During the last twelve months I've used my research skills in a new way: to try to find family members of a group of World War II veterans. You may recall my previous postings about a WWII banner I found in a trunk in my deceased mother's house in South Dakota. The 12'-long red banner, with a chilling swastika in the center, had been signed by 84 members of Cannon Company, 358th Infantry, 90th Division.

The banner and its tale subsequently attracted the attention of South Dakota Public Broadcasting, and an 8-minute segment was televised on SD Public TV Thursday evening. You can watch the story, which is the first of three segments shown in the January 7th "Dakota Life" video: www.sdpb.org/dakotalife/

So far I've discovered no surviving banner-signers, but yesterday I talked with the 19th family I've found. I've tracked sons/daughters/nieces/nephews to Oklahoma, Texas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York, North Carolina, New Mexico, South Dakota, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, and New Jersey. I plan to continue the search until the last lead is exhausted.

Today I'll follow up on a name that could be family #20, in Arkansas. The SDPB crew did a great job on the story, but there's only so much banner history that could be squeezed into eight minutes. More details about the banner and Cannon Company members can be viewed on the website we created: http://hickeyonlake.wix.com/358thinfantry