This Memorial Day, I'm remembering not just my uncle, Lt. Frank Ebner Gartz, WWII B-17 navigator, but the memories of his service (300+ WWII letters to and from him, 1943-1945). Last week I donated those letters, along with 50+ bankers' boxes of memories, our family archives, to the Newberry Library. Here's how it came about.
This Memorial Day, I'm remembering two relatives who each served in one of the 20th century's two world wars.
In honor of Veterans Day, I’m posting “Words, War, Worry,” an essay I wrote honoring our servicemen and women and the mothers who love them and fret over their safety.
The unprecedented rain, flooding, displaced families, and ensuing misery in Texas this past week takes me back to memories of my dad's stories and my good times in Texas. Dad was an engineer for the National Board of Fire Underwriters (NBFU). His job was to inspect cities to check on their preparedness for disasters.
After arriving overseas, Ebner was allowed to tell his family only that he was stationed in Italy. It wasn't until I discovered the Second Bomb Group website (in 2009) that I found out exactly where he was in Italy, the missions on which he had flown, and the crew members with him on each mission. He was stationed in Amendola, Italy, on the Adriatic, just east of the town of Foggia.