Book of Heroes details veterans buried at Mountain Home

Jeny Walker may not be a doctor or medical examiner, but she deals with death on a daily basis, and for her, it's an honor.Walker and local military historian Allen Jackson have documented some of the heroes who lie in that hallowed ground in a small publication appropriately titled "A Book of Heroes: Discover Their Story, Honor Their Sacrifice." And while the book touches on just a few of the more than 16,000 military veterans buried at the Mountain Home National Cemetery, Walker and Jackson hope it will create a community conversation about them all."The cemetery is a place for the living," Walker said. "It's a beautiful place. It's a place worthy of recognition," Walker said about Mountain Home. Part of Walker's job as cemetery director is to ensure the public is aware of services available to veterans, but another part is to ensure those who are buried there are not forgotten. The idea for the book about some of those veterans came about in conversations with Jackson, a retired Air Force veteran who is a volunteer historian in various veteran organizations."For me, it's the stories," of veterans lives that should be remembered, Jackson said. "They'll always live in the community and in our hearts," if their story is remembered.Bryce Carpenter, educational outreach programs officer for the National Cemetery Administration, said Walker's outreach efforts have not gone unnoticed, and "Book of Heroes" is part of that — so much so that she recently received an I Care award from the VA. The award — an acronym for Integrity, Commitment, Advocacy, Respect and Excellence — is awarded to those VA employees who embody those five values."The award she received is a general award for her service as a cemetery director," Carpenter said. "Part of that service has been her work is documenting the history of the site that she supervised, Mountain Home National Cemetery. At a national leadership conference … she was able to share her research and her self-published book with other cemetery directors. It's received a lot of positive conversation on how other cemetery directors can similarly document and present their research of the history of their own cemetery to each other as well as the general public.""She is an asset to NCA and we're so pleased she is working so hard in her outreach efforts," he said.Getting Walker and Jackson's book into the hands of the public is still in the works, although there are a handful of copies available for viewing at the cemetery office, Walker said.Mountain Home isn't a Civil War cemetery, but those are some of the first veterans buried there. The cemetery was established in 1903 to inter veterans who died while living in the Soldiers' Home in Johnson City. It was the last Soldiers' Home of its kind to be established by the federal government to care for Union soldiers of the Civil War.The first interments there were of two residents of the home. William H. Garland died Dec. 11, 1903, and lies in Section A, Row 1, Site 1. George McPherson, a Washington County native, is buried in Section A, Row 1, Site 2. Other veterans noted in the "Book of Heroes" include:Cpl. Roby Clinton Hendrix, 18, was killed in acttion Oct. 8, 1918, in the Battle of Montbrehan while fighting German forces at Premont.Fireman 1st Class Jim Taylor, who was 23 when the ship on which he served, the USS Quincey, was torpedoed by a Japanese naval vessel in the South Pacific. He has a memorial marker at Mountain Home while his brother, Stokes, killed in action during the Battle of the Bulge, is buried in the cemetery.Pvt. Evans Overbey, who died in 1942 after the Bataan Death March, was buried in a common grave in the Phillippines. His remains were eventually identified and he was returned to Northeast Tennessee earlier this year and buried at Mountain Home.Pharmacist's Mate 3rd Class Rufus Luster Jr., a Greene County native, served on the USS Doyen and was with the 4th Marine Division during the assault on Roi-Namur in January 1944. He was also in the battles of Iwo Jima and the Japanese Volcano Islands, where he was injured. Luster's service ended in January 1946, and he lived in Johnson City until his death in 2001. Luster co-owned Uncle Sam's Loan Office and Albert's Loan Office & Pawn. He was first buried at Monte Vista Memorial Park because his military records were missing, but in late 2003 those records were located on a shelf at Albert's Loan Office, and the following year his body was exhumed and interred at Mountain Home.Walker said "Book of Heroes" only includes information about veterans of the Civil War through World War II, but she and Jackson are already thinking about publishing another book to include veterans from subsequent eras of service. She said the sacrifice that many of the veterans buried at Mountain Home made has a far-reaching impact on the community."Those veterans made a difference win our lives everyday, so they should never be forgotten," she said.