Click here to subscribe today or Login.
The Welsh Bethel Baptist Church, corner of Parrish and Loomis streets, Wilkes-Barre, held a Veterans Day Program on Nov. 11, remembering members of the church who served their country.
During World War I the Honor Roll consisted of 47 young men and one woman, Red Cross Nurse Ethel Thomas. Pvt. William T. Robbins, 16, was killed in 1918.
During World War II, Bethel saw 118 young men and one woman, Navy nurse Luretha Jones, go off to war. The six Gold Stars, meaning they were killed in action, were Pfc. Charles Grosspietch, 20, who died in Luzon, Philippines in 1941; Cpl. Kenneth Hobbs, 28, who died in 1945 in Whelan, Germany; Pfc. Robert Hummel, 21, who died in 1945 in Germany; Pvt. William Parry Jr., 24, who died in 1944 in Normandy, France; Pvt. William L. Richards, 32, who died in 1944 in Anzio, Italy, and Staff Sgt. Thomas D. Williams, 24, who died in Russelheim, Germany.
A Gold Cross on the church communion table was dedicated for the Gold Star boys on Dec. 1, 1946. Their names are inscribed on the cross.
A monument honoring the seven Gold Star boys who gave their lives for our country was dedicated in the front of the church on May 30, 2010.
Bethel has one Korean War veteran, William R. May; 15 Vietnam War veterans and one woman, Mary Lott, who served in the U.S. Army.