WWAD - Do You Want These Medals?

     This is a new blog post series for the new year. I've been using this topic in our Genealogy Addicts Anonymous (GAA) Facebook group to get the addicts thinking about different scenarios, what if's, what advice to give, or funny responses just to get everyone more active. And since we are all called "addicts" in the group because we are all Genealogy Addicts, I'm transferring that over to this series.

What Would An Addict Do??

(WWAD)

     So for the first post in this series, I am going to pose a question to you about something that really happened to me, and then share my response to the situation. Please feel free to leave your own responses in the comments. I am so curious about what other addicts would do!

Do You Want These Medals??

     Back in August, I was contacted by a lovely lady on Find a Grave. She was asking about my relationship with Charles McCullough. He is my husband's 2nd great Grandfather on his mom's side. I had uploaded a picture of him to his Find a Grave memorial. So she was curious about how I was related. Once I explained exactly how we were related, she dropped a bomb on me. She told me she used to live on his property in Walnut, Kansas and found some Civil War medals that belonged to Charles. (WHAAAAAA!!!) And then she asked me, "Do You Want Them?" I was thinking, "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" I asked her if she was sure we were talking about the same Charles McCullough. She said she was sure. She also told me that she had contacted other descendants to see if they wanted the medals, but they turned them down. (GASP) So it came to us. She warned me they were in extremely rough condition. They were rusted and had no more markings left on them.

So now I ask you, fellow addicts. 

What Would You Do?

     Now, let me tell you what I did. I, of course, said YES! I will take them. I told her my hubby will be so excited to receive these. So she sent them out and they arrived just in time for Christmas. Here is a picture of my hubby with them.

     I originally planned to frame them in a shadowbox to present them to my hubby, but I decided I wanted to do some research on them first to learn more about them. Turns out they are not actually Medals, but badges probably awarded by the Grand Army of the Republic (GAR). I am still looking more into this. I plan on taking these badges to a local Civil War museum to ask for some advice. Once I get more info, I will decorate up the shadowbox and mount them. Then I will share the final product. What a great start to the new year!