What were your people doing during WWII?

[JanetM]

Your parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, uncles, aunts, etc... I doubt if many, if any, of us have had personal experience with the war, but if so, that counts too!

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

My father was a radioman at Great Lakes Naval Station, near Chicago.
One grandfather did something with supplies in China. The other was too old for military service, but was teaching.

[Vern Humphrey]

My Dad was a Doodlebugger (oil exploration.) He was born in 1906, and so was too young for WWI and too old for WWII. He also had a broken back from a motorcycle accident, and was in a "reserve occupation" (more valuable doing his civilian job and carrying a rifle.) His contribution was to go to the upper reaches of the Amazon River -- he's the man who discovered the Venezuelan oil fields. He was here for the Motoloni Indian uprising and had hair-raising tales to tell about it.

[faithfulservant]

my dad served in the conflict ..... was stationed in england during his service ... used the gi bill to get his degree in geophysics

[Signum Crucis]

I have no idea. I know that my great-granddaddy Champ was in the Army, but that's it. No clue as to the rest of the family on either side.

[Kage_ar]

Pearl Harbor took place on my grandpa's birthday. He was the minister of a small congregation and continued as a minister through the war.

[jessica01]

On my dad's side, my grandfather, his brothers, my grandmother's brothers, and the eventual brother-in-law all served in various branches of the military. I know one great uncle was in the Navy. My grandfather's oldest brother was an engineer for the Army (I think) and wound up working for oil companies in Alaska and Venezuela and Texas starting in the 50s. My grandfather was the youngest and was barely old enough to be on the ship on the way to Japan when war ended. Another of my great uncles was a flight navigator, and continued doing that for awhile for commercial airlines.

On my mom's side, her father was the only son of a farming family, so he didn't serve in the war. I never knew what the great uncles on that side did, but as they were also from small farms they may have done the same.

[Deacon Arky]

My mom was a toddler (born 2 months before Pearl Harbor)

My Dad was a smidge to young to be drafted for WWII (17 yrs. old in 1945) but he was drafted for Korea.

[blueyedmule]

Ma's daddy was drafted the last bit of WW2 with a wife and three kids. He didn't have to go to fight, it was over before he was trained up to go. Dunno about dad's dad, he's a big blank spot.
Dad tried to enlist but they didn't want him with flat feet and an old injury. Then I was in the first Gulf War.

[JanetM]

My great-grandfather (on grandmother's side) was a journalist captured by the Japanese and was meant to be executed, but as I understand, he dug a hole in his prison and escaped the night before. His two wives (they were Buddhists) went from door to door selling soup after their jewelry business was bombed.

And at 9 years old, my grandfather climbed coconut trees for the Japanese soldiers in exchange for rice to feed the family.

[Riverboat]

My father served in the Army Air Force training pilots in Nevada. One uncle was a Sea-Bee. I lost another uncle when his plane went down off the coast of Australia.

[Mrs. Timmy]

My mom and her younger brother were busy being little kids living in San José, Costa Rica. My grandfather (her dad) was a civil engineer, and was commissioned from 1941-1946 by the Federal Government to build the stretch of the Pan-American Highway going through Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Mom's older half-brother did serve in the US Navy, but I don't know on what ship. He and my father both spent Christmas of 1943 at Pearl Harbor, but on different ships, and it would be a good 10-11 years before they'd actually meet.

My dad served in the USMC as a radar operator in the PBJ (the Marine version of the B-25 Mitchell). He spent time in the Solomons and on Mindinao. He had a million stories to tell, and I never tired of listening to them. I've got them all written down, and even arranged for him to spend an hour with an oral historian at the National Museum of the Pacific War a few months before Daddy's death in 2013. His brother spent the war years at the United States Naval Academy, class of '46. Their mom (my grandmother) was in charge of the chow hall at the Army fort in Meridian, MS. My grandfather had died in 1937 at the age of 75.

[anawim]

My father served in communications (Morse Code) on a destroyer.

[ThomisticCajunAggie]

Mom's Family: Grandpa and Grandma were born in 1942 -- so they didn't exist for the first bit and they were much too young to remember the end of the war. I think Grandpa's dad served on the European front -- but I'm not sure in what capacity. I don't think Grandma's dad served, though I could be wrong.

Pop's Family: Grandpa was born in 1930, so he remembers the war, but was still too young to serve in it. His dad died in 1935-6, and so did not live to see the war (though I think he may have served in WWI?). Grandpa's family was estranged from his parents' siblings so I don't know anything about them except what some genealogical records indicate, because his mom was his dad's second wife. I can't find any military records for Grandma's dad (my namesake), but I feel certain that he was enlisted at least for a little bit, because almost every male on my Pop's side of the family was enlisted at some point. However, I don't think he served in WW2. I know that he did a lot of hard manual labor during the Depression (digging ditches, etc. for the WPA) and I don't think he really had the stamina to go to war by the time that rolled around. I think he was the youngest of his siblings most of whom were women, so I don't think anyone else in that branch of the family served. That being said, Grandma's mom had a lot of younger brothers, so I would be surprised if none of them served in WW2 (though in what capacity, I don't know).