Chicago's National Veterans Art Museum Holds Open House

The National Veterans Art Museum is located in Chicago's Portage Park neighborhood at "Six Corners," the intersection of Cicero Avenue, Milwaukee Avenue and Irving Park Road. 

National Veterans Art Museum
4041 N. Milwaukee Avenue
Chicago, IL 60641
312-326-0270 phone
312-326-9767 fax

"Kanal," screening at the Niles Public Library (IL)

Sun., Sept. 7, 2-3:30pm 

 Registration required

Not rated, 96 min.

 

 

In observance of the 70^th anniversary of the heroic 63-day Warsaw Uprising during World War II, the library screens the 1957 award-winning Polish film, directed by Andrzej Wajda and shown with English subtitles. The Niles high school film instructor, Tom Rajewski Herman, introduces Kanal and leads the post-film discussion.

A new illustrated First World War One website was launched

recently by the Illustrated London News Ltd (ILN) featuring  archive material from the Illustrated London News - said to be  the world's first illustrated magazine. The site  presents  digitized pages from the Illustrated London News 1914-1918 and seven other  publications; a wealth of editorial features providing context for the source material; a timeline; a range of topics from “Animals and War” and “Trench Life” to “Sport and the War”; and a blog  by young historians appointed for the project.

Here is a fascinating image depicting Russia's fighting women drawn by Fortunino Matania, Italian artist, illustrator and war reporter. More can be read about Maria Bochkareva and the Battalion of Death at http://www.illustratedfirstworldwar.com/russias-fighting-heroines-the-battalion-of-death/

Why Can't I Find My Uncle's US World War II Military Record of Service?

The official  answer to this common question is provided by the website of the National Personnel Records Center.

41 years ago on July 12, 1973, a disastrous fire at the National PersonnelRecords Center (NPRC) destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF). The records affected were:

	Personnel and Period Affected	Estimated Loss
Army	Personnel discharged November 1, 1912 to January 1, 1960	80%
Air Force	Personnel discharged September 25, 1947 to January 1, 1964 (with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.)	75%

 

and some U.S. Army Reserve personnel who performed their initial active duty for training in the late 1950s but who received final discharge as late 1964.

There were no losses to the records of Navy and Marine Corps military records.

The NPRC web page also  has  helpful links in the left-hand  column for Requesting Military Records and for Genealogy which will connect to an informative article: Genealogy Research in Military Records.

In addition, one's local library may subscribe to the Ancestry.com  Library  Edition which links to an  Ancestry Anne blog entry  which lists available collections of American military records and explains why one's relative may not yet show up in World War II Draft Registration cards.