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Archiver > NYCAYUGA > 2001-09 > 0999742425
From:
Subject: Re: [NYCAYUGA] Reese Surname
Date: Wed, 5 Sep 2001 22:13:45 EDT
In a message dated 9/5/01 5:09:37 AM Pacific Daylight Time,
writes:
<< I have just sent off for Smith's birth certificate and I will also send
off for his death certificate, as soon as I figure out who to request it
from. He was killed in action during World War II, in France on September 3,
1944. He managed to get through the D-Day invasion on Omaha Beach with only
a wound that required a short hospital stay, only to return to his unit and
get killed. I haven't been able to figure out where I would go to request
his death certificate. He is buried in Woodlawn Veteran's Cemetery in
Elmira. His body was brought back from France in 1949. Who would have his
death certificate, Albany or the U.S. Army? >>
I have had very good results in requesting records from cemeteries and
mortuaries. Occasionally, their files also include death certificates or
equivalents that contain the information I am seeking. The people who staff
the cemetery and mortuary offices are usually very polite, kind and helpful.
Although the waiting period is not the problem here, these cemetery and
mortuary sources are particularly valuable in states which, on the pretext of
privacy, impose unreasonable waiting periods for vital records [50-100 years]
after the event has occurred. Sometimes I find that the waiting period would
extend 'way past MY lifetime . . . and I want to know NOW.
I send a polite letter listing the persons about whom I am seeking
information, enclose an SASE and offer to send a check to cover the cost of
photocopying. A recent contact with the Mt Scott Funeral Home in Portland,
Multnomah Co., Oregon brought me information about my Granduncle that will
not become available from the State of Oregon until 2006, fifty years after
his death. My experience with town clerks [some cemeteries are under the
jurisdiction of the towns] in NY State has been very positive as well.
Hope this helps someone.
Diane Wilson Flynn
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