63 years later, closure for family
A name on a WWII memorial reunites a family separated by time.
By BETH N. GRAY
Published June 25, 2007
SPRING HILL - Melba Ward of Istachatta, writing a history of that tiny eastern Hernando community, recently uncovered a family gem. On Friday, her extended family gathered to celebrate her find.
Willis Homer Hawkins, born in Istachatta and educated through eighth grade in Brooksville schools, enlisted as a private in the Army in World War II. He was serving with the 3rd Recon Troop, 3rd Division, in France when he was killed in November 1944.
Hawkins was awarded a Purple Heart and was buried at Epimal, France, in what Ward said is a huge cemetery for Allied war dead.
Hawkins' name is inscribed, along with 14 others, on a memorial monument, placed about two years ago at Chocachatti Elementary School. A veterans garden in front of the school holds 15 trees, plus assorted rose bushes, planted in their memory.
The Hawkins family, which has scattered far beyond the Hernando County borders over the years, did not know that one of their own was on the memorial at the time of its installation.
Not until cousin Melba Ward unearthed a newspaper article noting the occasion.
She shared her find with Doretha Strickland of Bushnell, a niece of the fallen soldier. Strickland, 60, took action. In just two weeks she put together a family memorial service.
"There was never closure, " she explained.
Ward, 62, said she started on the family's genealogy in 1991. She knew through an aunt that a family member had died in France. Another relative had found and photographed Hawkins' headstone at Epimal.
As further confirmation, Ward tapped into the Internet and learned more details about the enlistee.
Willis Hawkins has three siblings: Essie Peters, 94, of Inverness, who is Strickland's mother; Hugh Hawkins, 84, of Bushnell; and Donald Hawkins, 75, of Brandon.
Hawkins left two daughters, 9 months of age and 21/2 years, when he was killed. The sisters, now Margaret Ann Presley of Crestview and Ruth Patterson of Amiston, Ala., were raised by their grandmother.
On Friday, the far-flung family had a bittersweet reunion on the grounds at Chocachatti. Strickland called it "a crying good time."
In addition to a thanks to all veterans, the family placed a flag at the memorial and, with the school's permission, planted a rose bush.
Willis Hawkins' brother, Hugh, who raises roses, provided a bush of the Squire variety that he originally planted at his home in 1955 and has since propagated. The memorial perennial was transplanted from Strickland's landscape.
"I am thrilled to death, " Strickland said.
Beth N. Gray can be reached at graybethn@earthlink.net.