# Ancestors that were killed in battle **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [November 3, 2018, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancestors-that-were-killed-in-battle/823951 "2018-11-03T23:05:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![stillownedbysetters](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/41988e/32.png) [@stillownedbysetters](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stillownedbysetters)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2019, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancestors-that-were-killed-in-battle/823951/61 "2019-01-07T13:05:12Z")
My great uncle Ervin, by virtue of his 20-20 eyesight, was chosen as one of the first wave of pilot trainees for the US Air Service of the American Expeditionary Force in WWI. His plane was shot down in combat in the summer of 1918, killing him instantly. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2019, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancestors-that-were-killed-in-battle/823951/62 "2019-01-07T16:27:53Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Tell us more, please. He was a Hungarian Jew conscripted into the Hungarian Army when my father was a young boy. He got one letter from him then never heard from him again. We really don’t know what happened to him. I think my grandmother somehow got word that he had died. ---
**Author:** ![Babale](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/babale/32/15666_2.png) [@Babale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babale)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2019, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancestors-that-were-killed-in-battle/823951/63 "2019-01-07T17:32:26Z")
> [@DinoR](#): > > Direct ancestors none that I am aware of. Back as far as I know there wasn’t a big tradition of military service. There’s an indirect ancestor that was killed in WWI. I can’t recall off hand the exact relationship. Big Catholic families make it hard to keep track of everyone and exactly how they are related. as a kid, explanations of how I was related to someone at a family gathering was what I considered normal. > > With a lot of generations missing in the family tree to prove it, there’s a pretty strong chance an ancestor died at the Battle of Boyne during the Williamite War. Clan O’Dinorider fought there on the side of James II. The O’Dinorider was killed during the fighting. Likely he wasn’t the only one. The clan lands were pretty remote. They were away from the major cities or trading ports in Ireland. That far back my family tree in all likelihood looks like a wreath. Odds are I’m at least indirectly related to all the O’Dinoriders who fought and died on that battlefield. There’s a real a chance of multiple direct ancestors dying on that battlefield. > > I prefer the term purebred to inbred. 😃 I can’t believe that no one has pointed this out, but your clan is named O Dino Rider? That is the GREATEST thing I have ever heard of! ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2019, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancestors-that-were-killed-in-battle/823951/64 "2019-01-07T18:22:35Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > He was a Hungarian Jew conscripted into the Hungarian Army when my father was a young boy. He got one letter from him then never heard from him again. We really don’t know what happened to him. I think my grandmother somehow got word that he had died. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2019, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancestors-that-were-killed-in-battle/823951/65 "2019-01-07T19:50:16Z")
One g-g-grandfather died from wounds received during the Battle of Chancellorsville (1863). ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2019, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancestors-that-were-killed-in-battle/823951/66 "2019-01-19T15:13:44Z")
My sixth great grandfather died in the British [Siege of Havana](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siege_of_Havana?wprov=sfla1) in August, 1762. This would have been a battle during the Seven Years War. He was born in New London, Connecticut and was fighting for the British in a company of provincials from North America. He was 45 years old, and had already sired nine children. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2019, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancestors-that-were-killed-in-battle/823951/67 "2019-01-19T19:37:35Z")
One great+ uncle, flying a Wildcat from Guadalcanal, has been MIA since October, 1942. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/ancestors-that-were-killed-in-battle/823951.md?page=3)