Thanks to the web

When I began searching for information about my father and the 101st Cavalry, I posted this request on a couple of websites: “I’m looking for anyone from the 101st Cavalry Division, 116th Squadron, B Company, who might remember my father, Ted Welch.” I learned very quickly that I wasn’t alone. The web was filled similar questions, not just from the 101st, but from every unit with a website:

“Did anyone know my father? He was with the 189th heavy artillery.”

“I miss my dad very much. He was a member of the 45th infantry. Does anyone remember him?”

“My father fought at El-Alamein in June 1942. Does anyone remember him or that battle?”

“Did you know my dad? He was a physician with the 101st Cavalry.”

“I would like to know if anyone out there has any memories of my father. He was a ball turret gunner with the 303rd.”

“My father was killed in action, Luxembourg, Thanksgiving forty-four. No luck locating records.”

“My father was a medic, wounded in a minefield, November forty-four. Earned a Bronze Star. Please, if you have information ...”

“A tree, weakened by bursts from a German 88, fell and crushed my father’s spine. He was partially paralyzed the rest of his life.”

“My father was injured in November forty-four, Hurtgen Forest. We were writing his war stories when he passed away.”

“My dad was killed in action seven December forty-four, Bergistein, Germany. Born in New York City. Buried in Henri Chapelle, Belgium. I want to locate someone who knew my dad. Please, if you did, send me an e-mail.”

“On my father’s military gravestone: ‘PFC ENGINEERS,’ the sum total of my knowledge of my father's war experience.”

So many missing stories. So many missing fathers.

Thanks to the World Wide Web, I was able to find a lot of stories. I found my first list of veterans of the 101st on a website created by John Altizer, who told me about the first reunion where I met so many wonderful men. On the website kaufering.com I found the son of a Holocaust survivor who put me in touch with his father – a man whose path briefly crossed my father’s even though they never met. Now that my own website has been up for a couple of years, stories are finding me: the daughter of a German soldier, two grandsons of 101st Cavalry veterans, dozens of daughters and sons all either wanting their fathers names included on the site or congratulating me for telling their fathers’ stories to the world.

Approximately one thousand World War II veterans are dying every day. There isn’t much time to gather all their stories.