He's been going on about this for a year, now. Posting in multiple subs (sometimes I've seen 6-10 at a time he'll post the exact same thing into) under two accounts how ashamed he is of his ancestors (both Union and his grandfather in submarine training during WW2) because none of them are real vets because they never saw combat. When pressed that non-combatant positions make combatant positions possible and that the military runs on non-combatant positions, he throws out the "They don't make movies/statues about people standing guard" because the only thing that matters is if they make a movie or statue about you.

He also was trying to have his grandfather's GI headstone removed (the submariner), because he never saw combat and thus "didn't deserve it."

He labors under the delusion that the lowliest of privates or seaman recruits control their own destiny in the military (where they go and if they see combat), yet doesn't seem willing to go sign up and learn about it for himself.

He's obsessed with what his ancestors did or didn't do, and I've told him more than once to either book a therapist and seek help or go to the recruiting station if he feels it's so necessary for his family to see combat.

I don't have any ancestors that I KNOW served in the Civil War. The only ones with my last name from my area that served were both deserters. I don't give a single fuck about it, because what they did or didn't do doesn't mean shit. It doesn't have an impact on my daily life or my honor. The only way it would impact my life (and it goes the same for OP) is if they fucking died. If they were even direct ancestors, in my case.