WWII sailor’s diary found, given to family

Posted: Friday, May 10, 2013 8:00 pm

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) — A recycling worker’s love of reading saved a World War II sailor’s journal for the man’s family.
According to WLEX-TV, John Banks spotted a damp and muddy book while working at a Garrard County recycling site where debris was trucked in from demolitions. He set is aside and examined it at lunchtime.
It was a diary kept by George Colvin Egnew of Cynthiana from 1944-46 when he was stationed in Japan with the U.S. Navy.
“I always try to grab books ’cause I read a lot,” Banks told the Lexington Herald-Leader.
Banks called WLEX and the station broadcast the discovery. A family member saw the newscast and called Egnew’s daughter, Catherine Cole, in Nicholasville. Dairy and daughter were united Saturday.
Egnew died in 2005 at age 85.
“My father never talked much about the war,” Cole said. “I never knew him as writing things down.”
Egnew and his wife, Geneva, were both born and raised in Oddville, outside Cynthiana. They lived in Cynthiana for most of their lives. They were married less than five years when Egnew was drafted.
The cover of the diary is imprinted with the title “My Life in the Service,” and Egnew wrote in it frequently.
Banks said it probably came from the demolition of an old house. He found it on the job at C&M Recycling Center.
He read a good deal of it before finding the author’s family. He would like to know how it ends.
“We’ll get you a copy,” Cole said with a smile on Saturday.

Published in The Messenger 5.10.13

,