Walter Bly

The first member of my family to serve in the American military was Francis Dezarn in 1776. He was an immigrant from Prussia, I think. The last to die in war was Walter Bly, the adopted son of my great-uncle, Frank Dezarn.  Frank, Peg and Walter lived around the corner from us in Compton. The military trained Walter as a pilot, and he went down over an island in the South Pacific. I was probably six or seven when that happened. 

Frank and Peg made me, my brother and sister their heirs.

I was too young to remember Walter Bly well, but now--at 85--I might be the only person alive who remembers him at all.

Memorial Day, 2020