a legacy lives on
John Sammons’ has turned his tireless efforts to trace his family’s military history into a detailed power point presentation, and it has given his family a personal roadmap they can use to grasp the impact their ancestors had on the country.
There are few local surnames more synonymous with wartime service than Sammons.
The family’s 250 yearplus military history can be traced all way back to the Revolutionary War, and it’s John Sammons — a human A.I. machine — doing the tracing.
This past Saturday at a Sammons family reunion in Currie, John, who served in the U.S. Navy himself for six years, presented to his relatives detailed information about ancestors who served their country and represent the myriad branches of the family’s deep-rooted military tree.
“It all started because we have a big family,” John says. “My dad had a family of 15, and my mother had a family of 20 — her dad was married twice, and he had 19. I would find out about this person or that person, and eventually I got into the military stuff, especially with World War II stories.”
While they may be gone, the kin’s legacy lives on through John’s exhaustive genealogical efforts. And although it was sometimes difficult to get through as he fought back tears, John — using old newspaper clippings, snippets from postcards and letters and even some A.I.-aided images captures the essence of the Sammons family impact made through their military service.
“I just kept investigating more and more,” John said. “You ask for something out of the national archives, you always get more than you need — it just adds more to the story.”
It’s a story that hits home for many in these parts. The family’s roots are strong in the Currie and Tracy areas, and that is where the dozens of yellowed Headlight-Herald clippings came in handy. John scanned many of them, and they added an even more personal aspect to the development of the family’s story.
“As I was looking for details I read the social section — about them being home from this place and going to that place,” said John. “I added it all together and it just formed as this big story.”
It was a true “rabbit hole” for John. The more he dug, the more he found. Leaving no stone unturned, John would gather the smallest of tid bits, all molded together to define the family legacy.
John’s labor of love was also an emotional one, and at times Saturday, he had trouble reading some of the news he assembled, as those emotions got the best of him.
“You realize you’re connected spiritually,” he said.
Sammons’ presentation includes a power point presentation that starts with the mother, Anna (Sandvik) Sammons, who was born in 1887 in Norway. Anna married William C. Sammons on Nov. 2, 1910, in North Dakota. Anna died July 2, 1961, in Tracy, and she is buried in St. Olaf Church Cemetery in Cottonwood County. Of her 15 children, 12 of them served.
While these heroes are gone, they are certainly not forgotten. Some met tragic, untimely deaths, taken far too soon, but all sacrificed for their country.
And John has taken great lengths in making sure their legacy will live on.
But this story goes beyond a power point. With the help of his large posse of relatives, John was able to secure 14 pavers that have recently been added to the veterans’ memorial at End-O-Line Railroad Park and Museum in Currie.
Until now, none of the Sammons were represented at the memorial because no Sammons family member lived in Currie when the town’s original veterans’ memorial was put together (in the early 1940s).
“At that time, Tracy was the hometown of the Sammons,” said John. “All their records listed a hometown of Currie, but by the end of the (World War II), they were all discharged and went to Tracy.”
Some three years ago, Sammons said he contacted the Legion club in Currie, inquiring about having his family included at the museum. The company that made the original $400 pavers had gone out of business — “pretty steep,” John said. Eventually, another company was discovered that would provide the pavers for $225 apiece.
“All the cousins kicked in,” he said with a proud smile.
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I just kept investigating more and more. You ask for something out of the national archives, you always get more than you need — it just adds more to the story.
— JOHN SAMMONS
