I'm a bit delayed in posting, but I wanted to share some of the special memories made while late July slipped into August. The annual "Harvey" Reunion, always scheduled the first Saturday in August, fell on the 1st this year. This is one event we try to schedule simply because we always receive such a warm welcome.
As a brief background, In the 1880 time period, one Harvey family, who hailed from County Donegal, saw five of their nine siblings emigrate to the US, first landing in Philadelphia for a few years, then setting up permanent residence in the Pittsburgh area by 1900. Families grew, with one of the descendants having ten children with the surname of Walters. It's this family that has kept the reunion running into present time.
My mother-in-law would often reminisce about the camaraderie, and how her father, Fred Goempel, would drive many of the family members to the event as they didn't have a vehicle of their own. There's even a photo of a bus that was used for transport among the precious collection of memorabilia that was saved all of these years. (That's Marty's mom on the left).
It continues to be a big deal for the Walter's family and we look forward to joining them when we can make it.
With it falling on a Saturday, I booked the Riverside B&B in Bridgewater for two nights prior so that we could spend some time with my mom. We love this place, and Kathy and Russ actually make us feel like family when we visit. And, you have to admit, the view is quite pretty, and with a full moon rising over the river, it was even more spectacular.
Unfortunately, my cell phone camera does not take great night shots to share that magnificence.
We had a lovely visit with Mom and even managed to squeeze in some special time with my high school friend, Tammy, who has been in town helping her parents.
We had a lovely, relaxing evening enjoying a meal while sitting outside in a magical oasis just a few blocks from the B&B.
This year, the group embraced our country's 250 year celebration.
The crowd was less than previous years, but we still all managed to have a great time.
I brought the genealogy boards and there was a rekindled interest in those who established this great family over a century ago.
Mary Lou, the appointed photographer, managed to get a group photo of most of those in attendance.
You might need a magnifying glass to spot us. Hint: We're just to the right of center, in the back.
Now, any other year, we'd be making our way back home on Sunday following this festive event. But this year, it just so happened that a Tokyo Prison Fire casualty who had been recently identified, was being interred in Arlington Cemetery. His niece, Janet, had asked us if we could attend, and we decided that we could make this work by driving to Arlington on Sunday. It was a bit more adventurous, but something this important deserved our attention.
So, Marty gripped the steering wheel and maneuvered through some heavy downpours and obnoxious drivers, getting us to our destination with time to spare. We were able to visit with the family for some time at the funeral home, and meet up with Michael Krehl (the man who spearheaded all of this effort) and Katie Rasdorf (the historian whom I've known for years and who asked me to help Michael with the project back in 2018.)
We were there to honor Henry (Harry) Younge who had finally been returned to his family.
Harry had been a trumpet player, and was known to entertain the flight crew while traveling the long hours on missions. He had been invited to play on the Eddie Cantor show, a world renown radio venue, on April 24, 1945. But that would never come to fruition. Harry had departed on a mission with the crew on April 16. The plane was shot down, Harry parachuted to safety, but was capture and interred in the Tokyo Prison Fire. He died during an inferno in the prison on May 25, 1945 and has been buried as an unknown in the Manila American Cemetery. His remains had finally been identified in October 2025.
On the drive down to DC, I had stumbled upon information pertaining to the National Military Monument, which stands between the reflection pool and the Lincoln Memorial. It is sponsored by the insurance company, USAA, and the information showed that it was open only through August 23, 2026. A quick search found my father in the system, and I was intent on seeing it. After all, we were nearby, and we certainly hadn't planned on returning before the 23rd. It was now or never in my mind!
When I mentioned it to our small group, all were eager to visit, and Katie even offered to drive! Since she is a local, she maneuvers like an uber driver without hesitation. So, we all piled into her car, with three of us kind of squished in the back seat. Well, I was squished since I was in the middle.
Before I proceed with this story, I need to mention that as soon as the decision was made, the heavens broke open and torrential rain began to fall. So much so, that feet were soaked prior to getting into the car, but everyone else was still game to humor me.
Traffic was actually quite light.....probably because it was 4:30 on a Sunday and the rain was falling in buckets, and we got there in short time. Katie said she would circle around while we jumped out of the car, popped open the umbrellas, and began our trek to the memorial.
My fellow cohorts were asking me what we were supposed to do, and I told them that the website said to generate this code, then give it to one of the operators on site who would set it up for us. Easy....right?
But guess what? All of the people who SHOULD have been there to help had left. Despite the website stating "rain or shine", they were long gone according to the park information desks. So, here we were, literally soaked, standing in the rain, eager to see our loved one's name on the monument, only to be let down due to some people afraid of the rain. What's with that?
We managed to get some photos in the rain.
Obviously, the rain didn't melt US!
Disappointed, we plodded back to the car with sandals squishing under feet, and popped inside. Katie then returned us to the funeral home, where Marty and I could retrieve our car, and we all headed to the hotel where we had scheduled to stay the night.
I was so soaked that even my underwear was wet! (Umbrellas cover only so much, and I'll admit that a rain poncho hadn't been on my packing list.)
To add insult to injury, when we arrived at the hotel, it had stopped raining. But, I have the feeling that the USAA ambassadors had all gone home for the day, and had we gone later, we would have still been disappointed.
We enjoyed a lovely dinner at a local Lebanese Restaurant, compliments of Janet, and laughed about the antics of the day.
We walked back to the hotel, and settled in for the night as we needed to be out bright and early in the morning.
I'll post a separate blog highlighting the military honors for Harry.
Before I wrap this up, let me share a photo of what the memorial looks like at night.
Thank you Gallivanting Geis Mom for documenting our adventures! We should have gone to the Einstein Monument
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