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Post by Jim West - Indiana Military Or on Jan 28, 2009 18:19:16 GMT -5
I was contacted Jan 13th by the Captain responsible for the INARNG hosting of www.IndianaMilitary.org, with the news that due to new Regs, they could no longer host a civilian site. It was scheduled to be turned off Jan. 31. Certainly not much notice, and to find another willing to host the nearly 36 Gigabytes of history is impossible. To pay for hosting would literally be in the thousands of dollars per month. So out of the question. And it seemed that the work of 2-3 hours every day for the last 11 years would soon be gone, along with all your diaries, and information that you have shared so extensively. A friend passed this unfortunate info along to his friend, who happens to be the webmaster for the "AmVets of Indiana". Within minutes, I had an offer from them to fully host the site with no restrictions or cost. The offer is "guaranteed" for 2 years, and longer if they renew their server contract. If any of you know AmVet members, PLEASE let them know how great this offer truly is, and how much it is appreciated. I'm sure it is not necessary to say, but I immediately sent off my $25 to join the organization. Then --- after weeks of no contact, I received an email from the Capt letting me know that due to his workload, the date for cutoff has been moved to Feb 14, and he wants us to meet with the Camp Atterbury Public Relations department to see if they will "sponsor" the site so that it can be moved to military servers, and become, in essence, a true military site. Exactly what this implies, I do not yet know. I plan to attend the meeting and see what they are willing to do. If they impose any restrictions on the site, such as them pre-approving all postings, then I will not be interested. I have already loaded the entire site up to the AmVets servers, so if the military does not come through, I should be able to switch over without any downtime. I'd like to know what your feelings are. I've always felt the ability to say "hosted and supported by the US Army" was a valuable statement. Now I'm not so sure. Maybe "hosted and supported by the AmVets" is just as valuable. So please stay tuned. I hope by next week's end to know where we are going. The outcome will not affect this discussion board in any way. Any ideas or suggestions welcome. And while here typing, I'd like to thank everyone that has sent in so much information for the 106th Roster. It becomes more complete and accurate every day.    |
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roger
Active Member
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Post by roger on Jan 29, 2009 22:54:49 GMT -5
Jim
Wish I knew more about this sort of thng to be able to offer helpful advice.... but, I don't. What I DO know is that you have gathered an incredible amount of information and history....too much to lose. I would trust your good judgement!
Roger
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Carl W.
Active Member
Administrator
The Golden Lions
Posts: 265
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Post by Carl W. on Jan 31, 2009 18:44:28 GMT -5
I really hope the Army comes to sense and sees what a great resource IndianaMilitary is and that it should be continued for the future. If they don't, it's always helpfull to have a backup plan, thanks to the AmVets!
Carl
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Post by Larry Heider on Feb 1, 2009 1:05:01 GMT -5
I would like to offer my congratulations and thanks to Jim West for all that he has accomplished in support of the 106th along with the belief that SNAFU happens but can be overcome by dedication and persistence. Thank you Jim.
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Post by bigjohn on Feb 1, 2009 20:17:44 GMT -5
Jim,
I don't know much about this stuff but whatever decision you come to is fine with me. I trust your judgement and am thankful for all the work you have done to keep the spirit of the 106th alive.
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Post by dianekrollewis on Feb 16, 2009 15:48:03 GMT -5
Please, please don't ever lose this site. It is precious to the veterans and their surviving
familes.
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roger
Active Member
Posts: 134
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Post by roger on Feb 16, 2009 16:53:25 GMT -5
Daily anticipating good news from Jim.....keeping fingers crossed and holding my breath!
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Post by JJackson on Feb 19, 2009 16:45:11 GMT -5
Jim,
This is to say you have done a extremely great job on the Indiana Military Org website. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help you on this.
Proudveteran1941
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Post by sandy on Mar 27, 2009 18:08:08 GMT -5
Jim, this site and you guys have gave me a lot of help tracking my dads steps while serving this country hope to help others the same way you all have helped me.Lets all hope we keep it going.God bless!
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Post by Jim West - Indiana Military Or on Apr 15, 2018 16:07:04 GMT -5
04/15/2018 The site is now enjoying hosting by the AmVets of Indiana, located in Southern Indiana. Unfortunately the AmVet member that originally set all of this up, Mike Rolf, has passed away. But not before getting the entire site up and running and presenting me with a plaque "Appreciation of Service". My new contact is Mike Kist, who is actually the programmer for their site. He responds within the same day if any problems occur. As of today the entire site (not just the 106th) and not counting the rosters, is 149 GIGAbytes. That makes it the largest private site in Indiana.
And as always, it's only possible because of the excellent response from all of the Veterans.
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Post by jrwentz on Oct 24, 2021 18:57:51 GMT -5
The 106th Inf Div website and the discussion board have been great resources for me, and many others. It will be for more people in the future too so I am concerned about keeping this information available for people who will appreciate it. Thank you to Jim West, Connie, the AmVets, and all others who have kept the services going. Web site and Internet application development and hosting were important parts of my business for many years and I would like to share a couple of thoughts on ways to preserve the information and make it accessible no matter what happens to the hosted sites in the future or technical advances that may make the current HTML format incompatible with new browsers, etc. The first thought is to make a copy of the web site, and possibly the discussion board, that will run offline on any machine without a browser. I suspect Adobe Acrobat Professional will do that. We used Acrobat Pro many times over the years to copy entire web sites to PDF files that ran on any computer. The files copied fine as long as all the links were working. I will talk to a former colleague who hosts many web sites to see if he could run direct from a server to make it copy much faster than what I can do on my cable connection. Also, there are apps that will check every link in a site and identify any problems. So, it should be cheap and if it does work the entire site could be copied to a thumb drive. The second thought it to have the site copied to one or more digital libraries that scan old books, documents and other materials and make them free to view or download. As a genealogist I make use of many of these sites, and they usually have a lot of military information. One library that should be interested is the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. It is also one of the largest and best known genealogy libraries to be found anywhere. I have used it many times online, and in person. acpl.lib.in.usThoughts? |
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Post by connie on Oct 25, 2021 12:40:08 GMT -5
As you probably noted, the IMO is currently stable although there are thoughts of relocating the Roster. With a history like this it is probably wise to ponder suggestions like yours for these valuable resources and possibly for the discussion board as well.
Your expertise could be a huge resource. These massive undertakings are above my pay grade! But I, too, not only add things to this site, but I also use these sites as a resource.
Somehow, we need to explore your thoughts.
Today my thoughts are on high winds, possible power outages, getting my own writings backed up, and doing some writing while and if I can today.
Connie
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Post by jrwentz on Oct 25, 2021 14:11:30 GMT -5
I hope the high winds do not create any problems for you Connie. If I understand it right this is supposed to be the last storm in a series of storms that have pounded the West Coast and western states.
I will be glad to help out with the discussions and any actions you, Jim West, and others want to pursue. I don't think it is a big project at all. I could run the check for broken links from home. The apps are free and anyone can run them on any standard websites to identify broken links. Fast and Free. If there are broken links the webmaster would need to fix them. Webmasters can do that fast in nearly all cases. If there are no broken links I can subscribe to Acrobat Pro and run it. I can try that from home and find out out long it will take on my connection. But my former colleague could do it pretty fast with his speeds. Making a PDF of the site does not require access to the site server.
I do not know about the discussion board since it is password protected and might have "do not follow" instructions to keep search engines from logging the pages, etc. Years ago I used Proboards to set up discussion groups, but a lot has changed. I can check their manuals and see. I think they used to offer owners the ability to download all the data.
If the Allen County Public Library is interested their techs could advise us what they want. Possibly just a backup copy of the site. I doubt they would want to charge for it. I would be willing to call them and see what they say. If they are interested we could set up a conference call with Jim West, you, and others so you could all ask questions and make some decisions on your own. I suspect they would like to have all of the info hosted on IndianaMilitary.org if the others want to participate.
So, willing to help but I don't want to do anything without everyone's approval to be involved.
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Post by Kevin L on Nov 12, 2021 10:46:26 GMT -5
Hi all, just want to say that as a grandson of a 106th vet, the message boards and the website have been invaluable. I never thought so much would have been preserved and it brings me closer to him and my grandmother every day. After reading this, I just wanted to jump in and show my appreciation for all of the efforts, from Jim to Connie and now jrwentz and also let you know that people and families are still interested and grateful.
It's great to hear about how the sites and message boards will be preserved. It's been a worry of mine since I stumbled upon them.
I'd love to help out though I don't have any background with coding, websites, and especially preserving them.
Kevin
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Post by connie on Nov 14, 2021 11:48:49 GMT -5
Kevin,
So glad you have been able to connect with so much of the story of your grandfather's unit. There is indeed detailed information available on several sites that adds a lot of depth to the understanding of the wartime experience of men in the 106th in general and also of individuals in various units.
Glad you are asking the questions and searching for the information. Your efforts do help preserve the story.
Connie
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Post by connie on Sept 12, 2022 15:48:20 GMT -5
Kevin, Just found this note from your grandfather's name on page 19 of the January-March issue of the 1980 Cub Magazine:  (click to enlarge) The same Florida address was also listed on page 17 of the April-June 1981 Cub I was hoping to find more division history about him, but at least I got to see his name there! I do know a little about your grandfather's unit. Some time ago when I was planning a trip back to Germany and Belgium, Floyd Ragsdale of 424 G asked to join us. Carl Wouters and some others joined us on weekends and Carl helped us find our way to places of interest. He was able to locate the spot where G Company of the 424th was located on December 16, 1944 at the onset of the Bulge. Floyd even located the large dent in the ground that had been his foxhole & pointed out where the mess had been. So I can picture the wooded area in which your grandfather was when he first moved into his position on the front. Hope you've discovered Floyd's posts on this discussion board... Connie |
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Post by Kevin L on Oct 18, 2022 14:21:34 GMT -5
Hi Connie,
Thanks so much! I have seen that one actually. I love seeing his actual writing, just like the letter I still have written by him too. Thanks to you and the rest of the admins, I've poured over all the material here and elsewhere about his company, the 424th, and the 106th. Right now, I'm just collecting all the information I can. I'm planning to begin proper reading and researching for my book next year, which I'm sure will take years. One of my goals is to make it to the National Archives and get as much info about the 106th as I can and if possible, digitize the records they have. I'm also hoping to do the same trip to Belgium one day as well.
All the best!
Kevin
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Post by connie on Oct 18, 2022 15:06:24 GMT -5
Kevin,
Thanks for the response. Please keep us posted as you make progress on this project. I know about the time it takes!!! I am moving slowly through my dad's letters home and a few notes and retrospectives, too. Then I dig into researching the context. It's been agonizingly slow & I need to pick the pace if I'm going to finish anything in this lifetime... But it has been fascinating.
Good luck in your work!
Connie
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