We’ve been having a good time visiting with family and
friends, dancing Slovenian polkas and waltzes, talking with and about local WW
II veterans while doing research for a new book about some of the men from
Minnesota’s Iron Range who became prisoners of the Japanese. Included are photos of bricks dedicated to
the memories of several of these men at the Iron Range Veterans Memorial in
Virginia, Minnesota.
POWs Charles Snyder and Ed Pearsall
Last week Marcia spent a few days with two of her sisters in the Minneapolis area. The St. Paul Pioneer Press published an article about their youngest sister, Barbara, who died as a young child while a resident of a state hospital. You can read about it at:
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Marcia and her sister Jean Hockman looking at Barbara's gravestone
Yesterday we visited with a woman whose brother was in the same army regiment as Steve’s father, Walter. You can read about Constance Cowan receiving her brother’s dog tag, recently found on Corregidor, almost 70 years after his tragic death on the Oryoku Maru. Thanks to our friends at the American Cemetery in Manila, we were able to present her with pictures of her brother’s name (James W. Cowan) on Walls of the Missing. The article was online in the Duluth News-Tribune for one week. The Associated Press picked up the story and deleted all references to the two of us (Steve and Marcia) and Walter. We are grateful to War History Online which reprinted the full story. It can now be read at:
http://www.warhistoryonline.com/war-articles/dog-tags-of-soldier-killed-in-wwii-returned-to-sister-nearly-70-years-later.html
Connie and her cousin Eric Gibson holding photos and dog tag of James Cowan
Cowan James W Pvt 60 CA Regt Minnesota
We will be in central Michigan for the next 10 days and look forward to seeing some of our family and friends while we’re there.
Steve and Marcia, currently off the Rock
