Category Archives: Military

The Story I was catching up on my blog reading while waiting for my hair appointment.  I had come across the post Help Find a WW2 Soldier from Illinois over at Olive Tree Genealogy, and just barely started reading it when they called me back for my haircut.  When I got home, I headed to the computer to finish reading the blog post.

John Ward McMAHON, my great-grandfather, was apparently a temporary member of the U.S. Coast Guard Reserves in 1945 and possibly participated in World War II.  Below is a Certificate of Enrollment as a Temporary Member of the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, dated 27 July 1945.

This is a State of Illinois Service Recognition Certificate that was awarded to my grandfather in 1947 after serving in World War II.

This is a scrapbook from my grandfather’s time in World War II.

When I started doing research involving military records, I had a hard time deciphering documents due to unfamiliar terminology.  I found myself looking up terms, the same terms, over and over.  So I started a list of terms I came across and looked them up one last time and noted them in a cheat-sheet.  I hadn’t used it in a while, but the last few days I’ve been researching my American Revolutionary War ancestor and found myself pulling out my sheet.  I thought I’d share it on my blog for […]

While visiting mom in Arizona for Christmas, we took a day trip to Bisbee, a mining town in Southern Arizona.  I wanted to share with you a beautiful WWII memorial that I found located near the Lavender Pit. A quick search turned up a news article written in the Sierra Vista Herald/Bisbee Review on 1 May 2008.  Here is an excerpt from the article: Bisbee resident Nick Pavlovich said another project is to build a monument to Benko in Bisbee to honor his exploits and to recognize 75 other Bisbee […]

The following photos are of the Civil War Memorial (U.S. Grant Post No. 28 G.A.R, 1861-1865), taken at Elmwood Park Cemetery in River Grove, Illinois.

My grandfather, John Francis CAHILL served in World War II.  Part of my active research is to learn more about his time in the service.  I have lots of papers and photos, but I don’t know much about his experience.  Here’s what I do know: He was inducted into the Army of the United States on 2 June 1943, and began active duty on 15 June 1943. He was a private first class soldier and belonged to Company C of the 167th Combat Engineers battalion. He was sent overseas on […]