American Civil War Game Club (ACWGC)

Gentleman,
History is passing away before us......22 WW1 Survivors left in the world....Only a small minority of those saw the trenches....The Titanic has passed from memory as no surviors have any memories....I am not sure if there are 1 or 2 left.....20 years and WW2 will be almost gone.....Of course our topic here is long gone, and nothing I can say here can or will do them justice......All we can do is keep their memories in ours, and pass them to the next generation.....Yet I think each year there are less who care.....So I guess maybe we are passing into history too......


BG Hank Smith
Army of Georgia
Smith's Texas Division
Smith's Corp

My Grandad Best fought in WW1. I have his stories which I pass on the my Grand Kids. They will probably see the year 2100. Even if they tell no one, My Grandads story goes on to almost 200 years after the event. History dies slowly if we will pass it on!![:)]

Colonel Tony Best
Army of Georgia

That is one of the reasons I have done so much work in genealogy. My kids have ancestors that fought in Vietnam, WWII, WWI, the Civil War; in the American Revolution and in the French and Indian Wars. In addition to that, they have verifiable ancestors that go back to many European and Scandinavian countries and that information is important to tell us where we came from and helps to get us to where we want to go.

Individual history is important, but our collective history is just as important. Studying that history is a critical factor in determining how we live today and how we will live in the future.

<b><font color="gold">Ernie Sands
General, Commanding, Army of Ohio

ACWGC Cabinet member
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My Grandfather on my father's side fought in the trenches of WW1 was both wounded and suffered from Mustard Gas exposure....He lived but I understand never really recovered from the experience.....He finally died in 1950 from a self inflicted gunshot wound to the head.
I was born in late 1956, and so never met him, nor heard any stories he might, or might not have chosen to have passed on. All I can really say is that he served and recieved a purple heart. My sister has that award. My Grandmother passed away after more than 40 years of widowhood, never really even dating again. She never spoke of any of it. His name was George Washington Smith. His wife is buried beside him.

BG Hank Smith
Army of Georgia
Smith's Texas Division
Smith's Corp

"Sic transit gloria"

My family tree (in Australia) is a fairly short one, dating from the 1850's. A 'Great Uncle' fought in the Boer War, two great uncles and a grandfather in WWI, 4 uncles fought in WWII (2 died, 1 in action, 1 as a POW) and a cousin in the Vietnam War.

One great uncle kept a small 'sergeant's diary' on the Somme. It's not nice reading...

General Mark Oakford
Commander
Army of the Potomac

My mother's grand-father fought during WWI in the Italian eastern border; his entrenched unit was hit by a heavy artillery bombardment which shattered the trenches, and he remained buried alive. After some days he was rescued, but for the shok he lost his mind for the remainder of his life.

My father's uncle was captured in the events following the Caporetto disaster when he was only 18, drafted in a rush together with the other adolescent boys of the 1899 class to fill the gaps of the decimated army, being just a bit more than a child. He was interned in a prison camp at Katowitz, in Austrian controlled Polish Galizia and eventually died there probably by pneumonia. Another brother of my grand-father served as an artillery officer in the western front, and just after the war remained in garrison duties in Belgium. I still have his officer sword at home, together with his quite large collection of old books on miltiary and historical subject. The war took the live also of a cousin of the previous two brothers, so my father's family lost two of his young members in this war.

It is impressive to read the list of the dead soldiers of WWI inscirpted in the memorial in my father's little town. For each surname of the families living there there are a couple or more names reported (up to four in a single family!) to testimony the dimension of the slaughter.

Lt. Col. Luciano Bassotti
"Lee's Foreign Legion"
3/1/II/ANV

We have a fruitcake from Valley Forge, does that count?

MajGen Al 'Ambushed' Amos
3rd "Amos' Ambushers" Bde, Cavalry Division, XX Corps, AoC
The Union Forever! Huzzah!

Bill,
If you intend to actually interview the "Bulge" veteran, I would suggest you not procrastinate.....Never know when he won't be available for the interview.....Besides, if he is like my Dad was, he can hardly wait to tell you he doesn't want to talk about it.....

BG Hank Smith
Army of Georgia
Smith's Texas Division
Smith's Corp