In college we had a study group in a political science class and there was an older student who claims to have been in Vietnam. He spend time studying with a young woman and one study group she said we should hear his stories. He was so obviously full of shit, it was embarrassing. He wouldn’t say much so she would retell the accounts.
Since the thread seems to be well and truly derailed, my dad served in WWII, but not in combat. He led convoys across much of what was there Persia (now Iran) and the Middle East, taking Lend-Lease material to the Russians. Like most dad’s mentioned, he never talked a lot about those times, but he did get to travel around the world at Government expense (train to the West Coast, ship to Australia and another voyage to the Middle East, boat to a camp in E. Africa, B17 ride to Brazil and another boat/train combination home to Ohio). Had an uncle who was in the Battle of the Bulge and never spoke of it, and a close family friend who was a B-24 Bombardier in Europe who was also closed-mouth.
Never served myself (my draft number for Vietnam was in the 300’s), but did work for the DoD as a Civilian for 34 years.
I think WW2 was big enough that most people have at least a distant relative who served. My dad was in the navy during Korea, but served in London, behind a desk. I think I have a great uncle who stormed the beaches at Normandy, but he died when I was young and I don’t know a lot about it.
So was my dad. Why? Because he had polio as a kid. They said, while he was in the hospital, that he would never walk again. Joe DiMaggio and teammates came to visit him - I still have the signed baseball they gave him.
Proving the doctors wrong, my dad did recover quite completely, and in fact was physically active til almost the end of his life, avidly playing tennis whenever he could. But one leg was ever-so-slightly shorter than the other, so he could not be a soldier.
Does the addition of a famous person beat your story? 
ETA: I endorse this pitting. I noticed the not-so-good Dr years ago when I posted something utterly innocuous and really not worth disagreeing about. In came DrDeth to say “no it’s not!” I argued a little but gave up quickly as it was really stupid, whatever it was - I forget because it was probably a decade ago. But after he came to my attention that way, I noticed he had a tendency to do that - just taking a contrary stance for no apparent reason other than to be annoying, and then adamantly sticking to it with little to no supporting arguments.
My father drove trucks.
His father worked the rails.
Neither served in the military.
DrDeth is a fuckin jackass.
My dad was originally 4-F. He was quite seriously nearsighted. But eventually, as I said above, he served in the Middle East (not in combat). His younger brother served in Italy and received a purple heart. I think my dad was glad to avoid that mess.
My dad was drafted in February of 1946, so while he served, he never saw combat. I think he did MP work. Two of his three older brothers did serve. One apparently got convinced by someone that being anything more than a private was a bad idea, so every time he got promoted he somehow managed to be assigned a different unit, which apparently reset him to PFC. He spent time in the Pacific, but I don’t know what he did. (I have no idea how accurate this story is, this is just what I was told. Nowadays I’d question the “no carrying of rank when transferred to another unit”, but by the time I thought that was weird, he’d been dead for some time so I had no chance to confirm.)
No idea what the other uncle did. I know he achieved the rank of staff sergeant and spent time in Germany. My dad’s family was scattered over a good portion of the midwest, and we lived in VA once we came back to the states, so I don’t really know any of their stories.
Similar with mine. My dad went back to the same general area where he grew up and stayed there until his job in Chicago moved 50 miles south. Uncle Buddy ended up with Monsanto in St. Louis; I have vague memories of visiting Buddy’s family when I was a toddler. There were also two aunts; both married and had kids in the hills above Louisville. Dad also had a half-sister somewhere in California; never met her but two of my cousins visited while I was in high school.
My dad was in WWI as a cabin boy (according to my mom). His older brother died in the Gallipoli campaign. By the time WWII broke out he had moved from England to Canada, and he enlisted in the Canadian Navy. He did not discuss this with my mom, he just came home and told her he was shipping out to Nova Scotia. With 3 small kids to take care of, she was not impressed.
Anyhow, he served on a hospital ship and did not see direct action, although he was part of the occupying force for Germany.
He never talked to me much about the war, but then he did not talk to me much about anything. I remember, as a kid, asking him if he ever shot anyone. He answered that if someone shot at you, everyone just shot back in that direction and you never knew if you hit anyone, which was rather cryptic.
One of my uncles on my mom’s side was part of a bomber crew in WWII. He was severely injured and was unable to have kids. I was never told any details.
My dad served during “the war” (and visited outposts on lots of little islands all over the Pacific), and he had wonderful stories. But unlike SOME subjects of this pitting, I don’t have this need to brag using his valor. I can keep my mouth shut unless I have something to contribute. Try it, Doc D!
In my dreams, I’m an intergalactic warrior, served in multiple tours. I only talk about my space wars under the influence.
Okay, so whaddya wanna know?
ETA: I have a bad feeling I’m setting myself up to be insulted by my “fan” club, but whatevs.
Do C-Beams really glitter in the Tannhäuser Gate neighborhood? Or is that another story that Singleship Captain Deth’s kid made up?
I swear, I’m going to find a reason to turn this lost thread back to DrDeth’s jackassery!
Want the truth? Some really bad shit went down around Betelgeuse. But I don’t talk about it. Unless really under the influence of alcohol - and maybe some psychedelics.
I’m not sure he’s capable. Look how many times he’s dredged up a convenient friend! I get the distinct impression that whenever he suspects the existence of such a friend to be too unbelievable, he’ll invoke his dad or dad’s friends instead.
Or Doug.
We already know to beware of Doug.
Nice!
Indeed, beware Doug:
Well, uh… about a decade after being declared 4-F for his vision, uh…his dad died and was buried in the same cemetery as Sen. Joe McCarthy! Although McCarthy was an asshole, so that’s nothing to brag about… um…I have a older cousin who had a low draft lottery number during Vietnam, so he joined the Coast Guard and served on an icebreaker in the Antarctic… so I’ll cite him next time I need to score points in an “ID this penguin” thread
Burgess Meredith? Bullshit, that’s Danny DeVito!