The book has been battered and tattered by the passage of more than 60 the years, but the men and women pictured on its pages are still young and filled with life, frozen in time.
They were from all over Kentucky: Lexington and Louisville, Pikeville and Paducah, Benham and Biscuit, Richmond and Riceville, Van Lear and Verda, Zerkes and Zelda. The one thing they had in common was that when World War II engulfed America in 1941, they all put aside their civilian hopes and dreams, donned uniforms, and went off to serve their country in distant and dangerous corners of the world.
The book, Patriots of Kentucky, World War II, shows many, but not all, of the Kentuckians who served in the war. There's a small photograph and a biographical sketch of each, listed by hometown. There are more than 400 pages in all.
Lexington's Billye Peeples, whose father, William Morrow of Lynch, acquired the book after he came home from the war, has looked through the volume many times, always wondering about its origin. Her father, now 88, no longer remembers how he got it.
But, with Veterans Day approaching, Peeples decided to make some inquiries. Turns out it was a wise move. Turns out it's a rare book.
"There are only maybe three copies that I know of, all in the collections of various libraries around the state,' says John Trowbridge, a historian with the Kentucky National Guard. "There's one copy, I believe, in the special collections of the Kentucky Historical Society. It was pretty much a limited edition kind of thing from the beginning, so there are very few copies of this thing around."
According to Trowbridge and information on the Kentucky Historical Society Web site, Patriots of Kentucky was published after the war, sometime in the 1940s, by American Publishers of Atlanta.
Just how many copies were printed is unknown. Trowbridge doesn't know whether the book was sold on the commercial market or offered directly to veterans and their families. The book apparently was planned initially as a listing of Kentucky casualties from the war. It was expanded as families began sending the publishers information about living war veterans, he said.
"From what I understand, families started submitting photographs and little bios and so forth, and that's where it got started," Trowbridge said. "I would still say that the majority of the folks in there are Kentucky casualties from the war."
While the book does not list every Kentuckian who served in the war, it still has historical importance, Trowbridge said. For example, the first 22 pages of the book are devoted to African-Americans. Trowbridge noted that the U.S. military was still strictly segregated during World War II.
Billye Peeples said her father, a retired coal miner, talked little about his war service. His photograph allowed her to see him as he looked as a young man in a new uniform, ready for service with the Army Signal Corps. That's just part of the book's magic, she said.
Recently, Peeples helped a friend find her own father's picture.
"After that, I just got more curious about it and where it came from," she said.
Trowbridge calls Patriots of Kentucky a "very rare publication" that should be preserved. He said he hopes Peeples will take care of her copy, and at some point consider donating it to a library or other facility where it would be available for researchers.
Peeples wants to have the book rebound, preserving its cover featuring an embossed image of an American eagle.
"I really would like to see it available to other Kentuckians who want to know about their parents in the war or about their ancestry," she said. "It's sad that we are losing so many from the war generation every day.
"I'm proud of what my father did, and all of the other young men and women who served in the war. I feel like we all should stand up and tell them, 'Thank you all for a job well done.'"
Veterans Day closings
Here are services that might be affected by the Veterans Day holiday on Thursday:
Lexington government: All city offices open regular hours
State government: Most offices closed. (Offices also will be closed Friday, one of six furlough days for state workers.)
Courts: Federal, circuit and district courts closed
Postal Service: No home delivery
Libraries: Open regular hours. (All branches will be closed Friday for staff development.)
Health department: Open regular hours
LexTran: Regular hours
Garbage: Regular city pickup
Here are services that might be affected by the Veterans Day holiday on Thursday:
Lexington Government: All city offices open regular hours
State Government: Most offices closed Thursday and Friday, one of six furlough days for state workers
Courts: Federal, circuit and district courts closed Thursday
Postal Service: No home delivery Thursday
Libraries: Open regular hours Thursday, but all branches will be closed Friday for staff development
Health department: Open regular hours Thursday
LexTran: Regular hours Thursday
Garbage: Regular city garbage pickup
