ROWLESBURG — Eighty-year-old Alan C. Joy and his wife Maureen drove 704 miles from Lyman, Maine, to Rowlesburg to donate his grandfather Sgt. Clark Bohon’s medals.
Joy donated the framed medals to the World War II Museum, on the third floor of the Szilagyi Center in Rowlesburg.
Bohon was born in Rowlesburg on Aug. 18, 1880. He enlisted in the Coastal Artillery in Maryland on Sept. 17, 1904.
“He would have wanted them to come back to Rowlesburg,” Joy said. “He would be happy they are there.”
Included in the display are Bohon’s World War I Victory Medal, the Croix De Guerre France medal and the Fourragere.
Shirley Hartley, secretary of the Rowlesburg Revitalization Committee, said the medals are a wonderful addition to the museum.
Although many of the items in the museum were purchased, Hartley said veterans from around the state have donated uniforms, arms and personal items for the displays.
The hallway to the museum is lined with the photos of more than 600 Preston County veterans. Hartley said what started as two walls of photos has expanded into six.
Joy said until donated, his grandfather’s medals hung on his living room wall. He said he was very proud of his grandfather.
“When I was a kid I used to check out his medals all the time and read about what they were for,” he said. “My grandfather was very nice to me when I was young. He was my buddy.”
Joy said his grandfather was among a group of soldiers selected to be part of a special sharpshooter group. He said the group came under the direct command of Gen. John Joseph Pershing.
“My two grandfathers taught me a lot of things. I’m something of a marksman myself,” Joy said. “I didn’t get to join the Army because I was injured playing hockey in high school.”
He said one of the most enjoyable stories his grandfather told him was about how he met his wife, Elizabeth Eileen Glass.
“My grandfather said he was walking down a street in Rhode Island and he saw this lady on her way to church,” Joy said. “The next Sunday he said he followed her into church and sat down beside her. That’s how he met his wife, my grandmother.”
