Bernard Doran was born on the 21st of February 1890 in Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland and died 11 April 1947 in Harrison, Hudson County, New Jersey. My grandfather, who was called Barney by his family, served in the New Jersey National Guard, 1st Infantry, Company M, as a Private. After emigrating to the United States, he had enlisted on 6 April 1914 and was discharged on 26 May 1917. He often told stories to his family about the Mexican Border War. From what I remember, my grandmother didn’t want him going off to Europe to fight in World War One, because by then they were married and had their first child.

The application for his marker is on ancestry.com in the database, U.S. Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963.  Here you can see the correction for his birthdate, but it still was done with the wrong date. With many of the military records destroyed in the fire at the National Archives at St. Louis in 1973, it is wonderful to see these images. They are a way to reconstruct the dates of military service for family members, and also find out the section and unit of the U.S. Armed Forces.

The reverse side of the card shows that my grandfather did report for service for World War I. From the date of the approved application of 16 April 1948, and the stamp of 21 May 1848, I know that these next two photographs of my grandmother at the cemetery were taken after that date.

Later a gravestone was installed where the military marker had earlier been installed, shown in these two photographs above, and the military marker was moved up a few feet.

The Roman Catholic Cemeteries in the Newark Diocese, New Jersey can be searched online. Here is the listing for my grandfather ~ Bernard Doran Sr. was buried on 04/14/1947 at the Holy Cross Cemetery in Blk-70 Sec-B Tr-D Gr-8 1A.  Source: http://www.rcancem.org/find-a-loved-one-search/

Good luck searching! Military Monday is a blogging post suggested by GeneaBloggers.

Copyright 2016 by Maryann Barnes and Genealogy Sisters.

Source Information:

Ancestry.com. U.S., Headstone Applications for Military Veterans, 1925-1963 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Original data: Applications for Headstones for U.S. Military Veterans, 1925-1941. Microfilm publication M1916, 134 rolls. ARC ID: 596118. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, Record Group 92. National Archives at Washington, D.C.

Applications for Headstones, compiled 01/01/1925 – 06/30/1970, documenting the period ca. 1776 – 1970 ARC: 596118. Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774–1985, Record Group 92. National Archives and Records Administration, Washington, D.C.