Not exactly related t your family, but your grandfather flew in Spain for the Republican side. Escuadrilla LaCalle flew I-15 biplane flighters from an airfield next to Guadalajara, NE of Madrid. One section of the squadron was nicknamed the Patrulla Americano (the American Patrol), initially led by Charles Koch, with Jim Allison, Frank Tinker, and Harold Dahl. Koch left teh squadron shortly after due to health issues, and Jim Allison led the Patrol for the next couple weeks.
On 18-Feb-1937, your grandfather was wounded in an air battle The wound became infected, and by mid-March, your father had been repatriated to the American hospital in Neuilly, France, and later to the US.
The next year, 1938, he went to China to serve in the 14th (International) Squadron of the Chinese Air Force under Gen. Claire Chennault. The 14th had only just begun service when their aircraft were destroyed in a japanese air raid. I believe Jim Allison stayed in China a while longer to help train pilots for the Chinese Air Force before returning to the United States.
Do you know when he was in the US Navy?