Army veteran collects stories of New Mexicans who fought and died in World War II
The Santa Fe New MexicanNov 24, 2022
Nov. 25—In
But what if there is no gravestone or, perhaps, there's a marker with a story that remains unknown?
McGee, an about-to-retire
He's looking for volunteers to help him compile a database of Stories Behind the Stars, a national nonprofit initiative to record the military careers of those who died during the war.
"It's a shame how much history we lost not knowing those stories of those people who served and came from so many different backgrounds — like farmers — who didn't have family pictures or records," said McGee, who will retire at the end of December after 25 years of service in the Army and
He wants
"Some of them are difficult [to find and write]; some are easy," he said. "Sometimes a lot has been written about them; sometimes their family has done a lot."
The idea is to get basic information about men and women who died in combat, accidents or from natural causes — whether they were stateside or on leave — in one database. People can then access the information on a computer or smartphone, said
The goal, he said, is that people visiting national cemeteries and other burial sites will be able to enter the name on a gravestone into the database and pull up the story of any World War II veteran who died during the war.
He said it's important to value and honor that generation of warriors because "the world would have been a very different place if America said, 'We're going to let
Milne, who grew up in
At that time, he was working for a bank. He used his lunch break to research and write about the people who died in the attack, which took the lives of more than 2,400 American service members and civilians. He posted the stories online.
"It became super popular," he said. "I had a million views within six months."
Volunteers helped him research veterans and tell more stories, he said. "We would do one story a day."
One volunteer told Milne, "It's a shame this has to end."
Milne agreed and decided to expand the project to first cover the lives and legacies of the 2,100
Recalling that World War II survivors who would note in interviews with media the real heroes were the guys who didn't make it back, Milne then decided to tackle the ambitious goal of writing the stories — mini-obituaries, some as short as 100 words — of all Americans who died in the war.
Most online historical and military sources put that number around 420,000. Milne said at least 700 are women, including nurses who died in hospital bombings or on fallen aircraft.
Milne said the search for stories can be complicated by a 1973 fire in the National Personnel Records Center in
McGee said he found at least three
He also found a Doña Ana County soldier who went missing in action in
"That's a lot of validation," McGee said. "I'm sure his family were told he went missing in action."
McGee is just getting started on the
Block's Stories of the Stars account says he and his brother Charles journeyed to
Another
"I always liked writing and research and World War II," the retired state government worker said. "I can sit here and research and write all day long — you can see I am hooked."
Baker said she thinks a lot of people still don't have a good grasp of the history of World War II or the men and women who served in that era.
"It is critically important that people understand that the lives we live today were paid for by the lives of men and women who came before us," she said.
___
(c)2022 The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.)
Visit The Santa Fe New Mexican (Santa Fe, N.M.) at www.santafenewmexican.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.