This is William Lloyd Wiley, one of the veterans I interviewed, and his wife, Helen. They lived out in the country near Gonzales, Texas with their two dogs and a small herd of cattle. I visited in November 2007, intending to stay for only an hour or two. I ended up staying for the better part of the day.

They were lovely folks and very generous with their time. Mr. Wiley was a delight to interview and really didn’t need much prompting – he told what seemed like one long continuous story for most of the time. It was a sunny cool November day so we spent a lot of the time on the back porch, sipping hot coffee. Around noon they realized it was lunch time, and without interrupting his narrative Mr. Wiley headed to the kitchen to make us all a delicious lunch (meatloaf, veggies, and cake for dessert). He did most of the cooking in the house and enjoyed it.

He told of his life in the service (he was both in the Army and the Navy), of growing up in depression era Texas, and of a pile of mysterious cannonballs he found after the War one day when the Guadalupe river was temporarily diverted near Gonzales. He always wondered if they could be from the famous “come and take it” cannon, but there was no way to prove it.

After the interview, and after I scanned a few of his photos, as we were saying our goodbyes, he handed me two cannonballs, which he had picked up from that pile in the Guadalupe so many years before. He wanted me to have them, because he wasn’t doing anything with them and I would appreciate them. What an incredible gift. I’ve done some research but so far nothing close to a proper i.d. (I need to find a cannonball expert).

The Wileys made me feel very welcome and we had a wonderful visit. It was a great day. Sadly they both passed away not long after my visit, both in 2009. Many of the veterans, in their 80s and 90s when I interviewed them, have since passed on. Dedicating this book to their memories is the thing that drives me most to finish.