The Draft Mystery cont.

I talked to Daddy today about his grandfather's Draft Card inconsistency. He expressed surprise at the difference. He remembers clearly, after David Roy's death, people remarking that he had been one of the few men they knew who lived a truly Christian life. This raises even more questions about those birth dates...

There are numerous possibilities, and we'll probaby never know exactly what happened. Maybe the Family Bible was obtained later than I thought, and Della entered dates many years after the fact, not recalling correctly. Perhaps, in his youth, Great-Grandpa made a decision based on love and fear (his or his young wife's - I know how I would feel if my husband were called up). After all, as my husband said, you are remembered for the man you became, not the man you were.

Mistake or deliberate, it doesn't really matter, and we'll likely never know for sure, but it's an interesting puzzle to ponder. At the same time, it reminds me that I need to start gathering oral history from both sides of the family. Unfortunately, nearly everyone of my grandparents' generation is gone on my side of the family. It's time to pump (gently, don't worry!) my parents for memories that we can pass down to our kids. And we are lucky enough to still have both of my husband's grandmothers, as well as numerous great-aunts and -uncles.