95-YEAR OLD FOY GARREN OF "THE GREATEST GENERATION"
IN THE KAPLAN AUDITORIUM FRIDAY OCTOBER 20TH AT THE MAIN LIBRARY
The World War II experiences of Henderson County native and resident Foy Garren, 95, is featured in a chapter in the book “I Had a Comrade” by Minnesota author Paul Sailer.
Sailer will hold a book discussion and signing from 10 a.m. to noon Friday, Oct. 20, in Kaplan Auditorium of the Henderson County Public Library.
Sailer writes about the experiences of individual participants in WWII. Doolittle Raider and Jimmy Doolittle’s co-pilot, Dick Cole, wrote the Foreword, stating the book “explores comradeship through stories of ordinary people who lived or died during World War II.”
Garren, featured in Chapter 6, served as a technical sergeant with Team B, 326th Air Support Group, in the European theater. A son of William “Will” Pearson Garren and Kate Love Garren, he grew up in the Clear Creek community, attended Balfour Elementary School and was a 1941 graduate of Hendersonville High School. He was one of four sons (Curtis “Odell,” Foy, Harry and William “Guthrie”) of the Garren couple to serve in the war. He is a lifelong member of Moore’s Grove United Methodist Church.
Sailer received a bachelor’s degree in history and is a Vietnam War veteran. He is also the author of “The Oranges are Sweet – Major Don M. Beerbower and the 353rd Fighter Squadron, November 1942 to August 1944.”
Five dollars from each book sold will be donated to the library and the remainder to the Blue Ridge Honor Flight program which flew Garren and his late brother, Harry, to Washington, D.C., to visit their National World War II Memorial. The cost of the hard-cover book is $34.99.
For more information, visit http://www.paulmsailer.com
(Our thanks to local historian Jennie Jones Giles for making this information available to WHKP)
