This is not my family but it seemed like an excellent item to archive to the list for Veteran's Day. Susan On Monday, November 11, 2013, Veteran's Day, on the front page, in the Detroit (Michigan) News... WWII Letters Find Their Way Home by: Neal Rubin It was 70 years ago, in the middle of World War II, that Glenn Husted sat down at a typewriter and first made his contribution to the cause. The date was Nov. 6, 1943. In the Solomon Islands, the Marines had just landed on Bougainville. In Ukraine, the Red Army liberated Kiev. In Sylvan Lake, Husted let himself into Daniel Whitfield School and composed a letter. "Dear Joe," the principal began. He was typing with his left hand; his right had been crippled by childhood polio. "Don't throw this away until I explain, he continued - and that explanation launched a story whose ending still hasn't been written. It's a tale that extends to Europe and the South Pacific, where Husted's former students were fighting in every branch of the service. Ane it's one that has returned, on this Veterans Day, to Husted's former house overlooking Sylvan Lake. ~~ the article goes on to tell more of the story but I am cutting to only the Coates entries ~~ Former students remember him for more than dicipline. Jim COATES, 86, who lives just outside Clarkston, still laughs about the time the kids persuaded Husted to swing a bat on the playground and he whacked a baseball through a window. Husted happened to be watching the day COATES, on safety patrol, tackled a boy named Red who had been throwing rocks at him. Husted gave COATES three emphatic swats - not for the tackle, but for ignoring his duty. "I learned my lesson," COATES says, "Whatever your respnsibility is, you're supposed to do what you're supposed to do." At 17, COATES joined the Navy, cajoling his father to sign the paperwork after his mother refused. His father, Proctor, a telephone expert, was already in the Army; he landed at Okinawa. COATES' older brother, Harold, earned a Bronze Star and a pair of Purple Hearts in Europe. Some correspondents were regulars, others were sporadic. Jim COATES says he enjoyed receiving the newsletters, but never wrote back; the war ended as he was training to fly. Jim COATES picked up the letters from his father and brother and recognized his dad's textbook penmanship. "It kind of took you back home," he says. In turn, COATES delivered the letters to Harold, who is in faltering health in Florida. Harold, 88, volunteered to spend a year in Germany after the war, helping to rebuild small towns. Later he and his wife adopted two abused children. "He asked me to read them to him. He said his eyes wouldn't let him," Jim says. He was weeping. note - the article included a black and white photograph from WWII of Jim COATES, his father Proctor COATES, and his brother Harold COATES all in their WWII uniforms - all posed together in one picture. A current color photo of Jim COATES, 86 is placed in the lower corner of the b & w family picture. here is a link to the Detroit News site that features the article and photos. According to the paper - Jim (sailor) is on the left, Proctor (Army) in the middle & Harold (Army) on the right. http://www.detroitnews.com/rubin