Dispatches
Notes from the work
How records are requested, how artifacts are conserved, and what the documents turn up as they arrive. Written to be useful to anyone doing the same work on their own family.
- FindingsOctober 15, 2026· 5 min read
The paper he carried home
The family has produced William Thompson Hanes's own discharge from 1919 and the enlistment record that goes with it. They give the date he was inducted, the day he reached Europe, the day he came home, his character, his signature, and the place he was born.
Read → - FindingsSeptember 18, 2026· 4 min read
“Our Mother is gone but not forgotten”
In November 1914, four years before Thompson Hanes sailed for the war, his mother was shot at Dry Prong by the husband she had left. The newspapers called her Mrs. James Milstead. This is what the records say about Sophronia Hanes Milstead, in her own name.
Read → - FindingsSeptember 18, 2026· 7 min read
Two sergeants at a wedding in Tyler
A 1944 wedding notice, an Army enlistment record, and four editions of the National Guard Register show how the two eldest Hanes brothers went to war: Homer as a Guardsman called up a year before Pearl Harbor, Aubrey Lee as an enlisted soldier who became an officer only after the war.
Read → - FindingsSeptember 17, 2026· 6 min read
Twelve days out: Thompson Hanes and the Persic
A 1918 Army passenger list puts Thompson Hanes aboard the transport Persic out of New York. Twelve days later a German submarine torpedoed her off the Isles of Scilly. This is what the record proves, and the one thing it does not prove yet.
Read → - How we workSeptember 10, 2026· 4 min read
Why so much of this site says “pending”
A memorial website is the most common place a family story quietly hardens into a fact. This one is built not to do that.
Read → - ConservationSeptember 9, 2026· 3 min read
Restoring the family display sheet
The sheet carrying the only known portraits of all four had faded to a heavy magenta and was shot at an angle. Correcting both without inventing anything took some care about where the damage actually was.
Read → - GuideSeptember 8, 2026· 3 min read
How to request a relative's military service record
The Official Military Personnel File is the authoritative account of a veteran's service. Here is how to get one, what it costs, and what to do when the request comes back thin.
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