My maternal grandfather, Carl Henke, died when I was very young; not sure when, but too young to remember him. I heard and learned little about him, other than he was much older than my grandmother and that he suffered a major heart attack just after I was born.
So imagine my surprise when my brother stated that Carl had fought in World War I. Carl was born in 1901 and though underaged apparently enlisted anyway. Think about it: I’m only 58 but have a grandparent who fought in a war that ended over 100 years ago.
Unfortunately that’s about the extent of my maternal family history: my grandmother died almost twenty years ago, my uncle died in a college car accident in college, my grandmother had at least one brother whom we never met (and apparently died in 2023), and nothing from Carl’s side.
