Help find these magnificent seven

Two years ago, St. Augustine, FL officials discovered 7 tombstones being used as a walkway to an abandoned house trailer. The tombstones all bore the inscriptions for deceased war veterans. St. Augustine authorities have been searching in vain for information about the 7 veterans, their remaining family members, if any, and the locations of their graves from where the tombstones were taken.

It is also conceivable that the headstones don't belong anywhere. A now defunct Jacksonville headstone company would simply stack erroneously engraved headstones outside its work area when an engraver made a typographical error during the production process. This possibility is somewhat remote, however, because all 7 headstones are complete. Even if this is the case, it would help some people feel a little better if they could get confirmation.

Here are the names as inscribed on the grave markers. Anyone with any information can contact Joseph McDermott, the chief veterans services officer in St. Johns County, at http://www.co.st-johns.fl.us/BCC/Veterans-Services/index.aspx .

The inscriptions on the gravestones read:

Allen J. Brown, Army private, World War II, 1922-1993

Steve Btewton (may be a typo), Army private, World War II, 3-19-1917 - 4-14-1984

Clarence Dixon, Army corporal, World War II, 9-11-1912 - 2-11-1984

Thomas Edison Hadley Jr., Army rank unknown, World War II, 10-7-1922 - 12-30-1980

Isaac Samford Howell, private first class, branch unknown, World War II, 1907-1994

J.C. Purifoy, Army corporal, Korea, 1930-1993

James Singletary, Army rank and war unknown, 1878-1981

Note that James Singletary was 103 years old at his death. You would think that someone would remember him and the location of his grave.

TAGS: Magnificent Seven, Veterans Day, tombstones