Military Monday - Roll Call of Veteran Ancestors

For Memorial Day, I am conducting a Roll Call of my direct Ancestors who joined the military.

Some didn't serve very long, some fought in one or more battles, a few were captured, and even gave the ultimate sacrifice.

All were important no matter what their rank or degree of service - they were helping to defend our country.

World War II

1. My Father, Donald E. Ormsby (1918-1988)

            He enlisted on May 12,  1942 at St. Louis, MO in the Army Aviation Corps
            After serving 9 months and 4 days, he was Honorably Discharged as an Aviation Cadet.

World War I

2. My Grandfather, John Steinbrecher (1894-1971)

He joined the U.S. Army on June 24, 1918 and served until Nov. 15, 1918, discharged as a Corporal.

None of my Great-grandfathers served that I know of, but all four of my Great-great-grandfathers on my father's side served in the Civil War. My mother's ancestors were either still in Europe, or were pacifists.

Civil War

3.  My Great-great-grandfather Charles Clark Ormsby (1838-1920)
   
     He was a Corporal in Company E of the 123rd Illinois Volunteer Infantry.  He enlisted August 14, 1864 and was discharged July 3, 1865.  He received a pension.

4.  My Great-great-grandfather John Johnson Neeley (1841-1908)

     He was a private in Captain Samuel R. Motts Company C of the 57th Regiment in the Ohio Volunteer Infantry.  He enlisted on December 5, 1861 from Allen County, Ohio and was mustered in at Findlay, OH on December 9.  During his service, he participated in the engagements at Shiloh TN, Wolf Creek Hindman AR, Vicksburg and Jackson MS, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge TN, Kenesaw Mountain and the Seige of Atlanta GA, as well as a number of minor engagements and skirmishes.  He received a pension.

Monuments to 57th OVI at Vicksburg

5.  My great-great-grandfather William Dennis Hill (1838-1925)

He enlisted in Company F, 59th Illinois Volunteer Infantry in August 1861. He served over 3 years and participated in the battles of Pea Ridge, Stone River, and others and was discharged at Atlanta.  He received a pension.

6.  My great-great-grandfather George Washington Wiley (1838-1920)

He served as a Private in Company B, 2nd Illinois Light Artillery "Madison Battery" from August 26, 1861 - August 31, 1864.  In a letter her wrote to his granddaughter in 1919 he told her how he had sustained "3 bullet holds in my close 2 just grasing the hide". He received a pension.

7. My 3rd-great-grandfather Joseph Thompson McGowan (1819-1890)

According to family lore, "The McGowen family answered Lincoln's call when he encouraged brave men to go to Kansas to assure it remaining a free state".  They settled on land inherited from his father-in-law Henry Miller (see below).
While in Kansas, J.T. answered another call of Lincoln, that of joining the military.  He joined Company A of the Irregular Kansas Militia in October 1864 and was stationed at Mound City, Lind Co, Kansas.

War of 1812

8. My 4th great-grandfather Henry Miller (1793-1858)

He served as a Private in Captain John Lantz's Co. 118th Regiment of the Virginia Militia from February 20 - March 4, 1815.  He was discharged at the foot of Blue Ridge near Kingwood 34 miles from his residence.  He received $3.35 pay for his service at the time, but in 1859 his heirs were granted 160 acres of Bounty land.  His daughter Melvina Miller McGowan and her family moved there.

9. My 4th great-grandfather John Forester (1775-1857)

He served from August 29, 1812 - September 9, 1812 and again from March 5, 1814 - August 15, 1814 in Captain William Wilson's Company, Collier's Regiment of the Ohio Militia.  He received 80 acres of bounty land.

10. My 4th great-grandfather Samuel Stover (1785-1837)

He served as a Private in Captain James Downings Company Infantry of Ohio Militia from March 30, 1812 until February 28, 1813 when he transferred to Captain Walker's Company.  He was discharged at Fort Sandusky on March 26, 1813.

11. My 4th great-grandfather Henry Critser (1793-1877)

He volunteered at Dayton, OH on May 1, 1812 as a substitute for John Robinson (his future brother-in-law).  He was taken Prisoner of War on August 16, 1812 and released 2 weeks later at Detroit, MI.  He volunteered again on November 1, 1813 and was discharged March 4, 1814.

Revolutionary War

12. My 5th Great-Grandfather Nathaniel Ormsby (1734-1777)

He served in the Continental Army from Norwich CT in Nixon's Regiment.  His pay for service began on May 15, 1777.  He was captured at Albany and died while a prisoner of the British.

13. My 5th Great-Grandfather Abraham Day (1747-1797)

He served as a Sergeant on picket guard under Major Baldwin in 1775.  Received pay for travel to and from Ticonderoga in 1776.

14. My 5th Great-Grandfather Oliver Clark (1756-1824)

He was a Private in Captain Oliver Clap's Co. in October 1777, then in Captain Moses Adam's Company from February 20 to April 3, 1778.

15. My 5th Great-Grandfather Joel Hannum (1745-1814)

He was a Private in Captain Samuel Fairfield's Company Col. Sparhawk's Regiment from Dorchester, MA from September 24 to December 12, 1778.

16. My 5th Great-Grandfather John Ludwig Shuey (1755-1839)

He was a Private in Captain Casper Stoever's 3rd Company, 2nd Battallion of the Lancaster County Pennsylvania Militia in 1782)

17. My 5th Great-Grandfather David Neeley (c1748-1818)

He was a Private in Colonel Moses Hazen's Regiment of the Cumberland Co PA Militia beginning on May 4, 1777.  He was noted missing as a prisoner from September 11, 1777 until July 1778.  Finally discharged on June 20, 1783.

18. My 5th Great-Grandfather William Thompson (c1744-1811)

He served in the 5th Battalion Cumberland Co PA militia from 1777-1779, then in the 8th Battalion from 1780-1782.

19. My 5th Great-Grandfather Peter Miller (1759-1838)

He served as a Private for 5 months beginning in May 1776 in Colonel Drake's Regiement from New Jersey, then for 4 months in Captain Parsons' Company at Orange County NY, finally in the summer of 1777 under Captain Marion at Chester, NJ.

20. My 5th Great-Grandfather James Becket (c1753-1821)

He was a Private in the 1st Batallion PA Rifle Regiment stationed from September 1 - October 1, 1776 at Harlem, NY.  On December 17, 1776 he was camped near Corryell's ferry.

21. My 5th great-grandfather Johann Balser Dieterick (1754-1838)

He served as a Private in the Pennsylvania Line.  He enlisted in June 1776 and spent 6 months at York Co, PA under Captain John Paxton.  Went to Philadelphia, Trenton, Princeton, Amboy, Long Island and Fort Constitution.  Took part in the attack on the Picket guard of Hessians at Long Island. He was discharged in December 1776.

22. My 6th Great-Grandfather Abraham Day Sr (1712-1792)

He was a drummer in Captain Moses Montague's Co of Minutemen and marched in response to the alarm of April 19, 1775.  He served for 22 and 2/3 days starting on April 20, 1775.

23. My 6th Great-Grandfather Ithamar Clark (1716-1802)

He also served as a Minuteman but under Captain Jonathan Allen's Company.  He served from April 19 to May 15, 1775 and again from July 9 to August 12, 1777 on an alarm at Ticonderoga.

24. My 6th Great-Grandfather Noah Parsons (1731-1814)

He was my third Minuteman who marched in Captain Jonathan Allen's Company from April 19, 1775 for 8 days.  He then served in Colonel John Fellows' Regiment from July 9 to August 12, 1777 marching to Ticonderoga.  Finally he served as a Sergeant in Captain Lyman's Company marching from Northampton, MA to East Hoosuck on the alarm of August 17, 1777.

Minuteman statue in Lexington, MA - photo from Wikimedia commons

25. My 6th Great-grandfather Edward Bates (c1734-1804)

Served in the Invalid Regiment of Pennsylvania under Colonel Lewis Nicola.  He was discharged April 1783.

26. My 6th Great-grandfather Robert Taylor (c1720-1790)

He was a Major in the Cumberland County PA Militia from 1776 until September 1777.

I have many more ancestors who engaged in Patriotic activity, as well as several collateral ancestors who served in the Military.  I thank them all for their service.

Society Saturday - Flight of the WASP

At our recent Colonial Dames 17th Century meeting, we met Amy Danford-Klein.  She gave a most interesting program about her research into the Women's Airforce Service Pilots, or WASP's.  She has researched them extensively, has spoken with some of them who are still alive, and has written a screenplay that she hopes to have produced.

The Women's Airforce Service Pilots were formed during World War II in response to the independant efforts of Jacqueline Cochran and Nancy Harkness Love.  They both had separate ideas of what was needed, and approached it through different channels, but the end result was the WASPs.

World War II was a time when women stepped up to fill traditionally male roles while the men were off in combat.  The classic example is the "Rosie the Riveter" who worked in the factories.  WASPs were female pilots who stepped in to fill the void left when the male pilot went to combat.

Their role was to fly test planes, tow banners for target practice fly cargo and ferry planes.  They were trained the "army" way at Sweetwater, Texas, where they learned everything the male pilots did except for combat techniques.

Unfortunately, they were not officially a part of the military, and when WWII ended, they were simply disbanded.  Their records were sealed for 35 years, so few knew about them.  Gradually over the years, they have been granted increasing veterans' benefits including the ability to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Some interesting facts about the WASP are:

• 25,000 women applied, 1830 were accepted and 1074 earned their silver wings.
• They had to pay their own way to and from their training base.
• Altogether they flew 60 million miles in 77 types of aircraft.
• 38 were killed in service to their country but received no military honors.

Society Saturday - Merci Train part 2

OK, so this isn't really about a Society event, but it is a follow up to a previous Society Saturday post.

I previously discussed the Merci Train, which I learned about through a program at a Sons & Daughters of the Pilgrims meeting.

On my way to the Ohio Genealogical Society conference (back in April), I stopped to see one of the Merci Train  box cars.  This car is in Port Clinton, Ohio on the Camp Perry National Guard Base.  I was surprised at how short the car actually was.

A week later, I picked my daughter up from Indiana University in Bloomington.  We stopped in the Memorial Union to see "Ugolino and His Sons" by Jean-Baptiste Carpeaux (1827-1875).  This sculpture was one of the archival gifts from France to the U.S. that was transported on the Merci Train that was destined for Indiana.  It was a lot bigger than I expected.

www.mercitrain.org

Amanuensis Monday - Grandma Hill's Poetry, Week 39

Just in time for D-day - a brief history of World War II...

World War

A few years ago three mad beasts broke loose on this earth:

Hiro, Adolph and Mussolini.

They thought to make civilization fit for no one,

But a shameless libertine.

The first to break loose was the brave Mussolini

And he fell with full force on little Ethiopia,

With his bare legs dangling, and no protection,

Only his umbrella.

He was the picture of a pitiful, helpless, half-cast little filla.

But Mussolini, from his balcony, showed his knighthood,

Soon had the country secure, to house his own brood.

Then Adolph thought it was quite time

To bring Austria and its resources into his line;

So he bluntly said, “Curt, dear, I’m coming into your land

You may not like it, but you can’t raise a hand.”

With no trouble at all he got away with all that

And it made his little pinhead too big for his hat.

Next, he sent his shameless dupes, to win the fair

Sudaneseland, knowing England and France were unprepared,

Soon Czechoslovakia, sold down the river by

Chamberlain the same sad fate had shared.

Then grumbling of unfair treatment by the treaty of Versailles.

The vision of a passage to the sea caught his evil eye.

So poor Poland, after a very short, but brave fight,

Soon fell, the first victim to his armed might.

This only whetted his taste for destruction and rape

And he decided the Scandinavians, to woo then to take.

He sent more of his shameless dupes to betray this

Fair northern gem

And show their gratitude by biting the hand that

had fed them.

On his way to the Peninsula, little Denmark had

had to  succumb

So now, ‘twas only to find a way through Holland

and Belgium.

Then into unprepared France, with her dissension

and strife

‘Twas a very short struggle, soon she gave up her life

Then Mussolini, who’d been on the fence, saw a chance

To strike in the back, this brave fallen France.

Now they were free to turn their might, on the poor

crippled John Bull,

But soon found out that he was going to make more

than a mouthful.

And not counting on the tenacity of the Bull of the

speed of the Yank,

They decided to take six weeks off, and get rid of

the Bear that hung on their flank.

At first, it seemed the Bear had not enough strength

to check the onrush of this savage beast

And had to keep backing up, taking his sustenance

with him, as he kept backing to the North and the East.

Then Hiro, and his apelike beasts, thought it time to

get their spoon in the gravy

So, on a calm Sunday morning, they made a sneak

attack on our then one ocean Navy.

This roused Uncle Sam to action, and he decided to

collect and throw in his great might

With the other loyal nations, who were fighting so

bravely for freedom, decency and right.

Thinking they were rid of our fleet, they began their

pillage and rape of our Island outpost,

And almost succeeded in reaching the fair cities that

lie on our West Coast.

But they soon found that our Uncle Sam was not so

dumb or so slow

And that when he got started, he really knew where

he wanted to go.

But meantime, the goose-stepping Adolph, was not

doing so well,

He soon found the Bear’s winter not nearly so warm

as that place they call Hell.

The Bear’s army was killing off his men by the

hundreds of dozens

And winter’s cold breath, left more thousands lying in

the snow stiffly frozen.

The Bear, now thoroughly maddened by their terrible

crimes, carnage and loot

With Uncle Sam’s aid, is giving Adolph’s rear, the iron

toe of his heavy boot.

And as troubles never come singly, the Beast soon found

with alarm

That the Bull had rallied and could now do him

real harm.

For the first time in his career, he was confronted with

an army in front and rear,

And his raving made the Balkan states cower and

tremble with fear.

They knew their civilization lay in his path,

And nothing would check his maniacal wrath.

So all they could do, was to bow down and be crushed

beneath his heel.

Be trampled, raped and looted ‘till they ceased to feel.

His fox he had sent to the desert was wily and smart,

And really worried the crippled Bull at the start

But when the Bull did break loose, with Uncle Sam’s aid

he sure went, Hell-bent,

And chased the now frightened fox clear across the

African continent.

There met by our own brave lads, modernly equipped

for the fray

The thoroughly beaten fox soon found that on that side of

 the sea, he had no place to stay.

So he kept backing up, and with no way to take his loot

He landed, much cripple, right on the toe of Italy’s boot.

But all the time, where was Uncle Sam?  Had he deserted

Winnie, Joe and Kai-shek?

Not so, he was busy forging weapons to help start the

savage beasts on their backward trek.

He had trained and equipped our brave boys, and sent

them everywhere to fight for the right

And show dictators, that the time had come, when they no

longer could rule by their might.

He had built huge boats to go on and under the seas, and

thousands of planes to fly in the air

Had bridged all oceans, with ugly ducks to keep troops

and weapons on their way over there.

At last, he’s sent a force that was second to none, and to

the great Ike they gave the job

To go into France, and stop for all time, the lootings and

murders of this bloodthirsty mob.

Having failed to get oil from the East, this Adolph with

the brain of a beast and the voice of a Jack mule

Found to his dismay, that for his tanks, planes and trucks,

he was running very short of fuel.

With the greatest Armada, that ever was known, moving

in ever closer from the West

The now frightened Adolph found that was a real

calamity, not a mere jest.

From North, South, East and West, Allied armies came

with a leap and a bound

Now that they had his vaunted Luftwaffe, securely pinned

fast to the ground.

Frantic, more frantic, he became, as they kept moving

ever closer in,

Until finally came his everlasting finish at his Capitol in Berlin.

With VE day over, our brave boys were being sent

quickly to the Pacific.

Where their brave brother Marines had found the

fighting quite terrific.

Mac’s army assisted by the Navy and the boys flying the planes

Had robbed the Nips of most of their plunder, and

closed their sea lanes.

They had gone from island to island, and were nearing

the Nip’s home coast,

Had destroyed the vaunted Navy of which they once were

proud to boast.

They had peppered their industrial cities,

with bombs, shot and shell

Then came the atomic bomb, and nothing more was left to tell.

So Hirohito, like Adolph, was forced to accept

the unconditional surrender,

And we hope they won’t find the terms to be too harsh,

yet not too tender.

That the big five will unite like a kind, friendly big brother,

To teach warring nations how to live at peace with the world

and each other.

Nancy Jane Wiley Hill (1875-1960) was always writing something.  Many of those poems are now in the possession of her granddaughter Shirley Kern.  Shirley, with the help of her sister-in-law Ruth Ormsby, transcribed these poems in 1996 for a Hill-Ormsby-Kern family reunion.  I am going to post many of these poems so that they may be enjoyed by all.

These are copyright 1996 and reprinted with permission.

Amanuensis Monday - Grandma Hill's Poetry, Week 38

Decoration Day

Another Decoration Day, for our honored dead.

And again, we hear the martial tread.

Again we see our young men called to fight

The same vandals, who’d rule by might.

Again, they have challenged the rights of free men

To work and live decently with wives and children.

May our Armies strike them with tank and plane

‘Till never they’ll seek to wreck civilization again.

Nancy Jane Wiley Hill (1875-1960) was always writing something.  Many of those poems are now in the possession of her granddaughter Shirley Kern.  Shirley, with the help of her sister-in-law Ruth Ormsby, transcribed these poems in 1996 for a Hill-Ormsby-Kern family reunion.  I am going to post many of these poems so that they may be enjoyed by all.

These are copyright 1996 and reprinted with permission.

Amanuensis Monday - Grandma Hill's Poetry, Week 37

Gold Star Mothers

We Gold Star Mothers, seen looking today through a sheen.

We who were saddened, ere the truce of 1918.

We were glad to see the return of the other brave boys

Our sorrow, momentarily eased, by their gladness and noise.

We saw them  greeted by happy mothers,

as they marched gaily along

And then we thought of our own dear sons,

they had left behind

We were glad to see them march gaily to the music and song

But it made our tears fall so thickly, they made us blind.

We thought of our own boys, who fought so bravely, and fell

On the blood stained battlefields, in the cold muddy trench

Causing us a sorrow, no tongue can possibly tell

And no show of pomp or glory, can ever quench.

We think of the many saddened mothers of today

As they watch their sons, march so blithely away.

Will they be called upon to suffer, so bitterly as we?

Or will their boys come back, and gladness they’ll see?

May our sad lot be spared these brave mothers, we pray,

Tho’ our sons fell for their country, on a foreign main

May their brave sons bring back our proud emblem and say

We finished their victory, they died not in vain.

Nancy Jane Wiley Hill (1875-1960) was always writing something.  Many of those poems are now in the possession of her granddaughter Shirley Kern.  Shirley, with the help of her sister-in-law Ruth Ormsby, transcribed these poems in 1996 for a Hill-Ormsby-Kern family reunion.  I am going to post many of these poems so that they may be enjoyed by all.

These are copyright 1996 and reprinted with permission.

Amanuensis Monday - Grandma Hill's Poetry, Week 36

Hoarders

The hoarders help Hitler, when they grumble, groan and mutter

And say they are cheated, when they can’t get

sugar, coffee and butter.

They carry home great sacks full of foods

and juices in cans

Get irate at the grocer and baker, when not able

to get all demands.

Patriotic?  A, yes, the American flag is on

the windshields of all their cars

Yet they drive these cars to haul home their ill-gotten jars.

Just hear the clamor and roar, when they speak about meat

I wonder, were they in Europe, how much

could they get to eat?

They bootleg on gasoline, rubber and tires

Who says they are scarce are big liars.

And now, when they have to plod along

on their poor shoeless feet

They are yelling so loudly, that it’s giving the dictators a treat.

That there is a war on, they don’t seem to be aware

And what’s more, are too selfish

and greedy to care.

Business and leisure must go on in the same usual way.

Hungry, shoeless, unarmed soldiers will save them

while they idle and play.

So why should they do without what they want,

or try anything to save?

What care they for mothers who weep, and think

of sons asleep in a foreign grave.

Note: There is little doubt as to how Grandma felt about rationing (or not).

Nancy Jane Wiley Hill (1875-1960) was always writing something.  Many of those poems are now in the possession of her granddaughter Shirley Kern.  Shirley, with the help of her sister-in-law Ruth Ormsby, transcribed these poems in 1996 for a Hill-Ormsby-Kern family reunion.  I am going to post many of these poems so that they may be enjoyed by all.

These are copyright 1996 and reprinted with permission.

Amanuensis Monday - Grandma Hill's Poetry, Week 35

Hope

There is a grandmother,

living on Bancroft Street,

Who waits, not too patiently,

for the sound of the youthful feet

That were so ruthlessly sent away

to tread on a foreign strand

Hoping the time is now short,

when again they’ll walk

on their homeland.

And she hopes that never, never again,

the occasion will arise

When war’s devastation will

darken the world’s skies

And that our country will take

the place of a kindly big brother

Teaching other nations how to live

at peace with each other.

Twice, in my lifetime, I’ve seen

my boys sent to a foreign shore

One of them, lying asleep in France,

will return to me, nevermore.

But let’s hope, this time,

your task will not have been in vain

And that the four of you, safe and sound,

will soon be in your homes again.

Nancy Jane Wiley Hill (1875-1960) was always writing something.  Many of those poems are now in the possession of her granddaughter Shirley Kern.  Shirley, with the help of her sister-in-law Ruth Ormsby, transcribed these poems in 1996 for a Hill-Ormsby-Kern family reunion.  I am going to post many of these poems so that they may be enjoyed by all.

These are copyright 1996 and reprinted with permission.

Amanuensis Monday - Grandma Hill's Poetry, Week 34

A Lonesome Town

The town is big and lonesome

Every day is a lonesome day.

For the boys who donned the khaki

Have waved, and marched away.

There are gleams of yellow sunshine

Coming through the new leafed trees

And the butterflies have wakened

We hear the hum of the honeybees.

The sounds are as cheerful as of old

As we watch the children run and play

But the boys, just out of school,

Have waved to us and gone away.

Yes, the boys have gone and left us

have marched away, khaki clad

And the town is big and lonesome

The days are not so glad

As they used to be.

The birds Sing as gayly in the tree.

But it seems the world will never be

The same as it used to be.

‘Till we have the boys back with us,

‘Till we hear their marching feet

And see them waving again to us

Coming gaily down the street.

They are boys, who were just little bits

of fellows, only yesterday,

Full of talk about their kites and marbles

And now they’ve marched away.

Marched away, like grown men, to meet

And battle with a foreign foe.

Our hearts were sad, but proud, to have

Them wave to us, then turn and go.

We know they’ll do their duty nobly

Our brave boys in khaki brown,

But ‘till they come marching home

This will be a lonesome town.

Nancy Jane Wiley Hill (1875-1960) was always writing something.  Many of those poems are now in the possession of her granddaughter Shirley Kern.  Shirley, with the help of her sister-in-law Ruth Ormsby, transcribed these poems in 1996 for a Hill-Ormsby-Kern family reunion.  I am going to post many of these poems so that they may be enjoyed by all.

These are copyright 1996 and reprinted with permission.

Amanuensis Monday - Grandma Hill's Poetry, Week 32

My Second War

I am only an aging grandmother

My heart torn with grief and pain

When I think of another grim war

Coming so close to my home again

After my great loss in the last war

I had learned to hide my sorrows

And think of my many grandsons

To cheer and comfort my tomorrows.

But again, grim war, in more dealy and terrible might,

Has called my grandsons to fight for freedom and right

No difference how great my dread, I won’t ask them

to delay the call.

For someone must fight to end this terrible curse,

this time for all.

All I can ask is, they may fight

With valor, a lasting peace to gain.

And if they fall, may God grant the right

That this time, ‘twill not have been in vain.

Note: Four of Grandma Hill's grandsons enlisted during World War II - they were:

Charles Victor Hill - Corporal in Army

Robert Leroy Kern - Sr. Chief Boatswain's Mate in Navy

Donald Edward Ormsby - Airman 1st Class in Army Air Corps

Charles Victor Ormsby - Private in Army

In addition, two of her granddaughters' husbands served:

Donald Earl Vail - Sergeant in Marines

William H. Watkins - 3rd Class Petty Officer in Coast Guard

Thus, all branches of service were represented, and all her "boys" came home safely this time.

Nancy Jane Wiley Hill (1875-1960) was always writing something.  Many of those poems are now in the possession of her granddaughter Shirley Kern.  Shirley, with the help of her sister-in-law Ruth Ormsby, transcribed these poems in 1996 for a Hill-Ormsby-Kern family reunion.  I am going to post many of these poems so that they may be enjoyed by all.

These are copyright 1996 and reprinted with permission.

Amanuensis Monday - Grandma Hill's Poetry, week 10

THE BOYS WHO MARCHED AWAY

 

Trumpets and drums and marching feet

Out of the past, their echos flow

Banners that flaunted through the street

Bright eyes, tear wet, that gazed below.

Visions of glory and glow

Light hearts of youth that dared the fray

Lost in the mists of the long ago.

Where are the boys, who marched away?

Far o'er the sea, their ghostly fleet

Rocks at its moorings, to and fro

There where the fen and ocean meet

Proudly, their column moves, and slow.

Africa and Italy lie low, lie low

Berlin is fallen, and the smoke is cleared away

Where are the hearts that knew their throe

Where are the brave boys who marched away?

Young eyes that gazed beyond defeat

Sleep by the Rhone and the Po

Ah, dreams of that terrible battle head

Are under the poppies, or under the snow.

Silently they await that Last Great Day

And desert, and steppe, and torrent know

Where are the boys who marched away?

And Lord, when the silver trumpet shall blow

Calling us to come to our battle fray

Grant us to look on high and know

Where the boys are who marched away.

Nancy Jane Wiley Hill (1875-1960) was always writing something.  Many of those poems are now in the possession of her granddaughter Shirley Kern.  Shirley, with the help of her sister-in-law Ruth Ormsby, transcribed these poems in 1996 for a Hill-Ormsby-Kern family reunion.  I am going to post many of these poems so that they may be enjoyed by all.

These are copyright 1996 and reprinted with permission.

Thankful Thursday - The Beaches of Normandy

While in France, we took a side trip to Normandy to see the beaches of Normandy.  While I have family that served during WWII, none were involved in D-day.  Still, we thought this would be an interesting trip to make.

We started out on Gold Beach - one of the beaches that the UK troops landed on.  The beach ( more like a cliff) was protected by Coastal Gun Batteries that could fire on approaching ships.  These concrete structures had been the target of advance air raids by the allies, but were sturdy enough that they withstood the attacks and are still largely intact 69 years later.

Then on to Omaha Beach - a three mile stretch of beach that US troops landed on.  Before the German occupation, as it is now, it is a resort area.  But, between 1940-1944 it was protected by obstacles, mines, and gun batteries.  These gun batteries were different - they fired at a angle to unsuspecting troops to one side or the other.

 

 

 Approximately 4000 people were killed on Omaha Beach.  The tide washed up blood and bodies for the next several days.  Because the troops were engaged in fighting, the dead were simply buried in nearby trenches.

We also visited Ponte du Hoc, a 100 foot tall cliff that was taken by the Rangers.  Here there were more Coastal gun batteries.

After the war was over, the dead were reinterred.  The families were given the choice of having the bodies shipped home for burial, or burial at one of the American Cemeteries in Normandy.  We visited one of these cemeteries, where nearly 9400 are buried.

I am thankful for all of those brave men who gave their lives in defense of freedom.  They are truly "The Greatest Generation".