Free Republic

BOLIVAR, Mo. (KY3) - At the peaceful Parkview Residential Facility in Bolivar. Inside every door, there’s a great story. “Pretty soon the school bell rang,” resident Bill Pool said, “knew right then, gonna be tardy again.” Inside Bill’s room is a book full of his poems. It sits right next to the shadowbox full of World War II medals. “I think he’s a great man,” Bill’s daughter Carolyn George said. “He still has love,” Bill’s other daughter, Jeanie Price added. Bill Pool enlisted in the Army in 1941 and, after basic training, was off to the heart of the ground...

How many people alive today can say that their father was a Civil War soldier who shook hands with Abraham Lincoln in the White House? Fred Upham can. Despite sounding like a tall tale and a mathematical impossibility, it's documented truth. Fred's father, William, was a private in the Union Army's Second Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He was severely wounded at the First Battle of Bull Run, in 1861, and later personally appointed by President Lincoln to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Fred's in exclusive company—the dwindling group of children of soldiers who fought, North against South, 150...