My father passed away July 13, 2010.  He was a veteran from WWII.  He sacrificed a lot for his country.  He was 17 years old when he enlisted.  He lied about his age to get into the Army.  He didn’t join the army to go to war; but the war caught up with him.  He joined to be able to play his tuba in the Army Band…very plain, very simple.  Plus, by joining the Army he could get paid for what he loved to do – playing his tuba.  My father was in the Philippines when the Japanese attacked in 1941.  He was on the Bataan Death March.  He was a POW for 4 years.

When he passed away we had him buried at the Sacramento Valley National Cemetery.  He received a moving and touching military funeral.  We knew it would be six months before his official headstone would be placed.  Unfortunately none of my family lives in California.  As the family historian I had tried several avenues to try to obtain pictures of his headstone.  I did not have much success.  Until I was reading another blog recently that mentioned that Find A Grave had photo request volunteers who take the time to go to local cemeteries and take pictures.  I put in a request and the very next day I received photos.  This was shortly after Christmas and the photographer was able to get a photo with the wreaths that are placed on each veterans headstone.  My family was thrilled to receive these photos.  I have now registered at find-a-grave and have become one of those volunteers myself.  I know what it meant to me to have these photos; I hope to “pay it forward” soon!