BUILDING THE ALASKA HIGHWAY : DID YOUR WORLD WAR II VET SERVE IN ALASKA? WORLD WAR II DRAFT REGISTRATIONS : ANCESTRY WORSHIP GENEALOGY FILM REVIEW

BUILDING THE ALASKA HIGHWAY : DID YOUR WORLD WAR II VET SERVE IN ALASKA?

LINKING TO THE PBS PAGE FOR BUILDING THE ALASKA HIGHWAY

Did you know that during World War II our largest state, Alaska, was considered terribly undefended from the Japanese?  Did you know that our service men built a 1520 mile road, facing temperatures so low that men cried, and when the thaw came, mud called muskeg so deep that logs had to be used to float  a road across the muck?

If you're ancestor served in World War II and you've looked at his World War II Draft Registration or service records on one of the databases such as Fold3 and it says ALASKA then he may have served to build the road which helped make Alaska defensible.

The road building began in May of 1942 and eventually went across sub Artic Alaska, British Columbia and the Yukon Territory involving thousands of U.S. soldiers at a time when troops were segregated. In this video we learn also about the respect that African American men earned though their hard labor.

While watching the archival footage you'll be tempted to want to stop the film to see if you recognize anyone.  Could that be Grandpa?

C 2014-2025 Ancestry Worship Genealogy BlogSpot

 

 

PENMANSHIP AND SIGNATURES in GENEALOGY RESEARCH - BE CAREFUL!

Recently I happily confirmed that an ancestor I found on the World War I draft registration and the World War II "Old Man's Draft" Registration were the same person.  The addresses worked with census and city directories and the signature was the same - almost identical.  It's a special thrill to have the signature of an ancestor!

However, finding this person's naturalization papers has been fraught with issues as the name is common, there are at least five persons with the name in just one city, dozens within a state, Fold3 and Ancestry have microfilm copies that show some final papers and in the back of the front image you can see papers that are covered over that might not have been filmed individually, none of the addresses seem to match, family groups are wrong or not revealed.  (Oh how I wish I were rolling up my sleeves, wearing gloves, to turn the pages of the actual paper in an archive!)

It's a temptation to look at the signatures for a match!

I looked at the signatures on several final papers in which there is no address given and no family mentioned and I noticed that these signatures, different from that of the court clerk or other officials who also wrote on the papers, were very much alike.

The reason is that in those pre typewriter and computer days there was a huge emphasis on perfect penmanship in schools.  The individuality you see in penmanship in America - using the signers of the Declaration of Independence as an example - versus men educated in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire, reveals this emphasis.  Additionally, there seems to be a difference in the signature and handwriting of those who did a lot of it and those whose literacy was confined to signing their name, something they must have practiced over and over since they would not use handwriting on a daily basis.  Sometimes you will see the signature of a woman who is otherwise unschooled which looks to be that of today's second grader though she is an intelligent and mature woman.  There was so little emphasis on women having education that even some noble women never learned to write their name.
But to write your own name was to be educated well past those who could only make their mark - an X- while someone else signed that they had witnessed this!

Therefore, signature alone cannot be used as evidence enough to accept that a person is the ancestor you seek!  There must still be other evidence to proof it.  I know you may be tempted to hire a professional graphologist or handwriting analysis person!

POLISH RIGHTEOUS - COMPILED BY ANNA PORAY

Saving a Jewish person when the Nazi's wanted to deport them to a concentration camp, or otherwise exterminate them, could mean death for you and your family. Yet some people took that chance. In a world where there is so much evidence of man's inhumanity to man let's be reminded that sometimes common people rise up to a moment of sainthood.

THIS DATABASE STARTS WITH THE TRUTH OF THE CONDITIONS OF WAR... and the NAZI's determination to take over POLAND... IT LISTS approximately 5,400 Poles who are known to have taken the chance of being killed in order to help someone else, a list of those who paid with their own life, as well as a MASS EXECUTIONS by village and information on Religious and Monastic Orders Who Rescued Jews.

Take a look even if you don't have a surname to run on this one!

THANK YOU ANNA PORAY for posting this!

update September 5th https://www.savingjews.org/

THE OLD MAN'S WORLD WAR II DRAFT REGISTRATION is AVAILABLE to the PUBLIC

The World War II draft registration for OLD MEN (ages 44 to 64 years old in April 1942) is now available.

Use this registration information to add to your knowledge of the family before that 1940 census comes out!

The records for the men more age appropriate for fighting during World War II are still closed for privacy because of the privacy laws that cover them: some of them are still alive after all (as are an ever dwindling number of these men recorded.)

Some of the interesting aspects of this information, which is available through the National Archives and some other genealogy databases and resources, is the height and weight, eye color, profession and employer...

and maybe if you're lucky like I was you'll find a handwritten note such as "Wears Glasses and a Mustache!"