52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - 2025; Week 6 "Surprise"

RED CROSS NOTICE:

In 1943, both my father, Mylen Schulte, and his older brother, Melbourne Schulte, were in two different branches of the United States Military.

My father was serving in Central America with the US Army Air Corps and my uncle was in the Pacific with the US Navy.

My father was single and he would not marry until 1946.  My uncle, however, had been married for 2 years and had left his pregnant wife at home in Detroit, Michigan where she was awaiting the birth of their first child.

On December 11, 1943, my aunt, Virginia Reske Schulte, gave birth to a baby boy and named him after his father, Melbourne Schulte, Jr.  As was common in the military, when the father was in the Armed Forces, the Red Cross sent a notice to the new father informing him of the birth of his child.

This is the notice that was sent from the Keesler Field Camp and Hospital Service Committee of the Red Cross:

However, the surprise was that the Red Cross inadvertently sent the notice to the incorrect Schulte soldier, sending it to my father in Central America.  

The above notice has been saved in my family all these years with my father keeping this card which has caused much laughter in the family.  I don't know how long it took for the correct new papa, Melbourne Schulte, to receive notice of the birth of his son but eventually he was notified. 

Melbourne and Virginia Schulte with baby Melbourne, Jr. in Detroit, Michigan, 1944:

Today that little baby is 81 years old and he was blessed to have had his parents in his life well into their 90's.  

copyright 2025, Cheryl J. Schulte