French Rose and Bowie Church are reunited at a local restaurant after not seeing each other for 60 years.

Shipmates Reunited

The Ship’s Wheel served as a serendipitous meeting place for World War II veterans Sparta resident Bowie Church and his former U.S.S. Halloran Destroyer Escort-305 shipmate French Rose on Aug. 6.

Rose and his wife, Dorothy, were heading on trip to visit family when they decided to take a detour into Sparta.

“We had planned to come and see him,” the Battle Creek, Mich. resident said. “We were on our way to Princeton, W. Va. It’s about 90 miles away, so we figured we were so close, we didn’t want to miss the opportunity to come see him.”

Sitting at the restaurant, Rose struck up a conversation with the waitress, who turned out to be Church’s granddaughter. After a phone call, a reunion 60 years in the making was about to come to fruition.

“We met when they formed the crew for the ship in Vallejo, Calif.,” Rose said. “We took our training in Vallejo."

Get the rest of this article in this week's issue of the Alleghany News! Back