Photos-23
Jerry Steenwyk #134 in the group photo
Jerry's parents, Louis and Flora Steenwyk, emigrated from the Netherlands to the United States in 1906 and 1909. They married in 1912 and settled in the Chicago area where they had three children, Ann, Jerry and John. In 1943, Jerry married his wife Effie Bos, whose parents also had emigrated from the Netherlands. Jerry and Effie were together almost 60 years, until he passed in 2001. Effie passed in 2010. They are buried at Chapel Hill Gardens South, in Oak Lawn, IL.
I am very fortunate to have connected with one of Jerry's granddaughter, who has generously shared photos from his army photo album. Especially important was a copy of the group 1944 photo where Jerry had listed all the names, by row, for all the men in that picture! Thanks to Denise.
To the left is a copy of the Steenwyk album page showing the group photo and the list of names for each row. As I explained previously, I had taken my copy of this photo and numbered (in red) each face, left to right, row by row, as a way to keep track and hopefully identify each of the men. I posted the numbered photo here on my website. Row 1 is the front, and row 6 is the top, or back row. Steenwyk did not use a number system as I did, just a list, left to right, row by row. I never thought I would need to compare my "numbered faces", with a "list".
For the most part, the men and rows are level, shoulder to shoulder, until the start of the 5th and 6th rows. A couple of the men are standing "in between" or "in front of" another, then a bit further to the right, they do level out. So how did Steenwyk identify and create his list, especially in the 5th and 6th rows? See below. My 5th row begins with #115, and the 6th row begins with #142. I believe my #140 and #141 are the two most likely to have been listed differently by Steenwyk. The only way to know is to identify the faces of the men in those two rows! Let me know if you recognize a face.
