Episode 176 - Organization Reunites Purple Hearts With Vets and Families / Oscar Hammerstein III On His Family Research And Rodgers & Hammer

Fisher opens the show with David Allen Lambert, Chief Genealogist of the New England Historic Genealogical Society and AmericanAncestors.org. David shares news of the identification of a casualty of Pearl Harbor whose remains have finally been returned home. Next, the guys talk about the 125th anniversary of Ellis Island and tell you where to find a quick video history of the place that many our ancestors passed through in coming to America. Fisher then shares a fun and wonderful obituary written by the deceased herself… a great way to be remembered! Following up on last week’s show, Fisher and David tell you about how to opt out of sites that share way too much of your personal information, including FamilyTreeNow.com, Spokeo, and Instant Checkmate. Next, Fisher visits with Zachariah Fike, founder of PurpleHeartsReunited.org, an organization that seeks out, buys, researches, and returns these medals of honor to the vets themselves, or their surviving families. Zachariah gives the background on the medal, and some amazing recovery and return stories. Then, Fisher visits with Oscar Hammerstein III (who goes by “Andy”) whose grandfather was half of the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein, who redefined Broadway. Andy is quite the “genie” and is the go-to guy in his family when it comes to the Hammerstein family history. Andy will be a part of this year’s RootsTech Family History Conference in Salt Lake City, presenting background on his grandfather’s songs as they are sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. In Preservation Time, Tom Perry of TMCPlace.com talks with Fisher about the most common (and most easily cracked) passwords. Do you use any of them? Listen and find out. Tom then tells you what to expect in the tech world at this year’s RootsTech. That’s all this week on Extreme Genes, America’s Family History Show.