A few World War II vets who've died recently and how/where they served

 I haven’t mentioned plants blooming around Couchwood for a spell, so here’s a list as of mid-August.  Abelia, African violet (blue), airplane plant, begonias, cannas (yellow), crape myrtle, dianthus, lamb’s ear (late), liriope, (small, yellow) lilies, marigolds, mini-roses (pink), moss rose (second-season),  (an occasional) mum, oxalis (Janet Carson calls it a weed), periwinkle (second season), sansevieria (mother-in-law’s tongue), shamrock and (red) verbena.

                I cleaned out the two existing iris beds and added a new one for the yellow iris I begged from Aunt Frances.

               Since the anniversary of the end of World War II is around this time, and in memory of those who served and who died recently—I will share a list I’ve collected for a year or so while writing novels set in the 1940s. These names are from obituaries in the state paper and are quoted exactly as written.

                A. B.C. –Navy—medical corpsman, hospital ship, the USS Bountiful in the South Pacific.

                B. G. – Enlisted at 17 in the Navy. Saw submarine service aboard the USS Medregal. Later, witnessed the signing of the Japanese surrender in 1945.

                C. H. H. –Served in Occupied Japan.

                C. J. “P” S. – 2nd Lt., 6^th Marine Division; awarded the Purple Heart after being wounded during the Battle of Okinawa in June 1945.

                C. W. G.—Joined the Navy a year earlier than was legal. Served as waist gunner on a B-17 bomber in the Pacific. Discharged as a disabled vet; spent time in the Army/Navy hospital in Hot Springs Ark.

                D. C. H. –Joined the Army in 1941. Discharged as technical sergeant in 1945.

                E. R. E. –Entered the Navy at age 18. Basic training at the Great Lakes Naval Station, then to the destroyer, the USS Lang, which saw many combat missions in the South Pacific, earning the ship/crew 11 Battle Stars.

                E. T. P. –Served with the 732 Railroad Battalion in the Philippine Islands and later in South Korea where he was senior yardmaster of the large Seoul railway yards, in charge of moving the Japanese out of South Korea by rail to the ports.

                F. L. H. –Worked for the War Emergency Pipeline.

                G. F. R., Sr.—Earned a Victory Medal and Army of Occupation Medal in the Army during the occupation of Japan.

                G. L. C. –Merchant Marines.

                H. C. “C” B. Jr.—US Marines. Ordered along with other Marines to observe atomic-bomb tests at close range.

                J. A. “S” C. –Enlisted Army 1945, assigned to Company D, 25^th Battalion, 7^th Regiment, and later to 2^nd Infantry Division, Fort Lewis, Washington.

                L. “B” M.—US Navy on Guam.

                M. F.—Teletype operator for the State Dept. at the Pentagon.

                M. L. “L” Y. –Joined Army Air Corps at age 17, was transferred to the USAF.

                N. A. –Army. Battles: Normandy, Northern France, Ardennes, Central Europe and Rhineland. Honorably discharged Oct. 26 1945.

Lest we forget!