Giving Thanks

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 Giving Thanks


Those Who Served

Ted Cowan 1926-2016
As I write, it is Veteran's Day, and also my mother's birthday. If she were alive, she would be 95. I'm thankful for her time on Earth, and that of my father, who served as a medic in the Pacific, WWII. I recently placed this photo of him at as a young recruit in the Veterans Legacy Memorial. Search for your ancestor, friend or relative here: vlm.cem.va.gov/search. 




Those Who Gave Their All

John Franklin Zimmerman Jr 1908-1943
The database does not cover those buried overseas, such as my husband's uncle Frank, killed in action in Italy, and buried in the Sicily-Rome American Cemetery, Nettuno, Italy. He had worked in the Post Office in California during the war, and when killed was Staff Sergeant of the Combat Organization: 2nd Army Post Office. He was killed the 7th of October 1943 and was awarded the Purple Heart. https://www.abmc.gov/ <- Search for overseas burials.



Military Service Members

I'm grateful for those who are serving in these dangerous times, and those who are courageously working for peace so that our military does not need to fight, but can protect and serve in other ways. 


Record Keepers

I'm thankful for the government officials who faithfully keep records, and those who preserve and make records available to us, both for-profit companies and public employees such as archivists whose work is so often overlooked. I'm thankful for private citizens who take on the duty to record, compile and make available to us researchers records of all sorts - school records, obituaries, memorial, burial and cemetery records, newspapers, marriages, births and deaths, and so many more. 


Volunteers

I'm thankful for local, state, national, regional genealogy and historical societies whose members support and do the on-the-ground work of compiling and indexing and making the records available to us. As you look in the card catalog for your datasets of interest, read about the source of that information, and give thanks to those who did the work!


National Archives

I'm thankful for NARA, which has been available to us for almost 100 years, both nationally and now online, internationally. The NARA website even has an entire section about how to use the site! See https://www.archives.gov/news/most-requested.html for details. See the wealth of resources available just in the section Veterans' Service Records: https://www.archives.gov/veterans. 


FamilySearch

I'm grateful for the FamilySearch enterprise, which grew out of the Genealogical Society of Utah established in 1894! Today its reach is truly world-wide in both scope and depth. Look what they offer to those doing US military research: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/United_States_Military_Records. This does not include the hundreds of other governments around the work for which there are military records! All 100% free to all.


You!

I'm grateful for you who are reading our blogs. Your comments, corrections, hints and encouragement keep us going!


What are YOU grateful for? Tell us and lets keep this going.


Thank you, 

Valorie Zimmerman
















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