A Happy Birthday Mirror Message (November 28, 2016)

Today is my father's 94th birthday.  He was born November 28, 1922. This coming April, my father and mother will celebrate their 66th wedding anniversary.

For many years my mother has greeted my father's birthday with a message that he will see as soon as he rises on the morning of his completion of yet another trip around the sun. When I visited them this afternoon and went into their bathroom her now traditional message was still there written in toothpaste across the mirror so he could not miss it and so it would be her first communication to him today -- it reads "HAPPY 94 BIRTHDAY."

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Photo by the author.

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Copyright 2016, John D. Tew

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Heather's Honor Roll Project (Veteran's Day 2016) -- Wallingford, Connecticut World War II Memorial: Part 1 - A through B

Wallingford, Connecticut Town Hall

Tomorrow, November 11, 2016, is Veterans Day. 

Among the Honor Roll memorials located in Wallingford, Connecticut on the grounds of the Town Hall is one for those who served (and in some cases died) in World War II. It is by far the most extensive memorial listing of veterans of war who lived in Wallingford.  The list contains hundreds of names -- in fact so many that it will take several posts to get them all transcribed and published. This post will cover all the names in alphabetical order from A through B . . . and that comprises 244 names alone.  

I know that finding a database of transcribed names is one thing for those who are searching for ancestors and relatives, but for those who cannot make a trip to see the actual memorial, a photograph of their family member's name would be a very useful gift for inclusion in family genealogies; therefore, it is my intention to take several blog posts in the future to publish the photographs from which I worked to do the name transcriptions.  [UPDATE: The close-up photos for the first panel of names on this memorial were published on December 16, 2016. You can view the close-up photographs here.]

For readers who take the time to scan the names, you will probably notice that unlike memorials for earlier wars there are a significant number of women listed on this memorial. Also, apart from the sheer number of names on the World War II memorial, one will note the wonderful ethnic diversity of the names in the list. And there are a number of obvious family members listed so that it appears several possible brother, father/son, and cousin combinations are listed.

My father is listed on the World War II memorial in Wallingford since he briefly attended a year of post-high school education at Lyman Hall in Wallingford before he entered Kings Point, the United States Merchant Marine Academy.  Prior to 1957 what is the present Town Hall was the Lyman Hall High School. [1]  I previously posted a close-up of the section of names containing my father's listing here. This post will begin the transcription of the hundreds other names that are honored on the World War II memorial. The transcription posts will be submitted as part of Heather Rojo's wonderful Honor Roll project to create a searchable listing of all U.S. war veterans on memorials erected in this country. 

The World War II memorial on the grounds of the Wallingford Town Hall

The names of the men and women honored on the Wallingford World War II memorial with surnames beginning with A or B are as follows . . .

George C. Abbott, Jr.                    Thomas Abel                    Edward J. Achino

Harold Addy                                 Leroy Addy                      Charles D. Ahearn

Donald R. Ahearn                        Eugene T. Ahearn             John R. Ahearn, Jr.

Muriel Ahearn                              William J. Ahearn             Anne Aiello

Susan Aiello                                 Antonio G. Alagna           George Alagna

Edward J. Albuquerque                Elmer Alex                        Milton Alex

Raymond E. Allain                       Roy C. Allen                     Leonard J. Altieri

Einar J. Andersen                         Robert L. Andersen           David W. Anderson

Charles Andrade                          Andrew C. Andrews          Robert C. Andrews

Edward Angelo                            Louis E. Angelo                Carolyn Anthony

Harry F. Anthony, Jr.                   Roald L. Antinolfi              Anthony J. Antonucci

William Antunes                         Clarence F. Appell              Pierre Appell

Albert Ardo                                 Bernard A. Aristosky         Benjamin Arnold

Ford W. Arp, Jr.                           Joseph J. Arujo                  George Asman

Harold J. Atkinson                       George R. Audette            Charles L. Austin

Raymond A. Austin                     Charles B. Ayers                Russell Ayers, Jr.

Thomas R. Ayers                         William Ayers                    Marino Bacci

Gordon D. Backes                       Frank S. Backsa                 James C. Baggott

John A. Bai                                  John S. Bai                        John W. Bailey, Jr.

Charles Bakanas                          Frank Bakanas                   John C. Bakanas

Joseph A. Bakos                          Joseph Baksa                     Frank R. Ball

Albert E. Ballough                      Alex L. Ballough               Joseph R. Balon

Martin Balon                               Gerald Bampton                Hugh E. Bandecchi

Louis L. Banka                            Stanley P. Banka               William W. Banka

Joseph P. Barberino                     Peter Barberino, Jr.            Stephen J. Barberino

Paul R. Barbuto                           Joseph H. Bardon              Frank M. Barker

John C. Barker                            Florence E. Barnes             Joel P. Barnes

Charles Barney                           Leonard G. Baronowski     David J. Barry

Robert Barry                               George A. Bartek               George J. Bartek

Louis R. Bartek                          William J. Bartek                Alfred O. Bartel

Raymond J. Bartel                     Chandler H. Bartholomew  Harry L. Bartholomew, Jr.

George W. Bartlett                     Clifton E. Barton                 Michael N. Basarab

Stephen Basarab                         William J. Basarab             F.O. Donald Bates

George A. Bates                          Ruben Bates                       Alex L. Bayne

Joseph Bayne                              Paul Bayne                         John C. Beadle

Clifford L. Beaudoin                  Walter E. Beaudoin            George B. Beaumont

Harvey E. Beaumont                  Arthur E. Becker                Raymond Beecroft

Richard J. Belden                       Gordon Bellafronto            Malcolm J. Bellafronto

Charles E. Bellows, Jr.               Clarence W. Bellows          Robert E. Bellows

Stanley J. Bellows                      Erwin J. Benard                  James J. Benarro

Lawrence L. Benigni                  Durwood W. Bennett          Leigh C. Bennett

Malcolm O. Bennett                   Henry E. Benoit                  Edmund E. Benway

Joseph A. Benyi                         Carmen A. Berardesco        Paul S. Berceli

Charles W. Bercier                     Romeo A. Bernaby             Leo L. Bernardoni

Walter Bernat                              Edward B. Berry                Ralph Bertini II
Robert H. Bertini                        Pasquale Bia                       Stanley G. Biega
Victor J. Biega                            Charles E. Bingham           Julius A. Biro
Frank J. Bishop                          Joseph A. Bisi                     Joseph A. Bitel
Stanley Bitel                               Frank Blachowicz              Edwin L. Blaski
Henry J. Blaski                           Robert L. Blaski                 Waldemar E. Blaski
Betty Boehm                              Marc A. Bolduc                  William R. Bolton
Joseph O. Bonelly                      Richard A. Bongoll             Joseph P. Bonocchi, Jr.
William R. Bordeleau, Jr.          Anthony M. Borges             Richard J. Borghi
Frank J. Boryszewski                Francis X. Bossily               Russell W. Bowen
Walter D. Bowen                       Harry M. Boyarski              Gilbert D. Boyd
Robert B. Boyd                         Roger W. Boyd                    Hamilton F. Boyer
James J. Boylan                         John P. Boylan                    Albert Braga
Joseph Braga                             William F. Bramlett             Salvatore S. Brancato
Donald J. Brandt                        Michael J. Brassil               George J. Brauch
Robert E. Brayshaw                   Charles A. Breck                John F. Brennan
Thomas F. Brennan                    James H. Brenton               John F. Bresnock
Charles A. Bridgett                    Frank E. Bridgett                Nicholas E. Bridgett
William E. Bridgett                    Robert E. Brinley               William R. Brinley
Robert E. Bristol                        Lawrence Broe                    Earl E. Bronsord
Alice J. Brooks                           Edward C. Brooks, Jr.        Charles A. Brosnan
John J. Brosnan III                     Robert J. Brosnan               Charles E. Brown
Edward O. Brown                      Franklin A. Brown              James A. Brown
Robert W. Brown                       Walter E. Brunetti               George F. Bruton
James J. Bruton                          Leo R. Bruton                     Alex Bryda
Albert R. Buccy                         Allen Buck                          William G. Buckley
Stanley P. Budleski                    John H. Buffum, Jr.              Jacob Bugaichuk
Henry W. Buijnarowski             James J. Buijnarowski         Vincent A. Buijnarowski
Bronislaus M. Bukowski           Charles A. Bukowski           Edward J. Bukowski
Henry R. Bukowski                   Henry S. Bukowski              John J. Bukowski
Edward M. Bullock                   Henry J. Bundock                Howard G. Bundock
Roland F. Bundock                    John D. Buongirno              Kenneth A. Buongirno
Robert A. Buongirno                 Charles A. Burghardt          George J. Burghardt
John H. Burghardt                     Robert O. Burghoff             Willard L. Burghoff
Cecil O. Burnham                     Helen Burns                         William H. Buschel
Louis Butcher                           Steven Butcher                      George Butts
Alfred Buza                              John A. Buza                         Joseph E. Buza
Raymond F. Buza

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[1]  Lyman Hall (1724 - 1790) was born in Wallingford and served as a representative to the Continental Congress from Georgia.  He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and later served as a Governor of Georgia.

Photographs of the extensive list of names on the World War II memorial in Wallingford, Connecticut were provided to me for transcription by my cousin, Bruce O. Marquardt, of Wallingford.  This transcription contribution would not have been possible without Bruce's very kind and willing efforts to make sure I had legible photos from which to do the transcriptions.  THANK YOU BRUCE!
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Copyright 2016, John D. Tew
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The Momentous Presidential Election of 2016 (November 9, 2016)

Since the inception of this blog almost four years ago, I have assiduously avoided turning it into anything even approaching a forum for my political beliefs. This blog is, however, a genealogy and family history forum AND it is preserved in book form for my sons, descendants, and relatives; as such it occasionally delves into matters of present concern because my involvement in present day events will unavoidably become matters of family history for my descendants. [By way of example, see my blog post about my experience of the events of 9-11 here.]

And so this brings me to the historic events of yesterday, November 8, 2016, when Donald J. Trump became our President-elect and soon-to-be 45th President.

I emphatically did not want Mr. Trump to become our President. I contributed, organized, advertised, volunteered, and voted to try to prevent it from happening. But Mr. Trump won in the electoral college and so he (by his own words) will not contest what he repeatedly called a "rigged" election. . . and neither can we or should we. We must have a peaceful transition of power if we are to preserve our democracy and our country.

It was a hellish campaign. The absolute worst of my lifetime. And we as a nation are going to have to reconcile to it and live through the repercussions -- indeed the entire world will have to. Donald J. Trump will be our President for at least the next four years.

Fifty or a hundred years or more from now this election will be distant history. We have no idea how the Trump presidency will turn out. We can only hope that it is a net positive for the great majority of Americans, who comprise a true melting pot of various people. History and results will judge the winner of this momentous election . . . and our descendants will judge us with the hindsight of decades or centuries regarding how we stood at this time and in this place.

I write this post to go into the book version of my blog in order to make it clear for my descendants that I stood against Mr. Trump and tried my best to prevent him from becoming President of the United States. Those who supported Mr. Trump will have to own their decision too . . . and perhaps have to explain to their descendants.

They say that when a person actually assumes the awesome power and responsibility of the presidency of the United States it changes him. He has such power and responsibility that it alters his perspective and his deliberation before deciding on a course of action that will affect an entire nation. Our history is replete with examples of presidential evolution in office. For the greater good of this country we can only hope that Mr. Trump is transformed by the high office to which he will ascend and that he deliberates carefully and circumspectly as he moves forward!

Finally, for those of you who are frantic about the results of yesterday's election, I highly recommend you read the post by Tim Urban at Wait But Why blog. It is titled "It's Going to Be Okay."  

[I should note that Tim Urban's piece does contain some words that many readers might consider profane or vulgar, but I must -- in all fairness -- mention that the words are no worse than language that our President-elect used publicly before tens of thousands of Americans over the last year or more and that were broadcast over our radio and TV airwaves.] 

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The photograph of the parachutist with the American flag was taken by the author.

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Copyright 2016, John D. Tew

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