BEE COUNTY, Texas — After being found at a yard sale in Pettus, Texas, a group of Beeville residents made it their mission to return a piece of military history to its rightful owner.
“The picture caught my eye because I love our Army and our vets,” Reynaldo Maldonado told KRIS 6 News when he first found a framed photo of the USS Lake Champlain CV-39.
The photo was dedicated to Harold W. Martin.
While Maldonado enjoys collecting, this photo stood out as something different, so he decided to learn more.
“When Rey reached out to me about that picture and I went over to his house and saw it, I said, ‘That’s probably family history to somebody,’” George Arguijo said. “It’s more important than just some regular photo, you know what I mean?”
Arguijo, a friend of several members at VFW Post 9170 in Beeville, then turned to George Varra, a U.S. military veteran himself.
“Social media is a powerful thing. They sent me the photo, I looked at it, and I did some research myself,” Varra told KRIS 6 News. “He was in the Korean War. He was on this ship. He served the state of Texas, and that just meant to me that this guy cared. He cared about his community and his service.”
The last piece of the puzzle was Kathy Peters, a close friend of Harold’s widow, Mary. With her help, they located Mary, who lives in La Porte, and on Tuesday she was reunited with the photo. A photo she didn’t even know existed.
“My question was, how in the world did that picture get in Pettus, Texas?” Martin told KRIS 6 News. “It’s possible that I have seen the picture, but I can’t remember it. I have to admit the frame looks like something his father had made.”
Mary and Harold met in Norman, Oklahoma, while Harold was serving in the Air Force. “He was a very friendly, outgoing person,” Mary said. “He never met a stranger. If he met you, you would have thought he had known you all your life.” She continued, “It was very easy for me to tell who he liked and who he didn’t really care for very much because if he really liked you, he picked on you. He teased you, and those he didn’t feel close to, he was polite.”
Harold was stationed on the USS Lake Champlain during the Korean War. He retired from military service at age 38, but later worked with Texas Emergency Management during his civilian life.
Now that she has been reunited with a piece of her husband’s history, Mary says the journey has already meant the world to her family. “It’s nice to have it. Knowing his history and knowing that he served on the ship, it’s really nice to have it,” she said. “We had two children, and my son lives close to me. He was just blown away when he heard all of this. It’s fantastic to have it again, even if I really don’t remember the picture.”
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