Novelist Thomas Wolfe famously wrote, “You can’t go home again.” I think that he would be glad to see that Euel Akins has joyously done just that, in a very unique way.
I visited Mr. Akins at his home in the Pine Gardens neighborhood. It’s a home that he has bought twice, 75 years apart, first in 1945 when he was 25, then again in 2020 when he turned 100.
Here’s how we came to meet. I was invited to attend a ceremony Feb. 1 at American Legion Post 184. The Veterans Council of Chatham County was hosting Euel’s induction into the inaugural 10th Mountain Division Warrior Legends Hall of Fame. Because of COVID-19, the official induction ceremony was not able to be held last year at Ft. Drum in New York.