World War II artifact on display in Bristol

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A World War Two artifact has been donated to the Veterans of Foreign Wars and is now on display in the Veterans Memorial Civic Center in Bristol. The item is a wooden post (shown at top) from the old Butler-Morgan Funeral Home in Quincy that received the bodies of dead servicemen who had been shipped home from the war for burial. Each crate containing a body had a shipping tag that listed the serviceman’s name, rank and serial number. The post has 12 tags that were removed from the crates and nailed to it. The reason this was done is unknown, but history was preserved. Five of the men were from Liberty County and the others were, presumably, from the surrounding area. The Liberty County men included Tec 5 Delmar C. Mercer, PFC Alfred L. Duggar, PFC Dewey T. Wood, Pvt. William B. Henderson and Pvt. Martin V. Bateman. Longtime Liberty County Veteran Service Officer Johnny Eubanks was in possession of the artifact and wished to donate it for display. He is shown here beside the display case housing it.