I just found out that one of my great great grandfathers served on the Confederate side

[Tree-Hugger]

112. A large branch of my family tree

Is the Lee family. We're descendants of the Lees on my maternal grandmother's side. I admit I don't like hearing/reading people state that Robert E. Lee was "evil" and comparing him to Hitler. I feel it's a much more complicated issue.

My family history is amazing to me. I don't know much in the way of minor details. I would love to be able to do some serious research, but haven't had the time and I have no clue where to start or what to do. We have the Lees. We are descendants of signers of Declaration as well as soldiers of the Revolutionary War. We are also descendants of some froo-froo French folks and I think there is a history in our family with French soldiers who aided in the Revolution. I have to check. I am almost 100% that there has been a member of my family, primarily on my mom's side, who fought in every war since the Revolution. The last ones in my family to fight in war are my uncle and my dad - both served in Vietnam.

I know I qualify for DOC and DOR.

I am pretty sure we had family who fought on the Union side. I don't know the names, though.

My grandmother's dad fought in the Army in World War I. He was a tiny little dude, I'm told. My aunt has this cool certificate that he received that has his image (a drawing) with the image of Lady Liberty. It says something about Lady Liberty honoring him for service.

My maternal grandfather was Irish. Part of his family came over in the 1840's for the Gold Rush. The rest came a little bit later. I am not very sure of much of their specific history during the 1800's and whether or not any of them fought in the Civil War. My Grandfather's ancestors and family fought in the Spanish American War, World War I and World War II. My Grandfather was a Navigator and Bombardier in the the Air Force (the Army Air Corps at the time). Funny story - he wanted to enlist, but was a very lanky and skinny fellow. He didn't meet the weight requirement, so they stuffed potatoes in his clothes when he went for a physical so that he'd hit the proper weight requirement. He fought in the Pacific. His plane was shot down over the Pacific Ocean by the Japanese. He and his crew survived on a life raft and were rescued. I have a cool picture of him with one of the Army nurses. My Grandmother was told that he was dead due to a report by Tokyo Rose where she named him as one of the deceased. My Aunt is named Mary because my Grandmother promised the Virgin Mary that she'd name her baby (she was pregnant when my Grandfather left to serve) after her if my grandfather came home safe. And he did. His brothers also served during WWII. I know one of them served in the Army and landed on Normandy. He had a amazing singing voice and there is a family legend that he kept the spirits of his fellow soldiers up by singing to him everyday.

My maternal grandfather stayed in the Air Force and eventually became Captain. Sadly, he was flying a routine mission on base somewhere in the Forth Worth, Texas area in 1950. There was an electrical malfunction in the plane and it went down. There were a few survivors, but my Grandfather was among those who didn't make it. I don't he died due to impact - he burned to death. Two years ago, we went to my Grandmother's home after my aunt placed her in a nursing home (Alzheimer's). My aunt was happily trashing heirlooms left and right, but we managed to grab some stuff. One of the things we grabbed was a small box that was stuffed in an old cedar chest. It looked like the box was never opened. It contained a letter from one of my Grandfather's surviving crewmates and contained everything that they salvaged from his body, other than his clothes, after the crash. We have charred remnants of dog tags, his lighter, his wallet - complete with money and a picture of my mom and one of my aunts - his rosary and a few other items. They all still smell of fire.

My Grandmother remarried a few years later to my Pop (who I never really knew - he died when I was a few months old), who had served in the Air Force in WWII - he was in Germany.

My uncle - my mom's brother - served in the Air Force in Vietnam.

I don't know much about my dad's side of the family. They are assholes. My dad is Scottish and German. On the Scottish side, he comes from the MacFarlane clan - apparently they were a wiley group. On the German side, he comes from some froo-froo folk, but we don't know much about them. I would have to do my own research. My dad didn't have a happy childhood. I don't know if his father served in WWII or Korea. His father was a Nazi sympathizer - he was an asshole. My father did not fight getting drafted for Vietnam because he wanted to get away from his family. Little did he know. He served in the Air Force, but his primary duty was a medic. He has a lot of stories about sewing bodies back up together. My dad returned home from Vietnam to ZERO fanfare and chants of "babykiller." He immediately left home and went to Washington DC where he was very active in protests against the war. He was arrested quite a few times for protesting - once because he chained himself to the fence (or a pole) outside the White House right after he and a bunch of other veterans threw their medals onto the White House lawn.

This makes me really want to research my family tree much more so I know the specifics. I would love to know if I can find other stories in my family.