pages of history
Long-Lost Letter
Just weeks before an Army private died in combat during World War II, he penned a letter to his newborn daughter. That letter finally reached his daughter nearly 70 years later.
Pfc. John Eddington, USA, was preparing to depart for Europe when he received word his wife had given birth to a daughter. He quickly penned a loving three-page letter to his baby girl, but she never received it. Eddington died in combat in Italy just three weeks later, in June 1944.
In September 2013, nearly 70 years later, Peggy Eddington-Smith finally received her father’s letter, along with his Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and other items. The memorabilia inexplicably had ended up in an attic box in Arnold, Mo., where, 14 years ago, Donna Gregory of St. Louis found it as she helped her husband clean out his grandparents’ home. Gregory spent the ensuing years trying to locate Eddington-Smith. She finally succeeded thanks to Facebook.
During a tear-filled ceremony before an honor guard of veterans in Dayton, Nev., Gregory read the letter Eddington had written to his daughter. “I love you so very much,” the soldier wrote. “Your mother and daddy are going to give you everything we can. We will always give you all the love we have.” He closed the letter with, “I love you with all my heart and soul forever. Your loving daddy.”
The letter and medals helped bring closure to Eddington-Smith, who knew almost nothing about her father because her mother found his death too difficult to discuss. “He poured out his heart to me, and a lot of men don’t put that kind of emotion in writing,” she told reporters during the ceremony. “I’m just overwhelmed by everything, trying to absorb everything.”
Mercury 7 Astronaut Dies
Cmdr. M. Scott Carpenter, a retired Navy pilot and one of the last surviving Mercury 7 astronauts, died Oct. 10, 2013, in Denver, at the age of 88. He was the second American to orbit the Earth, a feat he accomplished May 24, 1962. But the mission was plagued with problems, some brought on by Carpenter’s unwillingness to follow directions from Mission Control, NASA officials later alleged. Carpenter’s capsule splashed down 250 nautical miles from the designated landing point, and Americans spent several tense minutes wondering whether he had survived.
Carpenter became a naval aviation cadet in 1943, but World War II ended before he was able to fly. He received a Navy commission in 1949 and flew patrol missions in the Pacific during the Korean War. John Glenn is now the only surviving Mercury 7 member.
MO
— Don Vaughan, a North Carolina-based freelance writer, authors this monthly column.
History Lesson
On Jan. 29, 1916, during World War I, the first aerial bombings of Paris by German Zeppelins took place.
JANUARY 2014 MILITARY OFFICER 79
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92