What is your ethnic background (country/countries of origin)?

[HARO]

I did discover one part of my family history that I consider to be significant -
One of my great uncles (now passed) was a member of the Nazi SS.
I saw a picture of him beside his motorcycle/sidecar.
We visited Germany a number of years ago and when we asked our other relatives about it, they got quite defensive, telling us that a large part of the population was not aware of the horrors that were being inflicted on the Jewish population until it was too late.
I could go on about other things that I saw, but I'm sure we all have pretty interesting stories about our family history.
Hopefully others will post their stories.

Another thing that I found incredible during our visit to Europe was visiting homes that were older than both Canada or the USA.
Amazing.

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The village I was born in celebrated its 1200th anniversary (if I remember correctly) about 40 years ago. And my grandfather was the last of a long line of masons, who BUILT most of the village! And as far as the SS relative goes, toward the end of the war, when it became obvious that the war was lost, special units swept through many small farming communities, grabbing any young lads who looked tall enough, and slapping SS uniforms on them. My favourite uncle was one of these, but that's a whole other story.
John

 

[MitchM]

The village I was born in celebrated its 1200th anniversary (if I remember correctly) about 40 years ago. And my grandfather was the last of a long line of masons, who BUILT most of the village! And as far as the SS relative goes, toward the end of the war, when it became obvious that the war was lost, special units swept through many small farming communities, grabbing any young lads who looked tall enough, and slapping SS uniforms on them. My favourite uncle was one of these, but that's a whole other story.
John

Wow. 1200 years.

My German relatives were carpenters, (as am I) and we visited some churches that had plaques listing the names of the builders. The plaques had swastikas and my mom's maiden name on them.
I wish we could have spent more time in Germany.
So very interesting, but Europe is so very expensive. (relatively speaking)

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[HARO]

I can remember two gentlemen coming to our house when I was about five, and having a long and serious conversation with my dad. He had learned woodcarving while he was a PoW, and they wanted him to carve an oak background with lettering, to display a cast image of the Virgin Mary. The monument still stands in the Catholic churchyard, though the casting has been changed several times. I have two pictures of me looking at the monument, one as a six-year-old, and one at the age of 37.
And I grew up to be a jack-of-all-trades, but never learned the art of masonry.
John

 

[MitchM]

I also remember my grandfather using the term "Jude" with a german accent.
I asked him what he meant and I was told "never mind".
In many ways I wish my relatives were still alive so I could talk to them.

The biggest tragedy is that we have world leaders and some people currently running for office claiming that the holocaust never happened.

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[Marshall]

Military veterans from the Irag and Afghanistan conflicts are likely to disagree. Quality of treatment of military veterans over the past 50 years has sharply declined.

I did not say anything about treatment of the veterans. I was clearly talking about war in it's impact on society including but with no exclusivity to the soldiers as should have been obvious in the post because I never made a single claim of how the military treated my father. Also regardless of how my father was treated by the military I would not insult his legacy or the current vets legacy by using them as comparisons to and/or against each other. Government has been treating veterans badly for decades on decades. That is far from some new phenomenon or a escalating thing. I even asked two Op. Iraqi Freedom vets and a triple tour vet of the first Afghanistan operation and they agreed that entertaining a debate about which vets are treated better ignores the fundamental spirit of soldiers which is one of unity and standing together and not one of looking for something to fault the government of unless it reaps a shared benefit.

 

[MitchM]

Veterans in both the US and Canada are treated poorly, but this thread is about ethnicity.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I even asked two Op. Iraqi Freedom vets and a triple tour vet of the first Afghanistan operation and they agreed that entertaining a debate about which vets are treated better ignores the fundamental spirit of soldiers which is one of unity and standing together and not one of looking for something to fault the government of unless it reaps a shared benefit.

And better treatment for all military veterans is not "shared benefit"?
As to the state of society as a whole, things are certainly not better. There is more poverty, widening income gaps, wage stagnation, increase in the numbers of homeless, disappearance of the Middle Class and on and on. And that is in the U.S.A.. Add to this the on-going diaspora in the Middle East and the resultant social upheaval that it is causing, one would be hard pressed to find an overall improved human condition.

 

[Marshall]

And better treatment for all military veterans is not "shared benefit"?
As to the state of society as a whole, things are certainly not better. There is more poverty, widening income gaps, wage stagnation, increase in the numbers of homeless, disappearance of the Middle Class and on and on. And that is in the U.S.A.. Add to this the on-going diaspora in the Middle East and the resultant social upheaval that it is causing, one would be hard pressed to find an overall improved human condition.

Of course better treatment for all is a shared benefit and my post was framed around that very premise but that does not mitigate the uselessness of whining about who gets treated worse this set of vets or that set which was the original challenge to my comment (still not validated) So I am not sure what point you are trying to make. I said that vets really care about helping each other and not trying to fault the government unless it is shared benefit. Clearly saying this group is treated worse than that group is not going to benefit either group because both are still treated badly and therefor does not help anyone unless the goal is to create dissension among the vets themselves. These sort of arguments are usually fabricated to challenge a claim or to make strawman arguments to whatever arbitrary and ambiguous claim simply to be able to disagree with even the most benign statement simply to be a challenge or a bane. My father, grandfather, great grandfather were all vets and they like myself have the vets best interest in mind. I could care less about what one or two people think when there are literally hundreds of thousands of vets who all need help and who care about simply getting help for all of their fellow vets regardless of the way the government views each one individually.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

Of course better treatment for all is a shared benefit and my post was framed around that very premise but that does not mitigate the uselessness of whining about who gets treated worse this set of vets or that set which was the original challenge to my comment (still not validated) So I am not sure what point you are trying to make. I said that vets really care about helping each other and not trying to fault the government unless it is shared benefit. Clearly saying this group is treated worse than that group is not going to benefit either group because both are still treated badly and therefor does not help anyone unless the goal is to create dissension among the vets themselves. These sort of arguments are usually fabricated to challenge a claim or to make strawman arguments to whatever arbitrary and ambiguous claim simply to be able to disagree with even the most benign statement simply to be a challenge or a bane. My father, grandfather, great grandfather were all vets and they like myself have the vets best interest in mind. I could care less about what one or two people think when there are literally hundreds of thousands of vets who all need help and who care about simply getting help for all of their fellow vets regardless of the way the government views each one individually.

We agree in essence. What I took exception to in your post was that you emphasized Korea and Viet Nam vets but completely neglected to include Irag and Afghanistan vets who were subjected to events no less horrific.

 

[Marshall]

We agree in essence. What I took exception to in your post was that you emphasized Korea and Viet Nam vets but completely neglected to include Irag and Afghanistan vets who were subjected to events no less horrific.

I was quoting my fathers service record. If he only fought in K & V then why would he have stories about the other wars ? review the post. You may have misread because I was telling what my fathers service and sacrifice was but not war in general.

 

[Meyer Jordan]

I was quoting my fathers service record. If he only fought in K & V then why would he have stories about the other wars ? review the post. You may have misread because I was telling what my fathers service and sacrifice was but not war in general.

I did mis-read your original post. My bad! But I still disagree with the assessment that we are better off.

 

[morewater]

Father was from Mars, Mother was from Venus.

Hence, I turned out to be a space cadet.

I am now, and have been for 28 years, IBM (Italian by marriage).

 

[DoDad]

In the beginning on my fathers side a Hessian soldier came to America to fight in the revolutionary war.
He was captured in Virginia and decided to stay in america. On my mothers side they were Cherokees.
In between then and now its Heinz 57 varieties.