Photo by Keith Stewart
SES fifth grader Zoey Walton shakes Francis Drummond Jr.’s hand after he spoke to her class about his experiences in the military and life.

Fifth grade class learns about Navy and
excellence from veteran

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Just a kid of the countryside, Francis Marian Drummond Jr. willingly enlisted in the Navy on a Saturday in January of 1952 but only after his older brother Everett told him of the realities that would lie in store for him if he was drafted into the Army.

“I changed the plans,” said Drummond, who did in fact bypass the draft, which he would have otherwise soon experienced at the age of 19. “He told me that the last place I wanted to sleep in was a hole in the ground, so the next day my friend and I enlisted.”

Drummond’s brother had served in the Army during WWII after being drafted, joining several of the family’s relatives in service to the country, including his uncle Walter, his father’s youngest brother, who died during WWI. Drummond’s father, Francis Sr. had also served in WWI in the army as did another uncle–Bertram.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.