Did any of y'all have relatives/grandfathers who fought in WWI?

[v.Tutschek]

two brothers of my great-grandfather was been kia at the battle of fort douaumont at verdun. they never found their bodys.

[flieger]

My Great Uncle served in the "Lafayette Flying Corps".
He was assigned with SPA 38 and flew the Spad VII.

[Kaiser Bill]

My great uncle Earl Arnold served in WW1 with a local outfit...the 313th machine gun batallion. For years he had a WW1 water cooled m/g in the window of his barber shop. (Wish I had it today.) Across the street from his barbershop was the 313th M/G Batallion Club for WW1 vets. To this day the emblem is still inlaid in the sidewalk in brass although the club is now an after hours hang out.

I do have his shaving mirror... which is simply a highly polished piece of steel with a device for hanging it up on a nail or a tree branch. No other artifacts remain anywhere in the family.

[sydney]

Hi Free,

I had three grandfathers! One grandfather was a camel pilot and his two brothers were in the infantry. My other grandfather was also a camel pilot. And my step-grandfather was in both WW1 and WW2 in the cavalry. I am very grateful that they all survived.

Sydney

[NeilE]

Maternal Grandfather, British infantry, 8th Londons (Post Office Rifles 1916-1918), a great uncle was an engineer in the Australian Light Horse, another was in the 48th Battalion AIF, Paternal Grandfather was a light rail locomotive driver attached to some heavy artillery unit - dont have any details tho.

(All surviived)

Also World War II - Father 10 Sqn RAAF, Uncle field artillery unit - Syria, Western Desert, New Guinea, Bouganville, Borneo. Also two second cousins (Bros) - one killed while flying a Hurricane and one beheaded by the Japanese on Ambon.

There are probably more in the extended family - still researching!

[Ross_Moorhouse]

At our local memorial here in Epping. My wife's granmothers uncle, Phillip Passmore, has his name recorded here as he was killed at Gallipoli.

His brother Frank who joined up after the death of Phillip and survived the war. Frank served in France.

Phillip enlisted in May 1915. He was 19 and had to have his father write a letter giving him permission to join up.

He joined the 19th Battalion “A” Company Australian Infantry, A.I.F. He was an engineer. He was sent to Gallipoli as a reinforcement.

He was killed sometime between 16th and 21st Nov. His Casualty Form indicated 21st Nov. The AWM Roll of Honour says 16th Nov. At the time of his death his unit was at Popes Hill.

He buried in the Shrapnel Valley Cemetery, Gallipoli. It is not recorded how he was killed. His life was taken when he was so young. Like many other young men he gave his all for his family and country.

[tcrean7828]

Mates,

Grandfather on British Side was Private Thomas Crean and he fought in the "Kings own Scottish Boarders" KOSB with the infantry as a snipper on the western front. Was wounded on the Kaisers birthday in the hand (between the thumb and forefinger on his right hand) - he Survived the war.

My Stepmother's cousin on my German Side was Lt. Fritz Höhn (A Balloon Buster) and was the Commander of Jasta 41 with 21 Victories and 2 unconfirmed. Badly wounded on 20 April 1918, Höhn recovered and knocked down ten Allied balloons before he was killed in combat. He was shot down in his Fokker D.VII, possibly by Lt. Robert Le Petit of Spad 67 between Dontrien and Moronvillers and Sergent Robert Brillaud of Spad 26, one West of Somme-Py. (St. Martin is about 10 Km. West of Somme-Py and 1Km. South of Dontrien.) He was KIA on 03 Oct 1918 before the proposals for his PLM had been acted upon.

ttfn

tcrean7828

tom

[Lyle]

My maternal grandfather, Harry Schneider, served in the US 1st Army during the War, having been with Gen. Pershing during his foray into Mexico after Pancho Villa. His big fight in the War was during the Meuse-Argonne offensive, where he escaped bullets but got a dose of mustard gas. He remained active in veteran's affairs and was a member of the American Legion. He passed away in December 1974.

Since I was a kid when he died, I never did get to talk to him about his war experiences. All that I knew about him I got from my mom. I did hear he tried to volunteer for reenlistment in December 1941 but got turned down. I remember having his doughboy helmet and playing soldier with it...it was just old stuff to me then.

An interesting sidenote to this was that my dad's father was a civilian translator for General Pershing's staff--he was an American but spoke French like a native and had been living in France since before the war selling farm equipment.