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| Photo courtesy of TulsaWorld.com |
Over 250 letters addressed to Mr. and Mrs. E.H. Harvill of Drumright Oklahamo (Eural and Robert's parents) had been carefully stored inside the box. Ms. Gilliland hopes to find a family member so she can send the letters home.
Those who read my blog know how passionate I am about military history and returning soldier's ephemera and memorabilia to family members. So of course I jumped on this after my friend Lisa Haas directed me to the story.
Lorine's Research:
I found a man in the SSDI (Social Security Death Index) on Ancestry.com
| Name: | Eural Harvill | ||
| Birth: | 14 May 1927 | ||
| Death: | Aug 1980 | ||
| Civil: | Oklahoma | ||
| Other: | Nashville, Davidson, Tennessee, United States of America |
There is also this listing in U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946
| Name: | Eural D Harvill |
|---|---|
| Birth Year: | 1927 |
| Race: | White, citizen (White) |
| Nativity State or Country: | Oklahoma |
| State of Residence: | Oklahoma |
| County or City: | Creek |
| Enlistment Date: | 6 Feb 1946 |
| Enlistment State: | California |
| Enlistment City: | Fort Ord |
Best of all is the 1930 census record found on Ancestry.com
The 1940 census for Drumwright Oklahoma shows Eural and Josephine (misindexed on Ancestry.com
Here is Robert's information from U.S., Department of Veterans Affairs BIRLS Death File, 1850-2010
| Name: | Robert Harvill |
|---|---|
| Gender: | Male |
| Birth Date: | 13 Nov 1922 |
| Death Date: | 5 Mar 1990 |
| SSN: | 441289789 |
| Branch 1: | ARMY |
| Enlistment Date 1: | 16 Sep 1940 |
| Release Date 1: | 6 Dec 1945 |
and here is his brother Eural's information from the same source
| Name: | Eural Harvill |
|---|---|
| Birth Date: | 14 May 1927 |
| Death Date: | 11 Aug 1980 |
| SSN: | 440242847 |
| Branch 1: | ARMY |
| Enlistment Date 1: | 25 Jul 1945 |
| Release Date 1: | 5 Feb 1946 |
The question is - did either of the brothers marry? Did they have children? If anyone knows anything about this family or wants to join in the hunt for descendants or other family members please leave a comment on this blog post or write me privately at olivetreegenealogyATgmail.com (replace AT with @)
UPDATE: Please see Update on WW2 American Soldiers Letters Found
Read more about these WW2 letters at Yahoo News and Tulsa World
4 comments:
Robert appears to have married a Jean (Wichita, Kansas, City Directory, 1959)
Go, genealogy community! You have made a good start in hunting for living relatives. This is the second blog on which I've read about this amazing discovery of 250 letters.
I'll bet that within a month, or maybe a few weeks after all this publicity, a relative will appear who will want to read these letters . . .
What an awesome story! I hope the relatives are found. I know they will be overjoyed to receive these letters.
On another note, though, this serves to remind me that future generations will not be so lucky. Handwritten letters are few and far between nowadays, as we have become largely an email and texting society. I know people who Skype with their deployed soldier. Well, you can't re-read skype and deleted emails and texts. A treasure chest of letters from the 2010's will be virtually unheard-of to future generations.
I agree about there not being any treasure chest of letters found from from 2010's. That is so sad. I wrote a book based upon the letters I discovered after my grandmother died in 1987. Her diary and vivid letters written from the new state of Arizona told of the adventures of a young single teacher in the Wild West. I am thrilled that "Elsie- Arizona Teacher 1913-16" was voted #1 on Goodreads list "The Old West in 1st person." I do hope someone recovers these letters and does something with them.
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