Five of my g-g-grandfathers, all from the same area of Sharp County, served in the 38th Arkansas Regiment. You'd think that all those old vets living in close proximity would generate some war stories, but the only story my grandpa recalled hearing concerned one of my g-g-grandpas being wounded and captured, and sent to a Federal hospital at Batesville, from which he escaped.

On the other hand, he recalled many vivid stories from the women of the family, about living conditions during the Civil War up around Poughkeepsie. The men were all in the service, so the women had to run the farms themselves. There were shortages of just about everything, and they had to hide what little they had from infrequent Federal patrols and "scavenging Missourians".

Doyle, isn't it odd that three country boys dodging kamikazes a few miles from each other off Okinawa, would produce three sons (Bryan, Doyle and Danny) who would end up as Civil War research buddies?