McCullough descended from a long line of warriors, a line that he traced back to the Norman Conquest who took part in the Battle of Hastings. Farther down the line he had an ancestor who was a combatant of the Battle of Waterloo. His great-great-great-great grandfather John Bishop McCullough fought in the War of 1812 and his father before him in the Continental Army. A great-great grandfather of his took part in the Civil War and his son also served in the military donning a doughboy uniform. Then his child who was McCullough’s grandfather also served in the Special Forces and took part in the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, keeping Panzer tanks from crossing the Maas river and was awarded two Silver Stars. At some point he acquired of painting of John Bishop’s father and took a picture of a painting of the latter in a Museam in Virginia