The USS North Carolina (BB-55) My all-time favorite warship. As an elementary school student in North Carolina, I donated nickels and dimes to save this ship back in the early sixties.

Monday, December 26, 2022

Keith Tipsword Comes Home-- Part 3: The Ceremony

Tipsword's family lived in tiny Moccasin in Effingham County.  Their house was just a mile from the cemetery, but is long gone, with only a silo remaining.  The family still has a salt-and-pepper shaker that Tipsword made aboard his ship and brought home to his mother while visiting.

The Patriot Guard motorcycle group escorted Tipsword's casket from a military base in the East St. Louis to Effingham, with firetrucks on overpasses and bystanders saluting.  Many members of the local veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion and Disabled American Veterans attended.  

Sailors folded the American flag on the casket and presnted it to Tipsword's sister.

"It was pretty moving," said Sapp.

--GreGen


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