Here it is, almost the last day of May, 2019, nearly six weeks since my last post. Time has breezed by, and I admit I’ve neglected this site. But let me try to get back on track today, as we honor fallen military members of our family, some fairly recently, many from decades and even centuries ago.
We are a small family, the five of us – Cyndie, me, our two daughters, and our grandson. Both of our fathers, U.S. Navy veterans from World War II passed on many years ago, or so it seems at times. We still think about, talk about, and mention in passing something “Grandpa” Thomas or “Grandpa” Murray used to do. I don’t know what our daughters think about them – I’ve never talked with them about it. Our grandson only has photographic collages we made of his Great Grandma and Grandpa Murray on the wall in their home.
Other “veterans” I think of are Captain Isaac Davis, the first officer killed at Concord Bridge in the Battle of Lexington and Concord during the Revolutionary War. Andrew Murray was with William Wallace at the Battle of Stirling Bridge, but died in battle. George Murray was Bonnie Prince Charlie’s general at the Battle of Culloden. Another Murray died in the Union prison at Andersonville in the Civil War.
Other Thomas’ and Murrays, and related families, have been in the military, as well, serving in the Army, the Navy, the Marines, and the Air Force. I haven’t found any Coast Guardsmen, yet, but probably will as I continue researching. The point is that I think about these brave and honorable men, and a few women, on a day like this. Memorial Day is a special day when we honor ALL the military veterans in our family.
Those of us who study genealogy have a little more insight, possibly, into exactly how many of those vets there are, and what their contributions were. I don’t think of just the American veterans I’ve studied, but also the Scottish, Irish, English, German, and French ancestors, among others from other nations. I’ve also studied some of our ancestors who fought during the Crusades, including a couple Knights Templar.
Most people don’t realize how many veterans they should be honoring on Memorial Day, but we all have more military ancestors than we acknowledge most of the time. That needs to change!
