re: Spinoff: Where did your relatives serve in WWII?

Grandfather was in the Army in North Africa and Sicily.

Grandfather was in the army. He was fighting in Belgium when he was captured. Great guy.
Great uncle was in the merchant marines. He had two Liberty ships torpedoed out from under him. He passed before I was born.

My grandfather was in the Navy and fought at Iwo Jima. He has some crazy stories about the Japs. I have his V-day letter and a Jap rifle he took off a dead Jap.

One grandfather in Europe with 101st Airborne, the other a Navy landing craft driver in pacific. A great uncle was a Marine in the Pacific, had an ugly bullet scar on his neck from a Jap sniper. All are gone now but were some tough SOB's.

Two great uncles were in Canadian army and served in Europe, one uncle was in Princess Patricia light infantry and it was rough on him. My grandmother said he was never the same after the war and had alcohol issues, died about 30 yrs after the war and was not in a good spot. My grandfather was in the CDN reserves and never was drafted or sent overseas as he was farmer and they were considered crucial to war effort.

My wife’s paternal grandfather was a physician in CDN army and spent war in Britain overseas, he met a british nurse there and left his CDN wife w/ 2 young kids (one was my father in law). Not a real high opinion of him in the family. Her maternal grandfather was in CDN reserves and a cpl of great uncles also served in CDN infantry. About 10% of CDN population served in WWII.

Dad's dad was 3rd Division Marine Corps and fought in Bougainville. He fought off a big group of Japs, as the newspaper clip said, and was awarded. He brought home one of the soldier's flags which I had the D-Day Museum folks help me with sealing it and cleaning it as a gift for my dad.
Bougainville

Mom's dad was in the Navy in the Pacific as well. I need to find out from my mom which boat he was on and what they were involved in.

Paternal grandfather was in Italy most of his time. I believe he worked as an MP. I don't believe he saw any action. But he has on rare occasion discussed how they went in behind and helped to liberate concentration camps. He won't talk about it much though. Apparently he was one that got to see the atrocities first hand.

Paternal grandfather. Battle of the Bulge.

My dad served in the Coast Guard in the North Atlantic patrol. Look out for the 'wolf pack'

My mom liked to brag he was the youngest Chief Petty Officer in the Coast Guard (25). He ran the engine room (nice and warm). They wanted him to become an officer and he turned them down. Said he'd rather be 'top of the bottom, than bottom of the top'.

My father served on the USS Bunker Hill CV-17. His carrier was hit by two kamikaze's while supporting the invasion of Okinawa. He was a one of the guys that helped push planes around on the flight deck and rearmed the planes. As we were told they had launched their planes and sailors like my Dad had gone to the next deck down for when the first kamikaze hit. The way out of the ready room was blocked by the effects of the explosion and resulting fire. He and the others with him were forced to jump off the ship. Hours after the attack he was rescued by one of the destroyers with the group. Dad never talked about this much. An aunt told my mom that he had been wounded in the attack but did not receive a purple heart. Dad had no noticeable scars but occasionally would get a fester on his back and mom would get very small piece of metal out of them this was many, many years after the fact. As the story went at the end of the war in an effort to downsize the military in a hurry if you claimed no injuries your discharge was expedited. Dad was a homesick farm boy from South Alabama and claimed no injuries so he could go home. Years later my mom escorted my Dad to a ship reunion. On the program it listed the names of all those killed. It also listed all those that were wounded. My dads name was on the list of wounded.