| Author |
Message |
jinx758
Samba Member
Joined: October 04, 2014
Posts: 1046
Location: half a bubble from plumb
|
 Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2025 7:48 am Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
 |
|
My Dad's mom ... aka Mamaw ... was born around 1922 or 3. Depends on who you ask - her or the records dept at the time. Anywho, she married a man & had a son - my father. He was killed in WW2. She then married his brother & had a son - my Uncle. He died the Friday before the Monday I was born.
They are "double related" & refer to themselves as "loyal brother".
She was actually one of the "Rosie the Riveters" in a plant in Mississippi.
Always thought that story was odd & special but many many years later found out that it was more common due the great number of men lost during the war.
Also :
(Not my family's history)
Worked with a guy who's uncle picked him up after his shift. This guy's uncle served on a ship amid the Battle of Midway. He claimed they could put a 12inch round 20-ish miles downrange with the accuracy of a standard doorway.
AND - the deck of an aircraft carrier was flooded with a fire suppressive foam during attacks. Service men would stumble over debris & body parts as they scrambled about, not being able to see the tarmac.
That's the story was told ...
I do remember watching History Channel on cable TV about warships & saw compression rings in the ocean when they fired the big guns off the side. The same type of compression rings formed in the sand when firing the M16 out of the foxhole when I was in Basic Training - being propped on a sand bag with the flash suppressor about 3inches off the ground.
Best to all & Gentle Blessings ...
jinx
_________________
" It's not valuable unless you learn something from an experience. " Henry Ford
It's not unlike the same difference ...
My Craigslist rescued 100 footer :
1971 Standard Bug
1776cc dual port
034 distributor
38mm EGAS Carburetor |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Cusser
Samba Member
Joined: October 02, 2006
Posts: 33436
Location: Hot Arizona
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2025 9:46 am Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
|
|
My dad was born in Pittsburgh; his father had come over from Russia as a young man, and became a house painter. My dad joined the Army Air Corps pretty soon after Pearl Harbor, and was stationed in Britain/Europe. He did get to the continent, but never talked about the war at all (which was quite common). He did not have to go to the Pacific after the war in Europe was over.
Only after his death did we even find out that he had been a sergeant.
_________________
1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
zerotofifty
Samba Member
Joined: December 27, 2003
Posts: 4184
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2025 10:40 am Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
|
|
| jinx758 wrote: |
My Dad's mom ... aka Mamaw ... was born around 1922 or 3. Depends on who you ask - her or the records dept at the time. Anywho, she married a man & had a son - my father. He was killed in WW2. She then married his brother & had a son - my Uncle. He died the Friday before the Monday I was born.
They are "double related" & refer to themselves as "loyal brother".
She was actually one of the "Rosie the Riveters" in a plant in Mississippi.
Always thought that story was odd & special but many many years later found out that it was more common due the great number of men lost during the war.
Also :
(Not my family's history)
Worked with a guy who's uncle picked him up after his shift. This guy's uncle served on a ship amid the Battle of Midway. He claimed they could put a 12inch round 20-ish miles downrange with the accuracy of a standard doorway.
AND - the deck of an aircraft carrier was flooded with a fire suppressive foam during attacks. Service men would stumble over debris & body parts as they scrambled about, not being able to see the tarmac.
That's the story was told ...
I do remember watching History Channel on cable TV about warships & saw compression rings in the ocean when they fired the big guns off the side. The same type of compression rings formed in the sand when firing the M16 out of the foxhole when I was in Basic Training - being propped on a sand bag with the flash suppressor about 3inches off the ground.
Best to all & Gentle Blessings ...
jinx |
Tarmac on the flight deck? Didnt know they used that. Seems that will be problematic, it will melt, burn and be very sticky in event of a fire. Spilled aviation fuel and engine oil will tend to dissolve it.
American carriers in ww2 often had wood flight decks, many British and Japanses had armored (steel) flight decks. American carriers had armor on the hanger deck usually.
The wooden flight deck on the American fleet carriers made the ship less top heavy, and thus allowed a higher hanger ceiling, which in turn allowed more aircraft to be stored in the hanger, either by suspending aircraft in parts above, or allowing more height for folding wings. American fleet carriers generally had larger flight groups on board than comparable sized British or Japanese carriers that had armored flight decks.
The trade off is that American fleet carriers with larger flight groups could put up a greater defense of the carrier or send a more devastating strike, at the expense of not having the armor on the flight deck.
But I was not aware of the use of tarmac on the flight deck. Tarmac should not be needed on either a wood or armored deck, and its use will cause problems with fires and aviation fuels and oils that get spilled. 
_________________
Sorry About That Chief.
Give Peace a Chance.
Words to live by. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
kingkarmann
Samba Member
Joined: November 05, 2003
Posts: 4655
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2025 11:52 am Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
|
|
I have a few interesting family history stories.
None of which I can share on a public (or private) fourm  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Abscate
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014
Posts: 24378
Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2025 11:56 am Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
|
|
One door on 20 miles is β¦
1 meter/ 30km =3E-5
Modern active fire systems make corrections 100x larger than this; one of the public examples is change in barrel friction.
I dont think WWII fire systems were active
It sounds like a bar story
_________________
πΊπΈ πΊπΈ πΊπΈ πΊπΈ πΊπΈ πΊπΈ πΊπΈ π π π |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
FarmerBill 
Samba Member
Joined: July 25, 2017
Posts: 891
Location: New England
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2025 12:26 pm Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
|
|
I'm a decendant of Ralph Wheelock, America's first public school teacher. Multiple towns and schools in New England were founded by him and his descendants including Dartmouth College, Wheelock College, Massachusetts towns Dedham, Medfield, and Mendon. Residents of Wheelock, VT who get into Dartmouth are still allowed to attend for free.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Wheelock |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
zerotofifty
Samba Member
Joined: December 27, 2003
Posts: 4184
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2025 7:46 pm Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
|
|
| Abscate wrote: |
One door on 20 miles is β¦
1 meter/ 30km =3E-5
Modern active fire systems make corrections 100x larger than this; one of the public examples is change in barrel friction.
I dont think WWII fire systems were active
It sounds like a bar story |
What???????
Am I the only one totally missing the context of this?
_________________
Sorry About That Chief.
Give Peace a Chance.
Words to live by. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
OldSchoolVW's
Samba Member
Joined: July 03, 2020
Posts: 1574
Location: San Diego
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2025 8:23 pm Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
|
|
| zerotofifty wrote: |
| Abscate wrote: |
One door on 20 miles is β¦
1 meter/ 30km =3E-5
Modern active fire systems make corrections 100x larger than this; one of the public examples is change in barrel friction.
I dont think WWII fire systems were active
It sounds like a bar story |
What???????
Am I the only one totally missing the context of this? |
Appears to be dabbling in "Colorless green ideas sleep furiously".
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colorless_green_ideas_sleep_furiously
or perhaps psychedelics. 
_________________
Tom
"Following distance is proportional to IQ."
"It's okay to think."
"If you don't do it this year, you'll be one year older when you do." Warren Miller
'63 Beetle Sedan
'69 Beetle Sunroof
'70 Beetle Sedan
'73 Type 3 Fastback |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Xevin
Samba Member
Joined: January 08, 2014
Posts: 8986
|
| Posted: Sun Nov 09, 2025 8:51 pm Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
|
|
| Abscate wrote: |
One door on 20 miles is β¦
1 meter/ 30km =3E-5
Modern active fire systems make corrections 100x larger than this; one of the public examples is change in barrel friction.
I dont think WWII fire systems were active
It sounds like a bar story |
Brilliant  
_________________
Keep on Busin'
| 67rustavenger wrote: |
GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo!  |
| Clatter wrote: |
| Damn that Xevin... |
| skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
I respect Xevin and he's a turd  |
| SGKent wrote: |
| My God! Xevin and I 100% agree |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jinx758
Samba Member
Joined: October 04, 2014
Posts: 1046
Location: half a bubble from plumb
|
| Posted: Mon Nov 10, 2025 8:46 am Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
|
|
Probly was a bar story but was impressive tale to hear back in the 90s when I was in my twenties.
I grew up deer & sometimes duck hunting. I'm accustomed to long guns. And later tons of skeet shooting.
I can't hit the side of a barn with a pistol at 30 meters BUT gimme a rifle & I can split a fly's nuts at 330.
I missed sniper school by one round at Fort Jackson, S.C. back about 1989 when qualifying with the M16.
We sighted them in at 25 meters & were given 9 rounds to do so (the same rise/fall rate of bullet downrange). They consider 3 rounds in a sized template to be accurate enuff (about the size of a racquetball). I was basically strip searched because all 9 rounds were not only in the specified template area but there were only 3 holes in the target.
B.R.A.S. - Breathe, Relax, Aim, Squeeze
Only fingertip on trigger & squeeze between heartbeats.
I still have that paper target ... somewhere, maybe, yeah ok.
Just a snippet of an experience I had.
Gotta stop rambling ... stay safe
jinx
_________________
" It's not valuable unless you learn something from an experience. " Henry Ford
It's not unlike the same difference ...
My Craigslist rescued 100 footer :
1971 Standard Bug
1776cc dual port
034 distributor
38mm EGAS Carburetor |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Abscate
Samba Member
Joined: October 05, 2014
Posts: 24378
Location: NYC/Upstate/ROW
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2025 3:32 am Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
|
|
So 5 cm in 25 meters or
5/2500=0.002, 2ppt precision
Yowza. Thatβs probably requiring both shooter and weapon to be in top form
_________________
πΊπΈ πΊπΈ πΊπΈ πΊπΈ πΊπΈ πΊπΈ πΊπΈ π π π |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jinx758
Samba Member
Joined: October 04, 2014
Posts: 1046
Location: half a bubble from plumb
|
| Posted: Tue Nov 11, 2025 9:28 am Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
|
|
I was taught gun safety & proper shooting techniques @ a very early age, starting with a pump-type Crossman BB that also did .177 single shots.
At the age of 8 I knicked a U.S quarter while sighting in a borrowed 30-30cal while sighting it in before opening weekend. There was a coffee can & you'd put a dollar in B4 shooting. Thirteen bucks bought a lot of gum & candy way back around 1976 or so.
About the same time my Dad special ordered a Remington Model 1100 with an extra inch on the barrel. Any type of buckshot stays in a tighter pattern further downrange. Shot cases & cases of clay pigeons in which I'd let the other guys shoot - then pick them off W-A-Y downrange mostly about 6feet off the ground.
"DEAD BIRD !" shouted by panel of 3 'judges'.
I also LUV my crossbows, started those back in the 90s.
Many moons ago my Dad told /taught me anything worth doing is worth doing well.
I apply that to certain/several aspects of my life. If I build you a dog house, you could park your truck on it.
I'm not a pessimist nor an optimist ... I'm a realist.
When asked if my cup is half full of half empty my response is "I'm happy to have a cup".
GOTTA stop rambling ... stay safe
jinx
_________________
" It's not valuable unless you learn something from an experience. " Henry Ford
It's not unlike the same difference ...
My Craigslist rescued 100 footer :
1971 Standard Bug
1776cc dual port
034 distributor
38mm EGAS Carburetor |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Lidpainter
Samba Anti-Hero
Joined: January 21, 2004
Posts: 2056
Location: 41.77 | -83.56
|
| Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2025 8:49 am Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
|
|
My grandfather was a bad MFer. If you owed money, got a knock on your door and he was on the other side, you were about to have a really bad day.
When my dad was 15 or 16, he decided to take my grandfather's new Chrysler for a joyride. He was speeding and soon was being chased by the cops. The engine blew and he coasted over to the side of the road. When the cops saw the name on the registration they started laughing, handed it back to my dad and said "You're in enough trouble already". They drove off and just left him there. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Teeroy
Samba Member
Joined: April 20, 2003
Posts: 3883
Location: Eastern WA
|
| Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2025 2:15 pm Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
|
|
My grandfather on my dads side stayed in the same hotel for awhile as Al Capone and his goons. My dad said he he told him a few stories of that time. Later same grandpa went on to work on the Manhattan Project at the Hanford nuclear plant in WA. During WW2 his girlfriend (later wife & my grandmother) was also a Rosey the Riveter at the Boeing plant building B 17s
_________________
Pres. Rivercity VW Club www.rcvwclub.org
Founder Derr Wheat Panzers (DWP)
ARR #3
www.autosportsnorthwest.org |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
jspbtown
Samba Member
Joined: January 27, 2004
Posts: 5265
|
| Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2025 4:27 pm Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
|
|
| My great grandfather won a gold and bronze medals in the 1904 Summer Olympics held in St Louis. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Heiferman
Samba Member
Joined: February 28, 2024
Posts: 412
Location: Georgia, USA
|
| Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2025 4:57 pm Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
|
|
| kingkarmann wrote: |
I have a few interesting family history stories.
None of which I can share on a public (or private) fourm |
Gotta watch out for that NSI!
These are fun stories.
Not nearly as exciting:
My dad served in Vietnam as a young officer in 62-63 when MAAG Vietnam became MAC-V as an advisor. His direct superior was Colin Powell who was a senior tactical advisor at the time. Dad was wounded in an ambush while in an open jeep and refused his Purple Heart because when my Great Uncle Walter Huchthausen (mentioned in post 1) was killed, my grandfather who was also Walter Huchthausen was mistakenly reported as KIA to his wife. Even though he was in the Pacific and his brother was in Europe.
My grandfather did, however, accept his purple heart when he was stabbed in the neck with a bamboo shaft while building a church in The Philippines.
_________________
- 1973 Thing, 1970 Ghia, some LandCruisers and an old Ambulance |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Cusser
Samba Member
Joined: October 02, 2006
Posts: 33436
Location: Hot Arizona
|
| Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2025 7:03 pm Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
|
|
| jspbtown wrote: |
| My great grandfather won a gold and bronze medals in the 1904 Summer Olympics held in St Louis. |
Terrific !
My grandfather was a house painter by trade, and I painted a section under some French doors today, so I thought of him. And was grateful that I didn't have to do that every day for a living !
_________________
1970 VW (owned since 1972) and 1971 VW Convertible (owned since 1976), second owner of each. The '71 now has the 1835 engine, swapped from the '70. Second owner of each. 1988 Mazda B2200 truck, 1998 Frontier, 2014 Yukon, 2004 Frontier King Cab. All manual transmission except for the Yukon. http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335294 http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/album_page.php?pic_id=335297 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Xevin
Samba Member
Joined: January 08, 2014
Posts: 8986
|
| Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2025 10:46 pm Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
|
|
| Cusser wrote: |
My grandfather was a house painter by trade, and I painted a section under some French doors today, so I thought of him. And was grateful that I didn't have to do that every day for a living ! |
Iβm guessing PPG paint products
_________________
Keep on Busin'
| 67rustavenger wrote: |
| GFY's Xevin and VW_Jimbo! |
| Clatter wrote: |
| Damn that Xevin... |
| skills@eurocarsplus wrote: |
| I respect Xevin and he's a turd |
| SGKent wrote: |
| My God! Xevin and I 100% agree |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
zerotofifty
Samba Member
Joined: December 27, 2003
Posts: 4184
|
| Posted: Wed Nov 12, 2025 10:48 pm Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
|
|
| jspbtown wrote: |
| My great grandfather won a gold and bronze medals in the 1904 Summer Olympics held in St Louis. |
I went to grade school with a girl whose dad escaped the communists. He was in the 1956 Olympics for Romania's team, and escaped at the Olympics. He basically said fuck the communists and left. He went to America after he defected and became a medical doctor. I was treated by him many years later for a broken bone.
_________________
Sorry About That Chief.
Give Peace a Chance.
Words to live by. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
pondoras box
Samba Member
Joined: March 22, 2004
Posts: 1892
Location: Warren, PA
|
| Posted: Thu Nov 13, 2025 6:51 am Post subject: Re: Interesting Family History Stories |
|
|
Not my family but still interesting is there is a real estate agent in Erie, PA whoβs late husband was one of the guys who defected from the USSR in a MIG fighter jet.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Franciszek_Jarecki
As a weird side note the US Border Patrol station in Erie is at the location where his horse track was located. In fact you drive on the track itself to get to it, paved over now of course.
_________________
Looking for anything from Hal Casey Motors out of Hamburg New York, from license plate surrounds to matchbooks.
1961 23 Window (Bobo)
1965 11 Window (Zelda). https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=563183
1965 13 Window (Lucas)
1957 Oval ragtop
1960 hardtop
1964 hardtop
1965 hardtop (Arschloch)
1973 standard bug (Dirty Gertie)
https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=804912
1988 Cabriolet VR6 conversion |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
