My grandparents, Willie “Bill” and Lucy Benoit, loved to travel. These photos were taken in San Antonio. I wish I knew what year the photos were taken. If anyone has any guesses, please add them! If I knew more about cars, I could probably figure it out myself. However, I’m a girly girl and know nothing about cars, so I will rely on those of you more familiar with models and years!!!

The Alamo

About Travel Tuesday

Do you have images, quotes or stories about trips your ancestors or family took during their lives? Or have to ventured out on travels to your ancestral homeland as part of your genealogy research? Travel Tuesday is a daily blogging prompt suggested by Susan Donaldson of Family History Fun.

When my husband heard the story on NPR this morning about soldiers photographing more than 219,000 graves in Arlington Cemetery with iPhones, he knew I would find it fascinating. He knew because he has spent countless hours following me around countless numbers of cemeteries while I photograph hundreds of headstones and document GPS coordinates for FindAGrave and BillionGraves.

Photographing headstones is a passion of mine — especially in Louisiana where subsidence and hurricanes can mean that a headstone might not be there in the future. Documenting the information on a headstone could very well help someone find clues to their past — and they can’t do that if the information from the headstone hasn’t been documented.

The Arlington Project

Rick Shulman writes on the msnbc.com PhotoBlog, “The sometimes eerie task to photograph more than 219,000 grave markers and the front of more than 43,000 sets of cremated remains in the columbarium is part of the Army’s effort to account for every grave and to update and fully digitize the cemetery’s maps. The Old Guard performs its work at night to escape the summer heat and to avoid interrupting funerals.“

Night by night, troops photograph Arlington graves.

 More Information

• MSNBC Photo Blog: Night by night, troops photograph Arlington graves
• MSNBC News: Troops photographing 219,000 Arlington graves
• NPR: Night By Night, Troops Photograph Arlington Graves
• Arlington National Cemetery
• FindAGrave
• Billion Graves

 About Follow Friday

Follow Friday is a daily blogging theme used by many genealogy bloggers to help them post content on their sites. Find out more about daily themes at Geneabloggers.com.

Ad in the San Antonio Express newspaper, 17 June 1943. “Even a general in Africa writes home how much he misses meeting the gang downtown to enjoy a Coca-Cola. Overseas, Coke is a refreshing remembrance of home. Men cherish its taste and refreshment.”

From my dad Carl Armstrong's scrapbooks - Coca Cola Ad - 17 June 1943.

This was in my dad’s scrapbook with his other clippings of his time stationed in San Marcos, Texas. June 17 was his birthday.

About Military Monday

We all have ancestors who have served in the military. Military Monday is a place to post their images, stories and records of their service in various branches of the military. Military Monday is an ongoing series by Cindy at Everything’s Relative – Researching Your Family History.

I’ve blogged about my paternal grandmother, Lula Hulsey Armstrong’s wonderful cooking before. In addition to a talented cook, she was also a talented quilter. Each of her colorful quilts was carefully made by hand, and each was a work of art.

One of Granny Armstrong's beautiful quilts.

About My Grandmother

Matthew Floyd (Daddy Bud) and Lula (Granny) Hulsey Armstrong in 1967.

• Lula Hulsey on WeRelate.com

About Talented Tuesday

Talented Tuesday is a daily blogging prompt. Got ancestors who had a special talent? Be it musical, comical, or any manner of skill, post at your genealogy blog through words and pictures. This series has been suggested by Terri at Southwest Arkie.

While going through photos taken in France during WWI by my grandfather, Willie Benoit — a tiny (1-1/2″ by 2-1/2″) photo of a man with a mustache surrounded by children and adults caught my eye. I turned the photo over and was completely surprised to see the name General Pershing written in pencil on the back. The photo was on an album page with two other photos — one of Pershing addressing the troops and one of the car in which Pershing was riding. Seeing and photographing Pershing must have been an incredible moment for my grandfather. I wish I had known about the photos while he was alive. I would have asked him to tell me about them.

General Pershing in France

Photo of General Pershing taken by my grandfather Willie Benoit in France during WWI.

After departing New York under top secrecy in May 1917, Pershing arrived in France in June 1917. ¹ I’m not sure when or where in France the photo was taken. My grandfather’s photo album is dated Sept. 1918 through Aug. 1919, so it probably was taken during that period of time. Even though he was stationed in Dijon, he has photos from other places in France, so it could have been taken in one of the places he visited.

Photo of Pershing’s Car

Photo of General Pershing's car taken by my grandfather Willie Benoit in France during WWI.

This photo is really interesting to me because of the women to the right of the car in the photo. Who were they? Were they with Pershing or were they there to see him? The four stars on the car are also fascinating to me.

Does anyone know what kind of car this was?

Photo of Pershing Addressing the Troops in France

Photo of General Pershing taken by my grandfather Willie Benoit in France during WWI. Pershing appears to be addressing the troops.

In the bottom right of the photos, you can see the tops of the heads of soldiers. Pershing is standing above, so he looks as if he is addressing the troops below.

My Grandfather’s WWI Photo Album

I wrote about my grandfather’s wonderful photo album a couple of weeks ago, and I go through it, I will continue to share the photos here .

General Pershing

• General Pershing -  Wikipedia
• John Joseph “Black Jack” Pershing – Arlington National Cemetery Website

About Military Monday

We all have ancestors who have served in the military. Military Monday is a place to post their images, stories and records of their service in various branches of the military. Military Monday is an ongoing series by Cindy at Everything’s Relative – Researching Your Family History.