Wednesday, January 1, 2014

73-76

PREECE, LELAND
RASMUSSEN, CANNON
REHOR, WILLIAM G
REX, DALE B


I ran these four names yesterday. I wanted to write a lot about them and highlight their sacrifices because when I run long distances some might get lost in the mix. So I had the idea to do some extra research and make these special. However, it's been hard to find out information for some names. I know that Cannon Rasmussen, for example, was a kindergarten teacher, but I don't know how he died. I know that Dale B Rex was a farmer and had completed 3 years of college at BYU before he enlisted, but I don't know what branch he served in.

I wish I could find out more about these men.

 Maybe I'm not tapped into the right databases, the right sources. Maybe, there aren't enough digitized and searchable documents. I might be able to find some information at the BYU library, but the archives are vast and hardly lend themselves to be searched. Moreover, it's a lot harder to find information about a single student who was only there for a few years, who didn't even graduate. If I'm lucky, I can usually find a picture of the headstone for their grave, or a copy of their enlistment record. If not, I could fruitlessly search all of these sources and find no record of these men or their sacrifices. 

That's just one more reason to run. I hope that through this, their legacy can live on, their names can be spoken, and their sacrificed can be honored. One of my secret hopes is that a relative or descendant of one of these men can one day stumble across this basic, elementary blog, look past the blemishes and unpolished nature of it, and come to learn that somebody, somewhere appreciates their loved one. If I can do that, it will have all been worth it.


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