My Grandfather Was A WWI Vet

[Deep State Witch]

The catch is, he was conscripted and fought for the other side.

My grandfather lived in a German-speaking village in what's now western Romania, but it was part of Austria-Hungary at the time. At the beginning of what came to be known as WWI, soldiers came to his village and rounded up all of the young men and conscripted them into the army. My GF didn't want to go, and hid in a root cellar until they left. They came back, and he hid again, but they found him. He managed to desert and went back home. The third time they came after him, they shipped him to the Western Front. He saw "Big Bertha", the German's huge artillery cannon there. He was captured by the French, and spent the remainder of the war in a POW camp. He caught influenza on the way home after being released, but survived. After getting back home, he married his girl and immigrated to America. My Uncle Jake was born on the ship carrying them to New York.

In the 30's, the Bund tried to recruit him, but he told them to f*ck off. He had no loyalty to Germany. Two of his sons fought the Germans in WWII, and my dad fought in Korea. When I was a kid, he was visiting us and the news announced that the government was going to give a special bonus to WWI vets, and grandpap got all excited until my Mom reminded him that he fought for the other side!

[Ray Bruns]

1. grandpap got all excited until my Mom reminded him that he fought for the other side!

Poor Grandpap.

[hunter]

2. My family were Pacifists. They dodged the Civil War.

One of the reasons they'd come to America was to avoid shit like that.

Nevertheless one of my grandfathers joined the Army Air Corp before World War II because he figured that was the only way he'd ever escape Montana and see the world. Alas he was a klutz so the Army wisely didn't trust him to fly airplanes or fire guns. Instead they trained him to be an airplane mechanic and later an engineer.

My other grandfather was a Conscientious Objector during the war. He once got beat up by the cops as he was protesting the internment of his Japanese neighbors. His great compromise during the war was building and repairing ships of the Merchant Marine.

My dad and my wife's dad both served during the Korean War and it was just dumb luck they never went to Korea itself. My dad was a near-sighted Radar O'Reilly Army medical clerk and my Father-in-Law was a Navy corpsman assigned to the Marines. Neither would carry arms.

My wife's uncle was killed by the Nazis in the last days of World War II. His family wasn't notified until after the Victory Europe celebrations had commenced. My wife's grandma never really recovered from that. He's buried at Arlington.

We ought to remember all the young men who served in wars that were not of their making.