My great grandfather , a Nashville lawyer , enlisted and served Artillery in France WW1 , at the tender age of 30 . His first hitch would have been 1907-1909ish , law school got him Lt bars in 1918 .
I think Grampa Hart was enlisted WW1 also I know he was Army but born 12/1901 he may not have been old enough to have "made it to the war" . I guess nobody asked him and it was never a thing .
Grampa Flowers lied about his age to get in and do a hitch with the 9th Cav 1924-26 . Born 12/1901 they wouldn't take him at 23 , all of his government paper said 12/22/1903 but he was born in 1901 .
Grandpa Mitchell did his USN hitch 36-39' in 1940 he went to work for Civil Service and was offered Hickem or Wheeler field at Pearl as a base shop/office , he shipped over in 6/41' .
Uncle Bud , I learned at his funeral shared Grampa Harts name , was Navy 1941-45 . He went in pre-war "to see the world" . I have to look it up but the destroyer he spent the war hit the water the first time late in 39' and was decommissioned early in 1946 . The ships only claim to fame was scuttling one of our carriers during a "retreat" in the So Pacific . He lost his best friend in a typhoon in spite of the safety lines . He had a few clippings and a shadow box of ribbons that hung mostly out of sight in the hall .
Uncle Kenny was USA Korea . He got his Korea ribbon , but basically got off the ship checked in , got his orders , the end of action was declared , he never saw his port transportation and got back on the boat and came home . He did get a letter for service above and beyond as he cooked most of the trip home and most of the quarantine . Seems someone brought a gut bug aboard with them . It swept the boat like wave over the bow .
Dad was 4F he lost a eye when he was a kid .
Adopted Uncle Bingo landed 3 Beaches , 1 of them was Iwo Jima . He retired from the Corps 42'-72' . 6"2' , 210 , shaped like a splitting wedge and not a scar I ever remember seeing . He went to a USMC Iwo Jima reunion , he knew why they were all excited about Lee Marvin but at the time that other Sgt didn't make any sense ..........
My boys are USA , the oldest is 12th Cav , the youngest is out but was 222nd Air Wing . 2 tours in Iraq , 1 in Afghanistan between them .
My oldest daughter went to post sunami Japan on the Reagan , 6 yr USN .
I have a host of In-laws that did time between wars in USN , USMC , and USCG .
Last but not least my 3rd great grandmother's , named after her Aunt , first cousin was a CIC . Wm McKinley was a Brev Major 23rd Ohio Infantry 1863-65 , and settled up the Spanish-American war with Annexure of Guam , Philippines , and Hawaii among others . Teddy Roosevelt relieved him of duty in 1901 . He was the only one I know of to date to die in service or suffer a significant visible wound .
I would have gone to the Corps but based on my asvab scores they and the USAF and USA wanted me to go to OCS and push paper , even after I got my A&P OCS and clerk was all they could offer . I ended up a civil contractor employee on an ammo depot for 22 yr .
I should have gone to OCS after X1s USAF hitch ........ hindsight .
Apologies for the braggary . It just makes me ooze red , white , and blue pride .