I'm trying to find out a bit about my paternal grandmother's family, and unfortunately she and my father both passed many years ago.

I have two photos that were hers and am trying to see if I can figure anything out based on the uniforms being worn in them. One is her uncle -- I only know this because he signed the photo for her -- and he's wearing a Navy officer's uniform of some sort. I have no information on this uncle, but she was born in 1910, so I guess he probably would have been born anywhere from the 1870's to 1890's.

The other photo is a man whose relation to my grandmother is an utter mystery, though I have seen a couple of other photos of her with a man who might be the same guy. He's wearing some sort of military uniform, someone has written "Ossifer" on the photo, and the photo looks pretty old, but that's all I've got.

Any ideas anyone might have about what branches of the service these uniforms are from or what time period they might be from would be much-appreciated clues. Thank you!

ADMIN NOTE:

It's always helpful to include possible surnames and where your ancestors may have been living, since these boards are used by people from all over the world.

Good luck!

Thank you for the tip!

My grandmother was born in Mississippi in 1910, and by the 1930 Census she was living in Memphis, Tennessee. I don't know if she lived anywhere else after that but at some point after WWII she married a man from New York City and moved there for the rest of her life, but I doubt that would have anything to do with these two male relatives. I have no idea whether either of these relatives lived in the same places she did.

Her maiden name was Martin, and her mother's maiden name was Long.

The first photo is a World War 2 era US Navy officer. Shoulder boards with star show he's a line officer in the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade, second lowest rank in the commissioned officer ranks.His ribbons look like from right to left- the Legion of Merit, American Defense and a campaign ribbon with one star. He looks a little old to be a LT JG, so he was probably either a reservist or someone with prior service recalled for duty in WW2. The second photo is of a World War 1 era US Army enlisted uniform.

Thank you so much!

You should be able to get a copy of your uncle's military service records, that will tell you when and where he served and give a positive ID on the ribbons.
http://www.archives.gov/veterans/