Every Veteran’s Day I am grateful for FamilySearch because archived in the Memories are photos and information about my father, Herbert Hamilton Frost, who served in WWII.
• Because we have his World War II draft registration card we know that he was only 5’6” and weighed a measly 130 pounds when he registered in Newport, Rhode Island.
• We have the letters he wrote to my mother (then his girlfriend) every day during the first year he was in the army and the occasional ones he wrote her after she “dumped” him part way through—they got back together after the war!
• Through an oral history interview, we know that he carried our mother’s handkerchief all during the war.
• Because we have his enlistment record, we know that he had completed 4 years of college and only weighed 116 pounds when he entered the army at Fort Douglas, Utah!
• We know that he was stationed in California, Illinois, Massachusetts, Florida, New Guinea, the Philippines, and Japan from of his personal history.
• Because of letters and photos we know that he was the company clerk in a medical battalion, in charge of all the personnel records, correspondence and pay for all the men in his unit. He received this assignment because of his biology background and because he could type!
• Through saved memorabilia, our family has seen his army uniform, a samurai sword he received as a “gift” from the US army in Japan, and his army footlocker—reminders of his service.
• From the “Saints at War” book by Robert Freeman, we know that he attended church faithfully whenever he could and held leadership positions in serviceman branches in New Guinea and the Philippines. One Sunday in the barracks as he was heading out for breakfast, one of his non-member friends reminded him it was Fast Sunday because they all knew about his monthly routine and his faith!
We have the last letter he wrote to his parents before coming home, which expressed his feelings about the end of the war: “It is good that the war is over, but there is more cause to reflect than to raise “hell” as they seem to be doing to celebrate. Naturally, everyone is relieved . . . but there is still a long road ahead that must be negotiated in the most exacting means in order that this may not happen to your grandchildren and my children, the Lord willing I have any. A number of fellows ask how can I remain so calm, it must be the way I’ve been constructed because I can’t help but think of the many homes where there will only be an empty space where before there had been a loved one. In our celebrations we should not forget those who have given their all to this cause.”
I am so grateful for my dad’s service to our country, and I am grateful for FamilySearch Memories for helping me “turn my heart to my father” and remember him every Veteran’s Day.
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Note: In my original document I bolded all the different Memory Sources I used like draft registration, letters, photos, enlistment records, etc.
-Marianne Bates, Consultant, Granite Family History Center