The beautiful spring is still with us with the trees blooming and the spring flowers.

It certainly has been a pretty time of the year lately.

Have you ever seen a Distinguished Service Cross? That is next to the highest medal given in the military. If you haven’t seen one, come to the Lawrence County Museum at Sixth and Adam streets in Ironton. We were honored to receive this medal from the relatives of Corporal Billy Barnett, whose home was in Hanging Rock.

He was a member of the Rockets, the football team, and Company G 27th Infantry, 25th Infantry Division and received this medal for bravery in battle. Bill was born in 1932 and died in 1950 in action in the Korean War.

Also another very much honored person is Dr. George Hunter, who served in two wars. His picture is found in the dining room at the museum.

We recently lost another World War II veteran recently. He was Donald Butler, husband of Jean Fuller Butler. He has been an active person, serving in different ways to help people.

He was a teacher at Rock Hill High School and created and sold videos on WWII on eBay. Jean, his wife, has also served our society by entertaining several times at the museum. They were a beautiful couple and we will miss Don. We offer condolences to the family.

Our military exhibit is very interesting. As mentioned before, the actual pictures of the attack on Pearl Harbor are in the museum for all to see.

Historical Fact

Dayton Daily News — Thursday, Dec. 12, 1919

Ol’ Rit heads to Cooperstown

Ritter Collett, sports editor emeritus of the Dayton Daily News, has been elected to the baseball Hall of Fame. Collett, a native of Ironton, joined the Dayton Journal in January 1949.

He was appointed sports editor of the Journal in October 1946 and became sports editor of The Journal Herald in January 1949 after the Journal merged with the Dayton Herald.

He was the only editor The Journal Herald had, serving until 1986 when the paper merged with the Daily News.

He was Daily News sports editor until he retired in 1990. The announcement was made Wednesday at the Major League Baseball winter meetings in Miami Beach, Fla., by the Baseball Writers Association of America.