The Worthington Times

Worthington, Indiana made the New York Times!

Our little hometown was mentioned in an article by Nina Bernstein called "Still Trying to Bring Their Fallen Heroes Home." The story was published on February 3, 2008 and it might have appeared on the front page of the regional edition.

The story is about identifying and returning the World War II unknown soldiers, sailors, marines and others home, finally, after all these years. In the middle, the author mentions Alfred Livingston's return and burial in the Worthington Cemetery last summer....

Last year a sailor killed at Pearl Harbor in 1941, and buried as an unknown in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in Honolulu, was exhumed, identified as Alfred E. Livingston, and reburied in Worthington, Ind., his hometown.  

Read it and enjoy Alfred's and Worthington's moment in the NYT now because (I could be mistaken) I believe stories on that site are available to the public for a limited time before they move into the archives where one must pay an access fee to read - don't know how long they leave the stories up for free.

Here's a link to the story:

"Still Trying to Bring Their Fallen Heroes Home"
on the New York Times website

Charles McCoy passed away Saturday morning and information on the memorial service has been added in the Obituaries. 

During his grade school years, Charles lived on a farm east of Worthington and he attended the old White School which stood next door to the Union Valley Church of God.

Charles was a local history buff and what a memory he had!  Over the years, he had given many tidbits of information to the Times for the history page.

This past summer, it was Charles who told me about going to school with Alfred Livingston and was able to remember the ditties that Alfred would recite on their walks through the cornfields on the way to school.  He also told about meeting Alfred near the bridge shortly before Alfred left to enter the Navy and then on to Pearl Harbor.  All of these memories from Charles were used in writing the Horatio at the Gate story about Alfred and in other coverage of Alfred's return to Worthington.

Condolences to the McCoy family - Charles and Alta Mary will not be forgotten by those who knew this wonderful couple. 

Of all the military personnel who came to honor Alfred Livingston last Saturday, townspeople especially noticed the women who participated - it was great to see them alongside all of the men.

To the left, two members of the rifle squad that gave the 21-gun salute to Alfred.

Since I could not take pictures during the service, I want to thank those who are sending in their pictures - making this a community effort to provide these memories for us.

The pictures in this post were sent in by Silver Freeman who says he's not much of a photographer.  I disagree, Silver, you did a spectacular job.  Thank you. 

Photos posted below are of the entire rifle squad, the entrance to the cemetery and the procession coming under the flag including a long line of motorcycle riders who made the trip from various locations in Indiana to be there.

All photos in this post
provided by
Silver Freeman

Thank you.

Sometime after Alfred's mother received the telegram (pictured below - it was on display last Saturday at the VFW) that Alfred had been lost, he was buried as an unknown in Hawaii.

Mr. Ray Emory, the man who was able to positively identify Livingston's remains, thus making his return home possible, attended the memorial service and I later was able to speak with him.

Mr. Emory is himself a survivor of the Pearl Harbor attack and for many years, he has been working on identifying these unknowns.  It's a long and tedious process, like putting a puzzle together.

Alfred is the fourth Pearl Harbor unknown that Emory has been able to identify.  He said this work is something that just got hold of him and he can't let it go.  And so after he returns to Hawaii, he'll continue on with hope that he'll be able to identify more of the hundreds of unknowns from the attack.

Mr. Emory shared several pictures from Hawaii with me and so I took pictures of his pictures to share here.

The first of these below is the picture he took of Alfred's grave in Hawaii, marked unknown.  This was the place where Alfred's remains have been all these years.

The next picture below is one I took of Mr. Emory standing with Livingston family members.  On the left is Jerry Price, Mr. Emory is in the center, Ken Livingston stands on the right.

The next two pictures are Mr. Emory's, first of a worker carefully removing sod from Alfred's grave in preparation for his remains to be exhumed, and next of the military pallbearers preparing to carry Alfred out of the cemetery in Hawaii.

Thanks to Mr. Emory for these photos.

Todd Walton and Vern Spoor of Welch & Cornett
after the service for Alfred Livingston

Welch & Cornett Funeral Home in Worthington provided assistance with all of the local arrangements for the memorial service and burial of Alfred Eugene Livingston last Saturday.  Since the news came that Alfred would be coming home, they were busy planning and preparing for his day.  Funeral home directors receive many private thank yous for their services, but they are rarely publicly recognized or thanked for all the things they do.  Now seems like an appropriate time.

Vern Spoor was waiting at the airport for Alfred's arrival and provided his transportation home last Thursday afternoon.  Alfred rested at Welch & Cornett until Navy pallbearers carried him to the Worthington Cemetery. 

Throughout the day and the weeks prior to this event, Welch & Cornett coordinated speakers, events, procedures and more with military personnel, family, local organizations, law enforcement, media, individuals and others.  There were tents to set up, chairs to move, areas to be roped off and public address systems to plug in.  They worried about everything from parking arrangements to the weather and had a "Plan B" for every conceivable problem.

Over the years, Welch & Cornett has been entrusted to help with numerous military funerals and their care, concern, and attention to detail is well-known and respected.  On Saturday, they showed why they have the reputation they do.  Everything happened without a hitch in a very professional manner.  People in Worthington were proud of Alfred and they were also proud of the way in which he was honored.  It was a dignified service, with a hometown touch.

Welch & Cornett has a location in Worthington and in Linton, Indiana.

Numerous organizations and individuals deserve recognition for ways in which they contributed to making Saturday's events happen.  So many, someone could easily be left out unintentionally.  We can't possibly name them all.

Members of the American Legion were out at the Triangle early in the day to raise the flags of all 50 states on this special day.  They also hosted a morning open house for the family and their friends complete with breakfast and snacks before the service.  Later their Color Guard and all members stood at the cemetery in salute of Alfred as his procession entered the lane back to the gravesite.

The Worthington-Jefferson Volunteer Fire Department had their trucks out and the Rescue truck and First Responders joined in the procession and stayed at the cemetery, just in case.

The Greene County Sheriff's Department was on hand with numerous deputies who stood at every intersection the procession passed, their cars blocking traffic.

The Bloomfield Fire Department and the Jasonville Fire Department both brought their ladder trucks into town, positioned them on either side of the entrance to the cemetery area and hung a giant U.S. flag between them so the procession would pass under the flag.  All of their members were standing out with a salute as the procession passed by.

The Worthington Police Department was out in force providing traffic control and help with the procession.

A Color Guard from the Veterans of Foreign Wars and all of their members were also at the cemetery, positioned on the opposite side of the lane from the American Legion.  And they hosted an Open House for the family, their friends, the community, and all the military men and women who were involved in the service.  The tables at the V were decorated patriotically, a memorial table was set up with momentos and pictures of Alfred, dinner was served by the Worthington Assembly of God - the food was fantastic!  And someone had made specially decorated cakes for the day.

Pictured below, from inside the cemetery, a view of the flag hanging from the ladder trucks.  And a couple of bikes from the motorcycle group leaving the cemetery.  And K&V from the Times family who waited until the crowd cleared to pay their respects.         

Alfred Eugene Livingston

Photo provided by the Livingston Family

White School Picture

Alfred Livingston stands on the far left of the front row.  His younger brother, Raymond, stands on the far right of the front row. 

If anyone can fill in the names of the other students, send them in!

In later years, Raymond was asked why Alfred was wearing shoes and Raymond was barefooted at school.  Raymond shrugged and replied, "It must have been Alfred's day to wear the shoes."

Picture provided by Ken Livingston, Raymond's son
Thanks for the story about the shoes! 

I've had several requests from out-of-towners wanting to get a copy of today's Greene County Daily World mailed out to them.  I'm sure that can be done, but I'm not the right person to talk to.  The mailing of and payments for papers to be sent out will all be handled by the Greene County Daily World office. 

Contact the GCDW by mail to Greene County Daily World, 79 South Main, P.O. Box 129, Linton, Indiana 47441 or by telephone to (812) 847-4487 or 1-800-947-4487.  

The story about Alfred was accepted by the Greene County Daily World and appears in today's print edition.  It can also be read online on the GCDW website.  Click here to go to "Alfred E. Livingston: Worthington's own Horatio at the Gate."