A grandfather I never knew about also showed up in genealogical research and all I can find is that he fought in France in WWI and in the Spanish American War, but haven’t found any of his army records. Think I’m being hit by the same St Louis fire that did in my father’s records. Have newspaper articles about GF stopping carrying the flag during the parades when they wouldn’t let him enlist in WWII because of age.
Research makes these wonderful people live again. So glad to hear about your husband’s research.
That is so true! My husband has been so sad about this relative, because he never got to marry or have children or know his family past age 21, and the saddest part is that none of his family ever spoke of him that we know of.
We were able to get some information from our state archives, and St. Louis did have some info. There are a couple of boxes at the National Archives that we can go through but we either have to pay someone or drive up to Maryland to do it ourselves.
What division was your grandfather assigned to? Were the Spanish American records in St. Louis also?
I found a booklet yesterday online with the history of the 81st (uncle's division) from it's creation, training, transport to England and then into France, battles, maps, etc. That was helpful because that whole part of his life was just unknown. I can at least piece together what happened week by week until his death.
Your relative sounds like a great man.