Person:Samuel Tichy (1)

Notes from Cousin Darlene DeLuco:

Sidetrack here, you probably know about the big fire in St. Louis in 1973 when many/most of the WWI military records were burned.

Uncle Sam was proud of his military time in WWI that made him a citizen. When it was time for him to retire he had a difficult time proving he had served so he could collect his pension. His records were among the records lost in the fire. He had signed up in South Dakota with the National Guard, they had his record but could not prove he had actually served. They had to work terribly hard to find a living Army buddy to verify he had been in the service with him and had served in France. I never forgot these stories and jumped at the opportunity to take the class. I was so amazed when I found the g-uncles Martin and Stephen had signed up in Minnesota. I found them on the microfilm I had ordered from the FHC. Have you done those? Maybe your father will show up there? When I found Martin and Steve's records I made copies and sent them to their children that produced shock waves, again. They called me and were dumbfounded, their fathers had never talked about this registration.

When Sam registered in South Dakota he was told to lie about his place of birth and say he had been born in PA instead of Hungary. He was the only foreign born person in his group, they wanted it to be all American, so he lied. When the records burned he had a terrible time explaining all the lies he told, no papers to prove his service, etc.

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2} Darlene DeLuco.