Military Monday – World War II German Communities
Written by Lorel Kapke, Sort Your Story Founder
My father was interested in the arts and was heading in the direction of becoming a commercial artist when World War II broke out. He insisted on joining the service as he felt it was “his duty.” However, choosing what area of the military to join was a bit difficult. (Ray was always considered a “gentleman” and not a “fighter” yet he enjoyed sports as he played basketball in high school -at 5’10″- he was quick on his feet !
The military questioned his intent and asked him if he wanted to kill the enemy. Ray felt no animosity towards “any group of people” and he did believe it was his duty to serve (with full knowledge of the political climate at that time.) Ray was placed him in the Navy as a gunner on the USS Davison and Minesweeper.
Historically, where Ray Kapke lived in Wisconsin, it was a tight German community. At that time in Wisconsin the impact both World War I and World War II had on this German community” was experienced by our German ancestors. I understand many, many cultures dealt with similar stories. I feel sharing these stories may be beneficial to understand “discrimination” was felt by “many, many groups of people in this country from early 1500′s and so on!
So our question to you today: Did your ethnic group suffer any discrimination during World War I or II in your community? How did that shape your family’s history? How are you preserving YOUR family’s war stories?
© 2013 Sort Your Story, Sonoma, California
Follow Friday – May 10, 2013
This Friday in honor of this month having both V-E Day and Memorial Day, we will focus on military ancestors. Here are some websites, articles, and blog posts we encourage you to read. If you have a story to tell about one of your military ancestors, please write and share it with your family and consider having it published in a genealogical society’s newsletter, blog, magazine, or quarterly journal. Talk to area museums and historical societies about donating written copies of your work for their archives. Through your stories, their lives will be remembered and honored.
Pritzker Military Library article in the Chicago Tribune
StoryCorps This organization helps everyone tell their stories, but if you are a veteran or know of a story, please have it preserved.
National Archives and Records Administration Veterans’ Service Records and Research section
What are some other military websites you find useful? Please share with us in the comments.
© 2013 Sort Your Story, Sonoma, California
Sort Your Story Backup Day
When was the last time you backed up your computer files? These could be music files, work files, photographs, or genealogy files. Have you done it recently? If not, consider backing your files up today and then join the Geneabloggers community the first day of every month which is Data Backup Day! If you subscribe to the Geneabloggers blog, you will be reminded the first of every month to do this important task.
Backing up your files ensures that in the event of a computer crash or virus, fire or flood, that you have another copy of your files. Creating two copies and keeping one off-site, meaning at someone else’s home or your safety deposit box, is also a good idea.
Not only can backing up your files create a safety net in case of an emergency, but it also allows you to go to a previous version of a file in the event you change something and did not intend to save the file that way. It is also a safety net in case you delete a file from your computer and cannot retrieve it because you already emptied your trash.
So remember to schedule a time daily, weekly, or monthly to backup your data. Once you begin to create all the Sort Your Story Profiles, you will not want to lose them.
Follow Friday – April 26, 2013
These are a few blog posts we thought you might find interesting which we hope will help you with your research and writing.
Sassy Jane Genealogy’s National Digital Public Library Launches Tomorrow
Are you going to the Federation of Genealogical Society’s conference in August? Check out their blog and see what they have to offer.
The We Tree Genealogy Blog’ All New FamilySearch Website
Have you found some great posts you think we should read? Please comment below.
© 2013 Sort Your Story, Sonoma, California
