From the October Defender archives:
Oct. 1958 Pvt. Garry Messer, son of Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Vaughn of West Union, is a cook with the 31st Infantry Division in Korea, has been promoted to PFC. Pvt. Messer entered the service in Feb. 1958 and received his basic training at Fort Knox before going to Korea in August. He is a graduate of West Union High School.
Oct. 1967 The village of Bentonville was threatened with disaster following a two-car accident that occurred at the intersection of Route 41 and the Briar Ridge road that resulted in a fire that destroyed the Alfred Young grocery store. an alarm was sent to the Manchester Fire Department at 2:30 p.m.. A few minutes later the West Union Fire Department was summoned because of the need of an additional pumper at the scene. The interior of the store and Mr. Young’s residence, which adjoined, were damaged by the blaze.
Oct. 1979 A Peebles soldier joined more than 30,000 other allied troops recently in a major European training exercise. Sergeant Thomas L. Stephens, son of Mr. and Mrs. Frankie L. Stephens, took part in “Constant Enforcer,” a maneuver that saw American, German, Canadian, and Belgian troops move through almost 4,500 square miles in central West Germany to help discover what problems NATO forces might encounter. Stephens is a combat engineer, assigned to A company of the 23rd Engineer Battalion.
Oct. 1984 Dan Combs, crusade chairman of the American Cancer Society, Adams County Unit, met with guest celebrities Greg Louganis and Megan Neyer at the ACS Crusade Training Conference in Columbus last month. Mt. Louganis, the 1984 Olympic diving gold medalist, and Megan Neyer, a member of the 1908 Olympic diving team, shared their personal victories with conference participants.
