Did you know I’ve been researching genealogy (family history) for more than 20 years? Though to be honest I know more about my client’s families than my own at this point, as I spend more time researching for them. One thing that the genealogy community encourages people to do is research the collaterals. For readers unfamiliar with this concept, let me explain.
Joseph and Majdalena Kokoska, my great great grandparents, came to Chicago from Bohemia in 1880. To my current knowledge and research, they had no family here, so the reason they chose Chicago over another location where Czechs were settling is unknown. They had 11 children, 10 of which survived beyond infancy. They lived on 18th Place in Chicago, which was in a Czech neighborhood. To learn more about them, I used the usual records – census, vital record, military draft cards, etc. I also searched the collaterals when I could not initially locate them in the 1920 census.
Searching the collaterals meant looking at who their neighbors were. If I could locate them in the census, chances are I would locate my family as I had other proof they had not moved. Examining the records of the neighbors lives, might lead to a connection that went back to Bohemia. It may have also linked to occupation and organization involvement in Chicago. In rural areas, genealogists may look at many families in a town or county, as it was common for groups of families to migrate from one place to another. When we can’t find a family in one place and a census shows other families are gone, tracing those families may help us locate ours.
How does this apply to military research?
Often when we receive military records for our soldier, airman, sailor, or Marine, we focus so much on the individual and the details we can find on him or her, that we ignore the rest. What would happen if we shifted some focus to those who served with our soldier or were declared MIA or KIA the same day they were? What might we learn?
In one example, I have been reviewing the IDPF for Col. John A. Gillies, who died when the Russian plane he was on with two other Americans, crashed over Iran on 29 Feb 1942. Col. Gillies was part of the Corps of Engineers at that time stationed in Iraq and the Americans he was with, along with many Russians, were handling aspects of the Lend-Lease agreement. While the IDPF is VERY complete and there are many descriptions of the plane crash, photographs, and a detailed description of the recovery efforts, searching other records and the collaterals is important.
I searched Ancestry.com for two men, Roland L. Spencer and Gustave A. Goesele and found a database I don’t remember seeing before. If I had, it didn’t pertain to the research I was doing so I overlooked its significance. This is the Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad, 1835-1974. In this database I found roughly 10 pages that pertained to Spencer and more than 50 pertaining to Goesele! In these records was information about the plane crash and loss of the men, financial information, and occupational information. Gillies was mentioned in these reports as well. They provided yet another source of information to his life.
Exploring offline archives for additional records, especially occupational records to see how these men were connected prior to the war may also prove useful in compiling their life stories.
For European grave adopters, there is always a concern of how much will it cost to obtain records. In Europe many records are digitized, and available free or at low cost, in archives. The same is not true for U.S. archives. Online resources are the primary way grave adopters locate information. Yet as I have explained in my Why WWII Research Isn’t Free article, most of the information you need to tell the full story, not just the end, is not online. When you read the IDPF you are getting the end of a soldier’s story and his final unit, which often is not the only unit in which he served and not the only war experience he had. To learn his full story you have to use offline records.
I encourage everyone to explore these other individuals connected to your soldier. You may be surprised at what you discover about them, their living family members, and even locate photographs.
Do you need help obtaining records? Would you like an individual consultation in the Netherlands? Contact us for details on research projects.
Have you searched the collaterals for your service member? What discoveries did you make?
© 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.