The Sentinel, William after WW-2 210427

      First a little backstory here. If you read the story about William (Joyce’s uncle) you have an idea of who he was, but as Paul Harvey used to say, “Here’s the rest of the story”. When William’s plane was heavily damaged on a bombing run over Munich, Germany he had to parachute out of the plane in the Italian Alps. He was captured in a short time and went into a German prison camp. His family received the news and his mother cried for days. It was not because he was in a POW camp, it was because she knew he would be surviving on sauerkraut. He hated sauerkraut and was forced to eat it when he was a child at home.

      The picture below is William in Italy before he was shot down.

      After release in June of 1945 he returned home and was a changed man. The family was worried about him for a long time. Thay had several nice girls who were looking for husbands and wanted to meet William. William was not interested in nice girls after his year in a POW camp; he had a lot to catch up on and was out for the fast young women to date.

      Here is where the Coral Court Motel comes into the story. The link above is about the Coral Court and its infamous history. It is well worth reading after you finish reading the post. The Coral Court became William’s, let’s call it second home. He spent a lot of time there entertaining the ladies. He was a handsome man and had no problem getting dates. The Coral Court opened in 1942 and lasted until 1995 when it was demolished for a housing development. Joyce and I were visiting Saint Louis to see her mother one weekend When William and his wife Marie (his true love of 38 years and never unfaithful to her) stopped by on a Sunday morning. She had bought a Sunday paper and brought it with them. She was glancing at the paper and saw the story about the Coral Court going to be torn down. She looked at William and asked if he had ever been there? William replied that he didn’t think he had ever been there. He then looked at grandma Mickey and winked his eye at her. After they left, grandma said William had kept that place in business for years after the war. A person could live a lifetime and never know a man like William. I am honored to have met him. He was a bold and fearless man and could always be entertaining. Holiday get-togethers never got rolling until William showed up and then the party started.