I'd say that THIS is the ultimate Christmas gift. We discovered new family members.

[the ringo kid]

On Christ's birthday, I was informed that we have new found family members thanks to a posting that I made on some website, where I talked about my granddad and what happened to he, his crew and the SS Fort Lee.

A gal from I think Oslo, Norway? was doing some kind of search for my grandfather, Ottar Marius Andersen. This gal, came across one of my articles about the SS Fort Lee as well as about the Germans who served on U - 181.

Anyway, its unclear to me what site she read my stuff on? maybe even on this one? Anyway, she tried contacting me by email, but I never knew it sinse I've not had active email for over a year. I'll try giving more soon as I find out more.

I donbt remember who started a similar thread about a Vietnamese kid now grown, was wanting to find out more about his G.I father was, as we'll as other family. Some here posted that they wouldn't want to know, and others like me, were in favor of possibly finding others.

My immediate family including a cousin, adds up to 4 people. With three nephews and their kids, that goes up to 14. So there are not alot of folks left in my family so yeah, I'm excited about getting ''new'' relatives. I don't know yet, her name but, look forwards to more detail soon.

 

[THE PILGRIM]

I was not familiar with SS Fort Lee.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Fort_Lee
That was a tough situation!
I bet that if you win the lottery, you will have more relatives.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Great news Kid, I'm happy for you!

If this connection turns solid, it's a great excuse to make a visit.
Norway is a stunningly beautiful country, the natives generally speak English, and are as nice as can be. And now you've got this connection.

Congratulations, and of course, pictures are always appreciated.

 

[the ringo kid]

I was not familiar with SS Fort Lee.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Fort_Lee
That was a tough situation!
I bet that if you win the lottery, you will have more relatives.

Heh heh, that's what I've heard happens.

Though Wikipedia is OK, someone's changed some of the factual info. My grandfather was adrift with his 1st mate for around two weeks. When he was found, the first mate had died from exposure and my granddad was almost dead.

27 men were killed in the 2nd explosion who were in the two lifeboats and most were Navy armed guards. I've never heard of the three who died because of the Japanese so apparantly, even the North Atlantic Chapter of the Merchant Marines may be missing details?

Most of the info about U 181 is pretty correct. Somebody evidently saw my info on uboat.net - which was never credited by 'gummi' the sites owner.

 

[the ringo kid]

Great news Kid, I'm happy for you!

If this connection turns solid, it's a great excuse to make a visit.
Norway is a stunningly beautiful country, the natives generally speak English, and are as nice as can be. And now you've got this connection.

Congratulations, and of course, pictures are always appreciated.

I'm looking forward to finding out much more. I think my sister said she was n her mid 30s? I'm sure we will visit sometime.

 

[Kevin J.]

Congratulations sound like an interesting encounter. With email and social media it should make it easier for you to catch up. I was reading this when a commercial came on for Ancestry dot com. In this one they have twin African Americans and one says he wished he could go back in time 200 years and meet his ancestors. Maybe it's just me but I thought really, think about that for a minute.

 

[Harkrader]

Wow! I LOVE these stories!
We went to Norway last summer, first time. Found out an "aunt" is actually a "cousin," met blood relatives I'd not even heard of, and a bunch of what they call "raggedy" relatives, meaning by marriage. Didn't spent nearly enough time with them, but we are planning another trip, perhaps in 2017.

Had a complete surprise for Christmas Day, too. One of our sons married a delightful lady from a family that is a lot different from ours. Knowing that my wife and I would be home alone this year, they invited us to join them. FIVE Aussie Shepherds running around like a school of fish; "raggedy" second cousins: three girls and three boys age 4 and under and our 2-year-old grandson, their parents and the cat. All in an old farm house. Didn't drink nearly enough, but ate WAAAY too much!

Almost got a new gun, too, and talked about them for hours.

New family indeed!

Thanks for the story.

p.s.: took 500 photos. Post 'em? You're nuts!

 

[arjay]

It's a lot of fun.Heard from a 2nd cousin last year looking for my father's descendants (he had emigrated) and in the back and forth learned not only were our grandfathers brothers,but our grandmothers were sisters.It was a small village [emoji1]

 

[Harkrader]

Ringo Kid:
My maternal grandfather (a Norwegian, naturalized US citizen!) was documented as the oldest Merchant Marine captain at sea during WWII. He sailed in the convoys to Murmansk and Archangel, surviving when ships all around his were sunk. He passed on to me a piece of shrapnel from a German shell that hit his ship, fired from a U-boat on the surface. He was awarded medals by the US and Russia, after the war.

My mom spent years documenting his activities, and often said that the story of the Merchant Marine was scarcely known.

I'm sure you treasure what you've learned of your family history, as I do mine.

 

[Squarebutt]

Merry Christmas and best wishes with your newfound relatives.
The Merchant Marine was a critical part of the war effort, and suffered terrible casualties. They've never gotten enough credit.

 

[olcop]

Ultimate Christmas gift

Ringo Kid:
My maternal grandfather (a Norwegian, naturalized US citizen!) was documented as the oldest Merchant Marine captain at sea during WWII. He sailed in the convoys to Murmansk and Archangel, surviving when ships all around his were sunk. He passed on to me a piece of shrapnel from a German shell that hit his ship, fired from a U-boat on the surface. He was awarded medals by the US and Russia, after the war.

My mom spent years documenting his activities, and often said that the story of the Merchant Marine was scarcely known.

I'm sure you treasure what you've learned of your family history, as I do mine.

I agree, I've been searching for years for information on my Father's Merchant Marine Records during WWII.
Our family history had him being torpeoded and loosing as many as 7 ships , but, We have only been able to document 1 so far. And, oddly enough, you can find lists of fatalities but not of survivors, I was left with the impression they got new papers, a hot shower, new clothes and were then assigned to another ship. We did find some surprising things such as he was awarded 3 medals and was issued a DD214, meaning he was eligible for some veteran's benefits.
olcop

 

[Marshwheeling]

Wow! I LOVE these stories!
We went to Norway last summer, first time. Found out an "aunt" is actually a "cousin," met blood relatives I'd not even heard of, and a bunch of what they call "raggedy" relatives, meaning by marriage. Didn't spent nearly enough time with them, but we are planning another trip, perhaps in 2017.

Had a complete surprise for Christmas Day, too. One of our sons married a delightful lady from a family that is a lot different from ours. Knowing that my wife and I would be home alone this year, they invited us to join them. FIVE Aussie Shepherds running around like a school of fish; "raggedy" second cousins: three girls and three boys age 4 and under and our 2-year-old grandson, their parents and the cat. All in an old farm house. Didn't drink nearly enough, but ate WAAAY too much!

Almost got a new gun, too, and talked about them for hours.

New family indeed!

Thanks for the story.

p.s.: took 500 photos. Post 'em? You're nuts!

LIKED, for the Aussies. School of fish is perfect imagery. I always called it "circling like sharks". I had five here for a while. Wish I had enough land for them. Busy, busy, busy. It is impossible not to feel good with a houseful of Aussies.

 

[the ringo kid]

Wow! I LOVE these stories!
We went to Norway last summer, first time. Found out an "aunt" is actually a "cousin," met blood relatives I'd not even heard of, and a bunch of what they call "raggedy" relatives, meaning by marriage. Didn't spent nearly enough time with them, but we are planning another trip, perhaps in 2017.

Had a complete surprise for Christmas Day, too. One of our sons married a delightful lady from a family that is a lot different from ours. Knowing that my wife and I would be home alone this year, they invited us to join them. FIVE Aussie Shepherds running around like a school of fish; "raggedy" second cousins: three girls and three boys age 4 and under and our 2-year-old grandson, their parents and the cat. All in an old farm house. Didn't drink nearly enough, but ate WAAAY too much!

Almost got a new gun, too, and talked about them for hours.

New family indeed!

Thanks for the story.

p.s.: took 500 photos. Post 'em? You're nuts!

Thank you. Also, I don't have any real detail yet but hope to in the next few weeks. Soon as I can get in contact with her? I'll ask her to join this site and introduce herself and any others that we any have.

 

[the ringo kid]

Ringo Kid:
My maternal grandfather (a Norwegian, naturalized US citizen!) was documented as the oldest Merchant Marine captain at sea during WWII. He sailed in the convoys to Murmansk and Archangel, surviving when ships all around his were sunk. He passed on to me a piece of shrapnel from a German shell that hit his ship, fired from a U-boat on the surface. He was awarded medals by the US and Russia, after the war.

My mom spent years documenting his activities, and often said that the story of the Merchant Marine was scarcely known.

I'm sure you treasure what you've learned of your family history, as I do mine.

If you can? I'd love to hear his story. My grandfather came here before WWI and fought in France as a doughboy to earn his citizenship. I still have his doughboy overseas cap and highly treasure it, and his medals from WWII. He earned a roughly rare award from the MM, which is called, the, Merchant Mariners Medal for War Wounded. Its almost as rare..or maybe rarer, than the Medal of Honor is.

As far as I know, he also had been on the Archangel and or Murmansk runs. I had his ships book from the SS Fort Lee, but it was stolen from us about 25 years ago. He had times, dates, ships cargo etc listed in it. Now all I have, is his ships log from the SS New London, which is all post war info and takes place in the late 40s and early 50s.

 

[the ringo kid]

Merry Christmas and best wishes with your newfound relatives.
The Merchant Marine was a critical part of the war effort, and suffered terrible casualties. They've never gotten enough credit.

Merry Christmas back at you. Many thanks and, when I finally get in touch with her, I'll ask her to join this site and introduce herself. Most Norwegians I know, are pro gun, so I'll find out from her when possible?

My grandfather is the recipient of an award that is rarer then or about as rare, as the Medal of Honor is. Its the: Merchant Mariners Medal for War Wounded.

 

[the ringo kid]

I agree, I've been searching for years for information on my Father's Merchant Marine Records during WWII.
Our family history had him being torpeoded and loosing as many as 7 ships , but, We have only been able to document 1 so far. And, oddly enough, you can find lists of fatalities but not of survivors, I was left with the impression they got new papers, a hot shower, new clothes and were then assigned to another ship. We did find some surprising things such as he was awarded 3 medals and was issued a DD214, meaning he was eligible for some veteran's benefits.
olcop

I'm not sure but, try the Merchant marines site, or the north Atlantic chapter of the mm. I found loads of info I had not known when I checked that site. Also, sense he was awarded a few medals, he should be listed there with dates for whatever actions he was in. The nacmm site did have names of crews including survivors. One thing I was pretty surprised to learn, was most of his crew were Apache Indians.

 

[federali]

Great Story!

Incidentally, the story of the Vietnamese man seeking to know his late American father's family was posted by me. He's a friend of my son.

 

[Erich]

A few years back Dad was up in the mountain village in Italy where his grandfather originated. He'd put a note up mentioning where he was, and after a year or so got an email from a guy claiming to be a relative. Dad knows I've got all the family tree stuff and that I used to be able to speak Italian, so he forwards it to me.

Well, I write the guy in my Italian and he writes me back in English and after several exchanges we realize that we are related - his great-grandfather was the older brother (by about 10 years of mine). Neat, right?!

We keep corresponding getting to know one another, hobbies and family members and whatnot. Me in my 25-year-old, now-essentially forgotten Italian (it's taking me all kind of time to write each email) and him in his English, which is pretty good.

After a while, he said something about how he'd used the wrong word and I said, "Man, your English is great, though. Way better than my Italian." He writes back right away, "No, your Italian is fine. And my English really isn't very good. By the way, I am English."



Okay, THAT cracked me up. It turns out his father got drafted into WWII and promptly surrendered to Montgomery along with everyone else in his unit. He was paroled to England as a prisoner of war, and he went back to doing what he had been doing before i Fascisti, which was groundskeeping - this time at a large estate of a lord (instead of at a large estate of the church).

He met a nice English girl, they fell in love, got married (had to promise to raise the kids CofE and not teach them Italian) and that's where my cousin came from. I've gotten to know him pretty well (he's 20 years older than me and has kids just younger than me) and also his family, and we (all the Americans and all the Brits) chat on Skype, stay in touch on FB and will likely visit. The English folks have gotten us connected to the Italians who remained, and it's all just been a giant blessing.

Honestly, it's been fantastic having this connection with these cousins we never knew we had. I hope your experience is just as good, Ringo.

 

[the ringo kid]

Thank you and great story Erich. I can hardly wait for more details to be had. I can now hopefully, plan a trip to go there in hopefully, two years. I'm also hoping that when that happens? that I can have Sabrina with me. Sinse Sabrina is of Swedish heritage, she still has family there and possibly in Norway and Germany. I'd love to meet them as well.

 

[bigwheelzip]

I'm also hoping that when that happens? that I can have Sabrina with me.

If your visiting with Sabrina, try to be more subtle than my husband was. When besieged by hoards of gorgeous blondes, his jaw would literally drop. In all fairness, summer in Scandinavia is a sight to behold.