By BARBARA GREEN
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With hope that lives within a mother’s heart, Ester Walters wrote a letter to her 24-year-old son, Bethel, on Dec. 13, 1941. It was less than a week since the attack on Pearl Harbor where his ship, the USS West Virginia had been moored on Battleship Row.
“We’ve spent seven long days and nights of dread fearing we would get a telegram from Washington, D.C., but we haven’t. We began to feel better… we know you’re real busy now,” wrote his mother.
After urging him to rest when he could and asking if he needed money for supplies, she wrote Homer was sending a Christmas card and a box of stationary; Ellen had a box of candy and two letters on their way and Lois was waiting to hear news to start her letter.
“As long as we don’t get a telegram we feel more certain, but we hope we don’t get it. Don’t worry about us back home, keep your nerves steady so you can do your part better. From all of us. Mama.”
That dreaded letter arrived a few short days later on Dec. 16, 1941 stating Bethel Elbert Walters was lost in the performance of his duties and service to his country. It continued if his remains were recovered they would be interred in a local cemetery. The note was signed by Admiral C.W. Nimitz, chief of the bureau of investigation.
The sailor was finally laid to rest with his family at his hometown cemetery this past Saturday. Read the full story in the mid-week Bowie News.