This iconic photo won the Pulitzer Prize in 1944. It was shot by Earle "Buddy" Bunker of the Omaha World-Herald at the train station in Villisca, Iowa, where my mother lives.
The soldier in the photo is Bob Moore. My mother worked for Bob and his brother Bill at the drugstore one summer. She tells me, "...but I kept asking for time off to go to Methodist youth meetings (I was a conference and district officer). They got awfully irritated, especially Bill. He did not like me using four scoops instead of three for the malts and milkshakes, either."
I think it is pretty cool to have family connections to such a famous photograph.
A lot of people in Villisca get annoyed because Villisca's other claim to fame is that it is the site of a 1912 ax murder, Iowa's most notorious unsolved crime. If Villisca gets any attention at all, it is usually because of the ax murder. An award-winning documentary was recently produced on this subject.
Ironically, five of the victims of the ax murder were members of the Moore family, close relatives of the WWII hero in the above photo. (The other two victims were distant relatives of mine, by marriage.)
Villisca was recently in the news for something really cool, though ~ When that WWII homecoming photo was snapped, Eva Croxdale, mother of the little boy in the photo, was shooting a home video. That video has now turned up in the home of Leyton Croxdale (son of the little boy in the photo) ~ and there is a very interesting article about it here.
My grandmother worked for Dr. Ed Croxdale (Eva's husband) for many years. Dr. Croxdale really liked my grandmother, my mom tells me.
I will try to put the video here on my blog, but I'm not sure I know how to do it. If it doesn't work, please go to the article linked above, and watch the video ~ it is very cool!
Homecoming revisited from GazetteOnline.com on Vimeo.
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