I need to remember this person on Memorial Day...

You know we are not supposed to say "happy memorial day".  This is a day to remember those who gave the ultimate sacrifice for our country, their lives.  It is a solemn day.  It is not just a 3 day weekend or a chance to BBQ.

Thank God not everyone has a fallen soldier in their family to remember.  I have one.  My maternal great uncle who died during his service in WWII.  I should almost have more with all of the relatives I have who were in the military.  My father and my maternal uncle were both in Vietnam.  My grandmother had 4 brothers who served during WWII.  3 of them came home with purple hearts.  My paternal grandfather served during the Korean War.  My maternal grandfather served during WWII.  But their holiday is Veteran's Day not Memorial Day.

My great uncle, Lt. Lloyd Joseph Schexnayder, he's the first one on the bottom left, was a navigator in the U.S. Army Air Forces stationed in England.  He studied navigation in Hondo, TX. before receiving his commission in June 1943.  He was reported missing in action over Germany in November 1943.  Lloyd was only 24 when he was finally reported as killed in action in 1944.

Lloyd had no wife or children.  The only family to remember him were his parents and siblings.  He now only has 2 surviving sisters.  One of his sisters, my Aunt Maggie, just turned 96 this past February.  I have tried to get her to tell me his story.  It is still a little hard for her to talk about.

My Aunt Maggie gave me this picture and a newspaper clipping about Lloyd.  She also told me about him and showed me a scrapbook with photos and clippings about him.  The saddest thing is the collection of letters that drag on for months declaring him missing in action and then finally killed in action.

I'm told that his mother, my great grandmother, never got over his death.  Lloyd died in 1944 and she died in 1950, probably a little of a broken heart.  As a child I remember going to the family tomb and seeing his name inscribed on it.  That's it, there are no remains there.  How hard it must have been to have a funeral with no body.  It also had to give my family, some strange hope, that maybe he survived.  Maybe he would just show up again some day.  That never happened.

I'm also told that in WWII every service man had a $10,000 life insurance policy.  In 1963, when Lloyd's father died, the money was just still sitting in the bank, almost 20 years later.  I guess they couldn't touch it because it felt like "blood money" to them.  Trust me they could have used the money, they were not wealthy people.

So Uncle Lloyd, I want to thank you for your ultimate sacrifice for my freedom.  I'm sure you would have loved to meet your 2 nieces, 2 nephews, 2 great nieces, 5 great nephews and now 1 great, great nephew.  I'm sure we all would have enjoyed meeting you.  I promise to share your memory with the others.

I can't wait till your great, great nephew is old enough to know your story.  I will make sure he knows all about our heroic family member, Lt. Lloyd J. Schexnayder.