bered. He said, “I remember old Hitler. I went

bered. He said, “I remember old Hitler. I went down to what you call Camp Humphreys. I didn’t go across the waters. I volunteered to go. I got to Camp Humphreys, they said, ‘You got bad feet and couldn’t keep up with the soldiers.’ So they made me wash dishes. You had 150 plates to wash, you see. I was there about three months, down there in them pines.” After the war and his stay with Bernard Martin, Bill found hs way back to Rappahannock and was employed by many persons. Among them were Silas Monroe, Jim Fincham, Joe Keyser, Will Keyser, George Coppage, Haywood Coppage, Richard Partlow, Lyle Miller, Kenny Brown, Boot Dwyer, Hillary Mundy, Ash Wood, Elmer Pullen and Orie Burke.

The conclusion of my interview with Mr. Martin, due to his shortness of breath, was a question. I asked him what would his advice be for the future or for one’s life? Bill said: “Best thing you can do. Well, people are going to hate your son, best thing to do, get away from ’em if you can, so they won’t pester you. It’s old Satan there pesterin’ you, you see. Old Devil got you to do something you got no business. The Bible said to turn away from sin. Best I can tell is turn away from sin. Satan is like a rollin’ iron. My life’s been miserable. It’s miserable right now. The Bible says we ain’t gonna have no easy streets. Things pull you this way and that and sometimes your own feet will stumble.”

Then Bill, having regained some of his breath, sang his favorite hymn, “6od Showed His Mighty Hand.”

This small tribute to Bill Martin is not meant to kindle any ill feelings. Rather, it is meant to eulogize a man whose life, though meek and lowly, sends forth a beacon as from a lighthouse, to those of us who remember, we vessels yet charting life’s seas, that we might try to emulate his noble character.