I found this folded up among the old pictures I have and at the top it says...
Thirty one Southern Californians, including seven Los Angeles men, were listed by the Navy Department as being prisoners of war either in the Philippine Islands of in Japan. The Los Angeles men are:
Pfc. Jack Kirkland, U.S.M.C; brother of, J.S. Kirkland, 10500 National Boulevard.
That was my Great Uncle Jack. He was my grandpa's brother and I had no idea about any of this until a couple of days ago.
I was looking through one of my old family photo albums because the album itself is falling apart and I need to transfer the pictures to a new album. Well this newspaper article was folded up behind a picture of my grandfather and when I read it I had to call my dad to ask if he had an Uncle Jack because I'd never heard of him before and he told me that he did and he was a prisoner of war during WWII and he lived through that but was later killed during the war.
I've had this photo album since I was 12 years old and I never knew that newspaper clipping was there tucked behind a picture. I was scanning in a few pictures of my grandpa to share on FB because I recently found three cousins on my dad's side. Even some of them had no idea that our grandpa had a brother who had been a POW. How crazy is that? You just never know what you'll find tucked away in an old photo album.
It's crazy, but totally believable. My grandparents never talked about their siblings. I never understood why, but I think when people lost family members, they are too sad to talk about it.
ReplyDeleteThat grandpa developed Parkinson's and Alzheimer's when I was just 8 years old and he died when I was 12 so I never really got to know him.
DeleteWow, just goes to show you never know indeed. Amazing it was there all that time.
ReplyDeleteI know, I couldn't believe it.
DeleteThose who were captured in the Philippines were treated terribly. Was he killed as a POW? It is good that you are keeping his memory alive!
ReplyDeleteNo, he wasn't killed as a POW he lived through that but was later killed during the war.
DeleteThat's really amazing! I always wonder what all family history has been forgotten like that. Very neat find!
ReplyDeleteRight? It had me thinking about what my great grandparents might have done.
DeleteThat is just so cool. I love reading about family history, even if it's grim. We still have an article saved about my Great Grandpa Tony (aka Shorty... all 4'11 of him) going missing. Turned out he actually got really drunk, fell in a ditch, and drowned. We're just glad they never put out an article on that. :)
ReplyDeleteThat's too funny.
DeleteIt is neat finding pieces of your families histories. I read a book about these prison camps are lord how awful it all was.
ReplyDeleteYeah it really was. I can't imagine what those camps were like.
DeleteThat's amazing, finding out that this war hero is related to you.
ReplyDeleteI'm from the Philippines, and I had relatives who fought for the US against the Japs back then. It wasn't easy, those Japs were like ISIS, they're merciless!
Yeah it was really surprising. Even some of my older cousins didn't know.
DeleteIt's fascinating the things you find when you're looking at family stuff.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting you found that in a picture album. What a surprise that must have been.
ReplyDelete