In my family, I've had them fighting since the Ottoman Empire on my father's side.
On my mother's side, we've been able to trace our ancestry clear back to King Phillip's War.
Historical documents that we've recently discovered online that document the history of the Janissaries that the Ottoman Empire recruited for their Sultans show that we had 6 members of my family fighting for them; including 1 that stayed loyal to the Sultan after they betrayed him and tried to overthrow him.
Otherwise, his side of the family didn't break out into another war until World War I when my grandfather, Massut, joined the Ottomans to destroy the English. He served at Gallipoli and survived, living to be 86 at the time of his death.
I'm actually the last person to have served in a war on the Iranian side of my family: the Iran-Iraq War.
My mother's side of my family has a far more interesting military background, starting with John Tuthill, who moved to the Americas during King Phillip's War. He fought against the Indians, and survived until his death at 54.
From there on out, we had family in the French and Indian War, Revolutionary War (Nathaniel Tuttle; a spy for the Americans and a soldier in General George Rogers Clark's infantry unit; he stole supplies for them during the winter), War of 1812, Civil War (both Union), Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, and Vietnam.
My family had two members serving in it during World War I. The first was Lieutenant John Cornwell who served in the Second Division until he was wounded with gas and suffered from shellshock. He survived and became a nurse. He died in 1964 at the age of 71.
JOHN CORNWELL (Uncle)
My other relative (see ship photo BELOW) was German. We have a lot of shady details regarding him, and we aren't even sure what his first name was. From what we've discovered, his last name was "Bolken", and he was the captain of the SMS Pommern at the Battle of Jutland. He went down with his ship when it was destroyed, along with all other 839 hands.
Kapitan Bolken's Ship: SMS Pommern (Uncle)
During World War II, I had two members on my mother's side fighting for the Americans. The first one was Staff-Sergeant Byron King. He flew in a B-17 and was killed when it exploded over Germany on his 13th mission.
The second was 2nd Lieutenant Randall Tuttle. He was a P-47 Pilot in the Pacific during the war, and he shot down 6 planes. He destroyed at least a dozen ground targets before his death whilst serving on the Island of Cebu. His remains were returned to the United States in 1947, and he is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
RANDALL TUTTLE (Cousin)
