We set off for the National Archives and saw the founding documents: Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights. No pictures were allowed in the building, but here’s what the Rotunda for the Charters of Freedom looks like:
There was little else to see or do there. We walked through an exhibit about how they store records.
One of our tour guides mentioned The National Archives has genealogical records. Some records are available online. Census records date all the way back to 1790 and can provide addresses and names of family members although personal information is restricted for 72 years. The census records for 1950 were released only last year.
When I noticed military records are available, I decided to give their on-line service a try and ordered records for my Aunt Erna. Childless and twice widowed, she signed up in her 40s to become a nurse during World War II. Erna was pretty sturdy, farm girls have to be, but she never hesitated to explain how difficult it was to complete boot camp. At that time, women had the same standards as men.
Erna was stationed in Europe during WWII and in a MASH unit in Korea. She retired as a Major from Ft. McArthur in San Pedro, where she worked in maternity and delivery.
Major Erna E. Lee
I haven’t heard back about her records but I may not have provided enough information. Thanks to my mom’s notebook, I’m armed with additional historic data and I’ll try again.
The basement grill at the National Archives was not exactly awe-inspiring but we thought a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup would be enough to tide us over. We went outside, got a spot on the stairs in front of the building and proceeded to wait for the start of the Memorial Day Parade. Our granddaughter, Jadyn, was in the parade with her color guard group and the band from Saugus High School.
This turned out to be the only bad-weather day of our trip, wouldn’t you know? It rained about 30 minutes before the parade started. Thankfully, Saugus was among the first bands marching. It was over in a minute.
Both the band and color guard had brand new uniforms. It was their first ever out-of-state appearance and they did great. We were really proud.
That’s Jadyn on the left.
Our intention was to walk beside them to the end of the parade route but they were really hustling and with the crowd, we couldn’t keep up.
President Lincoln made an appearance.
I had no idea Starbucks had such good brownies until this trip and I treated myself after dinner. And I found a video of the parade on-line so I can re-watch it as much as I want.
The rainy evening meant we ended up staying in and relaxing which wasn’t a bad idea.