A goosebump moment

 I've written previous blog posts about my cousin, Philip Young Justis, who survived Utah Beach during WWII but was killed in July of that year. He was the only child of his parents. Those stories always haunt me. And Phil's birthday was also my son's birthday, February 16th. There don't seem to be many photographs of him, I only have a fuzzy one and a bad photocopy one. 

This afternoon, I was going through the photographs I had on familysearch.org with my Mom to see if there were any more details to add to what I had. 

We were looking at this photograph.

 I knew the mother with the baby was my grandmother, Dorothy (Irving) Wenz, and the gentleman next to her was her father, Linus Dudley Irving. But even though I've had this photograph for many years, I never knew who the two men on either end of the bench were. 

At first, neither did my Mom, but she exclaimed "Oh! That's Uncle Reggie!" He was her favorite uncle, and his wife Mabel Irving was a sister of Linus. Then came the goosebump moment - we both realized at the same time that the young man on the right was the son of Uncle Reggie  - Philip Albert Justis. 

What a blessing to have a decent photograph of him. It really pays to get the stories out of the older generation!

Greater Love

John 15: 13 tells us that there is no greater love than the laying down of one's life for others. Of course, Christ was referring to Himself when He said this, but throughout history, many individuals have been willing to lay down their own life for the sake of another. A prime example of this is war, often when men and women have been called upon to defend their “religion, freedom, peace and families” (see Alma 46 in the Book of Mormon).

The Keillor and Smith families are replete with those willing to not only defend those freedoms, but who paid the “ultimate price” to do so. On this Memorial Day, I’d like to focus on a few who have something specific in common.

The first is Phil Justis, whose story is told in another post: http://keillorsmith.blogspot.com/2014/07/in-memory-of-cousin-phil-70-years-later.html. His parents' headstone lists his name and dates with the poignant comment "Lies in France." 

Another soldier in our family was John “Jackie” August Breder, of Egg Harbor City, New Jersey.

He served in the 96^th “Deadeye” Division, participated in the invasion of Leyte Gulf, but died on 25 October 1944 in a Philippine Hospital of wounds received in battle. He is memorialized on a cenotaph in his family’s plot in the Egg Harbor City Cemetery and on the memorial wall of the Manila American Cemetery.

Many thanks to my friend Mark Maxwell for the photograph of Jackie Breder's marker in Egg Harbor City, NJ.

George Brandt, of Irvington, NJ, was in the Army Air Forces stationed in Italy. He was a crewmember on a B-25 Mitchell medium bomber that was flying a supply flight from Vincenzo Aerodrome into France on 19 Feb 1944, when the plane experienced engine problems and crashed into Lake Lesina, near Foggia, Italy with the loss of all hands.

George Brandt has a marker at the National Cemetery in Beverly, NJ, although I've found no record of his body being recovered. 

 Two Naval officers are also in this group. The first is Lt. (j.g.) Frederick Mueller, also of Egg Harbor City, NJ.

Thanks to the archives of Rutgers University for the high school graduation photograph of Lt. Mueller. 

He was stationed on the USS Franklin (CV-13) “Big Ben,” which was hit by a kamikaze plane on 19 Mar 1945. He was killed that day, along with over 700 other sailors. The story of the heroics of her crew, including two who earned the Congressional Medal of Honor that day, is worth reading: http://www.ussfranklin.org/

Many thanks to my dear friend Sue VerHoef for the photograph of Lt. Mueller's name at Hawaii's "Punchbowl."

Finally, Lt. (j.g.) Jeremiah “Jerry” Philp, a Naval aviator aboard the USS Salamaua (CVE-96). He was killed attempting to make an emergency landing onboard when his wing tip clipped a gun emplacement and his plane went over the side. The surrender had been signed on the USS Missouri a mere five days earlier. We were able to acquire his service record that included recommendations from grade school teachers that attested to his fine character.

Jerry Phillp's yearbook from Wayne State University in Michigan

Now further research into my grandchildren's family tree reveals another: Glenn Walther Uehling, who was killed in Belgium before he even reached his 20th birthday. 

Glenn Walther Uehling in his fraternity photograph from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

No father should ever have to sign such a form as "Application for Headstone" for a child.

What do these six men have in common besides having died in WWII? Each of them, except for Jackie Breder, was the only child of his parents. Jackie was the only son, having three sisters.

Having been the mom of two sons in service with six deployments under her belt, I can’t even begin to imagine the sense of grief, pain and loss these parents felt. I don’t know the exact circumstances, but I feel that it’s telling that Lt. Mueller’s mother died the same year, and Sgt. Justis’ mother died two years after her son was killed.

How grateful we should be on this Memorial Day for the men and women and their parents, who have sacrificed so selflessly for this great nation. 

In memory of Cousin Phil, 70 years later.

On this, the 70^th anniversary of the death of Philip Albert Justis, I wanted to take a minute to write a brief memorial from what we know about his life and death.

Philip Albert Justis was born in Somerville, Massachusetts on 16 February, 1916. The 1920 Federal Census finds him living in Somerville with his parents, Albert Young and Mabel Alberta (Irving) Justis.  By 1930, the census shows the family living in Wellesley, Norfolk, MA, where his father worked as a printer. He had no siblings, but Mabel’s niece, Lina Irving (age 17) was living with them.

Ten years later, Albert was working as an executive for a drug company, and Philip was a stock clerk in a wholesale drug company. For reasons we can only suppose, Philip enlisted in the U.S. Army as a Private in Boston on 15 March 1941, nine months before the attack on Pearl Harbor.

It is at this point in the narrative we must mention one of the most tragic events in family history research: The fire at the personnel records center in St. Louis, Missouri in 1973. Millions of service men and women’s personnel records were lost. Both the fire and the resulting water damage to records have created a documentary disaster that is still being sorted out over forty years later.

The next document we have been able to locate for Philip is his burial record, listed on the website of the American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC). They list his service number, 31030229, his date of death, 20 July 1944, his rank of Sergeant, and the fact that he had been awarded the Purple Heart. His body lies in the Normandy American Cemetery in Colleville-sur-Mer, France in Plot E, Row 14, Grave 36 overlooking Omaha Beach. We also know from the ABMC listing that Philip served with the 359^th Infantry Regiment, 90^th Infantry Division. Recently, I was contacted by a findagrave volunteer who was headed to Normandy and volunteered to both photograph and do a rubbing of Philip's headstone. When folks come to photograph the headstones, volunteers provide sand from Omaha beach to rub into the engraved letters to make them stand out for the photograph, and then clean the headstone afterward. 

Poignantly, his mother died three years after her only child’s death, and their marker in the Needham Cemetery in Needham, MA lists Philip’s name and dates of birth with “Lies in France” underneath.  His father passed away in 1956.

Because he had no siblings, there are few folks left who knew him at all, but last year, I called his cousin, Ginnie, who lives in Wellesley. She recalls him as a quiet, serious man who was always kind.

I hope one day to know a little more about Phil’s last days, but in the meantime, I just want to remember and be grateful for his service and sacrifice.