I also have multiple veterans in my family, though most of them tend to be on the German side.
On the American side, my father Robert E. Stong was a Captain in the U.S. Army, serving at the Pentagon in the early 1960's, and my grandfather Evert E. Stong was a Colonel, who commanded a field artillery battalion in North Africa, Sicily and France, served on the General Staff at the Pentagon at the end of World War II and completed his career as Assistant Division Commander of the 95th Infantry Division.
Other direct ancestors on the paternal side in recent generations are Daniel Y. Dreibelbis, who served in the 39th Pennsylvania, in the Civil War, and Florello Coon, who served in 2nd Nebraska Cavalry during the Civil War.
On my mother's side, I have the following direct ancestors in the last few generations (among others):
* my great, grandfather Matthias von Oppen was a Captain of Cavalry in the Royal Prussian Army;
* my twice great, grandfather Wilhem Leopold Raczynski was a Captain of Cavalry in the Imperial Russian Army;
* my twice, great grandfather Karl August von Oppen was a Lieutenant General in the Royal Prussian Army, serving as the Commandant of Breslau and a la suite to Wilhelm II;
* my third, great grandfather Vincent Raczynski was a Knight of Malta and fought pirates at the end of the eighteenth century;
* my third, great grandfather Joseph Carl von Anrep-Elmpt, was a Field Marshal in the Imperial Russian Army;
* my third, great grandfather Karl von Roeder was a Major General in the Royal Prussian Army; and
* my third, great grandfather Adolf Friedrich von Oppen was a Lieutenant General in the Royal Prussian Army.
Among others, Field Marshal Gebhard Lebrecht von Blucher, who commanded the Prussian troops at Waterloo, was my sixth great uncle and Field Marshal Friedrich Leopold von Gessler, who led the Prussian cavalry charge at Hohenfriedberg, was my sixth great, grandfather.
