“Family Archaeologist” explores a century of family letters, diaries, and artifacts, and how they illuminate history and our shared humanity. To get an overview of the blog, click: “Welcome to Family Archaeologist”
LATEST BLOG POSTS
World War II New Year Greetings: one Frank to another
Frank Gartz's best buddy, Frank Von Arx, is at it again, sending greetings from his present post at Elmendorf Field in Alaska. He writes that some of his buddies are flying at altitudes where the temperature is 60 degrees below zero. That's what these boys in the Army Air Corps will have to deal with regularly on bombing missions.
Christmas Eve: A World War II airman’s future on the line
It's Christmas Eve, 1944, and Frank Gartz just took the test to determine what his classification in the Army Air Corps would be. Pilot? Navigator? Bombardier? Gunner? Read on to find out about the tests he describes that will determine his fate. He's now in California—Santa Ana Army Air Base, to be exact, and this next week he'll be on pins and needles, waiting.
Seeing Santa
My online friend, Shirley Hershey Showalter, inspired me to write this post about a favorite Christmas memory. I signed up to get her free ebook called How to Write a Memoir, and now I get her weekly Magical Memoir Moments photos and writing prompts. (You can sign up too on her website (http://shirleyshowalter.com. ) She put these ideas into action in [...]
Gettysburg Address and World War II
One hundred fifty years ago today, President Abraham Lincoln stood before a crowd of ten to twenty thousand people, gathered in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where the bloodiest battle of the Civil War had raged the previous July. Fifty thousand had died.
Veterans Day Letter: A mother’s worry for her WWII soldier son
On November 11th, 1943, when Veterans Day was called Armistice Day, my grandmother sat down to write her youngest son, my Uncle Frank. She had received two anxious, confessional letters from him, telling her how he got into an argument with a sergeant and was now paying the price in demerits and restrictions.
Depraved art, my uncle, and me
A trove of Modernist art, some 1,500 works, were discovered in a Munich home. You can read why this discovery has personal meaning to me and for my understanding of my Uncle Frank's World War II service.
Harsh words with the sergeant equals trouble in WWII
Frank was no troublemaker. Oh, sure, he was a mischievous kid in high school, fun-loving, and an occasional prankster, but everyone who knew Frank found him warm and charming. In this letter Frank describes an altercation that ensues between him and a sergeant who accuses Frank of not performing his duty. Frank knows he's not at fault and argues back. Well, in the military, that doesn't fly. See what happens.
Demerits and restrictions piling up for air cadet in WWII
Letter 11-10-43 Dear Mom We had some more snow here last night and the campus looks beautiful. I’m feeling fine and just wrote out an application for a pass again, but I don’t think I can get it. We had a mix-up here last Sunday and out of 380 men and 342 were gigged [got demerits], me being one of [...]
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