Dear Group, An "almost cousin" of mine send me a URL that he thought might interest me. It was the USIGS Military Collection--Links at http://www.rootsquest.com/cgi-bin/start.cgi/usigs/linksearch.html. I went right to the War of 1812 site in the state of New York and was surprised that there is a web page for the War of 1812 Cemetery in Cheektowaga, Erie Co. Oh, that dear little cemetery not far from the Buffalo airport! Oh how many tears I have shed there! You see, every year for the past number of years the small town of Cheektowaga has held a beautiful memorial service at the cemetery with a parade that goes on forever--veteran's organizations of all sorts, re-enactors, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, local neighborhood groups, bagpipers and drummers, fire engines, politicians, etc.--from both the US and Canada. It has always been held on the second Sunday in June. And for a number of years I had been one of the guest speakers at the ceremony. Why me? Well I--and other members of my family--were there as representatives of all the families of those soldiers buried there, both the American and British. No, we don't have any kin buried there; however, there is one soldier there, George Myers, who was a neighbor of my gr-gr-gr-grandfather William Clark from Huntington Township, Adams County, PA. William from Pennsylvania fought in the war in the same company of Pennsylvania Volunteers as George did--Capt. Samuel White's company. And I guess that because our family doesn't know whether our grandfather died in the war (he died prior to 1816) or even where he's buried, George Myers was a very special soldier to us. So for about six years I spoke at the annual ceremony that is still held in the middle of the cemetery and told those who were gathered there how I empathized with the families of the soldiers who never had the opportunity to stand over their loved ones' graves to mourn their loss. No, they weren't local soldiers from around here. They were soldiers from 12 different states during the time in our history when there were only 18 states in the whole union. They were from NJ, NH, PA, MA, NC, VT, VA, MD, KY, OH, NY and CT. Now, why haven't I continued to be a speaker at the ceremonies? It's not that I'm not asked year after year to speak, it's because I can no longer handle the intense emotions that go along with it. Hey, if you have never heard a lone bagpiper playing "Amazing Grace" over soldiers' graves in a tiny cemetery, you don't know what I'm talking about. And then to follow that with Taps and then a 21-gun salute, trust me, that can bring you to your knees. At least it did me. And in case any of you are wondering what Western New York had to do with the War of 1812, check out your history books and look up the battles of Fort Erie, Chippawa and Lundy's Lane--the bloodiest one of the entire war. My grandpa was there. Historically yours, vee