The men in the Veterans Memorial Park mural

The backstory related to this remarkable mural, installed and dedicated during early September at Veterans Memorial Park in Chariton, is widely known here. It depicts 16 young men who were sworn together into the U.S. Navy during a ceremony held on the public square on July 4, 1942. Fifteen were from Chariton and one, from Winterset.

Muralist John Neal, of Des Moines, was the artist; and Earl Comstock, of Chariton, the driving force behind its development and execution. 

Now anyone who knows Earl knows also that he is determined. When faced by challenges, he just soldiers on (Marines on, actually). And the challenge here was to find images of the 16 men at the time of their enlistment that could be adapted in recognizable form by the artist.

Several photographs of various poses were taken at the time and some were published --- in the Chariton newspapers, The Des Moines Register and The Ottumwa Courier. But the originals did not survive and printed versions tended not to be especially clear.

But finally, early this year, this small original photograph turned up in a Navy Mothers scrapbook in the Lucas County Historical Society collection. And this is the photograph on which the mural is based, although the men have been condensed and background added. The sixteen men in civilian clothes are the recruits, the sailors in uniform (not included in the mural) were representatives of the Des Moines U.S. Navy recruiting station. 

And these men can be specifically identified (from left) as follows: Mahlon Laing, Merle Norberg, Andy McRoberts, Don Reid, Bill Carpenter, Andy Musick, Bill Aitken, Glenn Fowler, Randal Willoughby, Bill Maxwell, Robert Maxwell, Charles Blakesmith, Don Kingsbury, Kenneth Holliday (of Winterset), Paul Kingsbury and Clifford Norton.

I've chopped the mural (virtually) into three pieces here in order to make the faces clearer:

(From left) Mahlon Laing, Merle Norberg, Andy McRoberts, Don Reid and Bill Carpenter.

Andy Musick, Bill Aitken, Glenn Fowler, Randal Willoughby, Bill Maxwell and Robert Maxwell.

Charles Blakesmith, Don Kingsbury, Kenneth Holliday, Paul Kingsbury and Clifford Norton.