Update: Well, I have just about reached completion of detailing my father's unit (Canadian Forestry Corps). This has spurred an almost fanatical desire to find info on other military family members.
Some (very complicated ) info. My mother was born in Ireland to an Irish father and a German mother. It was during the revolution. Her mother worked (hazy info here) for the German government (Consulate maybe? Not sure of the Irish situation during those times). Her father beat a hasty exit from Ireland, stayed briefly with relatives in Ottawa before ending up in the St. Louis area of the US. (IRA connections? Quite possible given his rush to get out of Ireland and British connected Canada.) Her mother later emigrated to Canada. I would dearly love to flesh out the details of this!
During WW2, My Father, as mentioned above was with the Canadian forces as was one uncle (amroured unit). My maternal Grandfather's "new" family were in the US Airforce. My maternal Grandmother's family were in the German Navy and Luftwaffe. (Gerhard Homuth was a relative).
Another uncle was in Korea. My paternal Grandfather was with Canadian forces in WW1.
My idea, is to assemble some kind of collection of the medals my family earned. I have my father's already. Some (Gerhard's) will of necessity have to be replicas due to financial reasons.
Research has been rather difficult. I know of Gerhard via stories my mother related. My father met some of the family when he was in Germany. I still have an Imperial German flag they gave him. It is very faded due to time and storage conditions before it came into my possession. I know little else of Gerhard's family as my father rarely talked about his late war experiences. What I do know is from Wikipedia, and it is hardly reliable. For example, since I started my research, the medal entries on Gerhard's page have changed 3 times.
So to end this rambling, I really admire those researchers who manage to navigate this labyrinth. I am still a novice and more often than not, I end up beached on some shoal .