Hello Everyone, Below is an article that was in the May 27th Ancestry Daily News. If any of you have relatives who served in either war, I hope you will register their names and other pertinent information at the site, as I did for my husband. Best Regards, Marilyn in Ohio ============================================================= HONORING OUR ANCESTORS: "REMEMBERING THOSE WHO SERVED IN WWII AND KOREA," by Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak ============================================================= As Memorial Day approaches, we take time once again to reflect upon the sacrifices of those who have served our country in the past or are serving us today. This year in particular marks a special time for the sixteen million American veterans of World War II, including the 400,000 who gave their lives. Six decades later, their service is finally being recognized in the form of a national memorial. A four-day event including the formal dedication of the memorial is taking place in Washington, D.C. Thousands are converging upon the nation's capital to participate in this ceremony, but not all of us are able. Fortunately, there's a way those of us who cannot be there can commemorate the WWII veterans in our families. There's also a way to recognize many of those who lost their lives in the so-called "forgotten war"--the Korean conflict that occurred in the early 1950s. Let's start with WWII since it's the center of attention at the moment. WORLD WAR II In May 1993, President Clinton signed Public Law 103-32, authorizing the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) to establish a WWII memorial. One aspect of this eleven-year effort is a website which includes an online registry at: http://www.wwiimemorial.com/default.asp?page=registry.asp&subpage=intro Automatically included in this registry are those: --- buried in ABMC overseas military cemeteries, --- memorialized on ABMC Tablets of the Missing, and --- listed on official War and Navy Department Killed in Service rosters held by the National Archives (NARA) If this describes someone you knew or are related to, you can add a personal remembrance by clicking on the "register an honoree" option and following the simple steps. It's important to note, however, that the site specifies that, "any U.S. citizen who helped win the war, whether a veteran or someone on the home front, is eligible for the registry." This means that you are welcome to add Grandma if she served as a WASP or WAVE or even yourself if you worked in an aircraft factory or otherwise contributed to the effort. The straightforward process allows you to upload an image if you'd like--a nice touch, since seeing a photo somehow makes it more real, especially to those who were not born at the time. The registry is also searchable, so you can see if others have already left remembrances about your brother or old high school buddy. In fact, if you've got a high school reunion coming up, leaving remembrances for any classmates who gave their lives would be a fitting tribute. Incidentally, one of the fields you can enter is "source"--your information--and I'd like to make a personal appeal to all of you to enter both your name and relationship to the individual you've chosen to honor. As you may or may not be aware, the U.S. Army is in the process of locating families of many of the soldiers who served in Korea and WWII, and this site is one of the first resources consulted in the attempt to trace their families. As one of the researchers for this project, I can attest to the value of remembrances left at this site and the one below. KOREAN WAR While the WWII memorial is a national effort, the Korean War Project site (http://www.koreanwar.org ) is a heartfelt personal undertaking run by brothers Hal and Ted Barker. A well designed website featuring a newsletter and numerous resources, it also contains a searchable database of MIA/POW soldiers who have yet to be accounted for. The Army is actively seeking these families and has successfully located about half, but still needs help finding the others. As with the WWII site, you can search this for people you knew or perhaps that uncle you heard about but never met. If you click here (www.koreanwar.org/html/finding_the_families.html ), you can enter the surname of interest and peruse the list for the soldier with the right name and state. Be forewarned, though--the state listed is actually just the one where the soldier last enlisted and may or may not be his home state. Once you find the entry, you'll have the option of leaving a remembrance. Some recollect what a great fellow the soldier was, or how courageous he was in his final moments. Others, poignant ones, are placed by children who never knew their fathers, or nieces and nephews whose parents have only recently begun speaking about the brother they lost so young. With this site, you also have the option to leave your name and contact information. Once again, I appeal to you to leave as much information as you are comfortable posting on the Internet. If that's only your email address, that's fine, but please be sure to update it if you change it. Some of the saddest cases are those where a relative (with a common name) has cared enough to leave a remembrance, but neglected to provide a current email. In fact, if the soldier you're seeking has a "Yes" in the DNA-flag column next to his name, the Army would appreciate hearing from you at 1-800-892- 2490, as the flag indicates that they are trying to locate your family. If you are a friend of the family, you can help the process by leaving a message saying so, allowing researchers to contact you for further details. HONORING THOSE WHO SERVED So often we think of Memorial Day as a mini-vacation from work or a chance to take advantage of major sales. This year, why not take a few minutes out of your long weekend to leave a short message on one of these sites to acknowledge the contribution of your father, friend, or great-aunt who served our country in WWII or Korea? You'll still have plenty of time for pool parties and hot dogs, and you'll have given that deserving person a tiny piece of posterity. ___________________________________________________________________ Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, author of Honoring Our Ancestors (HOA), In Search of Our Ancestors: 101 Inspiring Stories of Serendipity and Connection in Rediscovering Our Family History, and They Came to America: Finding Your Immigrant Ancestors, can be contacted through http://www.honoringourancestors.com .