Your website is fascinating and has helped me in many ways. Yesterday, I discovered an interesting fact there: Your Great Uncle William Austin Seward (b. 1896) and my uncle, Howard H. Maxwell (b. 1897 and for whom I am named), were 4th cousins. They also fought together in the 150th Field Artillery, First Indiana Guard, Rainbow Division, World War I. I doubt that they knew each other before the war and may have become acquainted during their service, but probably never realized they were cousins. But then again, who knows.

My uncle went on to serve in the Indiana Air National Guard, learning to fly with the organization in the early 1920s. He was called to active duty in WW-II, promoted to Brig. Gen. at the end of the war and was the Adjutant General for the State of Indiana in the late 1940s. Again called to active duty, he served in the Air Force in Japan during the Korean War, returned to assume the role of the base commander, Shepard AFB, Texas where he also flew F-86F fighter/interceptors with the squadrons under his command. When he retired in 1960, he was the oldest fighter-qualified jet pilot in the US Air Force. As you can tell from the photograph, he was a no-nonsense, nail-tough sort who had a heart of gold -- and was a second father to me. We were very close for many years.