I can trace my family back to about 1670, to one Joost Ratstaeck. Traces go back even further: in 1588 a piece of land behind the "Radtstaicken" was leased, insinuating there was a farm there named after our family.
Then again I guess my family isn't too difficult to trace. We've lived as farmers in the same part of the Netherlands (the "Achterhoek" in Eastern Gelderland) for ages. I guess it was my grandpa who broke the family tradition by moving to the Southern province of Brabant
As far as warfare goes, none of the members of that side of my family (my mother's side) has ever been a soldier AFAIK. We've always been farmers, what would it have mattered for us if it was Duke X, Earl Y or King Z ruling our lands?
My granddad from my father's side did fight in WW2 though, at the Battle of the Grebbeberg in may 1940. My dad never got much out of him about it, but it surely must have been one hell of a traumatizing experience.
There was (still is) a zoo located right on top of the hill. With the Germans approaching, the zookeeper was ordered to kill the animals. They would have likely been killed in the upcoming battle and chaos anyway, and the Dutch high command didn't exactly like the prospect of panicking rhinos rampaging through the defense lines. The zookeeper however simply had not the heart to kill all the animals, so instead of shooting them he set the monkeys free. As the Grebbeberg is covered with woods, they were having quite some fun jumping from tree to tree.
But as the sun set the evening before the battle, it soon turned out not everyone could appreciate the monkeys.
Because of the German troops marching closer with every minute, most of the soldiers couldn't sleep, instead nervously waiting for the smallest sign of an enemy soldier sneaking through the woods. Only few knew the monkeys had been set loose, so the fear grew pretty strong when suddenly loads of shrieking sounds were heard coming from the trees above.
I can't imagine it was a pleasant night.