the lost veteran

THE LOST VETERAN

wikipedia.org

each fall my historian brother sends out a list of our family who have served in the military
over time
as he has progressed in his documentation of our ancestry that list has grown to include more distant relatives
many times as you read his list he has included historical information along with the listed names

in a county in southern arkansas where most of my relatives are from there is a monument that lists those who have served and died in past wars and on that list are around twenty people who were killed in world war 2
and
are all in my ancestry tree

below is the story and information on one of those

the lost veteran

in 1944 he graduated from high school in this county
a county where everyone knows everyone
many are kin to each other
he is actually kin to me from both sides of my mothers family

not long after he graduated he had a niece born
then
he was drafted and off to war he went
shipped to france
in his wallet was a picture of that niece em

there was a battle at dinoze france where 1500 american soldiers were killed
he was one of them
this was about 5-6 months after he graduated from high school
he was single
he like most of the americans were buried at the american epinal cemetery in dinoze france

what belongings he had were sent home to the family
including ems picture as a baby in his wallet

over time some of his records were lost
the family over time lost sight of where he was buried and his story
he had few living ancestors
his parents died later
the only ones left were the niece and a few others

in dinoze france each american soldier buried there is assigned a french family to maintain his grave
the french family assigned to w s grave had a lady that was american who married a french man
she had been trying to locate the w s family for years

now fast forward these 75 years

the french american contacted my historian brother who has has a lengthy thorough ancestry tree on the ancestry websites
on the website was w s fathers name but not his
so
the french american contacted my brother asking if he could help her locate relatives

well
my historian brother is a tenacious researcher
in fact some  private investigators have sought him out to help solve things for them
he always finds the answer

so
he located
the little baby who was in the picture in w s wallet when he was shot in dinoze france
she was living in houston texas

now
little em has talked and communicated with the french american about how they are honoring w s each year

this all made me think about maybe my mother and father during world war 2 as they heard of their relatives all 20 of them that were killed in the war
all around their age
im sure they knew all of them
this at that time was a small community that county of folks

i know during the vietnam war i knew of two neighbors sons who were killed in that war
i can remember when i visited the vietnam war memorial in washington dc
i sought out their two names
put a piece of paper over the names
then marked out the names on the paper

as i pulled the names off and looked at the names
i remember how i felt at that moment as i teared up thinking of them and their families

i can only imagine what the people of that community thought as they lost more than just those 20 young men kin to me

so
today
i want to honor this lost veteran whose remains are buried far far away in france

thank you
for your service and the ultimate sacrifice

may we not put our country through this ever again

SUMNERS, William A., Private, 399th Infantry Regiment, 100th Infantry Division, U.S. Army, Service #38662643, State of Entry: Arkansas, Death: 17-November-1944, Plot A, Row 27, Grave 51, Purple Heart, World War II
epinal american cemetery

may he rest in peace

thanks to my three older brothers who served in the military for 20 years
and
thanks to all the other relatives who also served

the organicgreen doctor