Larry Skarsten Yeah, I know, Memorial Day was last month. So why the cover of a B-17 Memorial on June’s issue? On Memorial Day, my son and I made the journey to visit this site in Palmersville and felt moved to share this story. A small piece of WWII history was made, at this location, here in Weakley County. Look to the back pages for their story, an amazing piece of local history that’s worth remembering. The City of Gleason, local businesses, families, friends and community Larry Skarsten showed support for the 2020 Senior Parade on pages 4 & 5. A big Publisher CONGRATULATIONS to Tristen Trevathan, DMS Middle School Basket- ball Program, Be the Village, West TN Hope Outreach and Jamie Hwy 54 Media Co. Summers! See page 6 to see what's going on. PO Box 244 • Dresden Not only is this a time to celebrate our 2020 Seniors and Senior- Athletes on page 9, let us not forget some future leaders of Weakley 731-514-8203 | Fax: 888-777-8546 County, the Greenfield Kindergarten Class of 2020. Enjoy pages 10 & 11. Special thanks to all Facebook Groups for sharing this month due [email protected] | Hwy54Media.com to a few temporary COVID-19 adjustments. Happy Father’s Day to all celebrating and especially to my dear olé dad, father in-law Al and all dad friends. Sometimes it does take a village. - LS May 16th, 2020 The City of Gleason, local businesses, families, friends and community show support, making the 2020 Senior Parade an awesome memory for the seniors! pg 4 | Weakley County Neighbors • June 2020 Pictures curtesy of Dawg Dialog Facebook Page Gleason High Parade • June 2020 | pg 5 Tristen Trevathan of Dresden has been awarded The 2020 Elks National Foundation Legacy Award. The grant is for $1,000 a year for four-years, the total grant is $4,000. The annual scholarship is available to college-bound, high school seniors who are children and grandchildren of Elks members. Recipients are chosen based on those who exhibit the core values of the Elks National Foundation: knowledge; charity, community, and integrity. Trevathan was one of four Tennessee recipients. She is the daughter of Richard and Kelley Trevathan of Dresden and plans to attend UT Martin this fall to major in Art Education. DRESDEN MIDDLE SCHOOL BASKETBALL PROGRAM WEST TENNESSEE HOPE OUTREACH — The Dresden Elks Lodge Dresden Elks Lodge members Gary Eddings Jr. and recently presented a $1,000 donation to the non-profit organization Judge Tommy Moore presented a $500 donation to Hope Outreach Women and Children’s Center of West Tennessee. DMS girls’ basketball coach Rhiannon Coleman to help Pictured (from left) West TN Hope Outreach representative Don purchase basketballs. Edwards, Elks Lodge member Gary Eddings, Heather McPeak, Elks Lodge member Tommy Moore, Hope representative Rufus McPeak and Michelle Jones . BE THE VILLAGE — Dresden Elks Lodge members Gary Eddings & Judge Tommy Moore presented a $1,000 donation to Be the Village officers Kayla Dyer, vice president; Sandra Taylor, president; and Melesa Lassiter, reporter. “The Elks work hard to bring monies directly to our community. We are the extra helping hand to those organizations that helps our community become stronger. If you are interested in being a member and enjoy helping your community. Contact me today! We are always looking for great members.” - Gary Eddings Emergency Management Agency Employee of the Year! - Congratulations Mr. Jamie Summers as EMA Employee of the Year for 2020! Most people know Mr. Summers as the Chief of the Martin Fire Depart- ment, but he is also the Deputy Director of the Weakley County Emergency Management Agency as well. Mr. Summers has been an indispensable asset to Weakley County throughout the years, recently playing an integral role in renewing the County's Hazard Mitigation Plan, and assisting in damage assessments within the Martin area during the January tornado, and May 3-4 storms. Mr. Summers also assists in the maintenance and deploy- ment of EMA's cascade/rehab equipment that is used by Fire Departments across Weakley County. Deputy Director Jamie Summers, you reflect great credit upon yourself, and the Weakley County Emergency Management Agency! Your selfless acts, impeccable integrity, and dedication to the citizens of Weakley County are an inspiration to us all! Story courtesy of Weakley County EMA Facebook page. pg 6 | Weakley County Neighbors • June 2020 Weakley County Neighbors Magazine • June 2020 | pg 7 In an effort to comply with local, state and The National Golf Course Superintendent Association of America’s guidelines, the Weakley County Sports Hall of Fame has postponed the inaugural golf scramble once again. The hopes of the WCSHOF is to still conduct the event, and it will be held June 25th, at Persimmon Hills Golf Course in Sharon, TN. Tee off will be at 12 pm. Executive Director John Hatler said, “Our hopes are to provide an opportunity to celebrate the creation of the hall in June. This event is to help raise funds for our scholarships for eight student-athletes in Weakley County through the golf scramble.” One mission of the WCSHOF is to sponsor a $1,000 scholarship to a female and male student athlete from each of the four county high schools. “The board is working to put together a plan for the upcoming year. Obviously, the first induction class and banquet need to be celebrated. Like everyone, we are working to figure things out in these unprecedented times.” Hatler said. The original plans called for the inaugural class to be announced at the golf scramble in April, with the banquet in August. Hatler said he does not want to announce a first class, without a proper banquet date, time and place to celebrate the inductees, and board is working on plan. A full board meeting is scheduled, via Zoom, in the coming weeks. Information and a sign-up sheet for the golf scramble can be found on the Hall of Fame website www.weakleycountysportshof.com pg 8 | Weakley County Hall of Fame • June 2020 Chloe Moore-McNeil of Greenfield Rachel Childress of Dresden signed signed with the University of Indiana with Bethel College in McKenzie playing basketball. playing basketball. Olivia Dilday of Westview signed with The Bethel University Cheer program Tess Darby of Greenfield signed with the University of Tennessee playing basketball. Kenady Atkins of Gleason Dawson Arnold of Gleason signed with Freed Hardeman signed with the College of University to play basketball. Wooster in Ohio to play football. Weakley County Neighbors Magazine • June 2020 | pg 9 pg 10 | Greenfield Kindergarten Class of 2020 • June 2020 Weakley County Neighbors • June 2020 | pg 11 Sunday, September 5th, 1943 during WWII a Army B-17 Bomber crashed between Palm- ersville and Latham, Tennessee, resulting in the loss of seven airman’s lives. The crew, consisting of ten Army airmen, who were fly- ing out of the Dyersburg Army Air Base close to Halls, TN in route to Gulfport Mississippi became lost just after takeoff. Fifty miles off course, in the opposite direction that it was first charted. While flying over the northern part of Weakley county, local witnesses stat- ed the plane suddenly exploded midair over the Palmersville and Latham Obion River bottoms. Mr. Hugh Brann of Palmersville, who was only twelve years old at the time said he wit- nessed the plane falling while riding his bicy- cle with friends west of Palmersville. He said “the plane just seemed to come apart as it flew over them ” and said he could hear it as it fell from the sky, in what he describes to have been approximately five miles north- west of Palmersville. According to the Dresden Enterprise others in the Latham and Palmersville area had also witnessed the plane catch fire and explode and that it had been scattered over a large area between the two towns. And stated some of the wreckage came to rest on, at the time, the Wilkinson, Stowe and Bondurant farms. According to June Kay Kemp of Cottage Grove, TN three men had parachut- ed from the plane, Co- pilot Second Lieut. Leonard J. Morence of South Bend, Indiana; Bombardier, Second Lieut. Andrew G. Kohihof of Floral Park, New York and Sergeant Clyde Mullins of Praise, Ken- tucky and had survived the horrific crash. According to Kemp those who died in the crash are as follows: Second Lieut. Harry N. Anderson, age 24 from West Palm Beach, Florida; Second Lieut. John A. Stinson, a navigator from Houston, Texas; Sergent Donald A. Gooder,assistant engineer from Wilder, Idaho; Sergent Clement J Finai, assistant radio operator from Brook- lyn, New York; Sergeant O. Raymond French, gunner from Sayre, Oklahoma; Sergent Garland F. Nincehelser gunner from Peru, Nebraska and Staff Sergt. Milton Gresfield, an engineer from New York City, New York. pg 12 | Weakley County Neighbors • June 2020 The newspaper also stated, that one of the surviving airmen told a resident in the area of the plane being off course. And at the time of the crash, he thought they were flying over part of Mississippi but was told he was in fact in Weakley County, Tennessee. The newspaper reported in their September 24th, 1943 issue of the massive amount of equipment that had been brought into Weakley County by the Army to salvage the wreckage. And how the Army had posted guards around the area of the crash for weeks while the cleanup was completed. Mr. Harold Reynolds of Palmersville states he remembers seeing the large equipment coming through town that year and tells about the B-17 crash of 1943. To this day, people, while hunting or logging in the bottoms, tell of finding parts of the plane scattered through- out the woods of the Palmersville and Latham North Fork of the Obion River bottoms.