Preview
Creation Date
7-7-2012
Description
Vereen Bell Highway Marker, Ware Co GA This is located 6 miles SE of Waycross, in Ware County , Georgia.
Text on the marker reads as :
" This access road into the great Okefenokee Swamp was named by the Georgia Legislature (1946) in memory of VEREEN BELL, Lt. USNR, young Georgia patriot and writer, who by his novel `SWAMP WATER` gave to the world insights into this unique area, and who gave his life for his country in World War II.
Born in Cairo, GA., Oct. 5, 1911; Davidson College A.B., 1932; home later, Thomasville; wife and two children; died Oct. 26, 1944.
His brilliant but brief literary career included two novels, many short stories and articles. He wrote mostly of nature and outdoor life, including the Okefenokee, which he loved and made the locale of several stories. Two separate motion pictures were made from `SWAMP WATER,` (20th C. Fox, 1942, 1952).
Volunteering for the Navy 1943, he became Intelligence Officer of Air Combat Squadron VC-10 on aircraft carrier GAMBIER BAY.
This valiant ship was sunk in the Battle for Leyte, Oct. 23, 1944. VEREEN BELL was injured, died the next day and was buried at sea of Samar Island, P.I. He dies nobly and unafraid."
GHM 148-3 Georgia Historical Commission 1953
Latitude, Longitude
31.12961944, -82.26720000
Rights Statement
http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Keywords
Taylor, George Lansing, Jr.; Lance Taylor; Photographers -- Florida -- Jacksonville; Photograph collections -- Florida -- Jacksonville; Vereen Bell Highway Marker; Vereen Bell Highway; Lt. Vereen Bell; Ware County (Ga); Historical marker -- Georgia --- Ware County.; Images