WWII MEMORIAL DEDICATED TODAY
(Please be aware this post was written in 2004 and published at that time in the Houston Chronicle (Houston, Texas) newspaper. Some of the news in this post, therefore, may not be current. Current and future posts on this blog may revisit and update news on this and other posts on this blog. If you have questions and/or suggestions, please send Mic a note using the comment page -Don’t forget to use the orange “subscribe” button to receive new posts-Thanks, Mic)
After nearly sixty years a national memorial is being dedicated today in Washington, D.C. to the WWII generation. Located between the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument the memorial is the only 20th Century war memorial on the axis of the National Mall. It is dedicated to those who served the nation in a military or civilian capacity between 1941 and 1945 overseas and on the home front.
In addition to information about the memorial the website maintains a Registry of Remembrances. Created from four distinct databases the registry lists the name, rank, military ID, branch of service, hometown and status or activity of the honoree during the war .
The databases from which the registry is created include: those buried in American Battle Monument Commission cemeteries; names memorialized in ABMC Tablets of the Missing; those listed on official War and Navy Department Killed in Service rosters which are held by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) and those honored by public enrollment on the Registry of Remembrances.
NATIONAL CEMETERY SYSTEM BEGAN IN 1862
In the summer of 1862 the United States Congress enacted legislation authorizing the President to purchase cemetery grounds to be used as national cemeteries for soldiers who shall have died in the service of their country. Fourteen cemeteries were established that year.
Today there are one hundred thirty six national cemeteries including six in Texas. Of the one hundred thirty six fourteen are administered by the Department of the Interior, two by the Department of the Army and the remaining one hundred twenty by the Veterans Administration through the National Cemetery Administration.
The National Cemetery Administration maintains a genealogical and historically informative website at http://www.cem.va.gov/. The website includes the names of each national cemetery by state and has a hyperlink to most. Each individual cemetery website contains a short history of the cemetery and includes a list of notable burials interred therein.
Other features on the NCA website are links explaining current burial polices, eligibility for burial and obtaining military headstones for eligible veterans of any war. The site also contains a searchable national gravesite locator database. Within this database one may search one or most all NCA national cemeteries. Information in the database includes the name, service, rank and service dates of the deceased, the date of birth, death and internment, plus the cemetery name and burial location. Spouses of servicemen who are interred in the cemeteries are included in the database.
Of the one hundred twenty national cemeteries administered by the NCA the following are not currently a part of the database Long Island, Los Angeles, Fort Rosecrans, National Cemetery of the Pacific and internments prior to 1999 at Arlington National Cemetery.
INVITATION TO DEAR MYRTLE’S OPEN HOUSE
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Normally there is a $5 per month or $25 annual subscription fee. However, Myrt has invited everyone to visit and listen to the shows free of charge at their leisure through midnight Memorial Day, May 31.
Each day of the week Myrt’s show features a theme. On Mondays she discusses research in a state of the US; on Tuesdays she discusses research in a country of the world; on Wednesdays she discusses technology; Thursdays are Beginner’s Corner days; on Fridays she discusses using Family History Centers wisely; Saturdays are Myrt’s MightyMouse Tours; and Sundays feature Robert Ragan’s Pajama Genealogy Show.
Those who would like to learn more about Myrt’s shows or listen to them should 1. Go to http://DearMYRTLE.com 2. Click to take the tour, or simply click to ENTER the site. 3. The radio player will automatically pop up for those with Java and popups enabled. 4. Click the Channel Selector on the radio player, and scroll down to select one of DearMYRTLE’s channels. 5. When prompted listeners who haven’t yet joined DearMYRTLEplus may use the universal user name and password: free and today. Learn and Enjoy!
