Memorial Day Honor Roll

Today is Memorial Day here in the United States. It is a day to commemorate those who were killed in action and who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces. Memorial Day was originally known as Decoration Day, with the first national observance on May 30, 1890, to honor the Union soldiers who died during the Civil War. Other states had observed prior to 1890, with both Union and Confederate graves decorated. In 1968 Congress standardized the day it was observed to the last Monday in May and renamed it more broadly to Memorial Day.

I've wanted to put together a roll of relatives in my family tree who I honor on Memorial Day. I use the tag feature on Ancestry.com to identify "Killed in Action" or "Died in Service". I have highlighted some in individual blog posts.

• Horace Joseph (age 26) - 2nd cousin 1x removed - Killed in action June 6, 1944 (D-Day) during World War II. He served in the U.S. Army as a paratrooped with the 307th Airforce Engineer Battalion, 82nd Airborne Division.
• John Alexander Moore III (age 26) - 3rd cousin - Killed while in service 18 Nov. 1973 during Vietnam War. He served in the U.S. Navy as Hospital Corpsman, 3rd Class.
• Irwin Kolodney (age 23) - 1st cousin 2x removed - Killed in action on 28 Sep. 1944 in the European Theater during World War II. He served in the U.S. Army in the 121st Infantry Regiment, 8th Division.

I have a much longer list for Memorial Day for my Canadian relatives, observed on July 1st. Who are you honoring today?

Mrs. McComb Went to Washington

 I recently returned from a work trip to Washington, D.C., where we led 27 genealogists on a research tour, which included the National Archives (Archives I) and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Library. It was an amazing week! It has been almost 20 years since I visited the DC area to visit the Smithsonian museums. I pulled a few files to review at the National Archives, which I will put towards existing and new lectures. Having the experience of doing the research onsite at the National Archives and the DAR Library will help me prepare other genealogists for this onsite work. I also left with a new project which I will be working on (more details to come in the future). 

I did get some tourism in and went to many different sites, including the Vietnam Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the World War I Memorial, the World War II Memorial, the Holocaust Museum, the National Portrait Gallery, the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Air and Space Museum, and the Clara Barton Missing Soldiers Office Museum. So many emotions ran through me to finally see the World War II memorial which I helped fundraise money for back in high school; lighting a candle at the Holocaust Museum for my grandfather, who served with the Thunderbirds who liberated Dachau concentration camp; being in the same boarding house that Clara Barton worked out of to reunite families with missing soldiers from the Civil War; walking past the Emmett Till casket.

I've included some photos below from my trip. Have you been to Washington, D.C.? If so, what's your favorite places to visit. 

World War I Memorial

                                          Me in front of a Clara Barton cutout at the Missing Soldiers Office

Me with cherry blossoms in the background

                                                       Me in front of the New York column of the WWII Memorial