Posted on Sep 27, 2015
How far can you trace back your military roots?
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For those whose blood runs deep in the military? How far can you trace your roots?
I grew up an Army Brat. Father is retired LTC, infantry, airborne, air assault, Ranger, all the super hooah stuff. It wasn't until I began looking into the military myself did I discover that much of my family has been in the military. So far, I have been able to trace my family lineage all the way back to General John Aaron Rawlins, who served as a Civil War General and the Secretary of War for Ulysses S. Grant. The patriotic blood runs deep in my veins.
How about you?
If not, are you a beginning a legacy?
I grew up an Army Brat. Father is retired LTC, infantry, airborne, air assault, Ranger, all the super hooah stuff. It wasn't until I began looking into the military myself did I discover that much of my family has been in the military. So far, I have been able to trace my family lineage all the way back to General John Aaron Rawlins, who served as a Civil War General and the Secretary of War for Ulysses S. Grant. The patriotic blood runs deep in my veins.
How about you?
If not, are you a beginning a legacy?
Legacy
Family
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 80
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I can trace my family's military roots back to the battle of Kings Mountain in the Revolutionary War. We've apparently had at least one member serve in every conflict since. So far that's as far as I've gotten.. still trying to uncover anything older on the far side of the pond!
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Family member in the civil war and an uncle who was in from 1949 to 1979. Father in during WWII.
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The first Sprague to come to the new world was Francis Sprague in 1623 to the Plymouth Colony. His son (John Sprague) was killed in the King Philips war. These early generations had militia obligation. Later other grandfathers fought in the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. None of my grandfathers fought in the Civil War, but hundreds of 1st to 3rd cousins did as is the case for WWI and WWII. My Grandfather was in the coastguard during WWII. My father was a professional soldier, and spent the last 10 years of his time serving with the 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th and 10 Special Forces. I'm second generation SF, and served with the 10th Special Forces Group as a team medic. On my grandmothers side there was a grandfather who fought with the Royal North Carolina Regiment (British). After their defeat at Yorktown the Regiment was disbanded - the officers sailed back to England, the enlisted migrated to Canada. Francis Sprague has over 50K decedents in the US - There are thousands upon thousands of veterans in this line.
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My Uncle just finished a genealogy trace with ancestry.com and it turns out I had a relative who fought in the Revolutionary War as a Colonial Captain.
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Third Gen Army. Grandfather SGT WWII, Father SFC (ret) Vietnam, Me SSG (ret) Afghanistan. Working on verifying another member from WWI, but if found true it would be an All Army NCO team in this family. We did have two outcasts from the team; a cousin who is a CDR ret NAVY (he was a corpsman enlisted, don't know the officer equivalent) , and an ex-Marine (I'm using the EX on purpose. I know what it means).
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SN Alex Tufail
I'm the first person in my entire family to join the Military, and I was disowned as a result. I come from a family with a long line as Bankers, Engineers, Doctors, and other Professionals. When my parents found out that I wanted to serve, they flipped. It was still a great choice because I would have been stuck paying for college without the help of my parents, and then it would have sucked.
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SN Alex Tufail
I made a typo. I would have been stuck paying for college without the help of the GI Bill, and had to get a loan, and then it have sucked.
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SGT Christina Barron
MAJ (Join to see) - He is the third generation in his family, as far as he knows, that's why he says third gen. Not referring to third gen down from Revolutionary Soldiers
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My Father was Lt.Col James S.McKown,I lost him when I was 14 to an unforeseen catastrophic heart attack.
Ioften wonder hwat kind of person he was as he didn't talk that much ,he was a command pilot oin trainer command in WWII as well as the base commander of Clark airfield in the Phillipines he was"Chappie "James 1st commander during the Korean war.
Ioften wonder hwat kind of person he was as he didn't talk that much ,he was a command pilot oin trainer command in WWII as well as the base commander of Clark airfield in the Phillipines he was"Chappie "James 1st commander during the Korean war.
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SSG Richard Hackwith
My father, Oliver Hackwith, bottom left. Started in the infantry in 1930, moved up to the cavalry and then to the air corps foe WWII was ball turret gunner on a B-17. Five air medals and the distinguished flying cross.
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As far as I know I am currently 3rd generation. Grew up a Navy brat. Few of my uncles and first cousins have served as well. I would love for one of my kids to keep tradition going but we shall see. I do plan to build a photo collage of all my relatives in uniform to display in my home.
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in 1861, had three Great, Great Uncles fight in the Civil War for Kentucky. They were granted 1,000 acres each at the end. This started the Dixon's in Kentucky.
Earliest mention of my clan Dixon's in America was William Red Beard Dixon in the 1770's in the northern North Carolina area.
Earliest mention of my clan Dixon's in America was William Red Beard Dixon in the 1770's in the northern North Carolina area.
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PO3 Sherry Thornburg
My dad's family came at about the same time into Louisiana. He was a French soldier coming to serve before the Louisiana purchase.
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