Military Family History Discovery

flieger83

flieger83

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I don't remember if I told this story, but if so please bear with me. One of my students, now a senior, came to me to inform me that he had enlisted in the USMC. He'd been working hard on his ASVAB score, trying to raise it higher and higher to open up some really excellent opportunities.

After the congratulations in our office, he sat and we chatted. He said "sir...do you remember my freshman year and I brought that box in? My parents are finally building a display for it!"

LONG story short...he brought in a box, with his mom, and it was filled with "military stuff" that belonged to his great-grandfather and his brother; both had passed. Nobody in the family knew what it was and nobody wanted it. They wanted to know if it was worth selling.

I looked at it all...spread it out...there's a banner with a bunch of patches and medals attached...all WWII army. The bunch was indicative of service in the European Theater. And then there was the other bunch. A LOT of paperwork, a few medals (air medal, purple heart) and some certificates, etc. The first item I found told me the entire story!

This is the first document I saw (they said I can share it). Navy folks...this SHOULD ring a bell.

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I went on Ancestry.com last year and discovered that my sons’ 7th great-grandfather on their mother’s side fought at the battle of Yorktown as a 17 yr old . I submitted a ton of research and got them membership in Sons of the American Revolution. Another line goes back to 1640’s Dutch upper New York State. They likely served in the State Militia back 14 generations. The oldest Naval service I could find was a great-great grandfather who served on the USS Texas during
the First World War. No one KIA as far as I know.
 
NJROTC-CC said:
I went on Ancestry.com last year and discovered that my sons’ 7th great-grandfather on their mother’s side fought at the battle of Yorktown as a 17 yr old . I submitted a ton of research and got them membership in Sons of the American Revolution. Another line goes back to 1640’s Dutch upper New York State. They likely served in the State Militia back 14 generations. The oldest Naval service I could find was a great-great grandfather who served on the USS Texas during
the First World War. No one KIA as far as I know.
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My family on my mother’s side goes back to the Dutch in upstate New York near Albany. My brother did the research for Sons and Daughters but never finished it.

My father’s uncles were in Navy in WW2 out of Queens. I have a Japanese sword that one got. Probably won it in a card game.
 
A1Janitor said:
My family on my mother’s side goes back to the Dutch in upstate New York near Albany. My brother did the research for Sons and Daughters but never finished it.

My father’s uncles were in Navy in WW2 out of Queens. I have a Japanese sword that one got. Probably won it in a card game.
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Earliest birth was 1649 in Beverwyck, N.Y. (now Albany). Nostrand Avenue in Brooklyn was named after one of the direct ancestors. Some fought with the Wolver Hollow Militia (and were defeated) in the Battle of Long Island. Two uncles in WWII served on ships that were each hit by two Kamikazes. One was on CV-14. The other was on DM-31 at Okinawa. I believe both were newly built ships and both were on the original muster lists on commissioning day. Wife’s grandfather served in Coast Guard during WWII. Both my father and wife’s father served in the navy. I don’t believe we have ever had a commissioned officer on either side of our family. DS would be the first, if he makes it.
 
An incredible and haunting find. I just finished Pacific Crucible by Ian Toll and that letter would have fit right into one of the chapters of the book.
 
flieger83 said:
Yep!

This gent was actually "left behind" in Hawaii to convert from the Devastator to the Avenger. They then flew to Midway and launched from there to attack to Japanese fleet alongside their comrades.
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That's very cool. When my dad passed, I got custody of a "Blood Patch" which was part of the flight jacket worn by the Flying Tigers. I don't know how he came by it but it might have been from one of his pilots during WWII. It was not in good shape so my wife and I had it stabilized and mounted in a frame.

When I was graduating from USNA, I had the opportunity to reenlist my father approx 10 mins after my USNA graduation. At the time, he had 36 or so yrs Active and Reserve. There was (of course) some media interest and I had to pull together a military bio on him and learned a lot that I did not know previously. Aircrew Qualified in C118, C54 and C47 (transports) as well as PBY (long range patrol/seaplane) and SB2C and SBD (Dive Bombers) and TBF (torpedo bomber). He was Combat Aircrew qualified in SBD, SB2C and TBF which were all heavily used in WWII. Suffice it to say that he had a pretty nice ribbon rack.
 
A follow-up. I spoke with my student again today and told him of folks' interest. He said I should share some more as his family wants to get the word out in case it reaches anyone else that is connected in some way.

Here's another (I was able to get a replacement medal, they didn't have the original).
 

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It’s no longer PC, but the first person in my family listed as fighting for “the country” was a Sergeant cited by the Governor of the Massachusetts colony for his actions in the Pequot Wars.
 
Devil Doc said:
Arnold was a hero.
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I completely agree!

I was stunned that the family was going to "trash" all of this (there's so much more). They didn't know what it was, and nobody had taught them anything. I basically held a class in my office about Midway and the sacrifices made. Once we did that...the interest started to grow.

Steve
 
Devil Doc said:
Arnold was a hero.
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And he was apparently a badass!

Flieger, with the family’s blessing please continue to post. I’ve been reading a lot about the pacific theatre lately and finding any sort of personal (even through the internet, through SAF... anonymously) story is very touching and eye opening. Even with a well written book it can be hard to grasp the humanity of the war.
 
The family said to press on...this would have been the most painful for the family back then...my students family didn't really understand it at first.

They do now and have put together a family memory display for the two brothers.


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A family's sacrifice, sadly not uncommon then and even today, not uncommon enough.

Steve
 
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