WWI Veteran Laid to Rest
Luna City First Methodist Church
From the Karnesville Weekly Beacon – By Katherine Heisel, Staff Writer
A brief memorial service was held last Saturday at the First Methodist Church of Luna City, to honor LCpl. Michael Delaney Walters, USMC, late of Marlton, New Jersey. LCpl. Walters was a survivor of the horrific battle for Belleau Wood, and badly wounded in later fighting along the Asine-Marne front. Disabled, with a disfiguring facial scar, and eventually homeless, he lived for a brief time in a makeshift encampment on the outskirts of Luna City in 1935, before succumbing to exposure during severe winter weather early in 1936. It has long been assumed locally that his presence in Luna City gave rise to the legend of the ‘Scar-Faced Tramp.’ His remains were discovered last fall during the early stages of construction of expanded recreational facilities at Mills Farm. Over subsequent months, he was identified through painstaking efforts by members of Luna City’s VFW post, and frequent visitor to Luna City, Allen Lee Mayne, host of the popular Food Network series Ala Carte with Quartermayne.
Following the service, conducted by the Reverend Peter Dawkins, senior minister at First Methodist, LCpl. Walters was interred with full military honors in the Luna City Municipal Cemetery, in a procession led by members of the Luna City Volunteer Fire Department, and representatives of the Luna City Police Department. The honor guard was made up of members of the Karnes Company Historical Reenactors group. The Mighty Fighting Moths Marching Band performed the Marine Corps Hymn, and other suitable selections, including the hymn, “Eternal Father, Strong to Save,” and the “Washington Post March.” Chief among the mourners were the family of Mavis Harrison, of Toledo, Ohio, LCpl. Walter’s grand-niece. Costs for burial, and a memorial headstone were met by funds raised by local Boy Scout Robert A. Walcott, as his Eagle Scout project, and a donation of services by the owners of Rhodes Funeral Home, of Karnesville.
I saw a comment from you on Instapundit today about being temporarily in the hospital so I thought I’d drop over here and say that I just started reading your Luna City Chronicles and have been enjoying them immensely. Since I’m reading on a Kindle I can’t physically see when the book is about to end so I was shocked as the second one ended — oh no! already? Even though obviously the plot had wrapped up. At any rate this has been a complicated summer for me and the books have been a nice way to relax. And I’ve got more to go!
Hi, Jane – glad you are enjoying them! I am writing them intending them to be a diversion, an entertainment for readers; a safe space, if you will. If you are only up to book 2, then you have four more to go — and I will have the seventh out by late fall.
I am fine – I was only overnight at the hospital this weekend for a sleep study – to make certain that I don’t have sleep apnea, which would complicate a mild chronic condition.