Episode 306 - Hear About the Million Letters Campaign: Letters from the War Front

Host Scott Fisher opens the show with David Allen Lambert, Chief Genealogist of the New England Historic Genealogical Society and AmericanAncestors.org.  Fresh back from RootsTech London, David fills us in on the experience and fresh announcements from the Big Three at the conference.  In Family Histoire News, David talks about a recent article that expresses concerns about GEDMatch and how foreign powers might use it to their advantage. Then, it’s word of the passing of the oldest surviving Iwo Jima survivor. Hear who he was and how old he was. Next, Vancouver, Canada has a space problem. For the dead, that is. But they have a solution! Wait until you hear what it is.

Fisher then begins his two part visit with Andrew Carroll, the man behind the Million Letters Campaign. Andrew started this in the 1990s and the collection is now up to over 130,000 letters of military people writing home from the front in every war since the Revolution to modern times. Andrew explains how it started and shares content from a couple of his favorite letters. Fisher even has a letter with content that surprises Andrew.

David Lambert returns to wrap up the show with Ask Us Anything. David answers a question from an English listener about DNA results from Ohio. David’s possible solution to the curious result may surprise you. Then, David talks about prison records of relatives and ancestors. Where can you find them and what can they reveal?

That’s all this week on Extreme Genes, America’s Family History Show!