Some readers of Leora’s Letters: The Story of Love and Loss for an Iowa Family During World War II have asked how to find the Wilson stones in Violet Hill Cemetery.
They are in the east section. As you turn north on the street that divides the cemetery, take the first right, through the arch with the name.
Take the first left, follow that north to where the street divides. Stay to the right.
The three stones are near the largest evergreen tree here.You’ll enter Violet Hill from the right, take the first left and follow around the curve to the right. The Wilson stones are among those evergreens at the left in the photo.A closer view, among the evergreens in the middle.The three stones are underlined in blue.Leora Wilson arranging flowers at the family stones for Memorial Day. The one to the right is a cenotaph for her sons Dale and Daniel, who both lost their lives in combat during WWII. Danny is buried at the Lorraine American Cemetery, St. Avold, France. Only God knows where Dale’s remains lie His name is memorialized on the Wall of the Missing at the Manila American Cemetery in the Philippines..Junior Wilson was killed in training when the engine of his P-40 threw a rod during formation training. He was the first in the family to be buried in Perry’s Violet Hill Cemetery.Updated information on the cenotaph for Dale and Daniel Wilson, making clear that they were both combat casualties.The back of the tombstone of Clabe and Leora Wilson. When Doris and Darlene added information to their brothers’ stones, they also added the name of the ten Wilson children to the back of their parents’ stone. The oldest seven grew up together. Jack, Jean, and Marilyn died as children. They are buried at Union Cemetery, Guthrie Center, Iowa, in the Goff burial plot.
Twice in my life I have lived “next door” to a cemetery. I also like discovering very old cemeteries on joke is the woods. I get a similar feeling from old battlefields.
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My only battlefields have been Gettysburg, Normandy, and where the Lorraine American Cemetery is at St. Avold, France. I know the feeling.
Thank you, GP. “Leora’s Letters” is being made into an audiobook. Even the narrator and recorder/editor have had an emotional week, and listening to it is even more powerful. (I’ll be recording the front and back sections this week.) They’ll never be forgotten.
[…] family always took homegrown flowers to Perry’s Violet Hill Cemetery, to honor the three Wilson brothers who lost their lives during WWII. Only Junior, the youngest son […]
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Nice post, Joy. I often find cemeteries quite beautiful in a moving sort of way. Peaceful, quiet, and a place of communion.
I do too. Did you visit them as a child? I wondered whether it was because of our Memorial Day ritual, and of course genealogy.
Twice in my life I have lived “next door” to a cemetery. I also like discovering very old cemeteries on joke is the woods. I get a similar feeling from old battlefields.
My only battlefields have been Gettysburg, Normandy, and where the Lorraine American Cemetery is at St. Avold, France. I know the feeling.
I feel the same way about cemeteries.
Even after all this time, their loss is felt. Beautiful stones, Joy.
Thank you, GP. “Leora’s Letters” is being made into an audiobook. Even the narrator and recorder/editor have had an emotional week, and listening to it is even more powerful. (I’ll be recording the front and back sections this week.) They’ll never be forgotten.
YOU DID IT!!
Are the headstones of native stone? They’re very beautiful.
I don’t know, but the company is still in business.
[…] family always took homegrown flowers to Perry’s Violet Hill Cemetery, to honor the three Wilson brothers who lost their lives during WWII. Only Junior, the youngest son […]
Beautiful stones! Our hearts remember the sacrifice of these brave souls.
There is something so very beautiful about bringing home grown flowers from your own garden. It is very personal, a gift sown with love.