Growing up it seemed I was in a different generation than most of my peers, my father was 38 when I was born. He was a WWII vet and I can recall only 1 or 2 others in my age group (born 1962) whose fathers were as well. Those who had WWII vets in the family it was mostly an older uncle or grandfather. Now as I am older and coworkers are younger very few have any idea if their grandfather's or great grandfather's were WWII vets. Not only are the WWII vets dying it seems their families memories of them are dying as well.

I've noticed this as well and while I am not excusing it, I think this is largely a part of human nature where historical events become fainter and fainter to successive generations as the years pass by.

I need to see if there is a Youtube version of it so I can post it here but on my "Battle of Britain" dvd there is a special feature documentary where a British historian is walking through the streets of London in 1969 and he is asking people what they know about the "Battle of Britain". The majority of those interviewed seemed to be teens and young adults and the majority of them had no clue what the "Battle of Britain" was.

My father served in the RAF at the end of the war, before that he was drafted into the shipbuilding industry as a pattern maker at Denny's Shipyard in Dumbarton. He served his time at RAF Tangmere on the south coast of England, I did visit the base which is now only a small museum of flight to see where he served.
One of his tasks was to shoot unexploded ordnance that had been dropped around the area, he was an excellent shot and represented the base at Bisley, somewhere in his effects is a certificate for marksmanship, at the end of the war they wanted him to stay in but he got demobbed and started his own business.

Oh, and to answer the question, I have zero ancestors who fought in WWII. My dad was 6 years old in 1941 and none of his male relatives were drafted. I don't know if maybe living in Puerto Rico made a difference or not regarding the draft.

My mom's side of the family was all entirely in Cuba which was officially a neutral country.

Grew up in an area that was almost completely WW2 vets. Even the streets were named after places Canadian fought in WW2. I wonder how many of those that live there now know about the street they live on. The main street was Normandy so with the celebration of the 75th anniversary would think they would know, but the secondary streets, ???.

My dad flew B-17's and B-24's in a squadron that trained bombardiers in the new technique using airborne radar for targeting. He was stationed in England and said he flew one reconnaissance mission over Berlin to kind of map what it looked like on the screen for a future mission. He was the oldest child and all his brothers were too young. A cousin of his served in the Atlantic in the Navy. I'm not sure what his particular specialty was, but he was well-versed in all things electrical. I never heard anything about my mother's side's contributions, but I'm sure some of them served. She was born in 1924, the seventh of ten children seven of whom were boys, so they bracketed the age group to be eligible.

F4UDash4, my father was 19 and went into the Army Air Corp, stationed at Pearl after the attack, and was training to be a pilot when the Army walked into his class and said "Y'all are mechanics now!"
He so wanted to fly.... but anyway, he ended up on Okinawa wrenching on the Heavies until the end of the War.

Both grandfathers were in the Spanish civil war, one as a captain republican guard, the other as a volunteer for the Spanish Red Cross in the battle of Ebro.

My mom's father did WWII in engineering, he did operation Torch in the axis side, and then operation Dragoon, the Rhone valley, Alsace, and Black Forest. I discovered only a couple of years ago that his father (my great grandfather) did WWI in infantry, badly injured in may 1917, after 14 months in hospital he ended the war in aviation logistic far from the front. It was a kind of family secret, I'll never know if the secret was kept by my great grandfather or my grandfather. My mom's other grandfather also did WWI in infantry (1917-18), he did an offensive in Verdun region in 1917 (hill 344), he was injured to the hand there, spent some time in hospital and fortunately for him was sent to quiet sectors at the right times till the end of the war.

As for my father's family I don't know as I don't realy know him, plus they were italians at this time, so not easy for searches, especially when you don't speak italian.

As for your observation, young generation has never met those generations for the most, and if they are not curious... Fortunately, some History buffs still exist, it's up to them to not let both WW generations be forgotten.

Grandfather was too old for WW1, my father was a very late baby, my oldest aunt was born in the 1890s and my father's older brother was born in 1919, with my father born in 1923 both of them worked in Denny's, my uncle in the drawing office right up until Denny's closed in the 1960s

What changes he must have seen, from WW2 surface ships to nuclear submarines, as one of his last jobs was the steam turbine on one of the UK's nuclear submarines, he even got to go on the sea trials of one of them as there was a problem with one of the turbines, he had to escort the replacement part and take the defective part back to the engine works.

My father was navy. Went in, in 1943. Got out in 1946. Did anti-submarine duty aboard a destroyer in the North Atlantic. I remember him telling me that they used to have to go up into the
"crow's nest" with binoculars to watch for U-Boats. But it was cold as hell. Nobody did it. They kept a box of comic books up there and huddled down low reading them instead of watching for subs! He said if the captain had ever gone up there he would have had all of their asses in the brig. He also took part in the invasion of Southern France in August of '44. Also served for a while on a troop transport shipping German prisoners to the U.S. He said that the sailors aboard the ship had a hard time convincing the Germans that New York hadn't been destroyed. He said you just had to see the look on their faces as the ship pulled into New York harbor!

I find this hilarious. I guess Herr Goering was busy spreading lies about massive formations of JU88's and HE-111's bombing NYC to dust!

Grandad was in the war, but didn't stay in the army afterward. Grandpa was for WWII and Korea, he was a Major when he retired. My Dad and aunts were army brats, living on bases in Germany, Japan and Panama, so my grandmother was pretty much in the Army too. I do think she had a more direct role too, but I can't remember what at the moment.
Pics: Grandpa and family, not sure what country, but it was probably Germany or Japan since they only had 2 kids at that time.
Grandad in Italy.
Mama saving a sloth she saw crossing the road, slowly, obviously, in Panama. This was the woman I'd chase around with baby toads as a little kid, teasing her and she let me think she was afraid of it, just to play with me. LOL

My dad served in WWII in Army Intelligence. He retired in the late 60's as a Captain but he was a Staff Sergeant when I was little. How that came about, I do not know. That is the sum total of what I know. He refused to discuss anything about what he did and passed when I was 17. This pic is from Arlington National Cemetery where he and my mother are buried.

Some great stories, thanks!

Not WWII per se, but my grandfather was gassed twice by the Germans in WWI and my father served on carriers in the Korean War.

My grandfather eventually died from complications from the gassing, though he made it until just before I was born. I'm bummed I never got to meet him, but at the same time, from what I understand about him I can meet him every day in the mirror.

My grandad was at Gallipoli. He survived WW1,3 of his brothers didn't.

Although not related to me,I have a very good friend who joined the Home Guard at age15. When his dad found out he was marched out unceremoniously. He then became a runner for the ARP (Air Raid Precautions) and then joined the RAF in '43 to train as a navigator. He's quite a guy with so many interesting stories to tell.

As we have migrated to WW1, had 4 g'uncles on my father's side and 4 g'uncles on my mother's side. Three did not come home, all on my father's side. Only one has a known grave as he DoW during Vimy (Cdn Army). Two weeks late his brother MIA, at Arras, (Royal Marine Light Infantry). Seven months later another brother MIA at Cambrai, (Gordon Highlanders). A couple of g'uncles om my mother's side were gassed.

Because of the loss of 3 of her brothers, my g'mother wouldn't sign 2 of her son's enlistment papers. They had to wait til they were of age to volunteer.

For Canadians http://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/Pages/military-heritage.aspx

Grandfather, US Horse Artillery, France WWI.

My dad was in the Coast Guard in WWII...on a Liberty Ship. Sounds safe, except for the fact that he did at least 3 or 4 Murmansk runs! Scary stuff. He said he saw other ships sank in his convoys.

Nixer, you might find this link of interest, https://warsailors.com/convoys/index.html.