Museum Hopes You Remember Forgotten Heroes

By: Chris Cato | News Channel 7
Published: August 28, 2009

The Cherokee County History & Arts Museum is looking for some links to the past. And it hopes that link is you.

The museum has started an effort to find out more about military members from Cherokee County who died while serving this country, especially from World Wars I and II.

"We know a lot about our veterans who have served in more recent wars, but there are some who died in earlier conflicts and all we know are their names," said museum director Billy Pennington.

Pennington is beginning his research with the 179 names etched on the county's veterans memorial in front of the county administration building. He says in some cases, the names are the only record of the service members - especially those who were killed in World War I. Others have a spotty history. For instance, L.J. Thompson was a Navy member who died in 1918 when the USS Ticonderoga was sunk by a German U-boat. But the museum does not know what his first initials stand for or anything else about him.

"We would love to have photographs, but more than that - we want to know where they lived, where they went to school, who they're related to - a full picture of their lives," says Pennington.

The former Gaffney High School history teacher hopes to compile the information in a book that could be passed down for generations. A few years ago, he had his students interview veterans of Vietnam and World War II and compiled those stories into books.

"When you study their lives, you really start to understand history and understand that these people were not so different from us," says Pennington. "And when we understand what they lived through, we can make better choices about what we're doing now."www.cherokeecountyhistory.org

If you have a relative who lived in Cherokee County and died while serving our country, call the museum at (864) 489-3988 or email them through their website www.cherokeecountyhistory.org.

Click on the video tab above to see Chris Cato's story on the search for these forgotten heroes.