My mom doesn't even know what branch he served in. She is the last decendant on that side of the family. From what I know, he was a forward observer for an artillery group. I've heard a story about a North Korean finding him at point blank range and pointing a gun at him and not shooting.
As a youth, I visited yearly, often for a month at a time till he died when I was 14 and remember my grandma well from that perioid, but little about him. However, my grandpa was a serious alcaholic and very removed from life, as I remember, even at 72 when he died. He obviously still suffered severe PTSD at that age and I remember him waking up in the middle of the night yelling...
Anyway, he never talked about it, none of the family members did either. He had a brother who had kids who I could ask but they are pretty distant.
How can I find information on his service. The government keeps records on military, could probably find something there but how. Any advice, pointing in right direction appriceated.
How can I find information on his service. The government keeps records on military, could probably find something there but how. Any advice, pointing in right direction appreciated.
What you'll want to do is go here and request his DD 214. Those are the Separation Papers and give an overview of his service. It is an easy request to make and you'll get the papers pretty quickly. You do need to be next of kin to make the request, not that they really check on that, so technically it should be your mother making the request I believe, although as a grandchild I don't think they really care, but IANAL.
There is a caveat though. You don't know what service he was in, but if he was Army or Air Force, a fire in 1973 destroyed many of the records from that era. While they have done their best to reconstruct the records from information that was held elsewhere, it is very possible that they won't be able to provide you with any information.
Another alternative then is to sign up for a site like Ancestry.com (You can do a free trial account and get all the info you are looking for). They have digitized tons and tons of US military files (I was able to find a number rosters for the ship that my grandfather served on for instance) and it is quite possible you might be able to find papers that way which at least give you some clue to what he did.
Also, /r/Genealogy would definitely have more suggestions for you than I can offer.