The Lee MacLellan Family Story
John William Foster ("Uncle Bill") - Son in Law
I'm going to let my cousin John Foster tell the story of his father.
"My father was a 'southern gentleman'. He was smart, thoughtful, responsible, and genuine.
"My Dad was raised in the small mill town of Gaffney, SC. Growing up, his parents cobbled a living growing crops on their small farm, and selling eggs, milk and butter.
"...Bill got a scholarship to Wake Forest university, but to help with the tuition he worked as a lab assistant. For meals he washed dishes 3 times a day in a local boarding house.
"After college he taught high school up until the start of WW II. Through the V-12 Officer Candidate School he earned a commission as a Naval officer. He was sent to Penn State to learn Diesel Engineering, and it was there that he met his future wife. Her sorority sisters hosted a picnic for the new crop of officers, including my dad..."
"...Bill served in the Atlantic and Pacific theaters. In the Pacific he was the commanding officer (CO) of a small rescue and firefighting ship during some of the worst fighting in the Pacific: Guam, the Philippines, and then Iwo Jima and Okinawa. His ship would stand off the shore, ready to rescue sailors." (Editor Note: I remember that my uncle saying could hear the voices of the wounded on the beaches from his ship anchored off shore.)
"...After the war, he and his bride came back to SC, where he started a small Life and Health Insurance firm in Columbia. He supported his family for 50 years as a self-employed salesman".
