tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673609406160001535.post6426971611157038343..comments2024-02-29T00:24:25.698-08:00Comments on there's sand in my latte: Smoke gets in your eyes...Nataliehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01790291204289635403noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673609406160001535.post-50230891196678470972013-05-23T17:51:27.924-07:002013-05-23T17:51:27.924-07:00...and then I found more. Private Albert C. Jasper......and then I found more. Private Albert C. Jaspers was born in 1920 in Nebraska, so when he died on the 19th of June in 1944, he was 24 years old. He'd been to grammar school and his civil occupation was listed as a fruit farmhand, which makes sense in apple country. He was a single fellow, with dependents, not tall at 5'9" and a 160 lbs when he was enlisted into the service on February 15th, 1943. These little threads from the past...Nataliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01790291204289635403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673609406160001535.post-88951189848197213432010-12-15T15:53:32.847-08:002010-12-15T15:53:32.847-08:00A copy of Albert C Jaspers' obituary arrived i...A copy of Albert C Jaspers' obituary arrived in the mail today. A fuzzy photograph of a man in uniform with a gap between his teeth, grinning, perhaps sheepishly, at the camera. Under the heading "Dies in France" from Sept 28th, 1944, his obituary reads: <br /><br />"Pfc. ALBERT C JASPERS was killed in Normandy, France, in July, according to information received last Saturday by his brothers, Leo and Tony Jaspers, route 5. A first message several weeks ago reported him missing in action on July 24. His mother, Mrs. Mary Jaspers, lives in Humphrey, Nebraska. <br /> Memorial Services were held Monday morning at St. Joseph's Catholic Church. He is the second member of that parish to give his life in battle." <br /><br />and that's all it said. <br /><br />I also found his name the other night in Seattle. It was there among many others on a memorial, listing all those from Washington State who have died in the service of the United States since 1941. It is in the Garden of Rememberance by Benaroya Hall, and I squinted through the dark and rain until I found him. <br /><br />I feel so sorry that I still know so little about this serviceman who lost his life on foreign soil and never came home.Nataliehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01790291204289635403noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673609406160001535.post-80740496399215852682010-12-07T19:50:21.880-08:002010-12-07T19:50:21.880-08:00Holy intense. I cried through most your post. It...Holy intense. I cried through most your post. It's just so heavy. Getting behind the names and understanding that everyone is someone son, or father or husband.......<br /><br />Thanks for staying in touch! We need to get our families together. Oh, and I need your physical address.Will & Cheyennehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12342833148446060230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5673609406160001535.post-1366940023956452602010-12-06T22:07:01.732-08:002010-12-06T22:07:01.732-08:00Absolutely. And sometimes it takes trips like that...Absolutely. And sometimes it takes trips like that to truly know, as William Tecumseh Sherman said, that 'war is hell'. Indeed. <br />May our children never have to tend graves on our soil.AKBradyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16919849932483550981noreply@blogger.com