The Coquille Valley sentinel., August 23, 1995, VETERAN'S TAB, Page 2, Image 2

TWO, Sect. 2 -Wednesday, Aug. 23,1995 - VETERANS TAB
We remember ______
Through these remembrances of
local men and women who fought
for their country, we wish to honor
them and other veterans for their
service and to tell them they are not
forgptten.
Fifty years later we celebrate the
end of a world wide war. We wish
that it was the end of all wars, but
strife continues and there will al­
ways be veterans of wars, Korean,
Vietnam, and many other campaigns,
still continuing as the world remains
in turmoil.
We remember those who died. We
understand that those who were our
enemies are now sometimes our
friends. Each man and woman did
what was required of them. If the
battle was for causes, defense or
ideology, it was never impersonal
tfbr those engaged in it, or who died,
pr waited for loved ones to come
home, or lost them. THE END of
wars is always reason to celebrate
and be thankful.
Special thanks goes to ALICE
DESOTO, Myrtle Ppint VFW Aux­
iliary president who spent hours gath­
ering information and pictures of
Myrtle Point and Powers veterans.
Hers was a labor of love. Her thor­
oughness and organization was un­
believable.
Requests for information and pic­
tures was printed in the Sentinel for
weeks and letters were sent out to
those we knew about but still people
will have been missed. We are sorry
PUBLISHER:
Fred Taylor
EDITOR:
Dorothy Taylor
COMPOSITION &
GRAPHIC ARTS:
LouAnne Sauve
PHOTOGRAPHY:
Dorothy Taylor .
DARKROOM:
Cliff DuBay & Ken Aldrich
they have not been included.
We may make mistakes. Trying to
deal with over a hundred pictures
and matching up the information was
herculean. We tried to be very care­
ful with the information. Pictures
were stapled to copy. Our nightmare
is that a picture has been given the
wrong name, or they are placed in the
wrong section. We ask for under­
standing and forgiveness. Picture
quality will vary since these were
generally taken 50 years ago. Some
were still excellent and some were
badly faded.
The amount of copy printed for
some persons is all we have. There is
much more untold information but it
was not available to us. We abided
by the wishes of some individuals
not to reveal what was in their
memory..Memories of being in
prison camps^of. being wounded, of
hunger, thirst, of being declared miss­
ing or dead in action, coming back to
find a wife remarried, of going to war
with athriving business to comeback
and find it gone and to struggle for
years after, of what they saw in
Dachau and the other extermination
camps,
There were families where every
son went to war. Usually one son
remained in the States while the
others were overseas,but not always.
The Dalrymple family tells about
one brother accidentally meeting
another brother in Africa...neither
knowing where the other was.
As this generation of men and
women brought or wrote their sto­
ries, their dedication to country,
concern for other people and a hu­
mility about their part in the service
was obvious even while most of them
said they just Wanted it over so they
could go home.
Thanks to the sponsors who have
shown their appreciation to the men
and women in a tangible way by
helping to pay for some of the pho­
tography, printing and distribution
of this 50th Anniversary Edition.
PORTO MARGHER A - ERM - Photo courtesy of Ellis Mercer. This is one
of numerous photos in Mercer’s portfolio. He explained that their purpose
was to bomb the marshalling yards, oil refineries, shipyards, air depots
and any vital spot that furnished supplies or troops aiding the enemy war
em>rt-.^-,...............:
■