My one Grandfather fought in WWI[sub]for the German side[/sub] although somehow Heinrich Karl Weiss became Henry Francois Cordonnier from France when he immigrated to the U.S. shortly after. Just a typo I’m sure 
My other Grandfather would have fought for the U.S. but he was an invalid cause of flat feet.
The more interesting part is I’m only 28. Both sides of my family take their time.
My great-grandfather, Meredith Tyson, was born in 1832 and fought with the 30th Virginia Infantry in the Civil War (I have his service record and he owed the CSA government (such as it was) $60.00 for his clothing at the end of the war). He died in 1900. My grandfather was born in 1880 and died in 1954. I wasn’t born until 1964.
My Great-Grandfather on my father’s side fought in the Civil War for North Carolina, suffered a war injury, and later got an honorable discharge. He then went back to the southwestern part of the state and set up a public school there, and eventually became one of the founders of Western Carolina University.
My mom knew that her grandfather also fought in the Civil War, but didn’t know which division he was in, so she went and did some research and found out he fought for the UNION. Turns there were several counties in NC and Tennessee who fought on the side of the Union, and that’s why they are named “Union” county today.
My great grandfather also fought in the Civil War. He was an ordinance sgt. in the 44(?)th NC Infantry. He didn’t marry until 1890-ish, when he was well into his 50’s and my greatgrandmother was just turning 21.
The family history (probably untrue, but it IS a good story…) is that great-granddad was a freshamn at the University of North Carolina when Fort Sumter was fired upon. Of course, being a young fire-eater, he, along with the entire student body of UNC joined up, in his case, the 44th, which formed in Wake County.
Now, great-granddad was from Caswell County, AND was the son of a farmer, so he was elected to be the supply wagon driver. Of course, this irritated him, since he really wanted to lick the damnyankees, but no one would change places with him. “The supply wagon is too important,” they would say. “And you have the most experience driving a wagon, so you must be the driver.”
This kept up until the unit’s first battle (which i believe was Second Manassas), where he was assigned to cart the wounded back to the field hospital. After the battle was over, ALL the people who wouldn’t change places came back and asked if he wanted to change, and great-granddad said, “Oh no, the supply wagon is MUCH too important to let you city boys drive…”
So, great-granddad spent the whole war in ordinance and supply. And managed to stay healthy enough to surrender at Appamatox Courthouse with Marse Robert and the rest of the ANV, and got paroled there April 12, 1865…
Maternal grandfather – born 1905.
Paternal grandfather – born 1914.
Mother – born 1952.
Father – born 1946.
Me – born 1984.
My paternal great-grandmother was born 1888. My paternal great-grandfather fought in World War I; my maternal grandfather fought in World War II. My father fought in Vietnam. I’m not out out of high school yet, and if I match my grandad’s record, I could live to 2064. Whew!
.:Nichol:.
Well, let’s see here. My great-grandmother was born in 1863, died in 1960. I was 11 at the time and remember her well as a child. She was sharp and smart to the end.
In later years, I was shocked to realize that I’d known someone who was alive when Lincoln was.
(Her son, my maternal grandfather, born 1890, died 1986. My mom, born 1926 is delightfully independent at 75+. I have high hopes for her and my own lifespan)
On the paternal side of my family, I have a photograph of a great-great-great-grandfather who lived into the 1880s and had his picture taken. Sooooo (and this is a bit of a stretch, but fun nevertheless) I have a picture of an ancestor who was born in 1804 when Napoleon and Thomas Jefferson were alive.
My great-grandfather emigrated from China to Hawaii in 1869, in his early 20s. I’m the offspring of his second wife, a picture bride that he lured over with a 20-year-old picture. She was 20 when she married him at 53. She gave birth to GM at 22, GM gave birth to Moms at 33 and Moms gave birth to me at 36 and here we are. I’m only 30, by the way.
Sometimes people are shocked to learn Chinese folks were on the way only 4 years after the end of that Civil War…
I’m 18, and my Great-grandfather could clearly remember seeing Sherman’s march through South Carolina in the CW. Yeah, my family has old generations. My grandfather could clearly remeber the reading headlines to my great-grandfather about the Titanic sinking. (he would of been 9 years old then).
Guilty.
One of my maternal great-grandfathers enlisted in the Confederate Army at the age of 17 in 1862 (he’d tried the year before but was deemed to be too young).
His youngest daughter, my grandmother, was born in the 1890s.
My mother was born in 1925.
I was born in 1965.
I remember many of the stories my grandmother told about her parents and grandparents. My mother is in the process of writing all these down.
Provided I live as long as most of my mother’s “people,” my grandchildren will have a living link to the 19th century in the middle of the 21st.
I’ve got you beat javaman.
I’m thirty-nine, and I have two great-grandfathers who fought in the Civil War.
My mother’s grandfather, part-Cherokee, was a member of the 6th Georgia Cavalry. He was involved in heavy fighting at Missionary Ridge and Chickamauga (inter alia), and survived the war unscathed. I know several war stories, and even a bugle call, that were handed down from him.
My father’s grandfather was shot in the arm in the battle of Gaines Mill (his first battle). The arm withered, and was thereafter useless to him. According to my aunt (now in her 90’s), he died a bitter, Yankee-hating man.
His father, incidentally, was a veteran of the War of 1812.
We have a family history of having children late in life, it seems.
I’ll have to post again so that I can tie with spoke-.
I had a paternal great-grandfather who fought for an Illinois Regiment. IIRC, his unit was under Sherman’s command - - he wrote this poem about his impression of the aftermath of the C.W. He was made a brevet Lieutenant; we still have his dress sabre.