This picture was taken on a pier in Biloxi, Mississippi during June 1942.
My journey to find out who my grandfather was began with his stamp collection that was presented to me in August of 2014. It had remained in the same place in my Grandparent’s house since his death in 1969. I was then blessed with finding a trove of letters that he had written to my Grandmother, who was affectionately known to the family as “Bagaw”. Bagaw got her name from me because as a youngster, I couldn’t say “Grandmaw”. I was blessed to have Bagaw for 33 years, and she doted on me as the first born grandchild just as she had doted on my dad, her first born. For me there was always something missing in that relationship, and that was the relationship with my Grandfather. He passed away a little over a year before I was born.
I spent the better part of the last year working on getting to know him through the stamps he collected, the letters he wrote, and the newspaper clippings where he was mentioned. Those items along with some personal conversations with men and women who knew him have come together to the point that I was able to write a biography of the first 30 years of his life. The book is titled, “The Grandfather I Never Knew: The Early Years – 1915 to 1945” and is now available on Amazon.com.
I hope you enjoy reading this book as much as I enjoyed writing it and learning about my Grandfather.