Being the historian that I like to think I am, I have been researching members of my family. Several members of my family have severed in the military in several different confects over the years.
I was reading a very interesting book called “The Boys of Meigs County.” It is based on the Civil War and the regiments that were organized from southeastern Ohio.
My great-grandfather was born in the Meigs County region. I found his name in the book, and he had been wounded. That was the first time I had ever heard that he had been wounded. I remember being told that my great-grandfather was a very mean person. I was told that he would go to the school to locate his sons that had run off the farm to go to school. He would take a switch and beat his boys all the way home.
The boys had to work the farm. During a battle, while assigned to the Ohio 92nd Infantry, my great-grandfather was shot in the leg. He carried a pumpkin ball in his leg until the day he died.
After talking to my sister, I found out that my great-grandfather did receive a government pension until his death in 1909. Now the lesson. Being a little bit of a history buff, I started thinking about the possibility that my great-grandfather may have received the Purple Heart. The Purple Heart is one of the very first metals awarded to our military personnel going back as far as the Revolutionary War. So in my way of thinking, Isaac Pool should have been awarded the Purple Heart.
I have a section in my home with my father’s medals, patches and his funeral flag. I recently placed a photo of my great-grandfather next to my father’s photo and his medals. I wanted to place any medals my great-grandfather may have received next to the others. I contacted the National Purple Heart Society to see if my great-grandfather received a Purple Heart. It seems that if you were wounded during the Civil War, you would have to have lived until 1932 to be eligible for the Purple Heart. I was puzzled that my great-grandfather would have to make it to his 90s prior to being awarded the Purple Heart.
Then it made me wonder if people that had been killed in action ever get any recognition? I would think that there were many Civil War veterans who had tremendous injuries. Still being a very young nation, we did not have the resources to keep track of all those personnel from the time. I hope everyone remembers those that gave their lives to give use the right to be free. Do not be so willing to let those trying to take your freedom away to do so.
