Page 142 - Anthology

I was born in 1923 in Frankfort, Kentucky. When I was five, my family moved to Boyle County to live on a
big farm. But I went to school in Mercer County.

My father worked on some of the big tobacco farms. I remember that one farm was in Woodford County
and it had over eight hundred acres with at least a hundred acres of tobacco. As a young man I helped
with the farming, including the tobacco. I did whatever there was to do. It was hard work, but what else
could I do? We had our own garden and fruit trees. We also had milk cows and later on my dad bought
beef cows.

I have one sister. She is 93 now and lives in Bardstown. She makes all the costumes for the Stephen
Foster Story plays. We stay in touch four or five times a year. My wife lives nearby here and comes to
visit often. She keeps an eye on me. She brings me food and all that stuff.

Photo courtesy of Luke B. Salyers, Jr.

The Stephen Foster Story is a show about the life of America's first composer, Stephen Collins Foster.
The performance takes place in My Old Kentucky Home State Park at the J. Dan Talbot Amphitheatre.
The grounds on which the theatre lies once belonged to the Rowan family, who were cousins of Stephen
Foster, and is home to Federal Hill, the plantation house that inspired the state song - My Old Kentucky
Home.

I was nineteen when I decided to volunteer for the Navy. My parents didn’t like it much. They were
worried about me and they were losing a farm hand. My daddy was in the Navy and served in WWI as a
fireman on troop ships; he loaded coal into the boiler for the steam engines, he served on the troop ships
going over and back taking our troops to war. His service in the navy is one reason why I picked the
Navy to join. Plus, I just liked the Navy better than the Army. I didn’t want to march and be in the mud,
and the Navy fed us three hot meals a day – no C-Rations.

After basic training, I was sent to Naval Amphibious Training Base Fort Pierce, Florida. We were trained
on ships that had landing craft. Each ship had four landing craft that could move people and supplies.
After Florida we went to Norfolk, Virginia, for training on Amphibious Personnel Destroyers (APD). I was
assigned to the U.S.S. Scribner (APD122). The Scribner received one battle star for World War II
service. We were a RECON outfit. We went through the Panama Canal on our way to the Pacific.