The family of World War II veteran Walter Worth Younce filled the event room at Mayflower Seafood with applause as Younce was presented with a medal shadow box.
His service
Janet Barnett, one of Younce’s four children, said that — while she knew her father was enlisted during WWII in the U.S. Navy — her father was tightlipped about his time in service for the majority of her life.
It wasn’t until Younce was about 88 years old when he started to open up about his time in service — and he is currently 98. Two of Younce’s great-grandchildren interviewed him for essays while they were in college, painting a fuller picture of Younce’s service.
He was in service from 1942-46 and was only 17 years old when he entered. When he left, he was a Seaman…show more content… The company had to go to another state to find his file in the archives.
Finding the vessels Younce had been on was also hard. For example, there were several vessels named Montpelier, but his was USS Montpelier (CL-57) nicknamed “Mighty Monty.” He was also on USS Perkins DD-877.
Timothy Younce also had to look up what medals went with his grandfather for the shadow box.
World War II Victory Medal American Campaign Medal Good Conduct Medal Asiatic–Pacific Campaign Medal
Timothy Younce also worked with someone to have the shadow box hand-made.
When Younce was presented with the box in front of his family, his smile was wide and he nodded his head as he said, “It’s nice.”
His family
After Younce was presented with the box, he and his family began eating their meal. A few grandchildren and great-grandchildren began retelling the stories Younce had told them about his time in service, saying, “He told me that —” and “I remember what he said —” and began swapping Younce’s stories.
For his daughter, Barnett, she was happy her family finally knew what her father had done. She also said she and her siblings thanked their father for his
