Divisions and Precisions

What a difference a year makes

It's the Tony Awards again. Hugh Jackman hosting again, only with short hair now. I'm not cranky this year. There seems to be a little more originality in the shows this year. I'm not about to get any utilities turned off. In fact, I may be about to buy a new car.

It's been a good weekend. A wonderful weekend, in fact. Lots of good stuff going on. I read a lot (I'm sure I'll get around to posting entries about that over in the reading journal, if I don't get distracted by Hugh Jackman in a kick-line), saw friends--and didn't fall asleep by 9 on Saturday.

I did a lot of thinking today, especially with watching the news about the D-Day anniversary and Ronald Reagan's death. I never liked Ronald Reagan's politics--I guess I must've been a budding liberal pinko even as a little kid--but it feels a little like I lost an uncle or something, a distant uncle, one I sort of remember from childhood but was never very close to.

Tonight on the news they were broadcasting from one of the American WWII cemeteries over in France, and Mom mentioned she thought one of her uncles, my grandfather's brother, had been buried over there. My great-grandfather had refused to bring him home because, he said, "It might not even really be him they send back to us." She didn't know where he was buried, couldn't even remember where he died, or when. I idly mentioned I might be able to find something online. Five minutes later, after searching the American Battle Monuments Commission website, I found this (which I can't link to):

Luther D. Bostain
Private First Class, U.S. Army
35775671
180th Infantry Regiment, 45th Infantry Division
Entered the Service from: Kentucky
Died: March 17, 1945
Buried at: Plot F Row 15 Grave 15
Lorraine American Cemetery
St. Avold, France
Awards: Purple Heart

My mom didn't know her uncle had won a Purple Heart. We don't know who has it, if anybody does. I feel like I stumbled on a little piece of history hidden in our family. All this, after five minutes searching the internet. I should remember this, the next time I rant about the internet as a vast wasteland.