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Wetzel McCoy

uncledj

By uncledj
in Watering Hole

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uncledj

uncledj

Posted
Posted

The wife was helping a friend sort through some old stuff to have a garage sale. She found a letter from Pvt. Wetzel McCoy, from Otway, OH, dated May 7th, 1944 to a Mr. James McCoy.

I did a quick search on Wetzel and found that he was KIA on February 9th, 1945. No more info was available. Just a name on a list.

I was thinking if there were any surviving relatives, I'd like to get this letter to them.

Looks like what you'd expect from a young soldier in basic training, he seemed to be doing well and excited about his service.

In any case, if anyone knows how to trace such lineage, let me know. :detective:

Squidley

Squidley

Posted
Posted

Facebook would be the 1st place I would look at. Kind of a needle in a hay stack, but life is strange. Good on ya for trying to get it back to where it belongs

:thumbsup2:

uncledj

uncledj

Posted
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I put an ad in the Chillicothe Craigslist Rants&Raves on the off chance someone down there will recognize the name.

I'm not gonna put too much effort into it, but if I get no info back, I'll give it to my Dad (90 yrs old, a WWII Vet, and he still frequents a VFW)

Maybe someone at the VFW will be able to get it where it needs to be.:detective:

 

Dooder1

Dooder1

Posted
Posted

Ok, I found a relative. I emailed them to verify. When I get a answer back. I will let you know. Looks Like James may be his brother

 

John

mbrood

mbrood

Posted
Posted

I had a woman contact me over a photo album she bought at an estate sale inside a box of household linen. It was of an older Navy officer and his family and she just casually kept looking around. She found a match with my website for the Bergall submarine, with the match being the original skipper who took her through the war... she enlisted my help chasing down a relative. I knew the skipper, his wife and only son were deceased but had no lead on the only daughter but I would occassionally check here and there... It just happened to be a Facebook search that brought up a first name match with a high school name of the family's home town and the contact was confirmed and the book was sent to her. A 65 year old woman was looking at herself at 3 in her father's arms... her comments and thanks have warmed two very fortunate people who "only took an interest".

Prairiehammer

Prairiehammer

Posted
Posted

I found out Wetzel's Mother and Father name. Also his siblings names. James F. McCoy is his brother and was married in 1950 to Roberta. The family bounced between Otway, OH and Lincoln County, WV. There is a much younger brother named "Rauft" (Ralph?) born about 1935. He may still be alive, too. For those so inclined (I ran out of time this weekend) to dig deeper, Roberta was born about 1931, so she may be a survivor with some information. Otway is a tiny hamlet in Scioto County, Ohio. If these surviving relatives are still in the Portsmouth or Lucasville, Ohio area, there is a good chance of finding them. When I get some more time, I will keep looking for survivors of Wetzel.

Dooder1

Dooder1

Posted
Posted

I am a member of Ancestry.com So I am always looking for relatives. Thats how I found Wetzel McCoys family tree. As I was going thru it a saw a lot of Taylor's in there. My mom is a Taylor, her family came from Tenn. All the Taylors in this Wetzel McCoys family tree are all from with in 100 miles from where my Moms family came from. So I need to do some more research on this family see if there is any connection. Searching for long lost ancestors is fun.:banana:

John

Prairiehammer

Prairiehammer

Posted
Posted
The wife was helping a friend sort through some old stuff to have a garage sale. She found a letter from Pvt. Wetzel McCoy, from Otway, OH, dated May 7th, 1944 to a Mr. James McCoy.

I did a quick search on Wetzel and found that he was KIA on February 9th, 1945. No more info was available. Just a name on a list.

I was thinking if there were any surviving relatives, I'd like to get this letter to them.

Looks like what you'd expect from a young soldier in basic training, he seemed to be doing well and excited about his service.

In any case, if anyone knows how to trace such lineage, let me know. :detective:

 

John,

I found James McCoy's widow, Roberta in Hilliard, OH. I talked to her on the phone and explained about the letter. She was very pleased and would appreciate the letter.

She is old and frail so, I'm not sure if she fully understood how I knew about the letter, but bottom line, I told her it would be mailed to her. You might want to include a note in the envelope to her explaining the whole find and explain that you are not Kevin Campbell but how Kevin Campbell was just researching for you.

I will PM you her address.

uncledj

uncledj

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Wow !

Thanks.

I frequently work in Hilliard, so I'll put the letter in the van and drop it off in person next time I'm over that way.

If she thinks I'm you, that's cool, I wouldn't want to confuse her.

I'll post again after I drop it off and let y'all know how it went.:cool10:

 

  • 3 weeks later...
uncledj

uncledj

Posted
  • Author
Posted

Finally got the chance to head over to Hilliard and deliver the letter.

I tried to explain about the "website" for motorcycle enthusiasts, and how I came across the letter, and (through help from members) came to find her, but she seemed to about half understand.

I asked if Wetzel had any kids and she said "no, he was too young for that".

She also said it was in Germany that he was killed, and I didn't feel it was appropriate to press for details.

In any case, the letter's been delivered.....task completed.

Much thanks to Prairierhammer (Kevin) who did the legwork to make this happen. :cool10:

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