We're the Military and Airpower Guys of Jonah Goldberg of National Review Online + a stray we found wandering around looking lost. All original material JHD, BHD, JR, WT, and KA 2003-2010 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html Fri, 06 Jan 2012 18:10:39 Z Movable Type 4.12 en Copyright 2012 http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html Fri, 20 Nov 2009 06:49:42 -0600 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95695 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95695 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 17:52:25 -0600
National Archives is always keen for new stuff, and the Smithsonian too, but is more selective, and of course, local historical societies and unit associations.  Try asking around at the local VFW or contact the Navy historical office to see what they might be interested in....  There is a really decent Navy history site www.history.navy.mil that has a great many pics of ships, etc.  They would certainly be able to point you the right way....]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95679 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95679 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 13:06:53 -0600
Any suggestions?]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95674 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95674 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 12:36:43 -0600
What also helps in the process of getting the stories pulled out is to take the personnel file and go through that a half dozen times, looking for every clue to locations, dates, etc., then dig around on the web until you can match units to events, etc.  We once found a picture of my father-in-law in an old National Geographic from when he was at the South Pole. The best part, though, as I've written before is what I learned about what was happening at the time.  Reading about the battles, the places, the ships, the people, and trying to place my FiL in the proper context taught me a great deal. It is well worth the effort, even if it is bittersweet....

]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95666 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95666 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 11:58:04 -0600 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95659 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95659 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:49:52 -0600 It would probably be nice to load it up to Blogspot like that person did with the WWI soldier's letters.
Somewhat interesting as he was at Amchitka AK doing survey work, not in Korea.
He couldn't really talk about it until after the Long Shot, Milrow, and Cannikin AEC tests were completed in the late 60's early 70's.

We did get stories from my mother's father about his time in the Meuse-Argonne during WWI and he had a pair of ledger sized books of photograph plates to back the tale in a Matthew Brady dead bodies kind of way. Too bad his records burned in the St Louis NPRC fire of 1973. It would have been nice to know more of what really happened, not just his stories.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95656 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95656 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:06:33 -0600
You will be alive and your father's life will touch you.
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95654 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95654 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 09:05:13 -0600
Go, and tell the stories your Dad never told you.  Someone has to be the storyteller, lest the stories be forgotten.]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95653 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95653 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:54:48 -0600
You'll hear the stories of the Auld Soldier that the Auld Soldier wouldn't tell you, and you'll hear the stories that he *would* have, but didn't.

You may hear enough to fill out that which he had intended to be read, and present that to his comrades at the reunion after next...
]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95650 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95650 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 08:18:05 -0600 ]]> http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95645 http://www.thedonovan.com/archives/2009/11/the_persistence.html#comment-95645 Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:31:31 -0600