Tell us about your Veterans
 

November 11 is Veterans Day here in the USA. I'll tell you about mine if you tell me about yours. And I want the world to be included in this - all veterans deserve a little "prog on" for their service.

My Vets - Col. Alfred F. Lawrence Jr. (Father) - US Army Corps of Engineers, West Point ('52), toured Korea ('53-54), tour Vietnam twice ('66 and '69).
Col. William Jorge Lawrence (Uncle) - US Army Infantry - Toured Vietnam ('67), various tours all around the world.
Lt. William Eastham (Brother-in-Law) - US Air Force in peace time
Lt. Charles Platt (Brother-in-Law) - US Air Force in peace time
Sgt. William Witter (Step Father-In-Law) - US Air Force - Served air bases in US during Vietnam.

Re: Tell us about your Veterans
 

Dale, I 've none US Veterans in my family .. indeed .. :-)
However the 11th november is a day off here too. It celebrates the end of the first world war ( end of a sorta four-years-long -hell-on-earth)in order. There is no living belgian IWW veteran now and those from IIWW are getting scarce these days. All my thoughts to US Boys who gave their lives to free us from barbarity, slavery and starvery in 14/18 and 40/45.
In order to release the pressure and to bring back things on a more pleasant domain, what about a list of prog/rock songs related to this topic ?
here are some :
Iq : the seventh house ( lot of hope in it)
Iq: common ground
Iron Maiden : Paschendaele ( not prog but the only track featuring one of the biggest WWI butcheries ( aside Verdun And La Somme perhaps)
Peter Hammill : Primo on the parapet ( Primo Levi , Shoa's survivor, brilliant italian novelist and engineer, commited suicide in the nineties, ..)
Big big train , Roger Waters, .... have lot of too

Re: Tell us about your Veterans
 

Thank You to all of our veterans....my family has a long history of vets starting with
my father, Claude Tyson,Jr. who fought in the WWII, most of my uncles whom also fought in WWII, Uncle Joseph Valentino, Uncle William Traini, Uncle Philip Valentino, Uncle Edward Baake, Uncle Edward Fullen, Uncle Frank Valentino and both of my Grandfathers who fought in WWI, Aneil Valentino, Claude Tyson Sr. PLUS tons of friends, Dan Mullen who fought in the Korean War, George Roebuck, Vietnam Terrance Bartges Vietnam, Digger Bartges Vietnam..and lots more vietnam vets and also my nephews and nieces, Terry Bartges, gulf war, Matt Bartges, reserve, Gay Bartges reserve, Cousin Tony Edge, reserves. I'm sure I can go on and on but I just want to say THANK YOU to all who served to uphold our Constitution so we the American people can live FREE. Let us NEVER forget why we have Freedom.

Re: Tell us about your Veterans
 

My grandfather (father's side, died in 2003) was a Finnish WWII veteran (as most of the men of his generation in this country are/were). Was involved from 1942/1943 to 1945, first in the Continuation war against Soviet Union and then in the Lapland War against the German troops in the Northern Finland. An NCO with mortar training, he also served as some sort of despatch rider (not sure if that's the correct term) at some point.

The other grandfather (died in 1998) was somewhat too young and only served briefly in the end of the war.

Re: Tell us about your Veterans
 

I served in the United States Navy 76-79. But that ain't shit. My uncle, Charles Elder, service in the Korean War and was a POW who survived.

Re: Tell us about your Veterans
 

My uncle Harry served in the Canadian army in Europe during WWII. My father volunteered and was refused on medical reasons. Both my parents lost many relatives in the crematoria in Poland. Thanks God for all the veterans.

Re: Tell us about your Veterans
 

My father served in the Navy as a Lieutenant Commander in the Great Lakes during WWII, although I did not follow in his footsteps I did spend some time in the peace time Army and Calif, National Guard reaching the rank of Sergeant First Class, my brother has also served although since the two of us do not get along at all (2 different families) I am not sure of his rank.

Blessed be to all the veterans listed above and not listed above, they all deserve our undying gratitude.

P.S.
The Army hates progressive music from my personal experience 8-o

Re: Tell us about your Veterans
 

My dad was a U.S. Army Reserve for Vietnam. He never saw action.
My paternal grandfather was in the Army, and landed on Utah Beach at Normandy on D-Day. He was in the second wave. He once got trapped behind enemy lines with another soldier. They were demolition guys and were supposed to blow up bridge, but the German convoy was earlier than expected, so they had to hide under the bridge while the Germans crossed. After dark, they set the explosives, blew the bridge, and made their way back to Allied territory, but since they line moved, they were behind the line. They came across two drunk German sentries by a campfire (who had no reason to think two Americans were lurking in the woods). They were lit by firelight, so my grandfather and the other guy each took one out with simultaneous shots. They took their uniforms, helmets, and rifles and made it back to Allied territory. My grandfather got to keep the helmet and the rifle, a Mauser. He squirrel-hunted with it until he died in 2000.

Re: Tell us about your Veterans
 

Giacomo Alfano (grandfather) served in the Army right after WWII.
Patrick Filidoro (great uncle) was Army and fought in the Korean War.
John Alfano (father) served in the Navy (1961-1966).
Donald Scott (uncle) was Air Force from 1965-1969.
Ronald Scott (uncle) was Navy from 1963 to 1967.
I was in the Marine Corps from 1990-1995.

Re: Tell us about your Veterans
 

Wow, I almost forgot Sallie's father. In the Infantry and landed 2nd wave on Normady during D-day invasion. He enlisted, lying about his age and was only 17 when he landed in France.

Re: Tell us about your Veterans
 

My Grandfather Eduardo Baquero(+) and his brothers served in the Ecuadorian Army, don't know the exact years. The most remarkable of the Baquero brothers was my grand-uncle, Col. Juan Baquero (+), who fought in the 1941 war against Peru, the infamous "Guerra del 41" (which ended with the unfortunate signing of the Protocol of Rio de Janeiro in 1942). He and his troop recovered Macara a day after Peru assumed its control, he lead his men to safety out of the Amazon jungle and was the only one to date in the land battle to receive a medal from the Ecuadorian Congress in recognition for his heroic actions in this war.

I miss both my Gramps and my Uncle.

Re: Tell us about your Veterans
 

Just stumbled upon the following tune when doing some searches on "Pete Namlook" (Peter Kuhlmann), a German electronic artist:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cipt7nOxppY

A collaboration with Namlook and Klaus Schulze. Maybe not wholly appropriate to this thread, but some, such as former air force people, might find it "appealing/exciting" anyway. Also features a lot of old computer gear (big iron)! The music is hardly "prog rock" though, but rather monotonous, "technoish" electronic stuff.

Re: Tell us about your Veterans
 

Well my father was in the British Army during the war and landed in Normandy, but as being a radio mechanic servicing the armoured cars who sought out the enemy, he didn't see any action as far as I know. But he did get blown out of bed by a V1 and his hearing suffered. My father never spoke about his experiences and we have the distinct feeling it was due to him being part of the liberation of the concentration camp Belsen Belsen. However he, as being part of the Montgomery set up, came up to Denmark in 1945 and met my mother who was part of the Danish resistance. Her flat was used for a few days as the resistance HQ as it moved constantly around. My Danish grandfather had to go underground in the last year of the war as his name was on the SS death list (as retaliation for sabotage acts).

Re: Tell us about your Veterans
 

1) My middle son Zach is currently in Afghanistan with the 101st Airborne Screaming Eagles
2) My oldest son David is a captain in the reserves and is a senior resident as a neurologist in Jackson MS
3) My Dad, Zach Hirsch Jr., was in the Army Air Corp in WWII and was stationed in Ireland as a weather forecaster where he met my Mum.
4) Mum, Katherine "Kay" Hirsch, is British and has the distinction of being the only person who served in the ATA (Air Transport Auxiliary) , the RAF, and the Land Army. She was one of 16 women ferry pilots who flew for England. She flew Spitfires, Hurricanes, Grumman Hellcats and others. She went to be with the Lord this year on May 15.
5) My father-in-law, John "Jack" Peterson was a Navy pilot in WWII
6) My mother-in-law, Vivian Parry Peterson, was a WAC and worked for Oppenheimer at Hanford on the Manhattan Project. She died of leukemia in '64 as a result of the radiation exposure.

I won't go back ant further in the family history.