Living History

We have a friend at our church that we enjoy talking to. Miss Essie is one of the founding members of Bayview Baptist Church. Her husband was a full commander during World War 2, and he and Miss Essie became good friends of General and Mrs. Douglas MacArthur. In Joel's history class we have been studying some famous Americans, including Gen. MacArthur. It has been thrilling for Joel to hear Miss Essie, well into her nineties, talk about the MacArthurs. After the war Essie's husband went into semiretirement with the navy and resumed his pre-war civilian job with CocaCola. CocaCola sent him to Japan to sell Coke to the servicemen there. Miss Essie says that "we were treated like royalty in Japan," and they spent much time with the MacArthurs who were also there at the time. When they moved to Guam later, they brought the MacArthurs' dog with them. They regularly watched their dog for them. Now that's what I call "living history."

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