Veteran’s Day 2016
I know Veteran’s Day is a day to remember those veterans still with us, and I say a huge THANK YOU to all of them. One of the things I LOVE about my DAR chapter is our support of the MANA House, a place where homeless veterans can go to get back on their feet. In a state where veterans are not very well supported, we need more places like MANA.
My family had a smattering of those who served. This year I visited Arlington, and found a maternal great uncle buried there. I had no idea when I showed up how MASSIVE that cemetery is and hiked for hours to find him. (It seemed like hours anyway!)
Edward L Brunner, Arlington National Cemetery
But now I have had the experience of being at Arlington, and it was beautiful. There are many more on my maternal side, and my second great grandfather served and was injured in the Civil War. We don’t have any Revolutionary War veterans, because my maternal side were all new immigrants in the 19th century.
My dad and most of his brothers served in some capacity, and for that I am thankful as well. I wish I knew more about our family’s military history, and it’s a genealogy goal of mine for some day. There isn’t much, other than dad and his brothers, because it seems that most of the rest of the direct paternal line missed most of the wars. We don’t have a direct paternal civil war veteran, or WWI. It seems my paternal grandfather may have been drafted in WWI, but I don’t see that he ever served. We do, however, have a long list of Revolutionary War veterans!
Norb Shaffer, enlistment photo
Earl Roy Shaffer Draft Card June 5, 1917
My husband comes from a long line of military on both sides. I’ve blogged about his Adams relatives before. (Stanford Adams), and I thought I wrote the story of Stephen Getchell, Jr. and the man I met because of him, but I guess I haven’t — that will have to be another blog. Thank you for your service. He came home, and Steve didn’t.
