My four years of Army service in the late 60s, including a year in Vietnam. My late father’s flying in World War II and his Air Force career thereafter, and Mr. Boy’s late maternal grandfather who flew in Vietnam in a Navy career.
My nephew’s current service as a pilot-rated Navy officer. A Mississippi cousin-by-marriage who recently left the Army. My late great uncle from Dallas whose Navy unit landed on Omaha Beach on the first day, and his nephew who was there on the second day with the Army.
Another late great uncle from Mississippi who drove Army ammunition trucks in World War I, and a cousin who served in the Spanish-American war, though his unit never left its training camp in Houston.
Before that there was family who fought for the Confederacy, in the Mexican War, the Texas Revolution, the War of 1812, and in the American Revolution: Thomas Farrar, a lieutenant colonel in the South Carolina “line” of the Continental Army, and Claudius Pegues, Jr., a captain in the South Carolina militia, who died young from a combat wound.
Veterans all.
UPDATE: Mr. B.’s 5th grade teacher had a nice idea today for homework: let the kids practice their writing skills by writing thank-you letters to veterans. He’s not sure where they will be sent. He’ll find that out tomorrow.
THE TEXAS SCRIBBLER 
Dick, November 11th was my Uncle Joe’s 92nd birthday. He was born on Armistice Day 1918. Uncle Joe was in the Navy in WWII in the Pacific on a naval repair ship, though frequently he and his mates would be assigned to complete the repairs a ship while it sailed back into combat. To celebrate his birthday, my Mom took Uncle Joe and a friend of his who is also a WWII vet to Appleby’s where my Uncle and friend ate for free.
My Dad’s two older brothers, Floyd and Ed, both deceased also served in WWII. Uncle Floyd was with the Eighth Air Force in Britain and worked primarily with repairing damaged bombers. My Uncle Ed was a radioman on the Bristol Class destroyer, the USS Emmons. The Emmons participated in both the invasions of Normandy and southern France. On D-Day the Emmonas was one of the destroyers that gave much needed fire support to the GIs on Omaha Beach. In late 1944, the Emmons was converted into a destroyer minesweeper and sent to the Pacific. It was sunk by Kamikazes off Okinawha. My Uncle Ed survived by a fluke. He had been caught goofing off sunning himself by an officer some months earlier when he was suppose to be helping out on a work detail. For that Uncle Ed went on the extra duty rooster. The day the Emmons was attacked and sunk Uncle Ed had been given the duty of loading ammunition for one of the Emmons’ anti-aircraft guns. His normal duty station, the Combat Information Center recieved a direct hit from one of the kamikazes. Everyone there was killed except for the Gunnery Officer. My Uncle Ed survived, when he almost certainly been killed if he had not been caught goofing off.
My Dad enlisted in the Army when he turned 18 in 1946. He served in the Occupation of Japan, 1946-48. He was latter called up for Korea and assigned to Washington DC where he and my Mom meet at a night club. My Dad was sent to Enwetok in 1951 and watched several atomic tests, (Operation Greenhouse) from a safe distance and then went back to Washington where after several months, the Army decided that it no longer needed his services and honorably dischared my father.
Both my grandfather and grand uncle served in the Navy in WWI.
Member of my family have served in wartime going back to an Allbaugh who was the spell it with two lls and served in the Maryland-Delaware division or line of the Continental Army. My Civil War ancestors were no doubt shooting at yours and hopefully they all missed.
A distant cousin and namesake, David R. Allbaugh from Iowa was an Air Force pilot during the Vietnam War and recently played a leading part in founding the Sullivan Brothers Iowa Veterans Museum. Link to http://www.isualum.org/index.cfm?nodeID=20067 and http://www.groutmuseumdistrict.org/sullivan
respectively.
Tragically, another distant cousin, Marine Cpl Jeremy David Allbaugh was killed in Iraq in 2007. Link to http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bn/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSvcid=146859&GRid=20379342&
Jeremy’s Uncle, Joe Allbaugh was a senior member of Bush’s campaign staff in 2000 and served as Director of FEMA during Bush’s first term.