Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Wordless Wednesday - Well, Not Exactly

Some context: These are my boyfriend's grandparents, Joseph & Gertrude (Eller) Davies, taken around 1944. Joseph was a pilot for the USAAF. On June 4, 1944 (two days before D-Day), Joseph and a few other soldiers were killed when their plane malfunctioned and crashed. At the time she received news of her husband's death, Gertrude was 5 months pregnant with my boyfriend's father.

6 comments:

  1. What a sad tale, but as we know from genealogy, life manages to go on.

    It is a lovely story.

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  2. Great photo with a sad story. Thanks for sharing it with us.
    ~Regina

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  3. Such a tragic story, and sadly, not an uncommon one. So glad your boyfriend has this picture as a remembrance. Thanks for sharing this.

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  4. He is so fortunate to have this photo!!
    Joseph appears to realize there are risks ahead...
    Thank you so much for sharing this one. It is special, I think!

    Bill ;-)

    http://drbilltellsancestorstories.blogspot.com/
    Author of "13 Ways to Tell Your Ancestor Stories"

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  5. Thanks for the comments, everyone. It is such a sad story, but I feel lucky to have learned it. No one knew exactly what happened to Joe before I started researching - thank goodness for the FOIA!
    This is one of the stories that hooked me on genealogy as a career. Being able to share this with my boyfriend and his family was such a meaningful and profound experience.

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  6. Wow Sarah, I just saw this. I was thinking it was such a great photo! Reading what was next though was just too sad. Most awesome photo to treasure though.

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