me which camp in particular... frankly, the truth scares the hell out of me).
[ November 06, 2001: Message edited by: Mojo Jojo ]
Posted by Veers (Member # 661) on :
Both of my grandfathers were doctors, I believe. One was on the USS Pennsylvania, and the other was on another Navy vessel. No fighting stuff, I;m afraid, but my uncle was a Paratrooper. More recently, though.
Posted by Vogon Poet (Member # 393) on :
Well, my mum's stepfather (my maternal grandfather to all intents and purposes) was onme of many British emigr�s to Brazil who joined up, being commissioned at Sandhurst then fighting throughout the war in Burma in a tank regiment. Like many Burma veterans, he'd like to dance on Errol Flynn's grave for the execrable Objective: Burma! which depicted the world's most famous Tasmanian and a handful of American troops single-handedly winniung the campaign. The fact that the reality saw some of the most bloody fighting of the war (our own Eastern Front, really) gets overlooked to this day.
My maternal grandmother's brother served in the Fleet Air Arm as a Swordfish pilot (a biplane torpedo bomber). He got too close a look at a new German anti-aircraft battery; his memorial marker is in a cemetery in France, and just this year my parents & grandparents went to visit it for the first time. His navigator survived the war in a prison camp, by the way. Her other brother was in the Merchant Marine, on civilian cargo ships.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
I have no idea. Actually, most of my friends have no idea. Tsk. British kids today, eh? No respect for the past.
If I had to guess, I'd say probably trying not to get bombed. Or something.
Posted by Veers (Member # 661) on :
Oh, that's right--the Battle of Britian. And other battles. You guys were actually attacked. Actually, so were we Americans, at Pearl Harbor.
Posted by CaptainMike (Member # 709) on :
Thatll teach them to mess with our colonially occupied non-state!
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
"Oh, that's right--the Battle of Britian. And other battles. You guys were actually attacked. Actually, so were we Americans, at Pearl Harbor."
Yes. We were attacked fairly frequently. We were fighting the war for 2 years before you lot decieded to turn up, y'know.
But let's not go there again. Let us celebrate, er, monkeys. And biscuits.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Mmm... Monkey biscuits...
Posted by targetemployee (Member # 217) on :
~1650 Oldest known ancestor, Francis Lindsly, immigrates to the US. He will be one of the founders of New Haven, Connecticut. ~1776 An ancestor, Colonel Lindsly, fights for the American cause in the Revolutionary War. Some of his battles are in New Jersey. (BTW, if anyone sees a street sign that says "Lindsly" as part of the name in a New Jersey city, that street is probably named after my family. It may not be a ship, but I am none the less.) ~1944 Daniel Lindsly was a recon flyer over Europe. (One of my middle names, Daniel, is in honor of my grandfather.)
The other middle name, Irving, is in honor of my maternal grandfather. His distant relatives in the Baltic States were killed in the Shoah.
Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
quote: Omega asks: DAD? How frelling old ARE you, Kosh?
Fourty one, since August. I am the last of seven, six lived to grow up. Dad was 36 when I was born, Mom was 40. Dad died in 1997, Mom is still alive (81), and well enough. There is 7 years between me and the next one up. The one that died young was twenty months older them I was. I guess I'm the last of the generation born to WW2 vets in the USA, and at the extreme end at that.
(edit) I just saw Sigs post. So maybe I'm not in the last generation after all. I know he's younger then I am.
[ November 07, 2001: Message edited by: Kosh ]
Posted by First of Two (Member # 16) on :
Someone here is older than me? That's not FAIR! I wanted to be the old grouch! Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
Ships? Streets? Bah! If the information I have is correct, I'm descended from the guy after whom they named Delaware! :-)
Posted by Sol System (Member # 30) on :
Delanix?
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Rob,
You'll *always* be the old grouch around here.
Posted by PsyLiam (Member # 73) on :
Says Jeff, while pointing at his crotch.
Posted by Malnurtured Snay (Member # 411) on :
Er, no, I mean around "here" as in ... *FLARE*
You know, while Rob may be the grouch, you're going to be the Dirty Old Man, Liam.
Posted by TSN (Member # 31) on :
"Delanix?"
Ha. But no. Thomas West, Baron de la Warr. My great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather. Possibly.
Posted by Shik (Member # 343) on :
He can't be the dirty old man. That's my job. Unless, of course, I'm the suave "legend in his own mind" poseur. Or just the resident pedophile.
Posted by Tec (Member # 136) on :
Damn got in on another good thread late. Anyway out of my three grandfathers (yes three my moms parents got divorced) none of them ever talked about it. What I did gather from things I was told by others is this. My stepgrandfather served on board a transport running prisoners across the channel. Amazingly he worked with one of his brothers. My moms dad I have never heard anything about Lastly my dads dad worked as a radioman.
