Does Family History factor in with your modeling?

[Hippy Ed]

I ask this because I started digging up my family tree back in NOV 1996 and have been led back to the model bench as a result of learning about a Great uncle of mine named Charles "Chuck" David Schoonover born in SEPT 1933 in Indiana & died 16 JAN 1966 off the coast of So. Vietnam. Come to find out, he was a Naval Aviator flying the North American RA-5C Vigilante BuNo: 149312 AC 901 assigned to RVAH-9 "Hoot Owls" aboard the USS Ranger (CVA-61) Ok, I never heard of the Vigilante before then so, I dug deeper into his career & found out he flew Recon Missions & flew Unarmed & unafraid! I traced his career & the aircraft he had flown and learned alot about him since I never knew him. "My Theme Builds" thread is where I'll be posting pics of my builds of family members whom served in the Military.
The more I dig, the more I find. Many ancestors served in WWII and some were in Pearl Harbor on 7 DEC 1941. aboard the Arizona, The Oklahoma, and another was on the USS Honolulu CL-48 whom stayed aboard her throughout the war!
Right now I am researching a cousin named Herbert Charles Shively born in Chicago,IL in I believe MAR 1913 [and his twin brother Howard Burton Shively] Both enlisted in the US Navy and became Naval Aviators. Herbert flew PBY-5A Catalinas with VP-53 in JAN 1944 Earned the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for rescuing a Lt. R.C.Lehnert USMC of VMF-422 on 27 JAN 1944. I'm starting work on his aircraft [BuNo: 04413] which I'm looking for info on...

 

[moon puppy]

Short answer is yes.

That's quite a pedigree Eddie. Great to be able to find that info and make connections. The guys at Pearl, did they all know of relationships or were they up and down the family tree? My family has traced roots back to 1600s in some cases but it's mind boggling to think of how 3 dimensional these family trees get.

My Dad was in the 31st Infantry Regiment in Korea in 1952. I've done two tribute builds to him, one while he was still with us, another after he passed. He started off as a machine gunner but after he spent the night fixing an officers personal radio, he got transferred to BHQ as driver for BCO. Short time later his previous unit got wiped out. The 31st is the same unit that suffered the Batan Death March and was the subject of the rescue raid that inspired the movie "The Great Raid".

I found out my Uncle was in CBI, a Captain when he came back but I don't have any details and I've reached out to his children for info but they don't know either, he never talked about it. All I know he was there in '42-43 and was back stateside training troops for the rest of the war. I didn't find this out till like a couple of months ago, he's been gone now 10 years, seems he never talked about his service. But it does explain why he loved spending all his time in the garden, all summer long, guess he was use to the heat.

Both my Grand Fathers were called up for WWI but one only got to training state side and the other did make it to France but, luckily, didn't make it to action.

Other than that, that's about it for our family unless you want to count GGGGRandfather Charles Britt who was SC Militia during the Revolutionary War, actually have his pension record. He held the line down in Florida, must have done a dang good job because no one attacked from Florida. He was also called up again during the final battles in the South at Eutaw Springs SC.

His son was too old to serve in the War Between The States but he was listed on the roster of the 6th SC Senior Reserves (can you imagine an outfit like that!)

Oh yeah, one more. General James Kennedy M.D. who won Navy Cross for his work against Malaria in the Panama during the construction, he was commander of Bethesda ~I think~ I have to check on that further.
Ha! Found a link about him being the surgeon on a cross country bicycle tour.
http://bicyclecorpsriders.blogspot.com/2009/01/dr-james-kennedy.html


Dad's Jeep

My attempt

Picture my Dad took of a tank

My attempt at it.

Oh yeah, I gotta tell ya about my Wife's Dad.

 

[Tim A.]

Sure is something to be proud of Ed. I should do some digging myself. I only know of my grandfather seeing combat in WWII, as part of the 34th bomb group. I built him a B-17 when I was in high school. when he past away in 2001 I was given it back and still have it.

Those are great photo's to have Bob and excellent models!


Tim

 

[Hippy Ed]

Thanks Tim & Bob. :drinks
I do believe some of my PH ancestors knew of the relations between them. Some were from the same area, others were cousins or, brother-in-laws.

 

[moon puppy]

Hey, just remembered, Cindy's uncle was at Pearl. I never knew him. John Moss was his name, they think he was on the Arizona but I have no way of knowing.

 

[Hippy Ed]

Hey, just remembered, Cindy's uncle was at Pearl. I never knew him. John Moss was his name, they think he was on the Arizona but I have no way of knowing.

There are a number of sites with casualty lists...
i'll look around in a bit & see what I can find out

 

[moon puppy]

I just checked, he's not on the Arizona list.

 

[Adam Baker]

Thanks for sharing this history of your family member's guys, it's very interesting to read.

I've never really spent any time looking into the military service of members of my family. My father I know spent some time in the Air Force, but I've never really talked to him enough to find out his service, and I dont think he ever saw any combat.

I have been told that either a grandfather, or a great uncle, or someone to that effect, was involved wit the Battle of the Bulge during WWII. I remember being told he was a truck driver or something like that.

I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest to find that I had ancestors involved with the Revolution, we can trace family all the way back to the Mayflower, and others from Scotland in the early to mid 1700's, so I know I had family here prior to the Revolution. No clue if any where involved in the Civil War, but would definitely like to find out.

Seeing this might just be the impetus I need to talk to my sister who has done some pretty substantial work on tracing our family tree.

 

[Hippy Ed]

I just checked, he's not on the Arizona list.

But, he was in PH at the time of the attack right?

 

[Hippy Ed]

Thanks Adam. I have gone back to the 1605-10 era of my last name. Schoonover which has been shortened a few times since then. And on an inlaw line back to the 1480s!
And with keeping with the Paternal side of the family, I can only get back to 1787 Ireland on one line [Connolly] & 1580s on another![Wilmarth] Found 2 lines of DAY.
Mom's side of the family is FAIR & I can't seem to get past 1800 NY! her mom's side Mumford & Hyde I can go back to the early 1800s in England.

Alot of miners & Railroaders on both sides of my tree. Plenty served in the Civil War, some in the Revolution. Still pluggin' away at it

 

[moon puppy]

I just checked, he's not on the Arizona list.

But, he was in PH at the time of the attack right?

That's what I'm told. He passed away in the 70s and his only son passed not long after that. No one really knows exactly because he was estranged from the rest of the family. (everyone mad at him for selling the family farm which is now prime realestate on Lake Keowee :facepalm )

 

[Hippy Ed]

I just checked, he's not on the Arizona list.

But, he was in PH at the time of the attack right?

That's what I'm told. He passed away in the 70s and his only son passed not long after that. No one really knows exactly because he was estranged from the rest of the family. (everyone mad at him for selling the family farm which is now prime realestate on Lake Keowee :facepalm )

D'oh!! I know how that goes! My dad cut ties with the Schoonover side before I was born. Don't know why tho.

Anyways, I did a quick search and found a Thomas Lee Moss who went down with the Arizona! http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.northam.usa.states.kentucky.counties.christian/1324.1365.1368.1/mb.ashx

 

[RichB]

I picked up the Academy 1/400 Titanic Anniversary Edition from researching my family tree and finding Frederick Sheath is a distant cousin who served as a Trimmer on board and survived the sinking crewing Lifeboat 1.

I have a least 7 relatives that served with Commonwealth forces in WWI, 4 in the Poor Bloody Infantry, 2 in Indian Army Cavalry regiments and 1 in the RFC/RAF (had just received his posting to a squadron when the war ended).

My great grandfather and 2 of his brothers served with Royal Irish Constabulary prior to 1912 "Troubles".

An uncle was KIA in NW Europe with the Canadian Army in 1944.

A distant uncle on a US branch served with the 25[sup]th[/sup] NY Cavalry during the Civil War. There are likely more if I dug further into the US side.

A fair number of the family were "tween ages", either too old or too young for WW1, WW2 or Korea.

Cheers,
Rich

 

[Hippy Ed]

I just checked, he's not on the Arizona list.

But, he was in PH at the time of the attack right?

That's what I'm told. He passed away in the 70s and his only son passed not long after that. No one really knows exactly because he was estranged from the rest of the family. (everyone mad at him for selling the family farm which is now prime realestate on Lake Keowee :facepalm )

D'oh!! I know how that goes! My dad cut ties with the Schoonover side before I was born. Don't know why tho.

Anyways, I did a quick search and found a Thomas Lee Moss who went down with the Arizona! http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.northam.usa.states.kentucky.counties.christian/1324.1365.1368.1/mb.ashx

Ok, found a John Moss aboard the USS St. Helena CL-50 and docked at 1010 dock where Pennsylvania was suppose to be...
http://www.usshelena.org/kleppspearlharbor.html

There's an aerial photo showing where she sat at the time. My greatgrand uncle J.T. Philpy was aboard the Honolulu CL-48 and was at the 1st berthing [concrete pier]

 

[Hippy Ed]

I picked up the Academy 1/400 Titanic Anniversary Edition from researching my family tree and finding Frederick Sheath is a distant cousin who served as a Trimmer on board and survived the sinking crewing Lifeboat 1.

I have a least 7 relatives that served with Commonwealth forces in WWI, 4 in the Poor Bloody Infantry, 2 in Indian Army Cavalry regiments and 1 in the RFC/RAF (had just received his posting to a squadron when the war ended).

My great grandfather and 2 of his brothers served with Royal Irish Constabulary prior to 1912 "Troubles".

An uncle was KIA in NW Europe with the Canadian Army in 1944.

A distant uncle on a US branch served with the 25[sup]th[/sup] NY Cavalry during the Civil War. There are likely more if I dug further into the US side.

A fair number of the family were "tween ages", either too old or too young for WW1, WW2 or Korea.

Cheers,
Rich

That's quite interesting! My "aunt" Cindy had an aunt whom survived the Titanic & has some artifacts she wants me to research (when she gets around to finding them again) My 2nd Great grandfather served with the 37th, 48 & 101st NY Infantry and several of his brothers too. Richard Silsby Fair was with the 2nd & 15th NY Cavalry and died in NOV 1864 of Typhoid in Maryland.

 

[Swordsman]

I don't model anything as of yet that had anything to do with my family .... Other than the model railroading .... Don't know if you have heard of Satterwhite Log homes or not .... the old Dunkirk loco I'm building is for the family name. Now we didn't have a loco of that caliber in the Family but the logging aspect is what I'm going with. Now I have considered modeling all the aircraft my Dad work on when they were built starting with a beech bonanza that he had to modify and put the new tail design on ..... back in the day. Of course He did a good job as the pilot gave Him a ride afterwards. trouble is there were a lot of AC He did including design work on the SST.

 

[moon puppy]

I just checked, he's not on the Arizona list.

But, he was in PH at the time of the attack right?

That's what I'm told. He passed away in the 70s and his only son passed not long after that. No one really knows exactly because he was estranged from the rest of the family. (everyone mad at him for selling the family farm which is now prime realestate on Lake Keowee :facepalm )

D'oh!! I know how that goes! My dad cut ties with the Schoonover side before I was born. Don't know why tho.

Anyways, I did a quick search and found a Thomas Lee Moss who went down with the Arizona! http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.northam.usa.states.kentucky.counties.christian/1324.1365.1368.1/mb.ashx

Ok, found a John Moss aboard the USS St. Helena CL-50 and docked at 1010 dock where Pennsylvania was suppose to be...
http://www.usshelena.org/kleppspearlharbor.html

There's an aerial photo showing where she sat at the time. My greatgrand uncle J.T. Philpy was aboard the Honolulu CL-48 and was at the 1st berthing [concrete pier]

I wonder if that was him. I'll poke at them a little more to see if they know. Thanks Eddie! :captain

 

[Hippy Ed]

I just checked, he's not on the Arizona list.

But, he was in PH at the time of the attack right?

That's what I'm told. He passed away in the 70s and his only son passed not long after that. No one really knows exactly because he was estranged from the rest of the family. (everyone mad at him for selling the family farm which is now prime realestate on Lake Keowee :facepalm )

D'oh!! I know how that goes! My dad cut ties with the Schoonover side before I was born. Don't know why tho.

Anyways, I did a quick search and found a Thomas Lee Moss who went down with the Arizona! http://boards.ancestry.com/localities.northam.usa.states.kentucky.counties.christian/1324.1365.1368.1/mb.ashx

Ok, found a John Moss aboard the USS St. Helena CL-50 and docked at 1010 dock where Pennsylvania was suppose to be...
http://www.usshelena.org/kleppspearlharbor.html

There's an aerial photo showing where she sat at the time. My greatgrand uncle J.T. Philpy was aboard the Honolulu CL-48 and was at the 1st berthing [concrete pier]

I wonder if that was him. I'll poke at them a little more to see if they know. Thanks Eddie! :captain

Yer welcome. Hopefully it is him

 

[Gator]

That is very cool guys. I never dug around for military backgrounds on my family's side. I do have a brother-in-law that was on the USS Nimitz in the late 70's. I do have a great great grandfather, James Littlejohn Gibson, that was a Methodist circuit rider preacher whose Scottish father was in the British Army occupying Ireland in the early 1800's. The Gibson family is part of the Scottish Buchanan clan which called Loch Lomond home. One member of the clan was part of the betrayal of William Wallace but the clan as a whole fought with Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn. I don't have too much information on the Loups.

My focus for modeling is Louisiana's rich history.

 

[Hippy Ed]

That is very cool guys. I never dug around for military backgrounds on my family's side. I do have a brother-in-law that was on the USS Nimitz in the late 70's. I do have a great great grandfather, James Littlejohn Gibson, that was a Methodist circuit rider preacher whose Scottish father was in the British Army occupying Ireland in the early 1800's. The Gibson family is part of the Scottish Buchanan clan which called Loch Lomond home. One member of the clan was part of the betrayal of William Wallace but the clan as a whole fought with Robert the Bruce at the Battle of Bannockburn. I don't have too much information on the Loups.

My focus for modeling is Louisiana's rich history.

Well Kenny, glad to see you posting here. Sounds kewl having a Bro-in_law aboard Nimitz! I have lots of ancestors whom had served aboard Carriers as Naval Aviators and, Ship's compliment. As far as my Irish roots go, I can't get past my 4th great-grandfather Thomas Connolly b. 1787 Ireland died 1850-51 OH or WI and his wife Catherine Martin.
But, I got back into modeling again after a 25+ yr hiatis due to my having learned of some of my more interesting relatives I had never known. So now this is my other main hobby obsession/addiction. Has been since NOV 1996