Marine on front line in Cuban missile crisis

Brothers in arms do not forget, and neither do natives of the same small town.

A couple of weeks ago, Richard Haigler went to a memorial service for his cousin, Mary Haigler Brank, in Martins Creek. As he was walking to the church building, another couple walked up behind him and his wife, Willene. It was Sonny Lovingood and his wife, Carol.

Haigler and Lovingood’s history goes back more than a half-century, as the two were childhood friends. They also served in the military at the same time, with Haigler heading off to the Marines and Lovingood becoming a Navy Seabee.