Skip to main content

Featured

Celebrating 300 Blog Posts with My Top Ten Favorites

  October 1st marks my 300th Leaves on the Tree blog post. Hooray!! Writing my blog posts is one of my very favorite things to do. I am excited to share my discoveries, family stories, photos, heirlooms, and more. It's always a kick when a cousin, subscriber, or even casual reader comments on a post or finds their own link to my extended family. What could be better than to find connection ?   To celebrate this milestone, I've picked my Top Ten Leaves on the Tree Blog Posts .  And wow, it's hard to pick just ten favorites. But here they are, in no particular order: What Would You Tell Me, Catherine? My imagined conversation with my second great-grandmother, Catherine Ryan Gilbride. In Periculo Mortis A reflection on my strange baptism. Mom's Chocolate Covered Cherry Caper A favorite holiday story! Family Fun Stories: The Rabbit Another fun anecdote involving my mother and brother. What is a Pickslate? Defining the role my great-great uncle took as an eleven-yea...

GENEALOGY CHALLENGE 2021 - Wartime Letter III


GENEALOGY CHALLENGE 2021

Wartime Letter III -  January 26th entry of a 31-day challenge to post a document, photo or artifact on social media every day in January.  

by Nancy Gilbride Casey

 

My grandmother Margaret Simonik Kozlina, received several letters from her friend Katherine "Kay" Kurutz, an Army Nurse, during WWII. They were sent via the "V-Mail" system, designed to make frequent and efficient mail delivery possible during the war.

The holiday greeting, above, was one of several standard cards which were printed for service members to share with their families. Of the four pieces of mail in the group my grandmother received, this is the earliest one, sent in November of 1943.1

The last piece was a pre-printed forwarding address form, which Kay filled out and sent on to my grandmother. This one is full-size, not microfilmed like the others.2

After discovering these letters, I wanted to find out what had become of Grandma's friend Kay. 

Newspaper research revealed that WWII was not the end of Kay's military service. A hometown item in The Daily Courier (Connellsville, Pennsylvania) in October 1950 noted that she was stationed in Korea—just after the beginning of the Korean War.3 

In 1954, she was stateside at Camp Pickett in Virginia.4 

By 1959 she had risen to the rank of Major, and was honored for her outstanding achievements, while on assignment in Landstuhl, Germany.5 

I wish I knew if Grandma and Kay kept in touch as they continued their lives—Grandma raising her four children, and Kay pursuing her nursing career. Even though their lives were very different, knowing my Grandma, I believe she would have held tight to the bonds she and Kay shared before and through the war years. 

Katherine Kurutz died in 1992 and is buried at St. John's Cemetery in Connellsville, Pennsylvania—near where she and Grandma had first become friends.6


NEXT UP: Art & Craft 


1 Lt. K.R. Kurutz, ANC (England) to "Greetings from Britain," V-Mail letter, 22 November 1943; privately held by N. Gilbride Casey, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] Tioga, Texas, 2021. 
2 Lt. K.R. Kurutz, ANC (England) to "Effective Immediately," V-Mail letter, 5 July 1945; privately held by N. Gilbride Casey, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] Tioga, Texas, 2021. 
3 "News of Men and Women in Uniform," The Daily Courier (Connellsville, Pennsylvania), 30 October 1950, p. 8, col. 6; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39249907/katherine-kurutz-at-army-hospital-in/ : accessed 25 January 2021).
4 "Personal Mention," The Daily Courier (Connellsville, Pennsylvania), 29 March 1954, p. 2, col. 1; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39249993/capt-kurutz-visits-parents/ : accessed 25 January 2021).
5 "Nurse Given Army Honor," The Evening Standard (Uniontown, Pennsylvania), 2 April 1959, p. 1, col. 5; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39249993/capt-kurutz-visits-parents/ : accessed 25 January 2021).
6 Ancestry, Find a Grave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/99427966/katherine-r-kurutz : accessed 26 January 2021); memorial 99427966, Katherine R. Kurutz (1915-1992), grave photo by WichitaFalls.  




Comments

  1. Wouldn't it be interesting to discover that her nurse friend kept the V-letters she received? Maybe someone reading will know...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wouldn't that we wonderful? I have not looked into it, though I believe she had siblings. I might be able to find out if they had descendants. It appears that Kay did not marry and had no children. Thanks for reading.

      Delete

Post a Comment