52 Ancestors Week 21: Military

 From Amy Johnson Crow: Week 21:

The theme for Week 21 is “Military.” Who is someone in your family tree who served in the military? Who was a civilian whose life was affected by the service of a family member? This is a great week to write about them.

I'd be remiss if I didn't continue the banner theme from last week.
Come on down, Autobrat!

   If you've been a regular reader of the blog, you'd quickly see that generations of people in my family served in almost every armed conflict America has been involved with since the American Revolution.  I have ancestors who've served in multiple capacities and have served in just about every branch of military there is from the US Army to the Navy, Marines and the Air Force. Sadly, there's no Starfleet officers in my family tree. Then again that's just exploration and defense and well....we  haven't invented the warp drive, yet. Now, with all that in mind you'd think that everyone in my family had a good idea of who served in what conflict. What if I told you that wasn't always the case? 

So much swagger.

        My great-grandfather Alfred Hamel was known to have served in the US army during World War I and in World War II. Records of him serving in those conflicts are easy enough to find on Ancestry and Familysearch. He had various medals awarded to him during his time in the service as well. It's pretty clear that he served in those wars. There's no doubt about that!

    Despite the mountain of evidence saying he served in those wars, people in my family have claimed that Alfred Hamel was also a rough-rider who served with none other than President Theodore Roosevelt during the Spanish-American War. I mean they were like "Yeah. Alfred charged up San Juan Hill with Teddy! Here are the pics to prove it"

    There's just one teeny, tiny problem with that. Alfred was born in 1896. The Spanish-American War took place in 1898 when Alfred was only two years old. The only "rough-riding" he did was a case of the terrible twos.

   Now, to be fair, maybe he played "horsey" with his father Eugene at the time. I have no idea. I also have no clue how this odd story got started. I didn't even hear about it growing up. I first learned about it well into my genealogical adventure and a few years after my grandfather Bob passed away. Mmm. Convenient, huh? I think my mother never told me because of how farfetched it sounded. The math wasn't there. My grandparents never told me about it because it never came up. It was just so random how some people assumed he was a rough-rider. Thankfully, quashing that story was quick and easy thanks to a box my aunt Linda gave me during the Covid lockdown.

    I'm pretty sure I've talked about the box before. Inside were various family albums and near the bottom of the box were photos from Alfred's tour of duty during the first World War and various other documents like the image on the right. This picture is a certificate commemorating Private Hamel for his service along the Mexican border during World War I. 

    Could this conflict have been confused with the Spanish-American War? I would say "most likely". Even his obituary in 1962 made references to serving on the Mexican border during the "Pancho Villa era". There was no reference to him being anywhere near Teddy Roosevelt or any of the rough-riders.

    The conflict was actually the Mexican Border War which lasted from 1910 to 1919. I get the feeling that event was quickly glossed over in history class because of the the much bigger crisis happening in the world at the time. I didn't even learn about it until later myself. I knew about Pancho Villa and everything. But, I had no idea the conflict he was involved in was called the Mexican Border War. You learn something new every day.

    I think this is probably why people in my family were confused about which conflicts Alfred actually served in. It's pretty easy to get the Spanish-American War and the Mexican Border War confused.  Both wars involved Mexico and that's where a lot of my family's confusion came from. I think I need to create a spreadsheet illustrating who fought in what war. At least I have a free space page on WikiTree: https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:Chris_Ferraiolo%27s_Notable_Relations

We are NOT rough riders!!

    Figuring out Alfred wasn't a rough-rider was pretty simple since all the evidence was already inside the box my aunt gave me. I don't think any two year-olds were riding horses. Old Teddy wouldn't have allowed that for sure.

    Still, you have to wonder how the rumor got started in the first place. Maybe people in my family were confused since other conflicts were happening at the same time. Alfred did technically served in the US Army during the first world war. However, he went to Mexico rather than Europe.

    You really can't blame anyone for the confusion. World War I was over a century ago and over time stories are lost.  Not everyone is going to know who fought in what conflict and it's up to genealogists to solve the riddles. Sometimes the solution is really simple. I mean can a two year-old really carry a rifle and ride a horse? Hm....This actually sounds like a great idea for a comic character. No wait. That one already exists. Check out "Captain Underpants". Yes. That is a thing and that is his name. Have I ever told you all that comics are weird? Because they are.

    In any event, it's easy to see why Alfred's time in the US National Guard was distorted. So much was happening in the world at the time and it's easy to see some stories get lost or distorted. Stories aren't told and people assume pictures are from various events. This is probably why it's a good idea to keep various military records and put them in a place where the information could never be forgotten. Sites like WikiTree come to mind. I might be a little biased there. 

    At least I have a good idea of who served in which conflict and in which branch of the military. It's hard to talk about just one ancestor who served because I've got so many of them on both sides of the family tree. It's neat and I do my best to honor everyone who served regardless of rank, where they served and when. It's just a good idea to keep track of WHAT conflicts people served in. You don't want to accidentally picture a diaper clad upstart charging up a hill with a wooden sword. 

See ya next time!