Ontopic Post interesting stuff that's happened in your family.

[123]

My grandfather shot a few Koreans in the Korean War.

 

[ZRH]

Your grandfather is as old as my uncle (not great uncle, my mother's brother).

 

[DJBrenton]

My grandfather shot a few Koreans in the Korean War.

I've shot a few Koreans in my time too. Mostly in London.

 

[Mikeawesome]

never do shots with koreans

 

[Applesauce]

The story of Dan's family is epic.

Alex was Dan's grandfather. He was born in a village in Poland or Russia depending upon where you draw the line. When he was 16 years old the Nazis came and burned his village to the ground killing most people including his family. He and his friend escaped. They didn't know what to do then so they lied about their ages and joined the Russian army. Alex could drive a tractor so they made him a tank driver. He fought in many battles in WWII and nearly starved to death. He told a story where they found a dead horse buried in the snow so they dug it up and ate it. Then they all got horrible diarrhea. He talked about how they would do things to entertain like taking turns riding up and down on (and now I'm going to sound like the girl I am) the big gun thingy on the front of the tanks. He was so mind controlled that even when I got to know him decades after the war he still considered all Germans to be animals that deserved to be shot on sight. He talked about all the killing he did like it was no big deal. It was creepy, but I respect that I cannot imagine what he had to face and I'm impressed that it didn't ruin him. He just dealt with it how he could.

After the war he was not allowed to leave the military so he defected. He wound up in a displaced persons camp and that's where he met Joanna. He told me she was still a virgin so he married her. Her story is less clear to me. I gather that much of her family was killed in the war but there was some kind of a rift formed between her and the ones that survived. I do not know why. Anyway, she agreed to marry Alex and they snuck out of East Berlin and traveled to Israel. They had a child (Dan's mom Eva) and Alex got a job as some kind of radio technician for the Israeli government. They then sent him and his family to Ethiopia to help with the infrastructure there. There was still an Emperor at that time. They lived well in Ethiopia. They had a house and servants. They enjoyed hiking and camping and hunting. We have a picture of Eva getting her high school diploma from Haile Selassie.

In the meantime in Yugoslavia, Dan's father John was born into a large and loving family. He had 10 brothers and sisters. He was one of the youngest. Then one day, while drunk I believe, John's father was trying to cross the street and was struck and killed by a car. Soon after, John's mother died of a "broken heart" leaving her children alone in the world. They were all taken by Christian Services to an orphanage in New York. Many were adopted but some were too old and lived at the orphanage until they were 18 and could make it on their own. John and one brother and two of his sisters were adopted by a family in Iowa that adopted children for the money. They didn't take very good care of the kids and when his sisters reached the age of 16 they were kicked out without a dime. When John reached 18 he was drafted and then he learned land surveying. After he left the army he continued to work for the government doing this. He was among the first to use GPS technology and has a lot of stories about the early stages of this technology that I will never understand.

He was sent all over the world doing surveying. He went to remote places that I'll never see like the middle of the Sahara. He went to places where there were so many homeless people that he had to climb over them on steps and streets to get to his room. They were just sleeping everywhere. He dined with kings and received expensive gifts they thought were just trinkets. He wound up in Ethiopia on business and met Eva. She was 10 years his junior, just barely 18. After 6 months she ran off with him and married him. They traveled around the world together a lot, driving through places where these days you'd probably be shot if you attempted. Eventually they settled back in the US even though they traveled around here a lot too. New Mexico, Hawaii, Maryland. Somewhere in there Dan was born and they eventually settled here. Eva's parents came to join her and they all bought a house together, the house that Dan, John, Sam and I now live in. We are what survives of this family. Brewer isn't even John's real last name. It's Gumbotz, but he's apparently embarrassed by that name as he is by his real first name, Emil. For whatever reason he thinks it's not a cool name. I think Emil Gumbotz is awesome, but whatever.

Ok, I'm catching up....

This. Is. Awesome. Thank you for letting your spirit fingers fly & typing this out for us!
In regards to Alex: sounds like he developed a dissociative nature stemming from the tragedies that he not only endured, but witnessed.

 

[Applesauce]

My grandfather was a lead engineer on the early space mission rockets, and later the x programs. Almost all of what he did is still classified for a couple more years. A few docs from his early years have come public and theyre really cool

This stuff is so interesting to me. Liam's father just retired as a commander from the Navy & he worked with weapons development as well, (if I'm correct). But, he will not share anything. Like, nothing. I wish I could know what he knows.

 

[Applesauce]

My dad could (and should) write a biography. His early years were spent hobnobbing with the Green Bay Packers, as he grew up down the street from Lambeau Field. His dad was close friends with Ray Nitschke, who my dad adored. When "Uncle Ray" died in 1998 my dad was at the memorial. Many family members, friends, and associates swear my dad and his brother started the Packers tradition of giving the players rides to the practice field on their bikes, a practice which continues to this day. Several years ago a petition was started to have the organization recognize them, but nothing ever came of it. I've heard the stories my entire life, and even seen a couple pics, but I don't know if it's true or not. He swears it is.

He became the first person in his family to graduate college, earning a B.S. and Masters in geology and then a PhD in paleontology. His career took him to Norway, where I grew up, and then Kazakhstan and Russia where he opened Mobil's offices in Almaty and Moscow, respectively. The next several years were spent being monitored by the KGB (a common event for foreign businesspeople in Russia and formerly Soviet republics), meeting dignitaries, heads of state, and celebrities. He identified and developed Mobil Oil's Caspian Sea petroleum deposits, a multi-billion dollar asset. After Mobil merged with Exxon he retired but was then hired by ChevronTexaco to do the same thing, resulting in two golden parachutes upon retirement.

His driver was a Russian medical doctor nicknamed Dr. Death due to his penchant for vodka toasting. Russian medical doctors made 50 times more money driving for westerners than they did performing surgeries and saving lives. Dr. Death is, not surprisingly, the man who almost killed me during a visit, as we attended the wedding reception of an associate and spent approximately five hours doing vodka shots. I spent 30% of my vacation in the fetal position experiencing vertigo and dry heaves. I was horribly sick for days.

A close friend and coworker of my dad’s named "Bolat" (not Borat), and frequent house guest of ours here in the States, turned out to be a Russian KGB lieutenant who had been keeping tabs on my dad for years. We loved Bolat, a portly and gregariouis Kazakh "petroleum engineer." It was shocking when we discovered the truth, which I believe occurred when the U.S. envoy to Kazakhstan recognized Bolat in a photo and identified him. Bolat never admitted it when confronted by my dad, and vanished the following day. He had virtually unlimited access to our private lives while staying in our home. We even bought him cowboy boots and a cowboy hat at the State Fair. In 2007, Bolat called my parent's house in Dallas late on New Years Eve to wish my dad a happy new year. It was short, to the point, and friendly. And creepy as f*ck. Years later, they were still sending a pointless message.

There is a statue of my dad somewhere in Almaty to thank him for the millions of corporate dollars he funneled into museums, orphanages, and other charities while Director of Mobil Oil Kazakhstan, the first time anyone had done so after the Soviet Union spent decades repressing Kazakh culture.

Dozens of local artists lavished Kazakh artwork on my dad during his years in Almaty. We have a storage unit filled with all sorts of gifts, both hideous and cool.

My dad once took a flight from Almaty to Astana with some colleagues, on a plane filled with instrumentation panels and individual seats. Midway through the flight, the pilot stormed back into cabin, looked angrily at my dad and the others, pointed to the instrumentation panels, and yelled “Nyet!” He then made a hand gesture like an airplane flying and then nose diving into the ground, complete with sound effects. Turns out they had contracted a Soviet training plane with one or more live instrument panels (their other option had been a notorious Aeroflot flight), and by absently flipping toggles and switches during conversations they were causing some kind of interference with the pilots in the c*ckpit. It’s a miracle they didn’t kill themselves.

One evening my dad slipped on ice in the park outside his townhome in Almaty and hit his head, knocking himself out cold. He woke in the dark, alone but unharmed. That park is filled with packs of wild dogs, and the impact knocked one of his retinas loose. He had the choice of having a Kazakh eye doctor reattach it or an American doctor. He flew home.

He has about a hundred more stories, but I’m done typing.

Crraaazzzzzyyyyy

 

[Applesauce]

My father was on HMS Amethyst during what became known as ( and had a film called ) The Yangtse Incident. The ship was fired upon by a shore battery on 20th April 1949 and sustained over 50 hits and ran aground with 22 dead. One way or another it was unable to get to open water until a night run under the noses of the Chinese guns at the end of July.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amethyst_Incident

Ugh, do not want anything to do with ships. So creepy.

 

[Applesauce]

We started from the bottom, now we're here.

Dbhssjjdgshishd

 

[Applesauce]

My brother stole a backpack full of liquor from my parent's wine cellar and tried to sell it at high school. He got arrested for B&E and possession of stolen property awhile later. And almost had an assault charge for someone girl who made a rude comment to him so he grabbed her by the neck and held her against a wall until someone broke it up. He locked my mom and myself out of the house one day after an argument. Had to call my dad (who was separated from my mom at the time) to come unlock the door. That was rather awkward.

Never a dull moment in this family.

Omg! :/

 

[Applesauce]

when i was about 12 me and my family went on a road trip across the country from chicago to the LA. my dad planned it out in every detail. but on the way we get lost in st lous. my dad pulls over to ask this guy for directions and his crew ended up stealing our hub caps while we're talking to him. so then we stop off in coolidge to see some family and end up having to take my aunt and her dog to phoenix. anyway later we end up staying at this camp that has smelly tents. When we left on the next day, my dad accidentally dragged the dog to death behind the car. we get to the desert later on and narrowly escape death after crashing through a roadblock sign and messing up the car. dad walked through the desert to find a gas station and the car gets repaired by some mechanics who try to take all our money for repairs, which werent even done well. so we are out of money and dad steals money from a hotel where he tried to get a check cashed while the rest of us are looking at the Grand canyon thats right by the hotel. After we leave the hotel, my aunt dies in the car! so we keep going to Phoenix and leave her dead body at her sons house. anyway we end up in LA at our destination, but the park we traveled all that way for was closed! my dad goes crazy at this point and holds the security guard hostage, long story short we get arrested. my dad pleads with the owner of the park and he lets us go and even lets us in, we were the only ones there! best vacation ever.

Holy fawk! Bdsshdvajdhd

 

[Applesauce]

My grandfather, born in 1895, was in "the great war" and never once called it World War 1. He had foot problems as a kid, family was very poor and never took him to a doctor. Went into the service (after marrying his hs sweetheart, my gma) and got a pair of boots that fit. All foot problems solved. They were the first new pair of shoes he got, and the first one's that were the right size.

After the war came home to PA, worked & got what half a century later would be diagnosed as Legionnaire's disease. At the time, the doctors said the only way to save him was to remove one lung and half of the other. They did, and told him this was only going to give him a couple more years because there was damage the couldn't remove and if he wanted to extend it a few more months he should move to the southern Appalachian mountains (smokey mountains area). they moved there when he was 27 and wanted a family so bad that they figured they had to get started right away. A tiny house and lots of blessings later they had their 3rd kid 6 years after the move. He opened a business, servicing the local area and worked there until he was 80. Retired (no party because he continually tinkered in the family business) he'd wander out to service calls once a month, and enjoy the air on his front porch for 15 more years. Died at 93 years old having known grandchildren and great grandchildren. Both he and my gma were always unbelievably humble and grateful.

When I asked him how he think he made it that long, he said in his slow southern draw, "well, they just didn't know me."

That is crazy!!

 

[Applesauce]

My friend is still living in the house where her son murdered her husband by stabbing him repeatedly and then cutting his head off. I'm not sure I could ever go back to that house. She cleaned it up herself and then remodeled the room where it happened. I just don't even know how someone faces that. I'd have sent other people to get my stuff, hired people to clean it up, and moved.

Omfgggggg, I had no idea.... Does she have a relationship with the son who did this??

 

[Applesauce]

Aunt just recently spent several hours shopping for pajamas for our grandmother, she hated the ones she picked out.

She then said, to my mom and grandma "If I had a gun I don't know which of you I would shoot first" completely deadpan/serious apparently

A little on the insane side

What in the shit??!

 

[Applesauce]

Family legend has it, that our family left Ireland when the patriarch of the family beat another man to death with his bare fists (no idea over what) and he was told to beat it or hang.
Aside from that were just a long line of hillbillys, farmers, factory workers and criminals.

Hahahahahaaaa, awesome.

 

[Applesauce]

Ladybutt's grandpop apparently killed a waitress and immediately went home and packed up the family and moved from Wisconsin (or something like that) to Minnesota.
Half a dozen kids at that time

Whooooooaaaaa, he really made sure he got farrrrr away from the crime scene. Lol!

 

[eileenbunny]

Omfgggggg, I had no idea.... Does she have a relationship with the son who did this??

I'm not really sure. What kind of relationship do you have with your son who is in prison because he murdered his dad, your husband? I just don't even know what I'd do. I try to think about how I'd feel if Sam killed Dan because she was insane. I can't figure it out. So much pain.

 

[eileenbunny]

That is crazy!!

It really is. That guy was bad ass.

 

[Applesauce]

I'm not really sure. What kind of relationship do you have with your son who is in prison because he murdered his dad, your husband? I just don't even know what I'd do. I try to think about how I'd feel if Sam killed Dan because she was insane. I can't figure it out. So much pain.

I can't remember, was he deemed mentally ill??
It's definitely a serious thought process to even try to fathom my son in that situation, and how I'd be as a mom.

 

[eileenbunny]

I can't remember, was he deemed mentally ill??
It's definitely a serious thought process to even try to fathom my son in that situation, and how I'd be as a mom.

Yeah, they diagnosed him with schizophrenia or something. Now I'm being told by the family that I could be a possible target for his insanity when he gets out of prison. But that's like 20-40 years from now. I don't even know what to think. I'm still just...I dunno...it's so unreal.