Last year, I found a 2017 article from the Middleboro Gazette highlighting its first casualty of WWII, Vernon Porter. Porter was Killed in Action on Anzio Beach, Italy, at just 20.
The town of Middleboro honors his sacrifice through several memorials, including the Vernon A. Porter Memorial Bridge over Interstate 495 and a stone in the town’s Veterans Memorial Park. So why then could I not find his gravesite, which, according to the article and website findagrave is located in the town’s Central Cemetery?
I think today I finally solved the mystery! I visited the cemetery this morning and again found nothing. Strange since there are five other casualties of war buried in the same section – 2 from Vietnam and 3 who would join Porter on the roll call of Middleboro’s WWII fallen.
As I drove home, I decided to make a stop just 11 miles down the road in the neighboring town of Halifax – at Central Cemetery! For those who have been following along, this is the same cemetery where James Kilroy of “Kilroy Was Here” fame is buried. It only took a few minutes to find him. Private Vernon A. Porter, 1923-1944. Also buried here is his father, Chester H. Porter, whose name is featured in the article (see 2nd photo).
The plan now is to work with both town’s veteran agents to confirm and then see if we can order a military stone for Porter!
