Sometimes the answer to the problem is right in front of your face. I was pretty sure the Jean Lassalle on this WWI draft registration card was my grandfather. The birthday matches. I was reluctant to say this was my grandfather since the physical characteristics were off. My grandpa was not medium height (unless their…
Category: Military Research
Found my Grandfather in French Military Records
I met a man through a cousin who met him on GeneaNet. He is our distant cousin. He actively researches our family tree and is an excellent ally for all things genealogy in France. This weekend he informed me that France has put up a new military database, Registres de Recrutement Militaire. The records give…
In Honor of Veterans Day
On Memorial Day, I have written about those who fought but did not come home. For Veterans Day, I want to show some of those who fought for their country and returned home. They did their service, some for the amount of time they were drafted for, and some made a career of it. They…
A Letter from after the War
I found a gem in the Garden Island Newspaper this evening. It is a letter from Theodore Pacheco to his parents, Francisco Pacheco and Alexandria de Caires. Theodore was stationed in Bourges, France in 1919, after the war ended. The letter details what Theodore experienced in the small town the day the German’s stopped fighting. …
Theodore Pacheco: A Soldier’s Story
Theodore Pacheco was born 31 Aug 1899, Kilauea, Kauai. He was the third child of Joao Pacheco and Joana Goncalves Cardoza–a family nicknamed “The Reds” because of their red hair. He grew up in Kilauea, but left home sometime after his father’s death and his mother’s second marriage (1906-1910). When he was about 16, he…