Elroy Merrill Stanley Kaski - my grandfather

My grandfather, Elroy Kaski, passed away when my dad was 5 years old, so all I know about him are the few stories I've heard, and the things I've found through my family tree journey. Here's a few of the finds I thought my father and aunt and cousins might appreciate.

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Can you feel the love tonight? My grandparents: 

Elroy Kaski & Delores Morud

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Phone Book, 1956

What's not to love about these old phone book directories?

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High school 1943

Can you imagine high school in 1943? How amazingly different his life must have felt to his parents who grew up in rural Finland and South Dakota. And how challenging a time, when the world was enveloped in the second world war. For my grandfather, his siblings were deployed and off fighting for the U.S. military while he, the youngest, stayed behind with his mother.

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Draft registration card, 1944

At the time he completed the draft registration card, WWII was a stark reality Elroy would have understood too well. 5 years in to WWII, my grandfather registered while still in High School: note the "Student" notation below.

He registered to serve for a country his father immigrated to only 40 yrs before. Though his father had already passed, by 1944 at a minimum Elroy's siblings Elma, Erma, Elmer, and Elton, were already deployed and serving. 

[My aunt Elaine would be so mad at me right now, because I probably missed naming 1 or 2 of the other siblings who also served; she drilled this in to me, but those are still in my paper notes. Guess I'll have to dig those up soon to update this post. She was so very proud of their service.]

Before, my favorite part of this draft registration was that I got see his signature for the first time. I've been working this research project for 30 years now, and was surprised to see he used both middle names. My youngest shares the fact that she also has two middle names, so I thought it was extra cool that he honored both of those names by signing both.

However, many months after I originally posted this message, I found a new favorite part of this record. I went back to Ancestry to see if I could find a better date range for when my grandfather completed this draft registration. In doing so, I came across the backside of the card. While the descriptions are interesting, they weren't surprising since I've seen pictures. But it was when I went to enter in the date, October 12, 1944, that I realized it was the day after my grandfather turned 18. 

But, what I love about family history is that one thread always unravels another in this complex quilt of our lineage. Why, if he registered right away, did he wait to enlist until September 1950? See the enlistment date in the next section below.

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Military details for his headstone

My father served more than 20 years in military, and will surely appreciate the enlistment details.