World War II European Theater Army Records on Fold3.com

Caught a tweet this morning, from Dear Myrtle and had to check it out.  I looked for a message from Fold3.com in my mail box but never found one... no tweet either so I hope Dear Myrtle won't mind my recopying some of it here.

When I was a little girl, I turned my eyes and cringed every time one of my elders would bring up the war (WWII) as they were alive when it happened and they remembered first hand what they had gone through.

My father was five years old when the German armies marched through his little village of Dalhem in early May 1940.   I am fuzzy about the exact chronology but I know my grandfather was deported to Germany shortly after the invasion. How he ended up in a military POW camp, I am not sure about either but that is where he was.  We have a handful of letters he wrote the family but they never quite satisfied my curiosity.
They first had him in Stalag VA in Ludwigsburg, then moved him to Stalag VB in Villingen. He was put in the service of a woman whose husband was fighting/had fought in Hitler's armies: Widow HEFELE at Illerbachen - hamlet of Berckheim- D- 88450.



In his own correspondence with me, my father says that he still recalls vividly the few hours of 'emptiness' between the time the German soldiers left and the American soldiers arrived... "like the calm after the storm".  He painted a US flag and a UK flag on two white sheets...  I often think about the soldiers who came marching down the street that day... Did they notice him? Not that it matters really but there was so much emotion involved in making those flags... I can picture him waving them with all his arms from the top of his 10 years.  Which army delivered them, anyway?

I recently transcribed letters that my husband's uncle wrote while he served as a medic in Europe. He was in Liege, and in Maestricht...  did he ever walk through the streets of Dalhem?  He never mentions it by name although he does talk of the welcoming committee they found everywhere they went.  Stanley was assigned to the US Ninth Army...

SO as I discovered this morning that Fold3.com (formerly FootNote.com) had released WWII European Theater Army Records, I could not resist.
 "War is waged primarily in battle, yet made possible by operations beyond the battlefield as revealed in the WWII European Theater Army Records, a collection of administrative documents compiled by the U.S. Army's Historical Division, 1941 through 1946. These records, originally marked secret and confidential, are now available on Fold3.", as the message sent to Dear Myrtle explains.

We do tend to think of combat when we think of war battles, but would the troops do without their supporting cast in charge of:
- supplies
- engineers
- medical
to name but a few...

Transcribing Stanley Safford's letters made me see with new eyes the building of pontoon bridges and the plight of soldiers dealing with mud and debris... 

After reading the sample document included in the article I knew I had to share these with you.

IMAGE: Details of air transport evacuation of 30,000 Allied prisoners of war. *

*IMAGE SOURCE: U.S. Army, U.S. Forces, European Theater, Historical Division: Records, 1941-1946 . National Archives Records Administration. Record Group 498, File 261 page 407. Viewed 3/14/2012 at www.Fold3.com. "These records cover operations of the European Theater during World War II, as collected, maintained, and organized by the Army's historical division staff."

I too got a chuckle out of the comments made by Captain James Stewart as he transported the former POWs from Belgium and other places to 'his' fort.

It struck me funny how people who had been deprived for years would think twice about taking a cigarette from the soldiers who were offering them for fear the soldiers would not have enough for themselves...  and it brought me back to my grandfather...  When he returned he too was not much more than skin and bones and obviously changed by the years in captivity.  As my father said: "after he came home he was more like a godfather than a father".

You may wonder how to access these records?
Go to www.fold3.com
You can benefit from a 7 day free trial if you have never registered with FootNote
They are having a special right now, so might be worth your time to subscribe.
Or you can go to a library that has access to the database, like a Family History Center for example.
Some other libraries give access to their patrons, either at the library or remote access.  You might want to ask your local librarian.

That's all for today...  Happy Hunting!


http://thebelgianresearchers.blogspot.com/

Bel-Memorial

Are you looking for Belgians who were killed during WWI or WWII?
Not sure exactly where they might have died?
Try this web page: Bel-Memorial
This bilingual site (Dutch - French) is dedicated to the memory of those who died during these conflicts.

A total of 1012 monuments are listed in the database to date.

You can browse through a province, or you can search through a complete alphabetical listing of all the towns in Belgium that are available.
To do this, just click on "Toute la Belgique" (French) or "Heel Belgie" (Dutch)

But you are not limited to Belgian memorials, you might also like to check out some that are located in Austria, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Lithuania, Luxemburg, Netherlands, Poland, and Switzerland. Click on "Etranger" or Buitenland"

The sad story of Camille Coquette whose mother died wondering where her son was buried seems to have stirred conflicting emotions over why it took 93 years for them to solve this mystery, but as researchers we know that sometimes these things happen and what a treat to have a place to look now!
Camille Coquette's grave was found in Colchester, England, along side of 3 other Belgians


An easier way might be to search the Name database: Tous les noms - Alle namen
for a complete alphabetical listing of all the dead found so far.

I want to thank Jean-Paul Leburton for pointing me to this web page. It is really well done, complete with personal stories and an impressive list of participants and links to more similar sites.

Those who paid the ultimate price to keep their fellow man free deserve to be remembered.

The next few weeks will also be filled with events commemorating the 65th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge.

You will also want to visit the official website of tourist information for the Belgian Luxemburg

Let us never forget...
and may our hearts be always full of gratitude for the sacrifice made by these brave men!

Treasure Trove for Grand-Leez researchers

Our member Rick F was looking for family in Grand-Leez, Belgium. Several families from Grand-Leez ended up in Wisconsin between 1855 -1856, but the people he was looking for left in 1871. He had found a connection in Belgium and their family names compared well but they could not find a common link to tie their family trees together.
One of our members suggested he visit Netradyle, a site containing a lot of extracted records: http://www.netradyle.be/
Another sent a link to Ron Flemalle’s site: PenBelGen: 19th Century Belgian Residents of Door Peninsula, Wisconsin
http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?db=PenBelGen&I11.x=30&I11.y=1
I forwarded the query to http://fr.groups.yahoo.com/group/geniwal_magazine/ and received a most interesting answer redirecting me to Philippe Josis’ webpage at http://grandleez.be/

Another member went further and must have contacted the page owner as this morning I found a reply to the query in my mailbox. And what reply this was!
Mr. Josis had sent a link to an image from the Population register of Grand-Leez, showing Rick’s family.
Population registers in Belgium are maintained by decades and follow families over that time span: births, marriages, emigrations etc.
Allow me to extract the image for you:

As Head of household: DAVISTER, Louis Joseph, day laborer, born in Ernage, 17 July 1792, illegitimate son of DAVISTER, Marie Joseph, who is the daughter of DAVISTER, Pierre and BERGER, Marie Barbe
His Wife: LEGROS, Marie Thérèse, born in Sauvenière in 1788, daughter of LEGROS, Philippe (who is the son of LEGROS, Laurent and BRABANT, Magdelaine) and JOSET, Marie Josephe.
Their children:
- Marie Catherine, born in Sauveniere in 1815, married to DESSART, Amand, resides at Grand lez
- Ghislain Joseph, born in Sauveniere in 1818, married 1 BERNARD, Antoinette and 2. (blank)
- Hubert Joseph, born in Sauveniere in 1821, married to BEQUEVORT, Anne Julienne, resides at GrandLez
- Clement Joseph, born in Sauveniere in 1823, married to LOOSEN, Albertine, resides in Sauveniere
- Marie Françoise, born in sauveniere in 1829, married to Philippe LANGELE, resides in Incourt

Philippe Josis has spent the greater part of the last 10 years extracting the Grand-Leez records and as of now, he has photographed the all of the Grand-Leez parish registers from 1613 to 1796 (He is also working on the 11 other parishes of Gembloux).
He is working on the French period records (1796-1803) of the cantons of Gembloux and Spy.
For the new régime (1803 – abt. 2000), he has photographed the original records found in the Parish registers as well as in the Civil registers.

On his site’s Home Page - http://www.grandleez.be/grandleez.be.htm -, under the tab “Population”, you can find 5 lists:
- The 1693 enumeration of Mont-Saint-Guibert (Grand-Leez was a part of that location in those days): it’s one of the first enumerations!
- The 1709 enumeration of Mont-Saint-Guibert: 16 years later, with more details
- A list of Heads of Families taken around 1830 by the Abbot Surlectiaux: contains both spouses, house numbers, according to villages/hamlets
- A more recent population listing of Grand-Leez, first published in "Chez Nous" around 1990: includes street names, house numbers, names/surnames of both spouses or companions as well as telephone numbers
- A 2006 list of households of Grand-Leez, according to house number and street

Back to the main page, under “Histoire” you will find a local history (in French), a time line and the coat of arms along with pictures of 2 books dedicated to local history:
- Le Pays de Gembloux: Des Origines a L’An Mille: Jean Martin’s superb summary of 1000 years of History of Grand-Leez and its surrounding: The triangle Gembloux (Baudecet) – Walhain – Grand-Leez
- Notes d’Histoire sur Grand-Leez, also by Jean Martin covers 20 centuries of history and is available through the Cercle Royal d'Art et Histoire de Gembloux .

Let’s return again to the main page and this time click on “Généalogies”.
On this page Philippe Josis explains how so far 26,000 have been extracted from the Grand-Leez records and this has enabled the reconstruction of many old family trees.
If you have family in Grand-Leez, you will want to contact Philippe Josis to see if he can help you find your ancestor.

Be aware though that only specific questions will receive answers. There will be no reply to queries seeking “All information on any surname” so as not to deprive the researcher from experiencing the fun in personal discovery.
On that page, just click on the highlighted “en annexe” where many answers to archived queries can be found.
At the top of the page you will find tabs in alphabetical order.
Since we are looking for DAVISTER, let’s click on the one that says “de A à D”, then select D. This leads us to more alphabetical tabs at the top of the page.

In Internet Explorer, when you hover over “Recherches D”,

a menu comes down giving you some names. Move to the person you are interested in and click. A picture of a record or a family tree will be displayed.

Back to the main page again, this time click on “Tranche de vie” to discover two articles dedicated to personalities who made their mark on Grand-Leez and who deserve to be remembered.
- Henry II de Leez, Bishop of Liège, related to the Grand-Leez nobles
- Mathieu PORTIER, notaire at Petit Leez.

Under the “Evénements” tabs of the Main page, you will find lists of people who participated in events that marked the village history:
- List of young men enlisted in Napoleon’s armies
- List of those who emigrated to America between 1855-1856
- List of those who died or were deported during WWI
- List of those of were captured or/and died during WWII

Under “Liens”, you will find links to further sites to help you discover the region and if you have family in Gembloux, to help you further your research.
Under “Contact” you will find a form to fill out to make your request for research.
Just remember… it must be specific and show that you have given serious thought to your personal research before asking.

Philippe Josis enjoys making this information available to all freely but his work is copyrighted and should not be used for any other purpose than personal research. He juggles many hats besides and wishes for many more years with 32-48 hour days.
Please visit his wonderful site.
You will rave about it as I am, and I don’t have any relatives in Grand-Leez… I searched my database to verify as I would have LOVED finding one and tying into this Gargantuan work. He yet plans to take photographs of the cemetery to add to the information already available.
THANK YOU, Philippe for an amazing site!