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By Carey King
This year's lead Christmas parade float carried lots of stories
as it rolled through the streets of Sylva.
Taken individually, the stories of the parade's grand marshals
- Jackson County's former prisoners of war, soldiers home from
Iraq, and children with moms, dads, sisters and brothers serving
in the military - tell of loving and longing, bravery and hope.
Taken together, the stories of World War II POW Soldier Sanders,
Spc. Donovan Coffey of the 210th National Guard unit, and 4-year-old
Sayre Coffey are testimony to the strength of a family united
across generations.
Three
generations of the Sanders family of Cherokee were among the grand
marshals at last week's Sylva Christmas Parade. Spc. Donovan Coffey
of the 210th National Guard unit, left, his son, 4-year-old Sayre
Soldier Coffey, center, and Sayre's great-grandfather, Soldier
Sanders, second from right, helped lead the annual downtown event.
Also pictured are Sayre's mother, Lori Sanders-Coffey, second
from left, and great-grandmother, Catherine Sanders. Soldier Sanders
was shot down over Germany during World War II and was captured
and held in Germany until he escaped. Spc. Coffey was home on
a two-week leave from Baghdad. - Herald photo by Carey King
Sanders, 85, is grandfather to Lori Sanders-Coffey,
who married Spc. Coffey this past spring. The couple are parents
to Sayre, whose middle name is Soldier in honor of his great-grandfather.
Though Sanders now has Alzheimers, his wife of 62 years, Catherine,
is proud to tell his battle stories.
"He was in a B-17 and flew over Germany and England. He got
shot down over Germany and was a prisoner of war for 11 months.
Then they moved him to a prison camp way up in north Germany,"
Catherine recalled.
"They marched him to Nuremberg on a forced march. Then he
took off. He was an escapee, he and another guy. After about two
weeks of wandering around, he made contact with Patton's Army.
They sent him to a hospital in Paris," she said.
Spc. Coffey, home on a two-week leave from Baghdad that ends today
(Thursday), said he's still in the midst of creating the stories
his wife's grandfather has long told.
"He's told me quite a bit about his past history. I have
to wait until I come back to have my own story," Spc. Coffey
said.
While he talked of improvement in communication systems and hot
Iraq weather - this summer, daytime temperatures hovered around
130 degrees and are now in the seventies and eighties - Spc.
Coffey hesitated before delving too deeply into the details of
daily life, especially in front of his son.
"I talk as little as possible about what's going on over
there. We stay away from the bad stuff. I just try to let them
know that I'm well and healthy," he said.
Still too young to grasp the full story of his father going off
to war, Sayre nevertheless understands one of the story's main
themes: he misses his daddy. After Spc. Coffey left for Iraq in
March, Sayre mailed him one of his favorite toy dinosaurs.
In the Sanders family, women too share in war stories. Lori said
she often talks to grandmother Catherine on how best to survive
being a mom alone on the home front.
While Lori can receive daily e-mails from her husband, she says
her grandmother "would only get a telegram.
Whenever I get to feeling bad about not talking to him for a day
or two, I think about Granny," she said.
Catherine is glad her granddaughter has improved communication
with Spc. Coffey.
"When (Soldier) was first shot down, I got a nice little
telegram saying he was missing in action. A month later, I got
a telegram saying he was a prisoner of war with the Germans. The
third was a form card from him saying he'd been a prisoner and
not to worry about him. There was nobody to contact," she
said.
When Catherine's daughter Karen was born, "the Red Cross
informed him. The Red Cross was my contact," she remembered.
Ask Lori her plans for her son as he grows up and she'll tell
you she hopes Sayre Soldier Coffey will be far from the battlefield,
despite his military middle name.
"I don't think I want him to be a real soldier, but I hope
as he gets older, he'll know how amazing his great-grandfather
is," she said.
To Lori, bearing the name "Soldier" is less about marching
and more about honoring the life and stories of her grandfather
Soldier, who was named by his aunt Lizzie Bearpaw, a wise woman
in Oklahoma, for reasons the family does not know.
"(My grandfather) is such an icon in our community. All of
my life, everyone has spoken to me about how respected he is.
I thought it would be an honor to name my son for him," she
said.
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