Contagious Genealogy: A Pandemic

One of the conflicts that Americans participated in, which I know the least about, happens to be the Vietnam War. I won't even pretend to know the first thing about what sparked the initial standoff between North and South Vietnam, nor why the United States felt the need to become involved.  With minimal research, I can report that the war spanned 20 years, from 1955 to 1975, with ties to the Cold War which was "raging on" as the backdrop. North Vietnam was backed by the Soviet Union, and South Vietnam had the U.S. and other anti-communist countries backing its interests. The U.S. military was actively involved from 1965, under President Lyndon B. Johnson's command, until its withdrawal in 1973 during President Richard Nixon's term. According to the Department of Defense Statistical Information Analysis Division (SIAD), nearly 60,000 American service members died as a result of the war, with another 300,000+ wounded in action. Many of those men had not enlisted in...

Family history research in Australia is quite foreign to me. As far as I know, I have no lines that extend into that part of the world, and I've never travelled there, so I haven't gone looking for anything down there. However, my paternal uncle (who I only met once in person a few years before he passed away) did spend a short time in southern Australia in the 1970s teaching in the state of Victoria. We only have one photo of him at Orbost High School during this time that he sent back home to his parents: Orbost High School, ca. 1973 It wasn't even exactly clear upon initial examination who he was in this photo. None of the males stood out as being the main subject of the photo, and he wasn't clearly marked. We assumed him to be the seated man in the tie toward the top, center of the photograph (next to the standing man with his hand up to his temple). His beard and mustache were two other features he hadn't been known for in previous years, and his writing on the...

When one imagines staying on a tropical island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean with the beach at their fingertips and palm trees canvassing the horizon in front of picturesque, cotton candy-colored sunsets, it's likely not to be in the thick of a world war. However, my grandmother, Edna Arlene (Dean) Millhouse, could recount just such a memory. Edna Dean on Tinian Island, 1945. During World War II, she utilized her training as a registered nurse to serve in the U.S. Army as a 1st Lieutenant. Edna Dean during World War II. While part of her service remained shoreside at Newton D. Baker General Hospital in Martinsburg, West Virginia, one of her wartime assignments brought her to the island of Tinian, part of the Northern Mariana Islands to the east of the Philippines and mainland Japan. Edna Dean in between her parents, Beatrice and Chester Dean at Newton D. Baker General Hospital. After Saipan was invaded, Tinian became the next target for the marine forces. The name Jig Day was ...

  JUNE 07, 2021 Take a gander at the uniform patches I’ve inherited from family members from their military service. Week 22: Military ROY ALAN FOLTZ. The ASA patch (left) stands for Army Security Agency and was worn throughout the Cold War in the 1960s-70s. From 1945-1991, the ASA was the US Army's electronic intelligence brand. Its motto was "Vigilant Always." The patch depicts a griffin clutching two lightning bolts; the griffin symbolizing vigilance and the lightning bolts symbolizing communication and speed. The blue background represents the Intelligence units, while the black feathers allude to the covert nature of gathering intelligence. The Berlin patch (right) was worn on the Army Class A uniform jacket and displays the insignia of the US Army in Europe, specifically for the Berlin Brigade, of which, Roy was a part of while stationed in Germany. RAYMOND LEE MILLHOUSE. This is the Class A patch for the United States 5th Army, which was first activated on 5 Januar...