By Stephen Smoot
Paul Shockey, author of Hardy’s Heroes, returned to the region last week to once again share the stories of sacrifice told in the first of three books on the lives of those men lost from the county in World War II.
He said of the endless hours poured into research, analysis, and writing, that “I’ve lived with this for 12 years. It’s like my second wife.”
On Friday, Shockey delivered a presentation on the subject at Grant County Library, then held an event to meet locals on Saturday at Hardy County Library.
He estimated that 20 people came to hear him speak in Petersburg and that they purchased about 40 books. Shockey expressed appreciation for the staff of both libraries for their interest.
The presentation had opened with an anecdote from the life of Vernon Kline, whose story will feature in the second volume of the series.
Kline, Shockey said, learned to roller skate on one skate because that was all his family could afford. Orphaned early in life, he grew up with his grandparents.
As the story goes, one of Kline’s elementary school teachers asked the class to draw an animal. Kline finished quickly, attracting the curious attention of the teacher, who found that he drew a simple circle.
She said “Vernon, are you finished already?”
He replied, “Yessum.”
The teacher replied, but it is just a big circle.
Kline answered that the circle was a big rock and “he’s a hiding behind that rock.”
So many stories capture the innocent joys of the childhood of men whose lives would soon be cut short in the nation’s fight for freedom.
Shockey also shared parts of the story of Hilton Kessel, who died from his treatment in a Japanese prisoner of war camp.
With Shockey came his wife Krista, who has also served as his partner in helping to reach out to readers and also help to promote the book. Krista Shockey grew up in Petersburg and attended school there.
Both recounted the surprising reconnections with people they knew as children as they have made their way through the area talking about Hardy’s Heroes.
As Shockey put it, however, these are not just heroes for Hardy, but the entire state. Every countryside county has these kinds of tales to tell, but only a relative few have made it to publication.
Brenna Mitchell of the Pendleton County Historical Society, for example, penned a similar book about the lives of that county’s servicemen that fought in the First World War.
Some of those stories came with great reluctance because every life lost in war is a trauma to family and friends. Shockey related how he approached the interviews as friendly conversations rather than a list of questions and answers.
But also as Shockey shared, each story featured in the work is one that those men who died for freedom earned the right to have told.
