Remember When: Remembering local servicemen

By Guest Columnist Mary Jane Boutwell

Recently, I was a little early at a close neighborhood church, M.T. Hope, so, just passing the time, I walked through part of the cemetery. It was interesting, as I saw gravemarkers of veterans from World War I, World War II, the Korean Conflict and Vietnam. 

This brought to mind several people that I knew or know with service from World War II up to the Taliban Conflict. Very few are family members.
In the past, I have written about Hubert Davis and Harold Tyner. Floyd Davis, a shoe repair man with his shop in the Hollow, went to church with my family. He served in the South Pacific. I am not sure if the medical profession recognized post traumatic stress disorder following World War II, but he would have been a classic example. He was in foxholes when the enemy would charge at night using knives to slice and kill.

A lot of former students at Canton Academy would remember Lynn Castons, the custodian, for years. He was in the Navy and served in the North Atlantic protecting the shipping lanes. His story was about being ordered to de-ice the ship’s rigging. It was cold, hard, dangerous work that the sailors were almost passive about performing. While de-icing one day, they saw another ship, with the ice weight making it unstable, turn turtle (capsize), with the loss of everyone on board. 

J.B. Yeates, a Chinese immigrant, served in World War II, also. It was told that, when he enlisted, he said, “This country has been good to me. I will help protect it.” 

Robert Peterson served and was killed in Vietnam. 

Charles and Gerri Leon met during their military service and raised their family in the neighborhood. A family story says an uncle was on his way by bus to serve when World War II was declared over. The bus turned around and took them home. Soldier Colony was so named because farms were sold to veterans after the war. Old Yazoo City Road was lined with farms owned by Veterans like LL Lynch, Leo Lynch, and George Heindel. Those are just the few names that come to mind. 

If there is a point to this, it is the lack of recognition of past and present service officers that keep you and me safe. We recently recognized Memorial Day. I normally go to the courthouse War Memorial and read each name. A thank you and a prayer pretty much concludes my tribute. I have also considered going out to the Canton Cemetery, walking around, and saying thank you to the individuals and their families.

EDITOR’S NOTE: Mary Jane Boutwell is a passionate historian and is thrilled to share stories about “way back when.”