Thread: Lest We Forget (Memorial Day Tributes)

To all veterans, thanks. And I'll drop the name of only one, as an ancestor or relative has served in every nearly every conflict this nation has had. So far as I know, he is the only one killed in battle.

Rufus Laws, Private, 3rd NC Mounted Infantry (Union)- he and his brothers hid from the Confederate draft, then joined a Union regiment. I do not know for sure why they did- just that they did. Rufus left behind a pregnant wife and his beard. The beard is in my family's possession, a reminder that all that we have has a price, and that some things are more important than ourselves. Or so I take it, anyway.

My dad served in the Pacific Fleet on an aircraft carrier in WWII

An uncle served in Korea - Army infantry

My brother served on an aircraft carrier during the Cambodian conflict

My cousin served as a chaplain in Iraq (first time)

A cousin's son is serving in Iraq - air force

All of them are and were proud to serve their country.

My great-grandfather served with the Army in WWI. My grandfather, again in the Army during WWII. My dad and 2 uncles served with the Marines in Vietnam. One of those uncles died from cancer at 29 as a result of his exposure to Agent Orange while in Vietnam.

Rumor has it a great-great-great-whatever-grandfather died fighting for the Union in Virginia.

My cousin is on to a lead that we may have an ancestor who died while a POW in Andersonville, Georgia during the Civil War. To any history teachers out there (and anyone else interested), there's a GREAT movie called "Andersonville" that was done by TNT about 10 years ago. It's my favorite Civil War movie of all time. As a Civil War reenactor at the time, I had the chance to be an extra in that, but didn't want to take the vacation time and time away from graduate studies. I kick myself for that now. Several friends and two guys from our reenactment unit can be seen in it.

CSW

I am the first generation whom did not serve. My brothers and I were greatly affected by what service did to my father in Vietnam. Basically it screwed him up. I thank all those who served so I could make this decision.

As for how far we go back. A direct decendant was with Lincoln before he went to Ford's Theater, and in the room when he died. This was a hard pill for the southern side of the family to swallow. :lol:

[url="http://stumpf.org/Ill48Inf/haynie-ds.html"]http://stumpf.org/Ill48Inf/haynie-ds.html[/url]

Very few people have ever heard of Gluckstadt, MS. It is a small town a few miles north of Jackson and has a very unusual name.
One of my uncles served as a guard there as it was a German P.O.W. Camp. In those days, it was out in the middle of no where and, the message was, "If you want to escape, go ahead. You are many, many miles from anything and you don't want to think about swimming the big river."
Well, after a while, the local farmers found they had no help as all the young men had gone to war and they need someone to raise cattle, grow cotton, and work on other crops.
It seems that they approached the camp and offered jobs to any that wanted to and would pay them a small amount. Quite a few gave it a try and, after the war was over, they were told, they were free to be taken back to Germany.
To much surprise, they talked it over and said, "We have nothing to return to and the farmers still need help. Can we just stay and form our own town?"
And it happened - and the "Camp" is, today, the town of Gluckstadt, MS and very few locals even are even aware of it's history.

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