I recently received several new Individual Deceased Personnel Files (IDPFs) for those buried in or on the Wall of the Missing at North Africa. In addition to this, I received some very interesting client files that contained partially burned Official Military Personnel Files (OMPFs). Reviewing these files for two days straight led to so many questions about family, war, research, the stories we hear and tell, and the pain passed down through the generations. It also brought up questions not only about family members, but those who adopt graves in the ABMC cemeteries.
Did you know a lot more can be learned from military records beyond the soldier’s: name, service number, unit, and enlistment and discharge/death data? Did you know many of these records contain handwritten letters from family, primarily when their soldier was Killed In Action or listed as Missing In Action?
Have you ever looked beyond your soldier in these files and questioned what life was like for those they left behind? Are you wondering what I mean when I ask that question?
- What are the family dynamics you discovered in the files? Were the soldier’s parents married or divorced? Had one died? Was he or she married?
- How did the parents feel about their son or daughter’s death in the war?
- What grief was passed through the letters inquiring about their soldier’s death, burial location, and seeking information on personal effects?
- Were any family members put into a mental hospital or sanatorium after they learned of the death or Missing In Action status?
- What stories were you told about your family member’s service? How did that line up with the information you discovered in the records?
- What stories do YOU tell about this soldier, his/her experiences, and lessons learned?
- How much grief do you carry from someone you may have never met?
- If you adopted a grave, have you met the soldier’s family? Were you able to provide information that helped ease the pain they carried about their family member? Were you able to answer questions they held onto for years?
Grave adopters view files in a different way. Often to find a photograph, learn basic details of their soldier, and connect with a living family member. There are many other lessons and higher level details about the war in these files (I’m saving that topic for another article coming soon!). As you take a deeper look, what will you discover?
In my experience at the ABMC cemeteries and reading all the files I have the last five years, the soldiers have a story they would like told by the living. They too are seeking answers and peace. Many wish to be released once the living know what they are here to pass onto us. However you personally connect with these soldiers, are you hearing them?
I have a lot more to say and many more questions on this topic. You can watch a video I created to just get some of my thoughts out for you to think about.
What have you learned about your family and its history and trauma from military records?
As a grave adopter, what did you learn about your soldier and what were you able to convey to the family to help bring closure to their questions?
© 2017 World War II Research and Writing Center
Yesterday I was interviewed and filmed for the business, in Chicago at the Pritzker Military Museum and Library. People strolled in and out of the building while we were filming and one young woman listened to the stories I told as Scott asked questions while he filmed. She and I had several short conversations about the work I do, the History degree I have (Bachelor only) and the adventurous, inspirational, traveling, healing, love-filled life I have created with my business. She too has a history degree. It reminded me that several years ago I gave a talk at my alma mater, The University of Missouri-Rolla – now Missouri S&T, to the history club about thinking outside the box. I’d like to share a few thoughts with history majors around the world and let you know, there are many other choices available besides going for your Masters or Ph.D. and teaching or being a scholar. ANYTHING is possible if you choose it.
comes next?
Maastricht, the most southern city of the Netherlands, was liberated on the 13th and 14th of September 1944. The Ninth Army established its headquarters in Maastricht and stayed there for about five months.
About 800 American soldiers were in Maastricht and surroundings, in part preparing for Germany. They were also protecting the area and Antwerp harbour (all the American supplies were there) from V1’s and V2’s, launched from Germany.
127th AAA and 131st AAA Gun battalion had their gunpits in Maastricht and in the neighbourhood. It was their responsibility to protect the whole area from attacks by planes and bombs. The soldiers belonging to these units were the ones who took down enemy planes and the so called Buzz-bombs. In many cases they succeeded as reports show and Antwerp harbour was “safe”.
In the meantime the coldest winter of the 20th century arrived and the soldiers had to do their duty under extreme circumstances. In the days around Christmas it was minus 32F, extremely cold, and some had to sleep in their tents. An American chaplain, Father Dobrzynski, together with some Brothers of the Immaculate Conception of Maastricht, thought about how to give the boys a kind of Christmas Feeling in these days. They knew of a cave, the Schark cave, which was very safe, and where a Mass could be held on Christmas Eve.
The cave was prepared. Sal Barravecchia, one of the soldiers, created a beautiful mural in which he showed how Freedom was guarded from all sides. About 260 American soldiers attended Mass. After Mass they had coffee and donuts. Most of the soldiers were staying Maastricht, and some came from the Ardennes, where the fighting in the Battle of the Bulge was raging on. They were taken to Maastricht by their trucks.
After Mass they all wrote their names on the wall with charcoal. This wall is still preserved.
Not all the names on the wall can be read, because sometimes people swept their coats along the walls or tried to touch the names. We, the SHAK board, would like to know whether there are families who know that their grandfather attended Mass in 1944. Are there sons, daughters, grandchildren or other relatives who could help us in completing the list of names?
Should you be interested, the list of names is presented on our 
Many research clients have wandered into my life the last seven years. Some create more of a connection than others due to the type of project we work on together. There are clients who want the facts and only the facts. Then there are others who seek to heal things within themselves and their family, often without realizing that is one reason they hired me. When those clients show up, often, a vulnerable exchange takes place between us both. When that happens, we are both affected and both healed, whether we are conscious of it or not.
Chichester Cathedral is large. Not as large as Canterbury Cathedral, but still large. It is a place where you can find serenity and a bit of yourself around each corner or hidden within a sunlit prayer room. Like any cathedral, everywhere you look there is something intricate and beautiful to see. There are paintings, tombs, stained glass, arches, floors, signs, candles, flags and banners for military regiments, and people wandering through it all. Of course there were places to light candles, which I always do. Often to Mother Mary as she guides me, but also to Archangel Michael when possible, or military shrines. I was able to light candles for the 30th Division soldiers, who were definitely there with me in the cathedral. I guess I wasn’t as alone as I thought I was.
I learned I love nature more than I thought! I’m not a woman who likes to go play in the dirt and get her hands all dirty. That’s never been me. A few months ago I learned I had the capacity to communicate with trees, plants, and the earth. Sitting in the Bishop’s Garden felt so joyful. I even wrote about it in my journal.
It’s a beautiful day in the Netherlands. Our staff at the WWII Research and Writing Center have been busy creating new things. We can’t wait to share!
The longer I continue on my spiritual journey, the more I heal, and the more aware I become. Being an empath, I tend to pick up everything from everyone and everywhere. I’ve been told and read many times, that healing is like a spiral. We start at one spot, one event, one moment in time, and work through and release some pain. This could be from a past life or this life.
There is so much happening on this trip to Europe that I’m struggling a bit to keep up and document it all. As I write this, we just returned from 10 days in England. It was my first time there and so much happened. More on that in a future post. For now, let’s return to Friday, 26 May 2017, when we drove from Amsterdam to Thirimont, Belgium to be in the town where a client’s brother was Killed In Action (KIA) on 13 January 1945.
We kept driving and later stopped in Aubel, Belgium to photograph the 30th Division Monument there. It is a tall monument with flags on either side. This is not far from Henri-Chapelle cemetery.
Wednesday was a really fun day because I got to go to ‘s-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) to spend time with my sister in-law. Den Bosch is my favorite city in the Netherlands. It has Sint-Jan Cathedral, which I visit every time I am in the city. There is such peace there. I love the stained glass, smell of incense, lighting a candle for Mother Mary in the back of the church and, when it is open, walking through the back of the cathedral to see the niches for different saints. I was lucky that this time the back of the church was open. I was in Den Bosch four other times and only one of those visits was the back open.
Sunday we went to Amsterdam for a bit of shopping, lunch, and wandering. I wanted to stop in the P.W. Akkerman Fountain Pen shop in Amsterdam since we were unable to go to the P.W. Akkerman we prefer in 
Before we drove home we stopped at the Begijnhof to take a short walk. It was very crowded and noisy there as lots of tour groups had come out since it was a beautiful day. Johan took me there last year over the winter when it was very quiet. Usually it is a place of peace and quiet and you don’t hear the city noise once you are in the courtyard.