New Member Introduction

[DrGreg]

My name is Greg Cummins and I found this excellent, very knowledgable site a little while back, but got busy and forgot about it briefly. Sorry about that. 

 

Having never been in the Military myself, I have a very strong Military family history and drive to learn all I can in that area, as well as contribute what I have learned to this point. My lack of Military Service was not for lack of trying. I applied for a US Navy Commision as a Naval Aviator in ~1989, though was declined because of a history of asthma. Much later I applied for an Army Reserves Commission in 2018, at the age of 55. Being an ER Doc, they were granting age waivers for many specialties. My Recruiter was awesome and between us, we made prompt progress in my application. I made it through the age waiver in 3-4 months while age waivers often take 12-18 months, passed my medical physical exam at Munson Army Hospital in Leavenworth with flying colors (I am an active, phsyically fit Mountain Biker), Brigade approval and Scroll Request for Rank was then submitted. Unfortunately, the HRC at Ft. Knox denied my Commission based on my left knee. It's ironic, in that the USAF did my first knee surgery in 1984, but I understand now that the Army didn't want to "own" my knee disability per se. However, I did a 550 mile Mountain Bike Race in Scotland a few months before my denial letter was received-yeah, my knee was horrible, eh? Having lived and worked in the Middle East for 4 years many years prior, and still to this day speak some Arabic, I was not afraid to be deployed and knew what to expect had I been deployed. The Army offered to pay off my medical school loans, but I had paid those off several years prior, and joining the Army so late in life, I would not have been ablle to retire from there. I simply wanted to serve. As a DoD Doc off and on for a total of about 10 years of my 30 years as a Doc, I did serve in that manner.

 

As I am nearing retirement from the Fed (DoD, Internal Medicine/ER Physician), I will soon be perusing this site more, and hopefully contributing as well as researching my family's own extensive Military history. My Mom's side dates to the American Revolutionary War, with an ancestor who was William Coram (1756-1821), one of a handful of George Washington's Commander in Chief's Guard-the precursor to the current Secret Service. He was awarded a land grant in Georgia for his service, and his ancestors going forward were in the Confederacy. My mom's side is from that family line. I am still working on her side of the family's MIlitary history after than the above.

 

My Dad's side of Military Service is confirmed from the Civil War to today (his family came from Ireland in 1790 to South-Central, Southwest Pennsylvania). I don't have any record nor knowledge of Military Service on my Dad's side prior to the Civil War, but it's possible there was some. My Great-Grandfather, Thomas Cummins was in the US Army 211th PA Volunteers in the Civil War. Colonel Robert Parson Cummins, was Commander of the 142nd Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, and was fatally shot on the first day of the Gettysburg battle, and died a day later, having led 336 men into battle against the Confederate Army. It is said by Civil War Historians that the 1st day of Gettysburg set the outcome of the Battle. He was from the same County in PA as my Dad's family, and I am trying to establish a connection, if possible, to R.P. Cummins in our family line. My Dad is Robert R. Cummins (Retired USAF 1956-1976, with 152 Combat Missions in Vietnam, 102 in BUFFs, 50 COmbat Missions with Air America in 1966). Though the Cummins family name in PA is pretty common, being in the same County as my ancestors makes me curious if we are related to R.P. Cummins. As Scot-Irish back in the day, the Cummins line bred like rabbits, as it took an army to run the farm then. My Dad was one of 13 siblings, 12 of whom made it to adulthood in the Pennsylvania Appalachian coal country.

 

My Grandfather, Homer Wray Cummins was in WW1, with the 80th Division (Blue Ridge), 305th Ammunition Train, later Field Artillery Battery F. As a PA farmer, he knew his horses, and was in France in some major battles in Eastern France (Bethencourt, Verdun, Argonne Forest, Saint-Mihiel and other areas) once he was on European soil. I have a well documented, self reseached packet of his history, but there are a lot of gaps. He stayed in France almost a full year after Armistice Day. His Grandfather and Father were bridge builders, among other things, so he assuredly learned that skillset. As nearly every bridge in France was blown, there was lots of bridges to be rebuilt. He may have been doing that, but we also know he was wounded and gassed bad, so some of that extra year was likely in hospital. However, as ~80% of all US Military records burned in the Military Personnel Records Center (MPRC) fire in St. Louis in 1973, most files of that era are gone. My Grandfather met and married my Grandmother in 1923, so he was single while in France. My Dad and his brothers clearly remember their Father (my Grandfather-photo below just prior to shipping out to WW1) telling them, just before my Uncle James, the oldest male shipped out to WW2 Europe in 1942, that "you better watch who you sleep with, it might be your sister!". 

 

I do have a digital copy of the diary from another soldier in my Grandfather's WW1 unit that I have printed out. I am trying hard to get the original diary from the Grandson of the author donated to the US National WW1 Museum here in Kansas City. I am having the Museum DIrector try to contact the guy who currently has that diary.

 

Again, I appreciate being a part of this forum, and look forward to having time to do more research as above. Thanks!

[manayunkman]

Welcome aboard, my knee turned out to be a problem as well.