Here’s a photo of my grandfather I found online while doing a little bit of research. He’s the one saluting. And next to that, the border marker that in 1940-1942 defined the line between Thailand and Combodia.

The correlation? My grandfather, General Mangkorn Phromyothi, saluted the prime minister at the time, P. Phibunsongkram during the French-Thai war of 1940. Wikipedia has a version of the full story, but essentially my grandfather kicked some French ass and got a piece of Cambodia back to our side. Hence, the removal of the markers which one is at my home and the other in a military museum.

Anyway. I found my grandfather’s picture online because of Kitty’s recent post about her great grandfather [ETA: Kitty’s has since shut down the blog], a controversial military and historical figure Thanorm Kittikachorn.

On that note, I had a hunch that our great/grandpas must’ve known each other so I did a little research.

Indeed.

At one point, our great/grandfathers were serving the same cabinet! And actually, a few governments after my grandfather was the Minister of Defense, Kitty’s great grandfather also took the same spot.

How small is the world right about now, you guys?

First, Kitty and I found out that she was 10 years behind me at Mater Dei. (Yes, I’m old. Shut up.) We both left school to study elsewhere. We hit it off on the blogosphere because our views on Thai women were the same…and we both felt a little trapped in Thai culture. (Kitty is faring so much better than I did, I might add!)

And now we found out that over 60 years ago, our great/grandfathers might have been friends.

Heck. At this rate, if we trace our family trees and found it intertwined at some point, I wouldn’t be surprised.