Around 1963, the office closed and my father was offered a transfer to Chicago. He didn't take it. He loved New York City. Except for his military service, he spent his entire life there.
Here's my post from 2017:
On one Memorial Day recently, when a website called Ancestry.com allowed people to search for free, I took advantage of it to find out more about my heritage.
I looked up my grandfather on my mother's side and found (definitely) his World War II draft registration and (possibly) his World War I draft registration. For the first time in my memory, I saw his signature on the World War II document.
More intriguing, I found my maternal grandfather's town of birth - something I never knew - but it doesn't seem to exist -"Altsandas, Austria" - another mystery for a later date. (I am not sure what country it is in today, but it was Austria-Hungary when he came to this country around 1903). Last year, a blogger did some research, and it appears this town, and its residents, may have been wiped out by the Nazis during World War II. [since then, I have more reason to believe that my educated guess, sadly, was correct.] At any rate, I can't seem to find it anywhere online. I've said before that I owe my very existence to the United States and all those who fought in World War II for our freedom, and I'm serious about that.
I wondered why my mother's father had to register for the draft. He was born in 1878, too old to serve in the U.S. Army in 1942, but I found out there was an event called the Fourth Registration, where all males from ages 45 to 64 were registered. That's how desperate things were in 1942.
I then looked up my father's World War Two enlistment record and found what follows. After the war he worked for several years on Governor's Island, part of New York City, where his enlistment took place. What I know of his enlistment is that he was already considered disabled (a childhood illness destroyed his hearing in one ear) and had tried to enlist without success. But, by 1942, we needed anyone who could serve.
| State of Residence: | New York |
|---|---|
| County or City: | Kings[Brooklyn] |
| Enlistment Date: | 6 Aug 1942 |
| Enlistment State: | New York |
| Enlistment City: | Fort Jay Governors Island |
| Term of Enlistment: | Enlistment for the duration of the War or other emergency, plus six months, subject to the discretion of the President or otherwise according to law |
| Component: | Selectees (Enlisted Men) |
| Source: | Civil Life |
| Education: | 2 years of high school |
| Civil Occupation: | Semiskilled occupations in manufacture of miscellaneous electrical equipment, n.e.c. |
| Marital Status: | Single, with dependents |
| Height: | 69 |
| Weight: | 130 |
There was Governors Island again.
More memories. Why would my father have been single, with dependents? I did know the answer to that question. Because he helped to raise his youngest brother after his mother died. Just as he raised me after his wife, my mother, died when I was 12.
I have so many memories of my father - the walks we took, the movie he took me to the day I graduated Elementary School (West Side Story), and then how life changed for him as he grew older, and ended up in assisted living in Brooklyn.
Right now, of all my aunts and uncles, only one survives - the man who my father helped to raise. I visited him in 2002, and my uncle told me he owed a great debt to my father, who had sacrificed so much for him. It was a debt he felt he could never repay.
And, as for me, I didn't know how much I owed to my father when I was a teen fighting to breakaway from him. But I do know now.
I finally got to visit Governors Island, many years ago, for a couple of hours. Perhaps I'll blog about that one day.
Very interesting. It is amazing what we can turn up when we start digging into our family's history.
ReplyDeleteInteresting how someone else’s blog post can stir up memories. May the memories of your father bring you comfort.
ReplyDeleteSounds like he had quite the life.
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