emotionally draining weekend.

[elandil]

This is one of the few places I can talk about this, and feel that people understand. I need to get it out, so bear with me.

My mother passed away last august. She was the last to leave, my father having passed 4 years ago, and my grandparents in the 80's and 90's. Most of my memories of my grandparents have to do with my grandmother, because grandpa was sick for several years before he passed. I have a few of him, but not many, and most of them involves him taking my brother out to do stuff and I had to stay back because I wasn't old enough.

Growing up in the country, rural NW Georgia, was a paradise. Even tho mom and dad had divorced when I was young, mom stayed so we could grow up close to the family. Dad wasn't around much, he was always on the road, so time spent with him was rare.

One thing about old country folk, there's always a strong vein of patriotism and military heritage that runs rampant thru our bloodline. I know my Great Grandfather was in WWI in the Calvary, I know my dad was infantry in vietnam, My uncle was SF in vietnam, my other uncle was in Korea, and until this weekend all I knew about my grandfather was that he was in the army during WWII.

This weekend, my brother and I got together to start going thru mom's house, and clearing it out. It was a tough thing to start, but one thing good came out of it. Apparently, after my grandmother died in 98, my aunt (the family historian) put together a history of my grandparents. It was an amazing read, and really suprised me with the information I found out. Turns out my grandfather, who was originally from Tenn, came to georgia with the CCC, and thats how he met grandma. He was working on the Fort Mountain State Park project, his official job with the CCC was Cook.

some interesting information I found out...

they were married Dec 7, 1940. (I'm sure they never forgot their first anniversary)
My father, the oldest, was born 43 days after Pearl Harbor. Jan 19, 1942.
Grandfather had actually joined the army in April of 1940. He was assigned to the 6th Calvary, Troop B, as a Cook. He passed the exams for both First Cook and Mess Seargent. At the time, 6th Cav was stationed at Fort Oglethorpe, GA. This was only about 40 miles from the CCC camp he worked at, so it made the courtship with grandma easier.
In 1943, the 6th Cav was moved to Ireland in preparation for action in the ETO. At this time part of the 6th was split off into the 28th Reconnaissance calvary division. Grandpa was part of this split.
The 28th Hit Normandy on D-Day +33, and worked in several parts of Europe, with the biggest part being played in the Battle of the Bulge. We know grandpa killed at least one German, and had the German Officers Dagger as a souvenir. In Dec of 44, he was wounded, earning the purple heart. However, the medal never got awarded to him, and he never pushed the issue. He was honorably discharged in 1945 as a Technician, class 5(?) from the 28 Reconnaissance, Troop D.

the 6th Calvary museum is still in Fort Oglethorpe, which is less than an hours drive from where I live. I'm hoping to take a ride up soon, see what information I can find out.

Funny thing is, at least now I know how I come by my love of Rations....it's in my blood...

[housil]

First of all, I´m very sorry with your loss.

My both grandpas served in WWII, both were airforce. My Dad, born 1938 became a chef, went to the USA in 1960. After he has graduate from master chef school he got married to my mom. Me and my two siblings we grew up in a restaurants kitchen this is how I/we got related into cooking.
Lucky me my parents are still alive and in great shape. When ever I have a cooking question, I call my Dad and ask him how to do this and that...

[Norton]

Sorry to hear of your loss. I am a southerner and had been stationed in Georgia in 1980
Georgia is a great state with good people and good food
like you I love the rural south and where I grew up as well. My Grandfather was in the CCC in Tennessee also
We have that in common.
I am going to look up the 6th Cav and see if I can find out more their history

[adamboy86]

sorry to hear about your loss. It's always hard to lose family members.


the story is very cool and interesting.
I don't have many family members in the army. All I know is both my great grandpas were in the Army one was in Holland and one was in Poland. They both passed away in the war.My grandmas told me a little bit about it but they didn't like to talk about it. I met my grandpa's brother for the first time in 2008.and I know he is an active Air Force In Holland.that's all the family members that I know of that are in the army. I am thinking about visiting my family in Holland 1 day in the near future.

[dirtbag]

Sorry for your loss, all of my 'older generations' are gone too, as well as my wife's.
My dad was in WW2, in the South pacific.
He was on New guinea, until he got malaria and polio at the same time, so he spent the last bit of the war in Australia, recovering and then guarding the few japanese prisoners that surrendered.
I was in Vietnam, '69, '70 and '71.

[jfko6]

Am sure at some point many will want to know more about their ancestors. I did the DNA test at Ancestry.Com and discovered some things or reinforced or, even proven some family lore. Like for example, being contacted by a distant relative in Australia that I didn't know about save for family lore through DNA record.

Military records can be helpful and useful. But note that "on July 12, 1973, a fire at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis destroyed records held for Veterans who were discharged from the Army and Air Force." Thousands or millions of records were lost in the fire. No cause was ever found.

I took a gander, with fingers crossed, that my grandfather's record survived. Luckily some were recovered. Not all, albeit, with apparent burn marks on some copies of them. For some of the records I do have, that were not contained in his file, I plan on copying and forwarding back to the National Personnel Records Center one day.

I did discover information that he himself mentioned once that I personally thought was interesting. Simply, more nostalgic but helpful.

He was in France and crossed the Rhine and moved with Patton's 3rd Army 9/4 Infantry Division. And was injured in Germany. Ironically, or not surprisingly, he never mentioned that, specifically. His file indicated that he did not want his family contacted during his stay in the hospital.

But perhaps more importantly, the war definitely had an impact on him like it did for so many veterans who returned from the war. I posted a video in Military Videos of the 1946 documentary "Let there be light" by John Huston if memory serves correctly.

[ViperGTS]

Elandil, sorry to hear about whats going on, but it is good to get it out,

That must have been a tough weekend with your brother.

I come from divorced parents as well, and it was not a good situation when i was younger, very tough. My dad was a few hundred miles away, so my sister and I were on a plane every other weekend from age 6 to 16.

All my grandparents are gone as well, but did research since ww2 was never something they were willing to talk to me about. One grandpa joined late and the war ended before his unit was called up, Navy. The other GPa was Army Air Corp and was in Europe/Africa for 2.5 years as a b17 gunner and engineer; 42 to 45.
http://www.301bg.com/wagner_joseph_w7893_301bg.cfm
I have some of his medals displayed in a case he personally built. It's one of my greatest treasures.

I did start a post for this:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=10200

I was in Vietnam, '69, '70 and '71.

Anybody that served 3 tours is the opposite of a dirtbag. Thanks for what you did.

In high school, one of my teachers talked about his time as a Marine on hill 861, and i had such amazing respect for that man, and that he was able to talk about the hell he went through. He has been on The History Channel many times to share his story.