Quote:
Originally Posted by alanint
My paternal Grandfather and one Great Uncle both survived the Great War but died shortly after from the effects of Mustard Gas. My Great Uncle never left the US. He worked at Edison's labs on various poison gas developments and upon his discharge in 1918, bought a Harley Davidson motorcycle and rode it from New Jersey to Los Angeles, (certainly among the first to ever do this). He died very shortly after arriving in California from the after effects of his work with gas. We have his discharge documents mentioning Edison Labs, a receipt detailing his separation pay and the sales receipt for the Harley in the family.
The surviving maternal Grandfather who lived long enough for me to know rode with Blackjack Pershing in the Punitive expedition against Pancho Villa. He said he knew Lt. Patton well. I have some decorations, which attest to this service. He then served in WW1 and managed to survive into the late 1970s. He was the Fire Chief of Passaic, New Jersey for almost 40 years.
|
That is pretty cool! To have that Harley he rode would be pretty awesome...my dad rode bikes and I have rode bikes since I was 8 myself.
My great grandfather passed away at 97 when I was 3 and fought in WWI. My great uncle and both grandfathers fought in WWII. My one grandfather flew in WWII.
I am 2nd gen US born Italian.
Now the fun part..........trying to find out the history of their experiences from any of them is........good luck. My great uncle just passed away a month ago at 93 and that is when I found out he fought in WWII as well. My grandfather passed away 4 months ago and same thing.
As far as them leaving anything behind from that era or our legacy carrying those stories, nothing I know about and my parents have very little settlement value attached to stuff, so they can care less.
Would be amazing if something was passed down, that I could then pass down to my son, but unfortunately being part of large Italian families nobody cares about that and more than likely collecting or saving things was the last thing on their mind.......I am trying to break that cycle after watching both my side of the family leave nothing behind and my wife's side of the family act childish, greedy and selfish with each death in the family.....to where collectibles are stolen or "lost", as they say, then sold in secret before they pass away or after without anyone knowing
