I've been reading items about service men/women and veterans in old
issues of the Wellsboro Gazette and The Advertizer.
I found some ones I found interesting ones about the sad and happy war
stories regarding our Hazlett cousins, Clayton Clifford West (1925 -
1944) and his sister, Elsie West and her husband, David Bliss. Because
of copyrights and the privacy of living people (even though the news
stories are already on the web), I shouldn't post them directly to this
list, but can forward the information directly if any readers make a
request to me directly, not via the list.
Clayton West was a son of Genoa Ann Thomas (1904 - 1984) and Myron
Clifford West (1901 - 1991), son of Lavell (various spellings) LaFayette
West (1876 - 1937) and Alice "Allie" Sweet (1881 - 1954), dau. of Abner
Sweet (1848 - 1920) and Elsie Hazlett (1852 - 1906), daughter of Cynthia
Hammond and Archibald Hazlett. Most of our readers are familiar with
Cynthia and Archibald's names and data, so I'll omit it this time.
Most of us think of, and appreciate, the high price paid by our service
men and women who were casualties in past and present wars. But
sometimes we forget to think about the price paid by their families and
loved ones --- or how combat effected the whole lives of even those who
were not physically injured.
I don't want to start a chain of "rants" on this list, but last Tuesday,
when I learned how few people had voted at my local polling place, I
became both sad and angry thinking of all those who gave their lives so
that we CAN vote, and how little that sacrifice seems to mean to those
who don't want to bother to vote.