Every time I run into my dad's old friend Walt Faulconer (left), now 92, the conversation usually begins when Walt says, "not many of us left from the old neighborhood now." And that's certainly the case --- on a number of fronts, including Lucas County veterans of World War II.
Walt is one of those, too, a U.S. Army veteran who served from October of 1944 until November of 1946. He was among 11 men honored --- one posthumously --- Thursday evening during a special program at Johnson Auditorium organized by Earl Comstock and the Veterans Memorial Park Committee as well as American Legion posts from Chariton and Russell.
Nine of the 10 remaining were able to be present Thursday night and shake hands with those from the gratifyingly large crowd of several hundred who made their way up to the stage after the program.
The posthumous honors went to my former next-door neighbor, Lee Harrington, 93, who died on June 22. He was represented by his daughter, Lori, and his "before" and "after" photos flashed on the big screens at the front of the auditorium along with those of the 10 others during the program.
Principal speaker for the evening was Iowa Air National Guard Brigadier Gen. Randy E. Greenwood; music for the event was provided by Shannon Alwood and Tim Vastine.
Initially, I thought I'd identify everyone in these photos by name --- then discovered a couple of major flaws in ability to link names and faces. So anyone who cares to can help out with a "left to right" in the comments and I'll come back to amend this once I'm sure who everyone is.
In the meantime, here's a list of those honored Thursday night along with branch and dates of service:
Walter Faulconer, Army, 19 October 1944-25 November 1946.
Howard Gurwell, Navy, 22 September 1942-20 November 1945.
Lee Harrington, Army, 24 February 1944-31 January 1946.
Kenneth Miller, Navy, 2 February 1943-22 February 1946.
Fredrick O'Dell, Army, 28 April 1943-18 March 1946.
Robert Parker, Army, 24 January 1945-7 May 1946.
Harold Prough, Navy, 1 May 1944-10 June 1946.
Harlan Ranshaw, Army, 28 September 1943-15 February 1946.
Merrill Robison, Navy, 13 June 1944-19 May 1946.
Burdette Werts, 18 January 1945-8 March 1946.
Jacob Zimmerli, 7 February 1944-8 February 1946.
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