ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, May 27, 1996 TAG: 9605290016
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-5 EDITION: HOLIDAY
EDITOR'S NOTE: O.C. "Buddy" Proffitt of Pearisburg recalls the following Memorial Day story from a radio broadcast from about 1947 of the Don McNeil breakfast club, a nationally syndicated program that originated in Chicago. "I embellished it some by listing my birth date," Proffitt writes, "and the names are fictitious. I sat down this morning and typed it through tears."
ON JULY 12, 1923, Harriet and Jim experienced the happiest day in their young marriage. Harriet gave birth to a son, a towheaded boy, the most handsome child they had ever seen. They named him Billy.
The following years were happy times. But Harriet soon noticed something peculiar about Billy. When she put him outside for some sun, she noticed little yellow butterflies circling around him. When he grew older and played in the yard, there were the butterflies moving with him as he ran and played.
In 1935, tragedy struck. Jim died from a sudden illness, leaving Harriet the job of raising Billy. Billy was now all she had left, but she raised him with love, and he did well in school. Harriet never forgot when Billy was playing football, and when he dropped back to punt the ball, he was surrounded by little yellow butterflies.
Billy volunteered immediately upon the outbreak of World War II, and was graduated from the Air Force flight school. As he received his wings at graduation, there were the butterflies.
In 1943, the worst day of Harriet's life occurred. Answering a knock at the door, Harriet found an Air Force officer with a telegram that Billy's plane had been shot down, and Billy was missing in action, and presumed dead. Harriet fell into deep depression, and nothing could soothe her pain. Her beloved Billy was gone, and she didn't even have a body to put to rest.
Her depression deepened, and in 1947, her priest told her that a body of an unknown soldier from World War II would be added to the others at Arlington, and perhaps she would derive some comfort from attending the service. She reluctantly agreed, but had second thoughts when she was so far back in the crowd that she could not see anything.
Some unexplained urge inside her made her force herself through the crowd to a point where she could see the service. There, in the bright sunlight, as the president of the United States carried a floral bouquet toward the tomb, her spirits soared and peace came to her heart, as she saw surrounding the tomb a swarm of little yellow butterflies!
LENGTH: Short : 49 linesby CNB