Did you lose an ancester in direct line during a war?

[Mal Hombre]

Every one in My family who went to either war came back.Both My grandfathers and a step grandfather served in WW1,The step grandfather also served throughout WW2.My paternal grandfather was a machine gunner in the trenches,After the Great War He joined the Police and He rose to senior rank,When the King and queen visited Portsmouth,He showed Them around the bomb damage.

[bowlinggreen]

No direct ancestors, but a near miss - one of my great uncles (not sure how many greats, how does that work?) was killed in our Civil War. Had direct ancestors in other conflicts, but they all made it, luckily. I'm glad we dropped the Bomb on Japan, or I might not be here.

[cginok]

An ancestor of mine died at the Alamo...James Butler Bonham. I'm not sure how direct it is though. Grandfather, great uncle, not sure. I do remember when I was a kid, this would've been the mid 70's, someone having the papers for the land deed that he was given for serving in the Texas army. (Texas didn't have the money to pay men to fight, so they gave them parcels of land as payment for their services.) The land had long since been sold off, but someone had kept the original paperwork for whatever reason.

I have an uncle that died in 1945. He signed up the day after Pearl Harbor, like every other male of service age did. He joined the navy, shipped off a week or two later for basic training, was assigned to a destroyer, saw action at Midway, served throughout the entire war without a scratch. December of 1945, somewhere in California, first time back in the States in almost 4 years, he and 4 other buddies decided to hit the town and chase the girls. Whoever was driving them back to the base that night, they were all drunk, wrapped the car around a telephone pole. The other 4 walked away without a scratch, my uncle was dead. We've always assumed he must've been sitting on the side that hit the pole. I've always thought how ironic it was to survive 4 years of war, only to die in a drunk driving accident your first night back in your home country.

[otokonomidori]

My great uncle is buried here in Guillemont Rd Cemetery which is in the region of the Somme.

Daft bugger volunteered in 1914 and was killed by shellfire on 27th January 1917.

He served under a false name but no one in the family ever knew why !! Probably owed money.

[haroldeye]

Father's elder brother was captured by the Soviets in 1939 and then vanished. As he was last heard from in one of the camps that provided the bodies for Katyn, the assumption was that he was murdered by the Soviets.

Fathers uncle and three cousins were partisans in the Polish Home Army and were captured by the Germans and sent to Belsen. Only one survived the experience.

[Rogerbh]

Originally Posted by otokonomidori

My great uncle is buried here in Guillemont Rd Cemetery which is in the region of the Somme.

Daft bugger volunteered in 1914 and was killed by shellfire on 27th January 1917.

He served under a false name but no one in the family ever knew why !! Probably owed money.

There is a story that underaged or illiterate Brits signed their papers as "Tommy Atkins" because the sample name was listed as Tommy Atkins. What false name did he use?

[otokonomidori]

Originally Posted by Rogerbh

There is a story that underaged or illiterate Brits signed their papers as "Tommy Atkins" because the sample name was listed as Tommy Atkins. What false name did he use?

J Craig. But he joined up in 1914 under his real name and changed to this one in 1915 after being wounded and then transferred to an Ulster regiment .

Definitely avoiding somebody!!!

[bloke57]

All survived bar my father's uncle Arthur - whose name he bore as a middle name. Dad was a fighter pilot during WWII but did not see much action.

My maternal grandfather was lucky in WWI. Being one of the few trained driver/mechanics of the era, he did not get posted to the trenches but drove and maintained armaments lorries and converted buses.

His brother, my great uncle, survived the Somme...just!

The Germans were clearing the battlefield and shooting the corpses (an act of kindness not cruelty - to make sure) but he just managed to raise an arm. He was taken to a German field hospital and was later entrusted to the care of a Russian doctor who rebuilt him. He named his son (my mum's cousin) Ivan after that kind and skilful surgeon.

Despite all that he lived to be 93.

[tygrkhat40]

Neither of my grandfathers served in either WWI or WWII. Mom's dad was medically exempt from the Great War, but believed that he would have been called up regardless of his exemption if the war had gone beyond 1918. He was too old for WWII, but he took on US Citizenship (emigrated from Canada) to avoid any possibility of being called back.

Dad's dad was too young for WWI and too old for WWII. My father missed Korea when he and a fellow Marine, for reasons that will always be unclear to me, were assigned guard duty at the gate of Pearl Harbor. He later became a DI at Parris Island and trained guys for Korea.

[mungy]

My Grandad was a runner in WW2. He survived and lived till 1975.

Sadly I have no memory of him.