June 4th, 2015.
Another Ahab:
I have some small part of her stories and, of course, her 201 (orders) file, but that generation was not overly wordy about their experiences, be they in combat or not. One of her Quartermaster soldiers later became quite famous when he sang "Old Man River" in the Jerome Kern film "Showboat", his name was"William Warfield". Camp Ritchie provided the troops to guard "Camp Shangri-La", later Camp David, and whenever President Roosevelt came up on the train from DC, Camp Ritchie would provide the guards for the switches, bridges and road crossings on the old Western Marylind line from Hagerstown to Thurmont.
She also had two footlockers full of Afrika Corps officers uniforms and such, but some low life in my family got to them first when they were stored in the barn....... Her brother who passed recently (last two years) was in the Coast Guard in the Atlantic and Pacific in WWII, one of her other sisters served in the WAAC's as a Lieutenant (mom made Captain and was the younger of the two- that did not sit well).
I also worked with railroaders who served in the 8th Air Force as gunners on B-17's, and knew a grocer who ended up in both Alaska and Iran on the Military Railways.... Other folks were in the Bataan Death march, or on Guadalcanal or Iwo Jima.... Other folks served in the Cavalry and the Military Railroads in France and liberated Europe, some served in the Navy, Air Corps, Marines and Coast Guard. Their stories were multitudinous, but generally the ones who would tell you the stories without prompting usually had very little of importance to say, whereas those deep in the pain and suffering really didn't want to talk about it, even to their own family members. So, I image by now that with the destruction of the St. Louis Records Center back in the 1970's by fire, there are stories long lost and likely never to be heard of....
The time is passing for the Veterans from WWII, Korea and Vietnam, now is the time to record the stories one can, as time will erase the memories otherwise.....
Have a Great Morning!