SHOW NOTES  

Published August 5, 2007

Genealogy Reviews Online blog: Genealogy Gems - You've Got to Check this One Out. 

Lisa's Movie Pick:  Full of Life (1957).  It's a really heartwarming movie about immigrants and their American born children that you can watch comfortably with your kids and your grandkids.  

The novel by John Fante is still available:  Full of Life by John Fante

Turner Classic Movies  

GEM:  Freedom of Information Act Follow Up

Email from Richard Hrazanek:  "I loved the tip about requesting your ancestor's immigration file through the Freedom of Information Act. Do you know if you can do the same thing with a person's military record."

FOIA can assist you in obtaining military records.

The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press Website article: How to use the Freedom of Information Act.  

Rod Powers of About.com does a great job outlining how to obtain military records 

The National Archives website article: Access to Military Records by the General Public, including genealogists who are not next-of-kin

Timothy E. Blaise's website devoted to the 4th Infantry Division 224th Infantry Regiment Company "D" which his uncle served in.  Timothy outlines his experience with obtaining military records.  

GEM:  Thanks for the Memories

Get a piece of paper or pull up a word document.  Close your eyes for a second, and visualize a favorite memory from your childhood.  In my case I started with a favorite place, my maternal grandma's house.  But perhaps yours is the back alley where you and your friends played baseball, or your great uncle's garage where he showed you how to work on cars.  Whatever is meaningful to you. Now, open your eyes, and write your thoughts one at a time.  Just free flow it. They don't have to be complete sentences. 

Later you can try your hand at writing more of your actual experiences or memories of a person.  Again, it doesn't have to be a novel or sound really professional.  It's just the memories from you heart.

Tie together this gem with episode 20's Sweet Memories gem where we made a family history chocolate bar label for a candy bar that could be tucked in a Christmas Stocking as a gift.  Replace the Ingredient's list on the back label with a text box that includes these free flowing memories about the photo that appears on the front label.