Bringing Them Home: How Should We ID Lost Soldiers

NPR and Propublica recently published a report in which they investigated the process by which unknown U.S. soldiers from WWII, Korea and the Vietnam wars are identified with the goal of returning the remains to family members. My ears pricked up because, as I wrote about in Lost Boys of WWII, I have a WWII soldier who died when the aircraft in which he was flying crashed into a mountain in Burma (now Myanmar). His mother went to her grave never knowing how her son died or if he suffered in the process. The records were only declassified after her death.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington Cemetery in Washington, D.C.

It turns out that the methods used by the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command (JPAC) to identify remains are outdated. In this age when DNA testing is routinely used to positively identify remains, including victims of the 9/11 attacks and even massacre victims buried in mass graves in Bosnia, the U.S. Government only uses DNA to confirm matches already made by other means. Methods such as examining teeth and measuring bones to determine height can only lead so far in the identification process, assuming the remains have been disinterred at all. The current process proceeds in the following manner:

1. Historical records are analyzed to determine if identifying remains in a particular area (battlefield, crash site, etc.) is feasible.
2. Archaeologists disinter remains.
3. Physical remains are examined in the JPAC laboratory.
4. DNA is used only to confirm an identification made based on the previous work.

In contrast, a DNA-led strategy would involve disinterring available remains, conducting DNA tests on them as well as on living family members of the deceased and then comparing the two data sets to identify matches.

Of the approximately 83,000 people listed as prisoners of war or missing in action, the Pentagon estimates that about half could be identified and returned to family members. At the current rate of about seventy identifications per year, the chances of returning very many within the lifetime of anyone who actually knew them is. . . well. . . not very good. In addition, during the several hundred years it would take to identify all of these lost soldiers at the current rate, living family members appropriate for DNA testing could die out making positive identification next to impossible. While I am sure that those charged with the difficult work of examining the bones of the fallen try their hardest to reunite them with their families, it seems crazy to me that we spend over $100 million dollars each year using outdated methods with so little to show for it, especially when DNA-led techniques used in other recovery missions can quickly produce many more results. As an example, the effort in Bosnia to identify victims in mass graves yielded about 400 identifications per month at the height of the project. 400 identifications per month or 4800 IDs/year versus an average of 70 per year. Hmmm. If the goal is to bring soldiers home I know which method I would choose.

Other problems with the process of identifying POW/MIAs include several layers of bureaucracy and a reluctance to disinter multiple remains in the hope of identifying a single soldier. Some families have done their own investigations into the available records to try to narrow the field. Even in cases when the families believe their loved one is among a set of remains the powers that be have refused to remove them for testing apparently because they didn't want to disturb men who had already been honorably buried. According the NPR/Propublica report only about 4% of the cases for disinterment move forward. While I can only speak for myself, if my soldier's remains were in a group grave I would be happy to have the remains disinterred if it meant that DNA testing could be done to possibly bring my man home.

My soldier and his comrades will likely never be repatriated because of poor relations with Myanmar, the uncertainty of the crash site and the fact that any remains are surely long gone. But for families who have soldiers buried in group unknown graves, I wish they stood a reasonable chance of bringing their loved ones home. Unfortunately, unless the current state of affairs changes, most will never be able to obtain closure by laying to rest their men who gave their lives in defense of their country, in marked graves.

You can read more about this story here.

Amazing Civil War Atlas At KPL

The Kalamazoo Public Library local history blog recently posted an article about what looks like an amazing book for anyone interested in the Civil War.  I say amazing, though I have not had the opportunity to really look inside this volume.  However, from the few images I viewed on the website here, I will definitely be spending some time perusing an "Atlas to Accompany the Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies."

If you love good maps (in this case battlefield maps); photographs from the Civil War era, including buildings and soldiers; diagrams of war paraphernalia and drawings of military uniforms then you too will want to visit the Local History room and take a look.  I encourage you to follow the above link to watch the slideshow of approximately 30 images from the book.

If visiting the Kalamazoo Library is more than a a short drive for you, you'll be happy to know that I also found the book freely available at Internet Archive here.  While I will still probably look at the book at the KPL, it is nice to know that I can compile a list of the battles I am particularly interested in and the places where my soldiers were during the war and examine the maps in this book sooner rather than later.

Scaling Source Mountain

Every time I started trying to clean up my sources I got endlessly frustrated between trying to find a source template to exactly match my document and working with a software program that just wasn't intuitive to me for inputting sources. Now that I've made some changes in my approach, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel (granted, it's still a long way off). I also realized that the process won't be as painful as I had originally anticipated. In fact, though I admit it sounds geeky to say, when I have some free time I want to race to the computer to continue adding sources.

So, what changed? Several things.

1. I changed family tree programs. While I was content using Family Tree Maker for adding information and generating reports I just didn't like the way it handled sourcing. I watched a RootsMagic (RM) video on source documentation and decided to try the program. In FTM I found it difficult to tell what was the master source and what was the source citation (the specific information that applied to one person). In contrast, the way RM approaches sources feels much more user-friendly and makes sense to me.
2. I have accepted that the source templates are often not going to exactly match my document. When I began adding sources with RM I ended up scrapping many sources halfway through, or even after I had added several citations because I decided that I needed to change the template. I still don't understand why there are so many templates for U.S. census records, 28 of them, but that only one is for online images. While I do have census records copied directly from microfilm, they probably don't number more than thirty in total, while all of the rest come from an online source. I still don't understand it, but I just made all of my census master sources from the one template and moved on.
3. I made a conscious choice that it was better to have sources that can lead others to find my documents than to make sure that every source is in Evidence Explained format. I know there are some who may take issue with this, but for me it's the right decision. I've had enough hair pulling over source documentation already. I probably could work on crafting source templates to fit EE standards, but it would take a lot more time and I don't aspire to becoming a board certified genealogist.

So, now that I am happily on my way, I have some advice for others in a similar situation.

1. Find a program that makes sense to you. If adding sources feels like going into battle then you are using the wrong program and you probably won't get very far.
2. Decide how important it is to you that your sources are in the proper format down to the last punctuation mark. If you want to become a BCG then you may want to take the extra time to make sure your sources will be in EE format. If all you care about is being able document your data then you might choose to do as I did.
3. Take care in choosing your source templates because you'll keep using those master sources over and over. When you are about to select a template ask yourself “what kind of record is this?” Is it from an online source or not. You want to make sure you can add the website name and URL if it is.
4. Try to add all of the information to the master source when you create it. Ask yourself if you could find the document in question again if it weren't in your hand or on your computer. If you don't add the information to your master source now you may forget to do it later. Yes, it can be time consuming at the outset when you would really rather be adding sources to your tree, but when you know your master sources are complete you can add citations with confidence. Besides, isn't blazing ahead without proper citations what got you into this mess in the first place?
5. Try to identify the original repository. This is actually a corollary to Number 4, but I think it deserves emphasis. The only problem is that with an online collection it can be difficult to do. To me, the repository is where the original records (not the microfilmed version) are housed. Both Family Search and Ancestry.com have a “Learn more. . .” link for each collection, that may or may not be helpful. Some collections at Family Search state “It is not necessarily intended to index
   any specific set of records.” If I wanted to find a copy of a record from one of their indexes this would bring me no closer to finding what I want. Throw me a bone, people! When I find an entry like this I just heave a sigh and leave the repository blank. Because I'm familiar with Michigan records I have been able to add the repository sometimes. For Michigan Deaths 1867-1897 I know the records are state level records sent from the counties starting when the state began civil registration and going until the advent of death certificates so I can add the repository.

I spent quite a bit of time up front creating master sources for some of my most frequently cited items: census, newspapers, vital records and frequently used databases. It was tedious, but once I had many of those in place I took a break and began adding source citations to my ancestors. I was delighted to realize that with the master sources done adding individual citations went quite quickly, which is a good thing, because I have A LOT to add. Then I went back and added more master sources. After my ancestors are in good shape I'll branch out to siblings, etc. Another time saver is being able to “Share” a fact along with it's source to multiple others with a few clicks of the mouse. This is great for adding census records to large families.

A fringe benefit of all of this is that now when I come across a new item to add to my tree, I don't hesitate to add the source citation immediately because doing so is simple. This makes me more determined to spend some time adding master sources for less frequently used sources so that adding source citations becomes both natural and painless. Now, I can see that I can do this. I'm a long way from sourcing everything in my tree, but I can see a pinpoint of light way at the end of the tunnel. No more will my sources be woefully inadequate (e.g. obituary, Kalamazoo Gazette or Michigan death certificate).

A Glimpse of Sixteen

Randy Seaver at Geneamusings suggested that for this week's Saturday Night Fun we choose one of Lisa Alzo's blog prompts for Women's History month.  I decided that the one for today worked for me. It is: “Did one of you female ancestors leave a diary, journal or collection of letters? Share an entry or excerpt.”

I am fortunate enough to have a journal, of sorts, my grandmother and her friend wrote when they were about sixteen. There are just under 50 pages, and in it the girls recreate dialogue, write a very short play and occasionally include sketches. At the time, the fall of 1934, Peggy and her friend Caroline were living near the Buchholz resort on Long Lake. The girls liked to go out almost every evening, build a fire and roast apples or marshmallows. When they didn't do that they sometimes played bunco.

One entry is as follows:

“Peg and I went for a walk looking for cocoons. It was very uncertain days so of course Peg & I got caught in a rain & hail storm (mostly hail). We walked and ran by turns all the way home but it didn't help and 'cause we were soaked and frozen when we arrived at Pegs. [sic] The hail stung our faces so that we had to hide our faces under our collar. Peg's mom told us it was good for us if we were dumb enough to go out in such weather.”

Even though the entries only describe a few months in my grandmother's youth, I treasure it for giving me a glimpse into her life. I also appreciate the mention of my great-grandmother and her no-nonsense comment after the girls went for a walk when a storm was brewing.

The girls included the following exchange:

“Are you putting everything we do in there?” asked Peggy the other night.

“Of course. Why not?”

“Gosh, if anyone reads that they'll think we are crazy.”

Well, I don't think they were crazy, but I sure am glad they wrote down what they did for a few months and, more importantly, that it survived to come to me.

More Michigan County Research Guides

Seeking Michigan now has County Research Guides for 26 of Michigan's 83 counties available on their website.  The counties included are:

Alpena County
Arenac County
Bay County
Calhoun County
Clinton County
Eaton County
Genesee County
Grand Traverse County
Gratiot County
Hillsdale County
Ingham County
Ionia County
Jackson County
Kalamazoo County
Kent County
Livingston County
Monroe County
Muskegon County
Oakland County
Ottawa County
Saginaw County
St. Clair County
Sanilac County
Shiawassee County
Washtenaw County
Wayne County

Keep in mind that these are guides to the records you can locate for these counties.  If there are specific records you are looking for I recommend calling the repository to confirm they have them for the years you are researching before you plan a trip to view them.  When examining the Kalamazoo guide I noticed that a few of the years were slightly off from what I found in the actual records located at the WMU Archives.

Influenza Blues

As the influenza season wanes I decided to examine how this disease impacted my ancestors in Michigan. Prior to the late 1880s not many deaths were ascribed to influenza, usually in the single digits each year, but after that numbers of influenza deaths reported to the state were generally larger, culminating in the Spanish Influenza epidemic at the end of WWI.

References for Graph [1-8]

The low numbers of influenza deaths could be an actual trend or they could be an artifact of the abysmal state of data collection at the time (see Why Early Michigan Birth Records Are Unreliable) or the fact that we don't know who provided the cause of death (see Is That Really The Cause Of Death?).  Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to draw conclusions without additional data. It also bears remembering that influenza may have contributed to far more deaths than the numbers indicate because people weakened by influenza are more susceptible to other diseases such as bronchitis or pneumonia. The pneumonia may have been the cause of death, but if not for the influenza that laid someone low in the first place they may never have succumbed.

While the usual pattern of seasonal flu is to prey on the very young or old, the Spanish Influenza virus that spread around the world at the end of WWI fatally attacked the very demographic expected to be most resilient, people in their 20s and 30s. In the years for which the data was provided, most of the influenza deaths in Michigan were in those 70+ or under five, but in 1918, the peak of the Spanish flu in Michigan, young adults were hardest hit: 1,996 deaths in those 20-29 years and 1,521 deaths for those 30-39. [8]

At Fort Custer, they can pinpoint to the hour when Spanish flu struck the base. At 10 a.m. Sunday morning on Sept. 29, 1918 the first soldiers were rushed to the camp hospital. [9] Then “the disease seemed to break out all over camp simultaneously.” [9] With more men continually entering the hospital, a quarantine was put in place by late afternoon Monday. Almost no one was allowed to enter or leave the camp, training exercises were curtailed and intermingling of men from different barracks was prohibited. [9, 10] The importance of taking precautionary measures was exemplified by the 78^th Infantry regiment. As of Monday (Sept 30), the average number of cases “per regiment has been 38. In the 78^th infantry three companies failed to observe the rule which requires that mess kits be boiled for ten minutes and then dried without using cloths. In this regiment the number of men afflicted with respiratory diseases was 669.” [9]

By Monday morning 557 had been admitted to the base hospital and by the end of Tuesday that number was believed to be about 2,000. [9] 5,650 men were in the hospital on October 9, but Camp Custer considered itself lucky because only about 25% of the men in camp had been afflicted while in many places that number was 50% or more. [10] By October 24, the number in hospital was reduced to 1,650 and the admission rate had returned to normal levels. [11] All in all, Fort Custer weathered the storm better than other camps of similar size. In comparison with three other camps, Custer had fewer sick and fewer fatalities. Statistics for deaths/total number of sick patients were also much better: Camp Sherman: 13.14% of those sick with influenza died, Camp Devens 9.78%, Camp Grant 8.66%, Camp Custer 5.95%. [12]

Camp Funston, Kansas in 1918.  This is a file from the Wikimedia Commons.

Although the situation stabilized quickly at Fort Custer, the epidemic was in full swing in Kalamazoo and elsewhere. By early December about 1000 children were absent from school in Kalamazoo, most sick with influenza. [13] The City Commission, meeting as a Board of Health, ordered that all public gatherings were prohibited. “This includes churches, schools, theaters, moving pictures shows, pool rooms, bowling alleys, dance halls, lodge rooms, reading rooms in the Public Library. . . we further order that all street cars, interurban cars, and public conveyances shall have ventilators open regardless of outside temperature and . . . shall be thoroughly cleaned each day.” They also mandated that all new and existing cases of influenza be reported and quarantined until the City Commission rescinded the order. During the meeting it was reported that flu cases “were rapidly increasing, and to such an extent that it was becoming impossible for the force of doctors and nurses available to adequately handle the epidemic.” [13]

The city commission, however, couldn't rigorously enforce regulations and prevent people from coming in contact with potentially sick people like the commanding officers could at a military encampment such as Fort Custer. Kalamazooans could still encounter sick or exposed residents at the five-and-ten stores, though there was debate about allowing them to stay open, as well as other stores. [14] As a result, the epidemic continued. While 1918 was the peak year for influenza deaths in Michigan, at 6,742, 1919 and 1920 each tallied about 3,000 deaths from influenza (see graph).

The Spanish flu came as a shock to our ancestors. Now, we should know better. Wherever pigs, ducks and humans live in close contact this mutable virus will mix and match genes to stir up a potentially lethal new strain. The kind of epidemic experienced at the close of WWI could easily happen again and should come as no surprise when it does.

1. Secretary of State of Michigan, Twenty-Ninth Annual Report Relating To The Registry And Return Of Births, Marriages And Deaths in Michigan For The Year 1895 (Lansing, Michigan: Robert Smith Printing Co, 1897), pp. 154-155; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com/books: accessed 1 Feb 2013)
   
2. Secretary of State of Michigan. Thirty-Fifth Annual Report of the Secretary of State on the Registration of Births And Deaths Marriages And Divorces in Michigan For The Year 1901. (Lansing, Michigan: Robert Smith Printing Co., 1905), p. lxiv; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com/books: accessed 1 Feb 2013)
3. Secretary of State of Michigan. Forty-First Annual Report of the Secretary of State on the Registration of Births And Deaths Marriages And Divorces in Michigan For The Year 1907. (Lansing, Michigan: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., 1909), 39; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com/books: accessed 1 Feb 2013)
4. Secretary of State of Michigan. Forty-Second Annual Report of the Secretary of State on the Registration of Births And Deaths Marriages And Divorces in Michigan For The Year 1908. (Lansing, Michigan: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., 1910), p. 25; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com/books: accessed 1 Feb 2013)
5. Secretary of State of Michigan. Forty-Third Annual Report of the Secretary of State on the Registration of Births And Deaths Marriages And Divorces in Michigan For The Year 1909. (Lansing, Michigan: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., 1911), p. 43; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com/books: accessed 1 Feb 2013)
6. Secretary of State of Michigan. Forty-Sixth Annual Report of the Secretary of State on the Registration of Births And Deaths Marriages And Divorces in Michigan For The Year 1912. (Lansing, Michigan: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., 1914), p. 45; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com/books: accessed 5 Feb 2013)
7. Secretary of State of Michigan. Fifty-First Annual Report of the Secretary of State on the Registration of Births And Deaths Marriages And Divorces in Michigan For The Year 1917. (Lansing, Michigan: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., 1920), p. 45; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com/books: accessed 5 Feb 2013)
8. State Department of Health. Fifty-Second, Fifty-Third and Fifty-Fourth Annual Report of the Commissioner of Health On The Registration Of Births And Deaths Marriages And Divorces In Michigan For The Years 1918, 1919 And 1920. Lansing, Michigan: Wynkoop Hallenbeck Crawford Co., 1922), pp. 40, 194, 288; digital images, Google Books (http://books.google.com/books: accessed 9 Feb 2013)
9. “Spanish Influenza Hits Camp Custer; Quarantine Is On,” Trench And Camp [Battle Creek, Mich.], 3 October 1918, page 1, column 1, digital images, Kalamazoo Public Library (http://www.kpl.gov: accessed 13 February 2014), Miscellaneous Kalamazoo Publications Collection.
10. “Influenza Situation In Camp Improved Though Many Die Of Pneumonia,” Trench And Camp [Battle Creek, Mich.], 10 October 1918, page 1, column 1, digital images, Kalamazoo Public Library (http://www.kpl.gov: accessed 13 February 2014), Miscellaneous Kalamazoo Publications Collection.

11. “Health Conditions Are Resuming Normal State Within Custer Limits,” Trench And Camp [Battle Creek, Mich.], 24 October 1918, page 1, column 1, digital images, Kalamazoo Public Library (http://www.kpl.gov: accessed 13 February 2014), Miscellaneous Kalamazoo Publications Collection.
12. “In Spite Of Epidemic Local Cantonment Has High Health Standing,” Trench And Camp [Battle Creek, Mich.], 7 November 1918, page 1, column 5, digital images, Kalamazoo Public Library (http://www.kpl.gov: accessed 13 February 2014), Miscellaneous Kalamazoo Publications Collection.

13. “The 'Ban' Again On,” The People [Kalamazoo, Mich.], 12 December 1918, page 1, column 3, digital images, Kalamazoo Public Library (http://www.kpl.gov: accessed 13 February 2014), Miscellaneous Kalamazoo Publications Collection.
14. “About This Closing Order,” The People [Kalamazoo, Mich.], 12 December 1918, page 8, column 1, digital images, Kalamazoo Public Library (http://www.kpl.gov: accessed 13 February 2014), Miscellaneous Kalamazoo Publications Collection.

MuseOn Kalamazoo

Even if you don't live near Kalamazoo you can still get a free dose of Kalamazoo history three times a year. The Kalamazoo Valley Museum's magazine, museOn, which is available online, can provide a little bit of your ancestors' world from people to places to past-times. The current edition includes a piece about some of the different industries that have employed Kalamazooans. You can read it here. 

Each issue has something of interest. Some recent subjects have been the history of Kalamazoo's townships, Kalamazoo during the Depression, Kalamazoo's history of windmill making, Kalamazoo and the car, Kalamazoo dressmakers and many others. Because back issues are available here on the KVM website  I encourage you to take a peek at issues past to see if they have covered a topic of particular interest to you. If you had ancestors who lived in Kalamazoo during the Civil War you may be interested to peruse the Winter/Spring 2005 issue which has a number of articles relevant to Kalamazoo life in that time period. One that was of particular interest to me lately was on page 12 of the Winter 2012 issue which had a photograph of the members of Kalamazoo's Orcutt post of the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). One of my people, Lawrence Flynn, may very well be in this photo if it was taken prior to 1917. I contacted the museum and they confirmed that the photo was, alas, undated.

One fun feature is the “What Is It” page. Three historical objects are shown and your job is to identify them if you can. Sometimes they are real stumpers.

If you live within an easy drive of Kalamazoo you should scroll to near the end of each issue to see what local history talks are coming up in their Sunday Series. Over the past few years they have had speakers discuss Kalamazoo baseball, horse racing, “The Sins of Kalamazoo-- Gambling, Saloons and Pool Halls,” Kalamazoo's musical history and many other topics. If I lived in the area I would attend many of them.

If you can remember to periodically check for new issues you can keep up to date on Kalamazoo's past.

If you want to see what else the Kalamazoo Valley Museum has to offer you can go their website or read my blog post about it.