-- Posted by ElephantStone at 9:49 am on May 17, 2008 I was just going through my family history stuff that a great uncle gave me, consisting of war medals, family trees and stuff. Its all very interesting... Theres a french side to my family (my great Grandmother was french) and apparently they were nobles and that particular family tree goes back 200 years as a result. Another interesting aspect of that, is that we had men on both the English and French sides at the battle of waterloo in 1812. One of my great grandad won a a british medal for bravery and then a french medal for bravery in WW1, he was english. He met my great grandmothe above while he was in france. Theres other interesting things too Im looking at...my grandad was a sergeant in the machine gun corps and took part in D Day. My Uncle was a paratrooper and fought in the first gulf war and won a medal for bravery in Uganda, defending the british diplomat. -- Posted by robdude at 9:52 am on May 17, 2008 We in America can have real interesting family histories -- Posted by Arjay Balboa at 9:56 am on May 17, 2008 ours too... long beach in california was originally known as balboa beach... its discoverer was in my family tree.. im half spanish... -- Posted by Natsy at 11:36 am on May 17, 2008 cool... -- Posted by britishguy at 2:52 pm on May 24, 2008 Quote: from ElephantStone at 5:49 pm on May 17, 2008 Another interesting aspect of that, is that we had men on both the English and French sides at the battle of waterloo in 1812. If I was able to laugh at this point in my life then that would be a killer. Seriously? Your own ancestors where attempting to destroy their future lineage before it could even begin? Insane. Now you know why you're at war with yourself, Joe. It's in your genes. Blame your great-great-great-grandfather(s). Otherwise that's all pretty fascinating. I wish Iknew more about my family tree but I wouldn't knwo where to start and it's not like there's anyone around to ask. I envy you having heritage like that - you should use it to help give yourself more of a sense of personal identity. It's certainly something you seem to need right now and that's just another little thing you should hang on to and remember. You know where you come from and you know the sort of people that have helped to make you what you are today - even if only genetically speaking. That's more identity than I have from my family.