(Click it to enlarge it.)This is the Veteran's Grave Registration of my Mother's father. Since my mother was five years old when he "died of disease", I knew very little of this man. Nobody said much, ever. There were framed photographs in Grandma's house. All I really ever knew about my maternal grandfather was that he was long-dead. Recently, I did a search for his name in a database. I found this. It meant something, to know even the slightest thing about his life and death. A soldier in the first world war. With a surviving brother I never knew about. That he died young. I never heard anyone in my family discuss the mysterious disease. It isn't a stretch to imagine that the time spent serving his country may have had something to do with an early demise. Poison Gas in World War I
Besides grandma and my mom, he left behind three other daughters and a baby boy in grandma's belly. After his death in 1934, my grandmother lived her life until 1983. Almost 50 years, never to remarry or even date anyone again. It was, after all, the Catholic way
As I have said before, I come from an impressive line of martyrs.
When will they ever learn?
(Marlene Dietrich sings "Where Have All The Flowers Gone?" in 1963. Who knew?)
2 comments:
Poison gas for sure. There is no way the truth would be told for a soldier.
My Dad's dad was a WW1 Signal Corps vet, gassed...
He had asthma and all kinds of other problems afterwards, including 5 heart attacks starting in the late 20's; the 5th one killed him in 1966. His siblings all lived to be close to one hundred; he was 2 weeks short of 67.
He drew a small disability pension from the government.
After he died my Grandmother got a letter from LBJ, and that pension doubled. She was very grateful, as their pension from the Baptist Mission board was very small in those days.
She lived 34 years without him...
alan
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