Some family time...
I spent the day Sunday with the only family I have left in Midland, my Mom. I was glad that she had decided that she wished to go visit the Scotch/Irish Festival and grateful that she was able to have such a good time revisiting our heritage. My Dad's family is what is known as Ulster-Scots, Scotsmen who transplanted to Northern Ireland. By the luck o'the Irish, there was an Ulster-Scots Assn. booth at the fair where Mom was able to recount the family history...something she knows well after having done extensive geneologic investigation with two trips to County Antrim N. Ireland, the Craig family homeland after they came from Scotland. My first two names, Wallace and Howard, are derived from ancestoral family ties in Scotland. The director of the Assn. was interested in talking with my mom, we have some interesting relatives, including my Great Uncle, the first Prime Minister of N. Ireland when it was known as The Irish Free State.
While at the fair and talking family history, my mom told me she had opened a box that had belonged to my dad's sister. She apparently had been in possession of this box of memories since my aunt died over a decade ago, but had only recently opened it after my dad's death. In it was a big album entitled, "His Service Record" which I had never seen before. The album had been supplied by the Department of the Army to families of service members so that they might save service records, pictures and memories of their loved ones while away. What a treasure drove of memories of my dad. Many pictures of my Dad as a teenager and a soldier, notes on his whereabouts and biographical data of his family.
What stirred my sentiments the most were pictures of my dad and his buddies on the liberty ship Rensselaer Victory on their way to landing in Italy in 1943. My dad never wanted to talk much about his experiences fighting in Italy, saying that his best buddy was killed in action they day they landed. I wonder which one of the guys in these pictures it was...? I wish I'd had these images while he was alive to ask him. Aboard the Rensselaer Victory
I spent the day Sunday with the only family I have left in Midland, my Mom. I was glad that she had decided that she wished to go visit the Scotch/Irish Festival and grateful that she was able to have such a good time revisiting our heritage. My Dad's family is what is known as Ulster-Scots, Scotsmen who transplanted to Northern Ireland. By the luck o'the Irish, there was an Ulster-Scots Assn. booth at the fair where Mom was able to recount the family history...something she knows well after having done extensive geneologic investigation with two trips to County Antrim N. Ireland, the Craig family homeland after they came from Scotland. My first two names, Wallace and Howard, are derived from ancestoral family ties in Scotland. The director of the Assn. was interested in talking with my mom, we have some interesting relatives, including my Great Uncle, the first Prime Minister of N. Ireland when it was known as The Irish Free State.
While at the fair and talking family history, my mom told me she had opened a box that had belonged to my dad's sister. She apparently had been in possession of this box of memories since my aunt died over a decade ago, but had only recently opened it after my dad's death. In it was a big album entitled, "His Service Record" which I had never seen before. The album had been supplied by the Department of the Army to families of service members so that they might save service records, pictures and memories of their loved ones while away. What a treasure drove of memories of my dad. Many pictures of my Dad as a teenager and a soldier, notes on his whereabouts and biographical data of his family.
What stirred my sentiments the most were pictures of my dad and his buddies on the liberty ship Rensselaer Victory on their way to landing in Italy in 1943. My dad never wanted to talk much about his experiences fighting in Italy, saying that his best buddy was killed in action they day they landed. I wonder which one of the guys in these pictures it was...? I wish I'd had these images while he was alive to ask him. Aboard the Rensselaer Victory
