RootsTech Follow-Up - Veterans Day

Vernon Westerheide and family - WW II

Today, Friday, November 11 is Veterans Day in the United States. This day was established in 1938 to honor the military veterans of the United States Armed Forces. Many of us have long lines of military veterans who served in wartime as well as peacetime.

I am including a few pictures from my family and my wife's family highlighting their military service. The first picture is my grandfather, Vernon Westerheide, who served in the Navy durign World War II. My father also served in the Navy in the 1960s and was stationed at  Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

My wife's father, Estill Herbert Walker, joined the Navy in 1942 when he was only 15 years old He was thrown out when he was getting ready to ship out to England and they discovered his age. He also joined the Army Air Corps where he learned to pilot aircraft and the Marines durign WW II.

My wife's grandfather, Estill Bowen Walker, served in the Army during WW II and achieved the rank of Lieutenant.

In honor of Veterans Day, several large genealogy databases are offering free acces to their records. FindMyPast is offering access from November 10-14. Fold3 is offering free access to their records from November 10-13. Take advantage of these offers while you can.

Estill Herbert Walker - WW II

There have been several talks presented at RootsTech during the 2021 and 2022 virtual conferences. These talks are still available. I will highlight just a few that may help you research your US military ancestors during this weekend and beyond.

1. Michael L. Strauss - Record Analysis: Military Service Records - Official Military Personnel Files (2021)
2. Lisa Ratzlaff - Basic Training: US Military Records (2021)
3. Margaret M. McMahon - Researching Ancestors in the US Military: Online and in Military Archives (2022)
4. Doug LeCheminant - RootsTech Goes to War: Preserving the Military Histories of Our Family (2022)
5. Margaret M. McMahon and Michael T. Mentley - Learning From US Military Records That Did Not Burn (2021)

6. 

   Lt. Estill Bowen Walker - WW II

   Rebecca Whitman Koford - What Does That Really Say? Records Analysis: 1812 Military Pension (2021)
7. Rebecca Murray - Servicewomen in WWII: Military Service Files & Photographs (2022)
8. Melanie McComb, Ann G. Lawthers and David Allen Lambert - A Call to Arms: Researching Revolutionary War Ancestors (2022)
9. Laura K. Anderson - Digging in the National Archives for War Department Documents (2021)
10. The Family History Guide Association - Exploring United States World War I Records (2022)
11. Elizabeth Swaney O'Neal - Resources for Researching Your War of 1812 Ancestors Online: Part 1 and Part 2 (2022)
12. Bernice Alexander Bennett and Toni Carrier - USCT Pension Files: A Rich Resource for African American Genealogy: Part 1 and Part 2 (2022)
13. Don Milne - Telling the Stories of 421,000 US World War II Fallen (2022)
14. Melanie McComb and David Lambert - Report for Duty: Find Stories of Veteran Ancestors (2020)

There are so many great resources in the RootsTech archive. Most of the talks are less than 20 minutes so they can easily fit into a break. 

Take this opportunity to remember your veteran ancestors, add their information on FamilySearch, and upload photos and tell their stories so future generations will remember the service of their ancestors.