I have made several big discoveries as a genealogist and family historian. But probably my proudest, most emotional, and most rewarding was finding the grave of my gg-grandfather Henry Walker, Sr. who died in a railroad accident during the Civil War. Another part of the circle closing the story has been fulfilled. My son Paul went to the grave and placed American flags over his burial spot, and the spots of those who died along his side and are buried with him.
He is buried at Chalmette National Cemetery outside New Orleans. In the second picture you can see that he and his fellow comrades who died in the railroad accident do not have grave markers. The cemetery did not even know they were buried there until I found records from the 1880s at the National Archives in Washington, DC. Now we negotiate getting them grave markers.
Step 1, he is found; Step 2, thanks to Paul, we have acknowledged him; Now it is time for step 3, for the government to give him his marker. By federal law, all veterans are entitled to one.
Copyright © 2021 by Kevin W. Walker
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