On April 20, 1944, Corporal Dillon Summers again wrote to his family back in Heiskell, Tennessee. This time, however, he used V-Mail, the...

Corporal Dillon Summers of the 391st Armored Field Artillery Battalion was beginning his second month of extensive training in tank...

I have some exciting news to announce! I've just learned from my publisher, TouchPoint Press, that we have a release date for my latest...

In my review of Joy Neal Kidney's book Leora's Letters last week, I lamented my lack of access to more letters that my uncle Dillon...

Following is the link to one of my essays about my mother and her craft-making activities during my childhood. It aired this afternoon on...

I recently finished reading a second book by Joy Neal Kidney. The first one I read was actually her second, soon-to-be-published book,...

I never recall Daddy's ever wearing it, but I'm sure he did. How else could it have become so worn that one could barely make out the...

It was April 1861, and the war came. Thousands of eager volunteers rushed to defend the Confederacy. They were eager to return home after...

Reading someone else's family history, especially when you are not remotely acquainted with that family and its various members, can be...

Like many other boys of my generation, I enjoyed building models as I was growing up. At first, it didn't matter what the kits were,...

If you're a follower of this blog, you've come to expect a new post every Friday. You also no doubt noticed that this past week that post...

In the study and writing of history of any sort, there is no substitute for an eyewitness. Granted, eyewitness accounts of any event...

Many people think of it as a waste of time, as doing nothing productive. They prefer to engage in constant motion, in endless action and...

The same problem confronts me every spring just before the mowing season begins: sweetgum balls, thousands, maybe even millions of them,...

A good writer must cultivate acute observational skills, and that not only of the eyes, although that certainly is important, but also of...

Rummaging through stored boxes in search of something can be time consuming, especially when one gets sidetracked along the way to...

For readers of this blog who are interested in learning more about the Travelers Rest Historical Society and the Spring Park Inn...

It seems that the most interesting discoveries are made when and where you least expect them. When Nell Gibson passed away a few months...

Some of my grandchildren made their first trip to the dentist .the other day Their experience made me recall my own similar experiences...

A newspaper article characterized Harvey Dolphus Graybeal as "one of North Knox County's most colorful old-timers." I knew him as Poppa,...