puszysty

I know we have a German immigrant who signed up for the Civil War as soon as he got here- fighting for the North. That was seemingly pretty common but I'm kinda proud of my Northern blood. I think we also have someone who came over pre-revoloution as an indentured servant from England. My mom's dad is a big genealogy nut so we know a little about that side of the family (but not a whole ton about my dad's family.)

One thing I find pretty interesting is that most people whose family I know fought in WWII, out of America anyway- their relatives got deployed based on ethnicity. My mom's dad, who is pretty German looking and mostly of German stock, was in the Army in Germany, the ground forces, while my dad's dad, who was very Italian in breeding, ended up in the Air Force in Italy. That seems kind of extra creepy to me- I mean, there's certainly a logic there of picking people who blend in more but geez, they could be killing their not so distant relatives.

I have a great-grandfather that was in the Kuomintang. Don't quite know his rank, but I do know that he had a wife back in China, and a wife in Singapore (my great-grandmother). He abandoned his Singapore family when my grandmother was still a little girl, and no one ever saw him again. And yes, my parents and grandmother are still in touch with the family in China, and they send up regular updates by post or on the phone if they get the chance.