Government paperwork

It shouldn't be a surprise. The one thing to expect when dealing with bureaucracy is paperwork. Lots of paperwork. When I got a very prompt reply from the National Personnel Records Center, I tore into the letter, mailbox still open. My heart sank when I read what was inside.

The government wants me to fill out more forms for Private Goodman. What's so frustrating is they want the same information that I supplied them in my original request. Most bothersome though is this comment: "Many service files were lost in a disastrous fire on July 12, 1973." It doesn't say Private Goodman's file was destroyed, but when a government agency is asking you for information they are supposed to have, it doesn't look good.

So I'll return the second form with what I can add and hope for the best. Until then, keep your fingers crossed.

3193rd Quartermaster Service Company

This can't be for real. Not only is Private Goodman proving hard to find, I can't track down his unit either. According to his headstone, he served in the 3193rd Quartermaster Service Company. I've only found one other soldier with the same unit number. Could this be a mistake on his headstone?

Out of thin air

Searching for Private Goodman is one heck of a challenge. I don't mean that as a complaint. Heck- I even admire the way he seems to have had a perfect storm of circumstances that are making it so hard to track him down. It's like he enlisted out of thin air. Learning more about him is going to take much more work than I imagined. Maybe on the level of my 3rd-great grandfather Levi Woodberry Kimball, who my family has been trying to find since he disappeared more than 140 years ago.

While I'm waiting for Private Goodman's military records, I've been going back through some of the most promising census records and birth records. None has a direct hit with his first name, which is very surprising. With a name like Levester, it should be easier to find him, as opposed to someone named John. Maybe Levester was his middle name, or a name he assumed as a young adult. In any case, I have to keep an open mind until I find something concrete.

In the meantime, I'm wading through a lot of records. As tough as I make that sound, this "research from the rec room" would not have been possible five years ago. The number of records ancestry.com is making available online is amazing. While there's nothing like holding the original will from an ancestor in your hands at the State Archives, when you can do everything but that from your own easy chair- that's pretty incredible.
(Just my $.02 worth- I am not compensated by ancestry.com in any way.)

"Died, Non-Battle"

The words jumped off the screen and hit me between the eyes. "Died, non-battle." There was no other explanation. Only Private Goodman's rank and service number, arranged in a list with the other war dead from Robeson County (including my grandmother's oldest brother, Henry Howard Cheshire.) So now, there is a new mystery about the elusive Private Goodman.

You can find this Honor List and others here.

I mailed off the request for Private Goodman's records to a government agency in St. Louis. Not sure what to expect, even when to expect them. But I'm hopeful there will be some clues inside.

Another way forward

The census work is taking more effort than usual. Not slacking up- it's just gonna be sluggish. I'll keep you posted.

In the meantime, there's another way forward with Private Goodman's "service number." That's the number the Army gave him when he enlisted, used before the Social Security Number became the preferred method. Every record about Private Goodman has his service number on it. The rub is unless you're next-of-kin, the government only allows limited information upon request. It's worth the effort to mail off and see what happens. The way our government works though, I'm expecting a bit of a wait.

So how did I find Private Goodman's service number? I stumbled upon it at the Normandy American Cemetery & Memorial website. I searched for Private Goodman's grave location and the service number was included in the record.

First stop: the census

Usually my first step in genealogical research is to look through census records. It's like one-stop shopping. Almost everyone is listed in a census at some point in their life, the records often link other people together so you have more clues, and you get a sense of place.

So this morning, I began looking for "Levester Goodman," born about 1920 in North Carolina. Nothing. How about "L Goodman?" Bunch of those but no direct hit. Hmmm, gotta think this through.

For the moment, I am assuming he lived his entire life in North Carolina, as his enlistment record hints. He could have been listed in three censuses: in 1920, 1930 and 1940. Only two of those are currently available: 1920 and 1930. (The 1940 census won't be made public until 2012.) Complicating things is the fact he was born in one of those census years, so he might not have been alive when the census taker came calling. So if he can't be found in the 1930 census, this is could be a dead end.

I broaden my search more. Here's a promising name, a "Jasper L. Goodman," in both the 1920 and 1930 records for Sampson County. It's next door to Robeson County so it's worth a look. The name isn't exact- ditto for the the birth year. But they're worth looking into next time.

The search begins...

Today is November 11th, 2007. Veterans Day. A day set aside for Americans to honor the men and women who have served and are serving their country in the armed forces. An appropriate day to begin this humble attempt to honor one soldier's ultimate sacrifice.

Private First Class Levester Goodman died on September 16th, 1944, somewhere in Normandy, France. We know that from his headstone, which my wife and I came across during our August visit to the Normandy American Cemetery & Memorial. Private Goodman's headstone is one of the first that visitors see. Captivated by the "North Carolina" inscription on his cross, I snapped the picture you see here, hoping to learn more about him once I got back home to the Tarheel state.

When I finally began searching for information on Private Goodman, very few tidbits came easily. The only real information I found was an abstract of his enlistment record at ancestry.com. His enlistment states that he was born in Robeson County, North Carolina, in 1920. He signed up on April 30th, 1942 at Fort Bragg, not far from where he was born. He had a grammar school education and worked as a geographer in civil life. He was listed as being single, with dependents. He was a big man for his day: 6'1" and 174 pounds. Most surprising to me, he was black.

Why is the fact that he was black so surprising? Simply because he was a man who did not enjoy many of the rights he was signing up to defend. He could not even drink from the same water fountain as a white man, yet there he was, enlisting for his country in a time of grave need. He wasn't drafted. It seems he was signing up of his own free will. A remarkable act of selflessness.

So I hope you join me in honoring Private Goodman here. As I uncover more about him, I will post it on this blog and share it. If you have information that can help, I invite you to leave a comment.