(Photo by Art Smith)
Carl Douglas, sitting at the National Guard Armory in Marietta, holds a picture made up of the service shots of his seven uncles of whom six served in the military during World War II and one who served in the Korean War.

A local man is remembering the military service of his seven uncles this Veterans Day, six who served during World War II and one who served during the Korean War.

All returned home to Washington County after their service.

Carl Douglas of Newport talked about his uncles, Jim, Charles “Ed,” Bob, Raymond, Donald and Bill Bostaph who went off to various locations during WWII while their younger brother Tom was too young to serve in that war, but later volunteered to serve in the Air Force during the Korean War.

Douglas’ mother, Elizabeth, was the sister to the seven brothers.

“We were all pretty close,” Douglas said. “We were a big Catholic family.

(Photo provided)
A combined photo depicting the seven Bostaph brothers of Washington County who all served in the military with seven serving in World War II and one who served in Korea. The top row is Jim Bostaph, Charles “Ed” Bostaph and Bob Bostaph. The bottom row is Raymond Bostaph, Donald Bostaph, Bill Bostaph and Tom Bostaph. They all returned home following their service.

“They were all good uncles to me.”

A story in the Nov. 8, 1943, edition of the Marietta Times described how the family’s farm house in Rinard’s Mill had six stars in the window signifying they had family members serving in the war. The stars hung from a service flag sent to the family from the War Department in recognition of their contribution to the war effort.

“We feel very proud
although we miss them
to think that they wanted to go and serve their country,” their mother was quoted as saying as she bit her underlip hard to stop trembling. “And we’re planning to keep things at home just as they were when the boys left. We just hope and pray to be there when they come back.”

The story never referred to her by her first name and just referred to her as “Mrs. Bostaph.” Douglas said his grandmother’s name was Sina.

At the time the story was written, Donald, who was 22 at the time, had returned home the week before with an honorable discharge from the Army because of an eye condition after 14 months of action in north Africa. He arrived home before the telegram telling his family he was coming home arrived at their house.

The story said a daughter Theresa was waiting to go to school when she saw Donald walking up the road as he waved and called, “Tell mom to come to the door.”

The story said when she heard who was coming Mrs. Bostaph said she “leaped from the middle of the kitchen floor right out into the middle of the back yard.”

Ed, 28, who was a sergeant, was the first to enter the service in the Army Air Corps and had been overseas for a year at the time the story was written. James, 30, was the second one to enter the service, and had been wounded in the leg the previous May and was back on duty with the anti-aircraft artillery. Raymond, 23, was next and served with an engineering regiment.

The story said all three were in north Africa at the same time, but they never saw each other, according to their mother.

At the time of the story, William, 18, and Robert, 26, were still in the United States with William serving in the signal corps in Florida and Robert, who was married and had a 1-year-old daughter at the time, was serving in the infantry in Oregon.

“‘We’re not going to brag that we want to go, but we won’t shirk our duty when the time comes’
that’s what our boys said when the war broke out,” their mother was quoted as saying in a wistful but proud voice. “That’s been months ago, too, and not one has been home on a furlough since they left.”

The story talked about the family’s son Tom, who was 17 at the time, and how he was expecting to go into the service soon and the family’s four daughters at home while the family was still trying to make some preparations for the Christmas holiday even though they will have “too many vacant chairs.”

The mother shared her thoughts about the war ending someday.

“We know it will be a miracle if all our boys come back home to us
but miracles have happened before,” she was quoted as saying. “We’re praying that it will be that way in our home.”

Douglas described what happened with his uncles after the story ran. Bob ended up shot with a machine gun and survived. Douglas believes Jim saw combat. Raymond had gotten malaria and spent time in a hospital. Bill had driven a supply truck.

Jim never married or had any children. Ed’s children, a son and daughter, live in Akron; Bob had a daughter who lived in Middlebourne,W.Va.: Raymond had no children and was never married. Donald had five daughters who live in Akron. Bill had four children and ended up living in West Virginia in different places. Tom had two sons who live in Akron.

Douglas said Tom did not get a chance to serve in WWII, but ended up volunteering and enlisting in the U.S. Air Force.

“It was said that he said it wasn’t right that they all went (to serve in World War II) and he didn’t so he volunteered (to go to Korea),” he said.

Douglas said his uncles didn’t talk about their own service much, but some would tell details about one of the others whether it was somewhere they served or something that happened to them.

“Mostly one would talk about another one,” he said. “They wouldn’t talk about themselves.

“That was how it was with a lot of people who were in the war, they didn’t talk a lot about it.”

According to Douglas, Raymond kept his uniform hung up in his bedroom until he passed away.

However, Douglas said his uncles were all proud of their service.

“All of them brought back medals for different things,” he said. “They were proud to have served their country.”