Memorial Day: Remembering Those We Lost
My brother-in-law, Mark Sargeant, served in the United States Army for over 20 years as a Military Intelligence officer. His 
duties took him and his family to Arizona, Germany, Georgia, Kansas, and Nebraska. He retired in late 1999 and worked for 10 years for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, assisting with the security of missionaries in Africa and in the Caribbean.
Mark’s service to his country and family was exemplary, like so many other military veterans. Then his life took a surprising turn in October 2016, as he was diagnosed with ALS, a disease all too common among those in the military service. I watched him fight valiantly against the disease, as valiantly as he had defended his country, family, and faith. Even as his strength, movement, and speech began to fade, his optimism and enthusiasm did not.
I remember a benefit concert that was held in Salt Lake City for ALS research. Mark and several others with ALS were honored at the event, and I vividly remember Mark doing an energetic dance around the stage in his wheelchair as the band, singers, and audience belted out chorus after chorus of the Beatles’ “Hey Jude.”
Mark passed from this life on December 29, 2019 at the Central Utah Veteran’s Home in Payson, Utah. His was a different story—not the one where the soldier lays down his life on the battlefield, but one where a man bravely faces an ALS enemy for which science is still seeking a cure.
On Memorial Day, we remember fallen heroes such as Mark Sargeant. Let me suggest that there are many other heroes among us, whether or not they are connected to the military. The heroes I speak of are those who carry on the vital work of family history. They want no one’s story to be lost or forgotten, but that we all remember and experience the joys and pains of those who went on before us. This connecting of generations is so valuable to us and to those who are yet to be born.
If you’d like to get more involved with family history, I’d suggest beginning with the Get Started page in The Family History Guide. Or if you’d like to explore military records for your ancestors, take a look at the United States page, Goals E1 and E2, or Military Goals in your place of interest in the Countries menu.
You can read Mark Sargeant’s obituary here:
