Beech Tree News Network

My daddy bought half-interest in a business in Greenville, Kentucky in 1943.  We moved there when I was 10 years old from New Cypress, five miles out; a church, a school, a general store; a village of houses and people — many of whom were my kinfolks...my place of birth no less.  

In town we were the third house from Greenville Depot and the Illinois Central Railroad.  The trains ran fairly close to our backyard.  In addition to freight trains, we had two passenger trains daily — one at 4 o’clock in the afternoon; the other at 12 o’clock at night.  

A widow lady, Mrs. Lucy Wilkins, lived only a few  houses down from us away from the railroad, still in walking distance of the Depot.  When World War II came Mrs. Lucy moved from Graham, Kentucky to Greenville, to be close to her brother — by then all her kids had left home.  The last to leave was her youngest, Leonard.  Leonard was eighteen and just out of high school when he joined the Navy.  

Leonard was too short to play basketball on the Graham Nighhawks basketball team, so he became team manager; team sweater and all.  “Little” Leonard was liked by all.  When he wasn’t attending team management duties he was always on the floor helping the cheerleaders, cheer the team on.  Perhaps, Leonard was wanting to get rid of the “Little” image; after Navy Boot Camp, he volunteered for submarine duty at New London, Connecticut submarine school. 

Upon graduation he was assigned to the submarine base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on the U.S.S Trigger, submarine.  They sailed toward the South Pacific the following Sunday after Leonard reported for duty.  The U.S.S Trigger was never heard from again.  

After Leonard was reported missing in action, his mother, Mrs. Lucy, never gave up his coming home.  She met the 4 o’clock train every afternoon, and after the midnight train ran at 12 o’clock, neighbors noticed that her lights were still on...waiting for Leonard to come home.  

Leonard never did.  

Several years after World War II, the U.S.S Trigger was located on the bottom of the ocean off the southwest coast of Japan.  It is still there today — Seaman Second Class, Leonard Wilkins’ final resting place.

Kindest regards…