Biographical information

Dear Family and Friends,

I don't know if you recall that we ran into a snag when deciding what to put on Al's gravestone:  he was generally dismissive of awards but took pride in having earned the CIB with Star.  The Combat Infantry Badge signifies having fought in battle on the ground, and the Star signifies two CIB's, two wars.  Due to the fire at the Army's Record Center in St. Louis during the 70's, his complete DD 214 (summary of military record) doesn't exist, and we were unable to prove his having earned more than one CIB (the star).  Arlington won't put anything on a gravestone unless it's supported by official record.  They will, however, correct and replace gravestones.

So I wrote to the Army in September, submitting photos, affidavits, letters of rec, etc., and asking them to correct the record.

Yesterday, 6 months after my request (and a couple of months after they requested his death cert and my appointment as Administrator of his estate, I received an 8 1/2" by 11" envelope.  Nine pages of "Adjudication."  It made me cry -- it's an exquisite piece of work.  It goes through his entire career, assignment by assignment, and it identifies many instances where he was awarded honors that don't show on his record.  Including the 2nd CIB (the STAR!) and including a 2nd Bronze Star.  It ends by calling him "this American hero" and directs that his official records be corrected.

Copies will be available for those who'd like to have one!
love,
c

Wounded in Korea

Before the firestorm

The only photo in pre-holocaust Japan.

Holocaust: noun - the destruction or slaughter on a mass scale caused by fire or nuclear storm

Somewhere between Tokyo and Hiroshima; outside Kyoto. There she stands overlooking the bay -the breeze and warm air coming off the land mixing with the smells of the ocean.

What could she know of the horrors looming? What could she know of the incineration; the sins of the generation - the sins of her government?

What inflection of fate was about to turn life upside down? It was coming; it was coming and it would take over.

On a cold day in March 09 - the long run ended - at Arlington National

This was the end of the road for Alfred Wetmore; the scrappy kid from Lynn. He fought for life right to the end; his health failing; feisty and annoyed by the prognosis by prognosis. He at once submitted to his fate; "I'm ready to go" he said in Jan 09 - and he did.

It was impossible to avert an emotional moment; despite the stout who ventured through this solemn day.

Adrienne Maya

The youngest child of the Wetmore Family in New Jersey. The family couldn't hold together; the turbulent sixties and the froth that topped off the compressive fifties; the search for freedom and a world without any limitations beckoned the season Army seargant.

Off she went into the heaving empire; now resides in Boston - somehow.

Would American life yield in her direction?

Hello Japan, I found one of your lost daughters. She was whisked away by a saergant major years ago. She made her home in America.

What do you think of this lost daughter of Kyoto?

From the hospital to Bennihanna

There were no life magazine reporters - there was one local paper that knocked on the door in the early fifties but nothing came of it.