Veterans Day Part 2- Meeting Uncle Henry.

Coincidentally, as we told my parents that we were to visit Uncle Sheets at the National Cemetary, my father had mentioned that he thought his Uncle Henry was buried there. He wasn't so sure, and he said, in fact, it may have been a long shot.

To give some background, the Antenorcruz story starts with 2 sons of an Italian merchant with the name of Antenori who married the daughter of a Spanish guard, with the last name of Cruz. Together, these two became convicts and on the lam during the time of the Spanish regime in the Philippines. While hiding out, they combined their names to "Antenorcruz" and bore these two Antenorcruz boys, who then had their own children. The oldest, Enrique then had 7 sons... who in turn had dispersed and settled everywhere around California, Hawaii and the Philippines during the 1920s. My own grandfather, Andres, was the oldest of the 7 brothers and had my father obviously, while his brothers carried on with their own lives.

The third brother, Enrique Jr., also known as "Henry" had no children. He in turn, grew close to my father whom my father is even named after. Dad's birth name is Enrique William Antenorcruz. If I have confused you, no worries... it gets more confusing. :)

And so, Enrique II with no offspring, passed at the age of 74 in 1979, and no one really knew where he was laid to rest. My father, knowing that his uncle was in the U.S. Navy as a chef, thought that he had heard somewhere that he was buried in a military cemetary. Maybe it was Riverside. All he knew was that he was in the U.S. Navy and he went by the name "Cruz" as back then, he was not literate enough to know how to fully spell Antenorcruz, he was born either in 1904 or 1905, and if memory serves him, he died in the late 70's.

And so... a hunt ensued for the Vu Family of 4 to find a grand uncle who may or may not be buried next to Uncle Sheets. But it was worth a shot. And sure enough... Eureka!!! We found him. Section 2, Row 0, Plaque 1081.

Happy Veterans Day Great Grandpa Henry. Your family has found you. :)

His plaque, which I figured the "A" was for Antenor


2 new generations of Antenorcruzes


Mommy and Malia with our map, looking and looking


Kekoa, who had a blast at the vast open space of the cemetary. When he's older, I'm sure he'll creep out at how he rolled around in the grass there. :)


Daddy and Kekoa signing off.