Those of you who know me, know I have been working on family history and have a blog Our Huddled Masses. In July I began a series of post on my Dad for the anniversary of his 100th Birthday.
While looking for information among the tons of things my Mom kept over the years, I rediscovered letters from my Uncle Jimmy, my Mom’s brother and from my Grandmother to Uncle Jimmy. He entered the Army September 1944 and was sent to Camp Van Dorn in Mississippi. Uncle Jimmy left behind a pregnant wife. He was not home for the birth of my Cousin Bette on December 4 1943. He was home on furlough for her Christening in March of 1944. That was the only time he saw her because in June of 1944 he was shipped overseas and in two months he was killed.
We as I was saying, I came across the these letters again and I knew we were going to see Cousin Bette on this trip. I compiled information about Uncle Jimmy from my research, from my Mother’s collection of documents and photos and these letters. I scanned each letter and then transcribed it. There were somewhere around twenty. I then made a 107 page book for her and had it printed and bound at Staples.
On Tuesday, we had them come to the campground for a late lunch and to present her with the book. In addition I had a cedar box that had contained the letters, a pocket watch and the shell casings from the salute at his funeral. For Bette’s daughter Cora I copied my genealogy files to a flash drive as she is interested in pursuing our family history.
Bette and husband Monte
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