Military History Went Up In Smoke

Sunday evening I told my husband that I was going to work on getting information on my Dad`s military history this week. On Monday afternoon I started my search, and was very upset to find the following posting on the National Archives website:

What is devastating about this post is that 80% of the Army records were destroyed in this fire, and they cover the years my Dad served in WWII. I will still try to get his records in hopes that maybe they are the lucky 20% that survived. In the picture above you can see the sentence, under the box, that says there were no duplicate copies nor were there microfilms made of these records.

The post does go on to say that they have been trying to recreate the lost and damaged information. The preservation team has been dealing with records that have been burned, waterlogged and have had to go through mold remediation. They have had about 40 years to work on it, so maybe I will have a little luck and be able to get some information from their hard work.

Today is the 70th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The Russian soldiers that liberated Auschwitz hold a special place in history. How sad would it be if the military records no longer existed for the family members of soldiers that may have played very important roles in the American`s liberation of camps like Dachau. The Americans were responsible for the liberation of several camps, and these soldier`s records may have been lost forever. There are so many Americans that came home from WWII and did not share their stories. They saw unbelievable human devastation and lived in a generation that just did not talk about their experiences, thoughts and feelings. The loss of these records will  make it impossible for these soldier`s ancestors to ever learn of their experiences.

My Dad enlisted at the end of the war, and he told a story that after his basic training he was sent home for a short period of time due to complications during the birth of my oldest sister. His unit was shipped out overseas, and he told us that they all lost their lives soon after their deployment. When he reported back to to the base he was sent to the Aleutian Islands to serve until the end of the war. I would love to be able to verify this story by tracking his original unit and the one he finally joined. Due to the damaged files I may never get the answers I am looking for. It may have all gone up in a puff of smoke.

Mission San Antonio: Part 2

The second mission we visited in San Antonio was Mission San Francisco de la Espada (Mission Saint Francis of the Sword).

Map of the Mission San Francisco de la Espanda.

Espada had several locations in east Texas before it settled on the current location along the San Antonio River on March 5, 1731. This site became a merging of cultures that had to overcome language, values and faith differences. The Missionaries took the Coahuiltecan (kwa-weel-teken) people (a collective name for many small bands of Indians that lived in southern Texas adjacent to Mexico) and over a 50 year period taught these hunter and gatherers the principals of farming, ranching, architecture, blacksmithing, loom weaving, spinning and masonry. Espada was the only San Antonio mission that actually made bricks and tiles in the mission.

These are the ruins of the Indian quarters to the left of the Mission`s entrance.

The Coalhuiltecans were fighting famine, diseases, and enemy tribes on their own, so they chose the protection and plentiful food supply of the mission. These people embraced the Spanish life and Christianity. In 1794, Espanda started the transformation to a church-based community. Also, at this time the mission was impoverished, and there were only 15 families left that received land and shared equipment and supplies from the mission. In 1826, the Comanches raided the cornfields and killed the livestock, and that same year a kitchen fire destroyed most of the buildings. The chapel survived and people continued to make Espada their home. Today the church still serves as the heart of the community and mission descendants still worship there.

The above ruins were the granary in 1762 and was converted to a church in 1773-76. The existing church below was built in 1740 and the bell tower was added in the 1780s.

There is currently work being done to preserve the chapel.

Daily training and tasks were accomplished to the timing of the missions bells in the tower.

The Mission`s Acequia System was essential for the success of the survival of the missions crops. Because of the sparse rainfall in the San Antonio region there had to be a irrigation system put into place to make farming successful. The missionaries and natives created a seven gravity flow ditch system called acequias. Five dams and several aqueducts along the San Antonio River supplied a constant flow of river water into the system. The 15 mile system irrigated about 3500 acres of land.

The water moved through this aqueduct by gravity.

The acesquia system in Espanda is the best preserved, and the oldest Spanish aqueduct in the United States. The aqueduct was completed in 1745 and still diverts river water via the Espanda Aqueduct, using gravity and floodgates, to fields for irrigation, bathing and washing for farms today.

This is a picture of the water flowing over the canal bridge pictured below. There was also a creek running under the canal bridge.

This was such a successful system, and is in great shape for being over 250 years old.

Stay tuned for Mission San Antonio part 3. Are you learning anything?

Mission San Antonio Part 1

Road trip to San Antonio!  My husband and I love to be tourists and since we were going to Austin for a race, we decided to spend a few days in San Antonio. This city is one of Texas` most famous tourist spots. Remember the Alamo?  Well we will never forget it! We went to see this historic site right after we checked into the hotel. This is such a significant site in the road to Texas becoming part of the United States.

The missions on the San Antonio River were built in the 1700`s and forms the largest concentration of Catholic missions in North America. The Spanish explorers from New Spain (Mexico) traveled north across the Rio Grande in search of riches. As they traveled east they encountered the Tejas Indians for whom Texas was named. When the dream of riches faded the Spanish concentrated on spreading the Catholic faith among the frontier Indians.  The Missions were both an agent of the church and the Mexican government by converting the the Indians, and by pushing the empire northward.

The Alamo was originally built on the Rio Grande, but later moved to the San Antonio River due to threats by the French in Louisiana.

Mission San Antonio de Valero "The Alamo"

The Alamo (Mission San Antonio de Valero) was the first mission on the San Antonio River. It was founded in 1718 and is most famous for the Battle of the Alamo in February and March of 1836. President Antonio Santa Anna led the Mexican army to the Alamo and embarked on a 13 day battle that killed all of the Texan defenders. These defenders included the famous Davy Crockett. The cruelty of Santa Anna inspired many Texas settlers to join the Texan army and fight for independence. The Texans defeated the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836 and ended the revolution.

The bodies of the Alamo Heroes were moved and buried in a tomb in the Cathedral of San Fernando. 

The above picture shows the apartments at the Alamo where the Indians lived. The natives in the area  that were taken in by the Friers of the mission, were not only converted spiritually, but were given clothes, taught how to farm, and how to fight to help defend the mission from other tribes that were not as friendly, or interested in becoming a part of the mission.

San Antonio is also famous for the river walk. The river walk is like a canal system that goes through the city that is beautifully landscaped, littered with cool bridges, inhabited by many wonderful restaurants, shops, hotels, and taxi/tour boats.  We took the boat tour at night and loved it. Then, the next day we walked the entire river walk and were able to take pictures of all the spots they told us about on the boat tour.

This is just one of the views on the river walk where you can see a restaurant in the background.

The landscaping along the river walk is breathtaking in many areas. We took the boat tour in the evening and it was really beautiful to see the city all lit up while on the water.

The picture above shows a tour boat or water taxi. It was a great way to see and learn about the city. We were told that the river was designed with dams and locks so that they can drain the river and clean it of all the sunglasses, flip flops and other items that are dropped into the river. They do this maintenance in January of odd numbered years.

After the flood in 1921, you could see the water line on the old buildings along the river walk, the tree in the wall above started to grow after that flood.

We checked out of the hotel at 2pm and wanted to do the mission tour before we left for Austin. Now there are five missions on the tour including the Alamo. Since we had already seen the Alamo, we had four to go. The only problem was that they all close at 5pm and we had to drive about 17 miles to get to the first one. So we had four Missions to see, and also an Aqueduct to visit. Talk about your quick tour.

I will do a few more blogs on the missions, because the pictures are so wonderful and I want to be able to share as many as I can with you.