This is
the house where Lester lived. Lester had 2 daughters and one son and was married
with Anna for 47 years.
When I visited Anna in Oct.2004 I was standing in the living room looking
at the urn with Lester's ashes. At that time his son Tony said to me:"I
want to give you something my father wanted you to have.
I know it would be his wish that I would give it to you." He took something
out of his pocket and gave it to me. I was astonished. It was his fathers
Purple Heart ring with the inscription LAH1944. I told Tony I couldn't accept
it because I thought it should stay in the family. He persisted and told me
once again his father would have wanted it that way. "I consider you
to be part of our family." You can imagine what I went through during
that moment.
Because
Lester's wife and his Son are not familiar with computers, and also because
of emotional reasons, no one had touched Lester's computer since he passed
away.
After Anna asked me to do so, I opened Lester's e-mails and found two year
old, unopened e-mails from people who had sent their condolences to the family.
An emotional moment as you can imagine.
The family also received a personal letter of Tom Hanks (below)
Lester's urn with his ashes in his house in Maine.
I made these pages to show my deep respect to a friend who I met for the first time in 1994. I thank Anna and Tony for their very kind cooperation, without it would have been impossible to make these pages about one of our liberators.
PAGES
Peter van de Wal ©
