10/3/2023 0 Comments Thank you coronavirus helpers poem![]() Russell, the eldest, lives in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Her parents were married on April 12, 1946, two months after Eugene Howard's honorable discharge. "Whatever it was they needed to do to put behind them, they put it behind them." "Most of them went on to just build a life," she says. Howard says she marvels at how these WWII veterans, often called "the Greatest Generation," got on with their lives after harrowing wartime experiences. "He mourned the fact that he took enemy lives to save his nation," she says.Įventually, after sharing only guarded versions of his time in the war with family, and for his grandchildren's oral history projects at school, he wrote a more pragmatic account, a memoir he titled "A Name in the Sand." Howard says her father rarely talked about his role in the Army and would share only a few comical stories from his time in the service. The World War II veteran is buried at Chattanooga National Cemetery.The Chattanooga National Military CemeteryOn a hill in Chattanooga townLies a hallowed piece of ground.It’s a soldier’s final resting placeA place of mournful bugle soundSerene this final resting placeThe battle sounds are far awaySecure in arms of Mother EarthSafe at last from the deadly fray.Its boundaries are marked by limestone walls.Its gates are wrought iron spikes.The walls are symbols for the livingAnd mark the place where heroes lie.The roster shows our allotted time.The trumpet sounds its urgent knellTo friends and loved ones left behind.The soldier bids a fond farewellWhat awesome deeds will never be toldOf bravery, courage, sacrifice and honor.What horrors and anguish of the immortal soulLie here entombed forevermore.The gates of paradise open wide.Old soldiers are the honor guard.The gentle voice of the master intones,“Well done, old soldier, welcome home.”- By Eugene W. Lynn Howard says her father, Eugene Howard, wrote this poem in 2008, the year before he died. Poem: The Chattanooga National Military Cemetery His battalion was training in Austria for the invasion of Japan, where they would parachute in, when the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima on Aug. Howard says her father's squad battled their way through Belgium, France and Germany before the victory in Europe. It was in this assignment that he participated in the Battle of the Bulge, the largest and bloodiest single battle fought by the United States in World War II. Not long after D-Day, Howard says, her father asked to be transferred to the 17th Airborne, where he served for the rest of the war. After moving to Chattanooga and joining Master Gardeners of Hamilton County, he did the vegetable presentation of the class for new gardeners.įor one class, he came in wearing his Army helmet in memory of D-Day, June 6, 1944, the day of his military landing on Utah Beach at Normandy, France. Lynn Howard remembers her father as "a charismatic man who was an expert gardener." He was an agriculture agent for 10 years for the University of Kentucky. Photo from Lynn Howard / Emily Howard sews a face mask as part of a service project of the Master Gardeners of Hamilton County. ![]() "It's an inspiration that she got out her sewing machine and made three or 10 or however many she's made." "I am extremely proud of my mom for her efforts to help out at her age," says Lynn Howard. When the call came, Howard sat down at her vintage sewing machine and went to work. Service is also a hallmark of this not-for-profit organization, whose 250 members work on projects at places ranging from the Chattanooga Area Food Bank to Chattanooga Zoo to Brainerd Mission Cemetery.įor this project, the sewers in the group have so far contributed some 500 masks to various agencies and individuals. ![]() ![]() You would rightly think Master Gardeners are all about pretty flowers, verdant lawns and hearty vegetables, but there's more to the group than green thumbs. She's part of a team of Master Gardeners of Hamilton County who have been sewing face masks for those affected by the coronavirus pandemic and the Easter tornadoes that tore through eastern Hamilton County. Friends Indeed is a weekly series by the Chattanooga Times Free Press to recognize acts of kindness during the coronavirus pandemic / Photo illustration by Matt McClane.Įmily Howard, 92, has been busy with a special project lately.
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