American Legion to honor veterans at Crestview Cemetery event
WICHITA FALLS (KFDX/KJTL) — Monday, May 26 is Memorial Day, and the American Legion Post 169 is inviting community members to help honor local deceased veterans.
7 a.m. – Meet at the front of Crestview Cemetery for a short welcome, prayer, guidelines and then to place flags at more than 4,000 headstones of deceased veterans.
6:30 p.m. – Ceremony at the headstone of World War II Medal of Honor recipient, Thomas Fowler, then retrieve all flags placed early that morning.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
4 hours ago
- Yahoo
Story of Navy sailor killed during World War II told by Muhlenberg man
It is difficult to imagine the terror onboard the U.S.S. Tang on Oct. 24, 1944. The submarine was in the Taiwan Strait off the coast of China that day when it was struck by a circular run of its own torpedo and sunk, costing the lives of 78 men. The nine survivors were picked up by a Japanese frigate and taken prisoner. About one-third of the crew was killed instantly by the explosive hit, author Dennis Damiani said. One of them was Homer Anthony, a 21-year-old Reading man. Anthony's diary entries for the first six months of 1943 are the subject of Damiani's recently published book, 'Homer Anthony — The Diary of a Navy Sailor.' Damiani edited and annotated the diary and wrote the introduction and epilogue of the slim volume, published by Masthoff Press, Morgantown. Dennis Damiano's book, Homer Anthony - The Diary of a Navy Sailor." (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE) The Muhlenberg Township author presented a pre-Memorial Day program on Anthony at the Berks History Center in Reading. 'I have to thank the Philadelphia Phillies for this book,' Damiani said, only partly joking. He and his wife, Sharon, like to watch baseball games on TV, he explained. But they found one game in the summer of 2015 difficult to watch. The Phillies were losing badly, and Damiani was bored. He opened his iPad and began searching for topics of interest. A 1973 to 1978 veteran of the Air Force whose father served in World War II, Damiani said he has long been intrigued by U.S. history, particularly military history. He landed on the homepage of a website dedicated to all those who made the ultimate sacrifice while serving in the U.S. submarine force. 'As I viewed pictures of the lost crew members, I was immediately struck by their youth,' he said. Homer Anthony, a World War II sailor who is the subject of a book by Dennis Damiani. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE) Then on the pages for the Tang, he saw the photo of Fireman First Class Anthony with his name and hometown. 'Who is this guy from Reading?' Damiani said he wondered. 'I want to know more about him.' His journey to learn more took him to the Reading Public Library, where he found a 1941 Reading High School yearbook with the young man's photograph. It also took him to the history center, through more internet research and eventually to Charles Evans Cemetery in Reading, where he found the grave of Anthony's brother Socrates. 'His marker also listed his wife, Ruth, but there was no death date,' Damiani said. 'So I figured she was living.' He found a phone listing, and after several weeks overcame his hesitation to call. They spoke for a few minutes before arranging for Damiani to visit the homebound Ruth. That visit turned into many more and an enduring friendship. On one visit, Ruth smiled and held up a small black, leather-bound book. It was Anthony's diary. 'You know a lot about Homer, Dennis,' she said, 'but you don't know about this.' The opening pages of Homer Anthony's diary, the basis of Dennis Damiani's book "Homer Anthony - The Diary of a Navy Sailor. (BILL UHRICH/READING EAGLE) By reading the diary, Damiani felt he came to know Anthony. 'Homer was an intelligent young man,' he said. 'He loved to learn and read. His honesty and humor draw the reader of the diary to him in a heartwarming way.' Anthony's sense of humor and talent for writing come through on the pages of the diary, he said. Damiani said he was struck by Anthony's patriotism and commitment to doing his duty for his country. 'I believe those who read the diary will come to admire and respect Homer the way I have,' he said. The entries provide a sense of the man Anthony was, his goal of saving for college, his dream of becoming a poet and his acceptance of the fact that he might not survive the war. His poem 'Morbid Thoughts on a Rainy Day,' written Jan. 26 and 27, 1943, seems almost a premonition of his death, Damiani said. The entries also reflect an era, turning a lens on the patriotism, pop culture and racism of the period. While in Norfolk, Va., attending what he called torpedo school, Anthony witnessed extreme racism for perhaps the first time, Damiani said. 'They definitely draw the race line down here,' the serviceman wrote on Jan. 19, 1943, describing the segregation practiced in public buildings, on streetcars and elsewhere. 'To one who was born under Northern Climes, it comes as a surprise, but an interesting one, nonetheless.' In several entries, Anthony mentions high school friends, most of whom were also serving in the military. 'Reading High School in 1941, the year Homer graduated, had 807 seniors,' Damiani said. 'Of those, 430 were boys, and out of this figure, 327, or 76%, either enlisted or were drafted. 'Twelve lost their lives while serving in World War II.' Damiani said he is honored to preserve the story of one of these sometimes-forgotten heroes. 'I am convinced that Homer would have been an author of books and articles,' he said. 'His diary testifies to this.' With the publication of his diary, Anthony has become the published author he aspired to be. The book, 'Homer Anthony — Diary of a Navy Sailor' is available for sale in the Berks History Center's gift shop. For more information, email Damiani at civilman71@
Fox News
4 hours ago
- Fox News
WWII hero's special memento finally comes home to his family after 80 years
A World War II soldier's dog tag has finally been returned to his family, 80 years after his death. Technical Sergeant Joseph L. Gray was one of 31 U.S. servicemen who tragically died on April 23, 1945, when the group's B-17G Flying Fortress crashed into a mountain on the Isle of Man. The plane never reached its destination after taking off from an airbase in England during World War II, news agency SWNS reported. The tragedy remains the deadliest aviation disaster in the island's history, the same source noted. In 2010, a local metal detectorist discovered Gray's dog tag. The detectorist turned it over to the Manx Aviation and Military Museum, where it was kept safe for years. The tag's return only became possible when Donald Madar, whose great-uncle also died in the crash, made a personal pilgrimage to the crash site this April from his home in Pennsylvania. Madar had been connected to Gray's family since 2020, when Gray's great-niece, Clare Quinn, reached out to him through a Facebook group about the crash. "Something stuck out about the name." "When I was visiting and holding the tag, something stuck out about the name and I remembered the post she had written five years ago," Madar recalled. "She asked about Joseph and told us all about him in a post she uploaded," he added, referring to Clare Quinn. "I then reached out to her. That was where we came up with the plan to return it home through her sister," Madar said. While on the Isle of Man, Madar met with a museum historian, Ivor Ramsden, who handed him the tag along with a personal letter to deliver to Gray's family. The final handoff took place on May 7, when Madar drove 40 minutes to the Brickville House Restaurant in Pennsylvania. "I could see the emotion rush into her - her eyes began to tear up," Madar said about the moment he passed the tag to Bridgette Daily, Clare Quinn's sister. "I could tell it was so important for her family that they took possession of a piece of their history," Madar said. "It was a beautiful day. The sun was shining," he recalled. "We went in blind as we hadn't shared images of each other as we were talking over email," said Madar. "We sat down and talked about the event, the history, and of course, Joseph," he said. "It was great to get to know him through her stories." "I built the moment up, only revealing the letter when I thought it was the right time - it was a wonderful moment," said Madar. Madar said he is "thankful" to the Manx Aviation and Military Museum for helping to make the transfer happen.
Washington Post
5 hours ago
- Washington Post
Solidarity and dismay in a neighborhood on the edge of the L.A. protests
LOS ANGELES — In Little Tokyo, a five-block neighborhood east of downtown that is among the country's largest Japanese American enclaves, news often gets delivered and shared at the century-old koban. It's a community security office similar to those in Japan, housed in a former police substation and named after a local hero from World War II.
