Today is Memorial Day in the United States. This is a time to remember the men and women of the military who died during military service. They may have fought in battle and fell amongst their comrades. Or died in service, whether it was the 1918 influenza epidemic, a medical condition sustained during training, friendly fire accidents, and more. John Alexander Moore III, my third cousin, was killed on 18 Nov. 1973. He was a Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class of the United States Navy. He died at twenty-six years old. Based on the year of his death, we would expect that he died in Vietnam. He actually died in an automobile accident in California and was pronounced dead upon arrival to the hospital. He was a sailor stationed at the Moffett Field Navy Dispensary. John's father, also named John, applied for his military marker at Tucson Memorial Park in Tucson, Arizona. He was buried under a Latin Cross (the family was Catholic) and a flat bronze marker. How John Sr. must have ...
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 paratrooper with the 307th Airforc...