Last month I was able to interview my great uncle, Rudy Kraut, for a story for this newspaper not because he was a relative but because he was a link to something greater.

Every week our editorial staff discusses and plans the content for future issues of the paper. Many times the feature story ideas fit in with seasonal topics like secular holidays and other times they are planned for specific parts of our liturgical year.

Sometimes we just sit and brainstorm for story ideas that will be of specific interest in this diocese. The ideas in our brainstorm sessions usually come from our individual and diverse contacts within the diocese or our own faith or experiences.

That’s what happened with a story I recently wrote for the paper.

Some time ago, we set off for a trip to enjoy a museum and wonderful lake water in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. However, the weather didn’t cooperate so we used the rainy day to check out neighboring sites and ended up in Manitowoc at the Maritime Museum. That’s where an unknown and unexpected personal link was realized.

The museum was very interesting and watching the ferry just outside load up and sail off was an extra treat. We listened to the guide give information about the submarines built in Manitowoc during World War II and how they traveled from Wisconsin out to sea. We never realized such an elite group of subs and crews came from our own Midwestern backyard.

When we returned home and shared our experience with family, my mom said, “Oh yeah, those were the ships Uncle Rudy served on.” What?

Here we were, taking in a part of history and didn’t even know we had a link to it! Then when I saw a picture of my uncle on Facebook getting on an honor flight to Washington, D.C., and I thought, “why have I not shared his story?” So with the July 4th holiday coming up, I decided it was time to tell his story.

I spent a whole evening with my uncle asking questions and listening to my husband swap stories with a fellow veteran. It was like visiting a very personal museum. We talked about the family — Rudy was one of 10 children from German immigrant parents. So even though our family lived pretty close to each other in small towns, each one was busy with their own lives and the extended family didn’t always socialize together. And unfortunately what the elders knew, didn’t always trickle down to us in the third generation. So as my Uncle Rudy approaches his 92 birthday, I am incredibly grateful for having had the opportunity to go right to the source and find out more about one of the links in our family chain. How wonderful to know that some of the freedom we enjoy was because of veterans like my Uncle Rudy … part of what is now called  “the Greatest Generation,” even though he denies it.

“My parents paid their way to come here from their homeland. They worked hard and made a life for us 10 kids. I’d say they were the greatest generation,” he said.

My uncle’s life, his faith, his perspective and his stories made me realize how important our links are and how important it is to acknowledge where we come from. So if you get a chance this summer, be your own reporter. Find out what some of your family stories are. Give thanks for those links in your family chain and pray for the courage, the strength and the faith to keep them strong and never ending.