Early this summer, 2012, I got an e-mail from a woman who said my grandfather was also her grandfather. I had never heard of her.
I knew my dad had two sisters who died long before I was born, but I did not know the one family at all. Let us call the unknown cousin, June.
Her mother died in 1937, when she was a small baby. She was given up for adoption, and a family in our state took her. When she was a small girl, a young man used to come and talk to her and play with her. She had no idea for many years that was her brother.
They moved in the late 40's to Southern Texas, where I now live when I am in the States. She learned in high school that she was adopted, and had some contact with our family, not enough to form a bond with them.
I not only found a previously unknown cousin. She sent me a picture of the brother who used to visit her. He was born in 1924, and died on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands, either March 13 or 15, 1944, during a major Japanese offensive, which lasted from March 8 till March 24.
My preliminary research showed there was only Army on Bougainville after December, 1943. But, then one day I bumped into a page which said when the Marines left, the Third Defense Battalion stayed. It was an antiaircraft unit.
Her bio-sister got a letter from a fellow soldier, who said they were running for cover when the cousin got hit. It is presumed he was first buried on Bougainville, then he was moved back to the States and is buried with his parents.
I have read a lot on Bougainville in recent weeks, and there are even photos online. The Allied Forces went to Empress Augusta Bay area, to build an air strip to attack Japanese aircraft within distance, to stop them from gaining more ground. It seemed to have worked very well.
If I get the pictures attached, the one is my previously unknown cousin, and the other is the Island Morgue tent on Bougainville, with what looks like a surfboard with his name on it.
I knew my dad had two sisters who died long before I was born, but I did not know the one family at all. Let us call the unknown cousin, June.
Her mother died in 1937, when she was a small baby. She was given up for adoption, and a family in our state took her. When she was a small girl, a young man used to come and talk to her and play with her. She had no idea for many years that was her brother.
They moved in the late 40's to Southern Texas, where I now live when I am in the States. She learned in high school that she was adopted, and had some contact with our family, not enough to form a bond with them.
I not only found a previously unknown cousin. She sent me a picture of the brother who used to visit her. He was born in 1924, and died on Bougainville in the Solomon Islands, either March 13 or 15, 1944, during a major Japanese offensive, which lasted from March 8 till March 24.
My preliminary research showed there was only Army on Bougainville after December, 1943. But, then one day I bumped into a page which said when the Marines left, the Third Defense Battalion stayed. It was an antiaircraft unit.
Her bio-sister got a letter from a fellow soldier, who said they were running for cover when the cousin got hit. It is presumed he was first buried on Bougainville, then he was moved back to the States and is buried with his parents.
I have read a lot on Bougainville in recent weeks, and there are even photos online. The Allied Forces went to Empress Augusta Bay area, to build an air strip to attack Japanese aircraft within distance, to stop them from gaining more ground. It seemed to have worked very well.
If I get the pictures attached, the one is my previously unknown cousin, and the other is the Island Morgue tent on Bougainville, with what looks like a surfboard with his name on it.
