For Memorial Day

[19&41]

This was included in my VA news. I thought it might be of value to those of us who might have relatives or friends interred with the VA.

https://blogs.va.gov/VAntage/103368/nca ... =25MAY2022

[TC Chris]

A distant cousin was a Civil War veteran. I think we shared a common great-great grandfather. In any event, he died near where I live now, in the woods, and was not found for a year. He was ID'd by his watch. He was planted in the Civil War section of the city cemetery, but did not have a headstone. There was a row of Civil War VA headstones but one blank space for him. My brother, the family genealogist, found a 1914 news article about the burial and sent it to me. I went to the cemetery and sure enough, there's one blank space in the row of headstones. About 6 months later the newspaper had an artcle: a downstate Civil War reenactors group had discovered the same info and they had made application to the VA for a proper Civil War-era headstone. The VA produced one and the reenactors showed up for a big ceremony--uniforms, ladies in period dresses, guns for a salute, and a big bronze cannon to make even more noise.

I read about the planned event and showed up--the only relative, and a big surprise to the reenactors. Here I am at the stone.

10-19-09 ceremony for John Sinclair.jpg

Chris Campbell

[TC Chris]

"deleted", another photo failure. It showed up in "preview." Trying again.

10-19-09 ceremony for John Sinclair.jpg (152.03 KiB) Viewed 1381 times

[19&41]

Lest we forget.

[William]

Rex, I could not get the link to open, even when I copied and pasted from scratch.

Great story, Chris, thanks for sharing.

Showing respect to our military is important too me. That includes both living and dead. To a man or woman that is in uniform you will find me saying "thank you for your service." While working I had a policy that if a man or women came into the dealership to buy auto parts they were to get them at dealer cost. I never thought I was doing all that much but on more than one occasion I noticed them wiping tears from their eyes. I will always respect their sacrifice to give us the freedoms we so enjoy.

Bill

[19&41]

That link was down at VA.GOV. Try this one...

https://www.cem.va.gov/

[Motorola minion]

That is a great story. September 8th was a great friend of mines birthday, no surprise he was a modest soldier.

[electra225]

"Decoration Day", Memorial Day was the second most important day in my family, right behind Christmas. Grandma and all the aunts would get dressed up in their Sunday best and go put flowers on the graves of those gone before. Dad planted the last patch of corn, while I monitored the "500" on the radio in grandpa's Buick, parked under a big maple tree in the corner of the field. Mom would barbecue chicken. Uncle Fort had a fresh batch of "squeezins" for all to enjoy. There would be 50 people all congregated in the back yard around grandma's old Grunow radio rooting for their favorite race car driver. Several of the family members or guests were veterans and would be dressed in their military uniform. It was a special day for all of us. We'd enjoy our freedoms while remembering those who sacrificed so we could. We thank our veterans for their service.