WW1

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JNG
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WW1

Post by JNG »

MY grandfather fought in WW1. He fought Italian troops. Had not a good thing to say about them.
At 65 folks we are the last generation for WW1.
TraderVic
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Re: WW1

Post by TraderVic »

My grandfather was a Sgt with the 139th Field Artillery on the Western Front in France.
Probably a number of us old grandkids of the WWI vets.......now.
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gamekeeper
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Re: WW1

Post by gamekeeper »

My mother's brother was K.I.A. March 1918 1st Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers.
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Re: WW1

Post by TANGO 4C »

JNG wrote: Mon Dec 30, 2019 3:36 pm MY grandfather fought in WW1. He fought Italian troops.
How did that come about?
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Old No7
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Re: WW1

Post by Old No7 »

I'm looking forward to seeing the new WWI 1917 movie which comes out soon.

I just watched a good Australian one called "Beneath Hill 60" about the tunnels and miners, and the world's largest man-made explosion ever.

No WWI Vets in my immediate family, but after reading so many stories about the Somme, Verdun or Galipoli; my Dad enlisted the day after Pearl Harbor was attacked to service allied airplanes, figuring that his mechanical skills would be needed and better used in that role -- and admittedly, he didn't relish the idea of becoming "cannon fodder"... :shock: (Glad he didn't!)

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765x53
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Re: WW1

Post by 765x53 »

JNG wrote: Mon Dec 30, 2019 3:36 pm MY grandfather fought in WW1. He fought Italian troops. Had not a good thing to say about them.
At 65 folks we are the last generation for WW1.
Was he German?
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Old No7
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Re: WW1

Post by Old No7 »

For those familiar with the story of "The Lost Battalion" (which wasn't really "lost" by the way), here's a sad and poignant footnote to the story below.

There's an excellent WWI movie by the same name which was very well researched and done well too.

Old No7

The Lost Battalion -- Post War Notes:

Major Whittlesey, Captains McMurtry and Holderman were awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor.

In later years, the jovial McMurtry enjoyed attending the Lost Battalion’s reunion dinners and picked up the check for most of them until he died in 1958 at the age of eighty-two. Whittlesey came home tense and uncomfortable as an acclaimed war hero, besieged by invitations to civic and charitable banquets that he found almost as strenuous as the Argonne siege. A bachelor, engrossed in his work as a lawyer on Wall Street, he wanted to forget the war. A friend remembered him complaining, “Not a day goes by but I hear from some of my old outfit, usually about some sorrow or misfortune. I cannot bear much more. I want to be left in peace.”

On Armistice Day in 1921, Whittlesey, McMurtry, and other Medal of Honor winners attended the dedication of the new Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at Arlington National Cemetery. Whittlesey had little to say to anybody and seemed ill at ease. Two weeks later, on Thanksgiving Day, he boarded a ship that was sailing on a holiday cruise to Havana. That evening, when liquor was served outside the three-mile limit, he sat up late in the saloon drinking with another passenger.

Then, announcing that he was going to bed, he went on deck and jumped overboard...
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jnyork
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Re: WW1

Post by jnyork »

JNG wrote: Mon Dec 30, 2019 3:36 pm MY grandfather fought in WW1. He fought Italian troops. Had not a good thing to say about them.
At 65 folks we are the last generation for WW1.
Sounds interesting. How about some details? Thanks
TraderVic
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Re: WW1

Post by TraderVic »

JNG wrote: Mon Dec 30, 2019 3:36 pm MY grandfather fought in WW1. He fought Italian troops. Had not a good thing to say about them.
At 65 folks we are the last generation for WW1.
Didn't the Italians fight Austria (mostly) in WWI ?
Rusty
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Re: WW1

Post by Rusty »

I was looking for information about my great uncle and this is what Hobie found for me a few years ago.

CPL Robert Blake Frederick is listed on the Tablets of the Missing at the Meuse-Argonne American Cemetery in France. His parents were John Nelson and Maude May (Walker) Frederick, right? I will tell you that the 29th Division was part of a large "push" or attack that kicked off on 8 Oct 1918 in the vicinity of Verdun. I am not familiar enough with the activities of the 115th to tell you exactly what they were doing on that date. Robert is on the tablets of the missing because his body was not recovered for burial.

Robert was a PFC in D Company 115th Infantry when he and is unit left Hoboken, NJ aboard the SS Covington for France on 15 Jun 1918. The whole division went through trench warfare training before going into the line in a so-called quiet sector in AUG-SEP 1918.
I have "Uncle Bobby's" pocket watch and know very little about him other than this. From what I have seen the events of THE LOST BATTALION and the events portrayed in the movie SGT YORK all seem to have happened at about the same time in the same area.
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765x53
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Re: WW1

Post by 765x53 »

TraderVic wrote: Mon Dec 30, 2019 6:28 pm
JNG wrote: Mon Dec 30, 2019 3:36 pm MY grandfather fought in WW1. He fought Italian troops. Had not a good thing to say about them.
At 65 folks we are the last generation for WW1.
Didn't the Italians fight Austria (mostly) in WWI ?
Italy and Japan were on our side in WW1.
JNG
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Re: WW1

Post by JNG »

He was a Hungarian cavalry trooper.
Worked as a blacksmith at NCR in Dayton until he retired.

Funny, on my moms side, Great great Grandfather was with Ohio horse cavalry.
His brother was hung for horse stealing.
So I have a bit of horse blood in me.
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Re: WW1

Post by piller »

One of my Mom's Uncles was in WWI. He was gassed. Survived, but Albert Wyant was never the same. He died much younger than the rest of the family. I don't have much information.
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Re: WW1

Post by jeepnik »

Both grandfathers served during WWI. Mom's dad was career navy and was serving when he died of a heart attack in 1942. My dad's dad was killed in Europe during WWI though he didn't die until he returned home. A combination of gas and the Spanish flu. One or the other he might have survived. But like a lot of the GI's at Fort Leavenworth hospital recovering from wounds he really didn't stand a chance once the flu hit.
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wm
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Re: WW1

Post by wm »

My wife's grandfather served during WW1. He was a pilot, stationed in Texas, and seemingly charged with border security (the Villa raids and the Punitive expedition was a recent memory back then).

Wm
jcw
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Re: WW1

Post by jcw »

My Grandfather was in WW-I. Served in the 348thFA as a medic/litter bearer. I have several of his service items. his lelmet,Army issue shaving kit, some misc. uniform items etc. also have the Issued booklet of "pictures from the front". and his pocket bible. My Great uncle was in the navy and died from the spanish flu in I think 1917. The only items the family has of his is part of a journal and his Win. '92 in 25/20.
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Re: WW1

Post by piller »

Great Uncle Albert Gunning Wyant died June 16, 1921. Sergeant First Class. Railroad Engineer in WWI. Google had some information.
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claybob86
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Re: WW1

Post by claybob86 »

I have my grandfather's Army spurs and binoculars from WWI. He served in France.
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DocRock
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Re: WW1

Post by DocRock »

The mountain war between Italian and Austro-Hungarian forces was right up there with the trenches and killing fields of Flanders for horror. Vast numbers of deaths by freezing, loss of limbs and other exposure related disease. Troops on both sides on the verge of starvation much of the time. Mules and manpower were it. Virtually no mechanization. Lots of specialized alpine units engaged in very, very nasty close quarters battles in the snow on the sides of mountains at 10,000 - 12,000 ft.
gcs
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Re: WW1

Post by gcs »

JNG wrote: ↑Mon Dec 30, 2019 3:36 pm
MY grandfather fought in WW1. He fought Italian troops. Had not a good thing to say about them.

Pretty sure the Italians felt the same. Just saying
Mike Armstrong
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Re: WW1

Post by Mike Armstrong »

One of my grandfathers fought as an infantry officer with the 89th Infantry. He was gassed but returned to duty, then hit by a machine gun bullet in the Meuse-Argonne campaign and sent to hospital. He recovered in time to serve in France after the Armistice in the Army of Occupation and brought back a French wife. He was very old for an infantryman in 1917--he'd been a noncom in the Spanish War in the Philippines in 1898, then made a reserve LT during the Moro Rebellion. Tried to re-up with his reserve commission in 1941, but they made him an officer in the California State Guard--too old for overseas duty.... Retired in 1946 as a reserve LTC. Left me some neat guns!
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Re: WW1

Post by Cottonwood Mike »

My step-grandad was a sailor during WWI. He served on the battleship, USS Georgia, one of the older pre-dreadnaught ships. I think he spent most of his time on coastal patrol or convoy duty. Then, after the war, returning doughboys, from France. He, then, was a fireman in Detroit until he retired. He and his wife retired to southern California. My widowed grandmother was friends with his wife. They married late in life after his wife had died. Very nice old fellow.
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DocRock
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Re: WW1

Post by DocRock »

SWMBO and I went to see "1917" this evening.

Oh dear, how disappointing.

The cinematography was nice. As a sort of fantasy/art film, it may have had merit. Otherwise, it was horrible. It had been dumbed down to levels of illiteracy, was utterly preposterous in its story line and inattention to historical fact, and was so simplistic, it's just hard to believe it for made. Double thumbs down.
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OldWin
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Re: WW1

Post by OldWin »

Sorry to hear it was poorly done. We need a movie version of "A Rifleman Went to War".
My great grandfather served in the infantry there. It was rough, and I think he left the best part of him there.
I have his discharge. It is a big, colored, elaborate document. I should frame it.
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Scrumbag
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Re: WW1

Post by Scrumbag »

JNG, you're grandfather fought the Italians? As in against? Or fought along side / joined the Italian Army?

My Great uncle was a Scot but joined up with the Canadians 1914 to 1918 as was in Canada when war broke out.

Got some of his old kit including bayonet and a captured German saw-backed one. Dread to think what happened to the poor Fritz that got issued that monstrocity if he was captured alive.

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JNG
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Re: WW1

Post by JNG »

Grandfather fought on Germanys side.
Italy, our side.
Dad fought in WW2. wounded in France.

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Re: WW1

Post by Ysabel Kid »

TraderVic wrote: Mon Dec 30, 2019 3:44 pm My grandfather was a Sgt with the 139th Field Artillery on the Western Front in France.
Probably a number of us old grandkids of the WWI vets.......now.
Bingo. My paternal grandfather was a "long boy" (mortar man) in the "war to end all wars"...
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