Christmas 1943

 Thanks for looking in on this blog, once again. Or perhaps this is your first glimpse? No matter, I will try not to drive you off, so to speak. 

It has been a while since I have posted and I plan to start making regular "Contributions" for my fathers blog.

Some of you are related, and I want you all to have an idea, just what some of our ancestors had to endure; during World War Two.

Roy Martin Badgerow was a member of the Silent Generation and never spoke much about his time as a Prisoner Of War. 

Most of the information included was found. after his death. 

Thank you so very much for letting me share a little of his story, with you.

Missing In Action

She kept right on writing to her son even though the letters from him had stopped. She prayed and wrote in the hopes...
 that some would reach him.

She kept the letters that were returned and wrote more!
Three or more per week she wrote, as the letters came back, "Return To Sender"
"Missing In Action."

She never lost faith that her son was alive.
Even when she read in her hometown newspaper about his unit being wiped out!
The Times Herald depicted a somber story of the First and Third Ranger Battalions....
  fighting to the death of the very last man in Italy.

She held fast to her belief that here youngest son Roy.....
 was okay!

A shoe box full of letters from the past that she saved all the years of her life... is a testament to my loving Grand Mother  Edith C. Hill Badgerow.
As children, we are never told  the story of the strength, that our ancestors possessed....
or of the hardships they had to endure.

STARS AND STRIPES

This copy is from Friday September 22, 1944

On November 9, 1861, during The Civil War......soldiers of the 11th, 18th, and 29th Illinois Regiments set up camp in the Missour city of Bloomfield.
Finding that the local newspaper's office was empty, they decided to print a newspaper about their activities. They called it the...... 
"Stars and Stripes." 




Stars and Stripes has been published a newspaper continuously since World War II. Their unique military coverage first became available online in 1999. 
Today........ Stars and Stripes operates as a multimedia news organization. They publish the Stars and Stripes print newspaper edition Monday through Thursday, a special Weekend Edition on Friday for Europe and Pacific, and a separate Mideast edition Friday through Sunday. 
In addition, they also publish several weekly and monthly publications and numerous special supplements. 
On any given day, readers and visitors number about 1.0 million.



The Cost OF Freedom Is High

Please remember, not all were able to come home. Many, so very many..... paid the ultimate price for our freedom.
Posted by WWII POW on Wednesday, June 24, 2015

https://t.co/EPAL8VdCyj #THANK #YOU #FOR #YOUR #SERVICE #REMEMBER #TO #NEVER #FORGET #YOUARENOTFORGOTEN #PEACE #now pic.twitter.com/FtnjWvWfqU

— Rodger Badgerow (@Freemall4u) July 16, 2015

Rolling Thunder

Rolling Thunder is an annual motorcycle rally that is held in Washington, DC during the Memorial Day weekend to call for the government's recognition and protection of Prisoners of War (POWs) and those Missing in Action (MIAs). 
The tribute to American war heroes started out in 1988 with 2,500 participants.

 Now..... it has grown to approximately 900,000 participants and spectators who  were involved with this 2016 annual demonstration in Washington, DC.

Great to see the turnout at the Pentagon for #RollingThunder pic.twitter.com/qg7fRz3q8x

— Peter Cook (@PentagonPresSec) May 29, 2016