For Memorial Day: Keepsakes of life cut short by war (88 years ago)

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=2390810

Published Saturday | May 26, 2007
Keepsakes of life cut short by war
BY CHRISTOPHER BURBACH
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

An old wooden trunk gobbled up the cheery kitchen lights and spring sun shining into its owner's Bellevue home.

Even when closed, the box emanated gravity and hinted at connections to great and tragic events from history.

Its olive-brown sides and metal straps were darkened and worn by the world war the trunk was built for, two Atlantic Ocean crossings, the 88 years since and two house fires back home.

Letters and numbers stamped in black ink claimed the trunk for its original owner: "Lieut. R. E. Martin, 136th INF, A.E.F." (American Expeditionary Forces)

The trunk's keepers, three sisters, sat nearby at a kitchen table scattered with fading black-and-white photographs.

Going back 50 years and more, the sisters had heard stories at their grandmother's Bellevue house about the soldier named in the label, their great-uncle Ralph. As little girls, they were afforded glimpses inside the trunk, but their grandmother admonished them not to touch its contents. This only heightened the girls' fascination with a canvas-cased canteen and the other items that rested inside.



Martin in uniform.

Audio: Excerpts from 2nd Lt. Ralph Martin's letters, diary: http://www.omaha.com/index.php?u_page=2798&u_sid=2390712

FULL story at link.

[Omaha Steve]

1. Self kick

My limit of one time to do this.

[Change has come]

2. Very interesting article

Thanks for posting.