My maternal grandfather enlisted in the Navy and was aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. He said the hills looked like they were covered in snow, because the Japanese had tied white hankies to all of the guns embanked in the hills.
My paternal grandfather flew in WWII for the Navy. I don't know much more than that.
My dad served as a radio engineer for the Marines in Viet Nam. He signed up to avoid getting drafted, which made my grandfather disown him.
There's a couple old guys in my neighborhood who were taken to the internment camps (actually, now just one). I've bought them many a beer as they tell their stories. It is necessary to hear.
My maternal grandfather was born in 1901, so he was just a shade young for WWI and was working the farm anyway, so he didn't volunteer. My oldest uncle on that side served in Korea, but in 1954, just after the end of formal hostilities, and the rest of them were too young for Korea and too old for Vietnam. My paternal grandfather was born in 1906, so he was too old for the WWII draft and had a few kids and a farm, so wasn't looking to volunteer either. Dad did his two years after high school in San Antonio in 1958-60.
My SIL's dad had some great stories about his WWII experiences, though. He was a native of Naples, and when the Allies finally invaded in 1943, he reckoned that half of his friends volunteered their services to the Brits, and the other half went to the Yanks. He went to the Brits, and ended up landing on the North African coast in the dead of night in inflatable rafts and infiltrating the local bars to gather up intel, all at the age of 15.
I know that there is DNA testing for African descendants to find out what region one has descended from. Do they have the same for other countries? Europe and the like?
Yes.
My Cousin Charlie found out that he is almost entirely Celtic... which seemed odd since we are part Spanish.
Then he went to our ancestral villages in Spain and found bagpipes and tartan. Dude.
He went to the Brits, and ended up landing on the North African coast in the dead of night in inflatable rafts and infiltrating the local bars to gather up intel, all at the age of 15.
Huh. Good thing that clever military scheme wasn't thwarted by him being carded....
I know that there is DNA testing for African descendants to find out what region one has descended from. Do they have the same for other countries?
Kind of, but it's expensive and very sketchy. And that's from a standpoint where people use it for archaeology, and there's at least academic checks on it. I have no idea what sort of checks there are in the commercial sector.
I don't know much about my OBC's family. Matter of fact, I know nothing. Hmm. Wonder if I should even attempt to try to find out if anyone on that side has done any research.
But my dad's family is related to this (in)famous McVay: [link]
> I didn't know car computers could tell you that.
The amount of data that pours out of obds these days is staggering. My brother relies heavily on the data to improve the running of his car. And, uh, sometimes to get it running.
I know that there is DNA testing for African descendants to find out what region one has descended from. Do they have the same for other countries? Europe and the like?
I did the National Geographic thing which wasn't any great surprise. It pretty much tells you what route your mothers (if you're female) took to get out of Africa. I was what you'd expect.
I need to convince my mother's surviving brother to do the patrilineal one now.
I didn't know car computers could tell you that.
I have the luck to have a friend who was obsessive about his GTI so he has the chip and software to tell me why my Jetta's engine light goes on. Now that I barely drive (making visits to the dealership very well spaced out) it's quite the relief.
I just discovered that my great-great-grandparents were first cousins.
