Henry W. Buck from Solano County, California, enlisted March 3, 1941 (nearly a year before the US officially entered WWII) as a Private in the National Guard Infantry in Napa, California.

Born in 1920, he was a twenty-year old, single, white, male originally from Missouri and who specialized in mechanics and the repair of motor vehicles. And from his Dog Tag we can see he was blood type A and a Protestant. Pvt Buck was stationed at Camp Gordon Johnston in Carrabelle, Florida, an amphibious training base which used Carrabelle Beach and nearby Dog Island and St. George Island for training soldiers to storm the beaches of France.

I don't know Pvt Buck. I've never met him or spoken to him. But he lost his dog tag in training, and it was excavated from the beach at Carrabelle. It now belongs to me and is a cherished possession. Remembering Pvt Buck and thanking God for him and all the courageous men and women who have served and sacrificed for our country and our freedom.