BEGATS AND BEQUEATHALS

Or, Subtitled: “He was killed in action during the ‘Battle of the Bulge’ in eastern France, on January 5, 1945, and classified as a ‘hero’ by all of his comrades”

The five previous memoirs I’ve compiled of the World War II years have all been memoirs of men in my family, including my father Benjamin Dennis Lindsey, his brother Henry Carlton Lindsey, their brother-in-law Lee Hawkins Compere, my mother’s brother William Zachary Simpson, and my mother’s half-brother William Carl Simpson. This last piece in the series goes beyond my own family circle to focus on a brother of my uncle Lee Compere who gave his life in the battle against fascism in World War II. As I’ve said in the preface to each of these memoirs, it seems to me important that we remember (and celebrate) the sacrifices men and women of the WWII generation made to turn back the rising tide of fascism in the 1930s and 1940s. For this reason, I want to share information about the heroic sacrifice that Powell Compere made in 1945, as he gave his life to try to protect French citizens in the village of Frauenberg in northeastern France. (To read the rest of this posting, please click the numeral 2 below.)