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.



Thank For Your Service You Sir

Great Grandfather Roy M. Badgerow May 25, 1923 - June 23, 1999

A great man! I always had a soft spot for my Dad. Mom and Dad broke up when I was 8 years old.

I do so wish we could have had more time together. Wish he was still with us and could answer some of my questions for me.

Update: He would be 98 years young

This Was His Stalag

Of course I knew he was a POW. He was missing the two middle fingers on his right hand and had a bullet wound entrance and exit scar on his thigh, that showed when he wore short pants.
He told me it happened when he was captured.

He never talked about it and I always thought he was a prisoner in a German Stalag....
 in Germany.
I was dead wrong, all these years, gone by!
Turns out he was being held in Poland at Stalag 334.....
The Old Stalag VIII
His number was 36131.

I wish he was around so I get some updated info. about his life, while he was a captive.
I do remember him saying, it was not that bad at all.
He spoke highly of  the German soldiers that were guarding them.
He said most were, down to earth....
 good compassionate human beings.

Lamsdorf Guards

You Are Not Forgotten

Ever hear of the Middle East Conflicts Wall Memorial in Marseilles, Illinois?
An old friend sent me this in an E-Mail and brought it to my attention. I just had to share it with you.

The Illinois Motorcycle Freedom Run committee is a group of private citizens who had a dream to honor those who have sacrificed all in our Middle East Conflicts. They raised the funds to erect the wall, as well as organize an annual motorcycle run on the 3rd Saturday in June every year.

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

Prisoner Of War

Thanks to a Mother that kept every letter that she received from her sons while they were in the military, I was able to provide proof certain, he was held captive by the Germans during World War II.

"Thanks Grandma!"