First to Fall: The William Edward Cramsie Story

This Memorial Day it is worth mentioning that Wayne Sayles, better known as a numismatist, publisher, and founder and executive director of the ACCG, has written a book about the first member of West Point's Class of 1943 to fall in combat. See: http://wgs.cc/FirstToFall/

The survivors of the generation that fought in WW II are now passing from this earth at an accelerated rate. In this well done and unusual book, Wayne has reconstructed through interviews and research the life and death in the service of his country of an otherwise unknown pilot who was shot down after making a bombing run on a V-1 "Buzz Bomb" launch site.

It is also a book about the power of artifacts-- in this case a West Point class ring-- to inspire us. Through the story of that ring, Wayne's book serves to honor not only Bill Cramsie, but also his comrades whose exploits have begun to fade as their peers and loved ones age and pass on.