Today, in honor of Veteran's Day, I thought it would be appropriate to write a little bit about the veterans in our family tree.
On my mother's side:
My grandfather, Robert Chapman, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. His brother, Frederick William, served in the U.S. Army. Below is a photograph of the Chapman family during World War II. From left to right, Robert B. Chapman; Frederick W. Chapman, Sr; Bess Chapman; Elizabeth Chapman; Frederick W. Chapman, Jr.
Further back, in a different line of the family, my great-grandfather, Albert Dean Lacey, served in the U.S. Army during World War I. Dean reached the rank of First Lieutenant in the Army, although not much is known about his service. If it hadn't been for a brief line in his marriage announcement, noting that he had recently returned from the Army, I never would have known he served at all. I am submitting a request to the military personnel records office to get copies of Dean's service records and learn a bit more about his service.
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On my father's side, the history of service starts with our current generation and goes back about as far as you can in American military history.
My cousin Jeff serves today in the National Guard, and his father, Ken, served twenty-six years in the U.S. Air Force.
My grandmother's brother, Joseph Hogan, served in the U.S. Navy during World War II. My grandfather, Robert Charles Taylor, Sr, served in the U.S. Army and the U.S. Coast Guard, while his older brother, Frank, served in the U.S. Army. At my grandmother's house, I remember seeing a great picture of the two brothers in their Army uniforms. Unfortunately, I don't have a scan of that picture, but below is a picture of my grandfather when he was in the Coast Guard:
Further back, my great-grandfather, Frank Orson Joseph Taylor, served in the U.S. Navy during World War I. Like my great-grandfather on my mother's side, I don't know much about Grandpa Taylor's service, but I have requested his service records from the military personnel office.
Frank's younger brother (my great-great uncle), Robert Thomas Taylor, served in the U.S. Army during World War II, and Frank's sister-in-law, my great-great aunt, Theresa Bauer, was married to U.S. Army Pvt. James Costelloe, a veteran of World War I. Pictures of James & Theresa's headstones at Long Island National Cemetery can be seen by clicking here.
Moving even further back, my 3rd great-grandfather, Andrew Orson Taylor, served in the Union Army (NY 6th Regiment, Company G) during the Civil War. Andrew served as the company drummer, then fifer, and finally served as a private. At the Battle of Irish Bend (Louisiana) in April 1863, Andrew was hit in the leg with a musket ball, stabbed in the arm with a sabre, and then, while he was on the ground after the sabre wound, he was trampled by a cavalry horse. Fortunately, Andrew survived and went home to New York City, but he would suffer disability from those injuries on and off for the rest of his life.
Tracing the family back even further through Andrew Orson's mother, Marcia Merrill, takes me to the earliest veteran that I know of in my family tree - my 6th great-grandfather, Titus Merrill, who served with the Connecticut 8th Regiment during the Revolutionary War.
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So there you have it - a lengthy history of service to our country on our family tree, people who sacrificed to give us the freedoms we enjoy today. God bless our veterans!
