9th Ward Veteran - Nathan Hale Warwood by Paul Hartvigsen

By Paul Hartvigsen

While reading about the service men living and passed, I remember Nathan Hale Warwood.

Nate served as a troop transport driver on the D-Day invasion. While loading his transport to go in among the first wave to hit the beaches of Normandy, a wave went over the aft portion of his transport swamping the engine. He tried many times to restart the engine but failed. He and his transport were pushed out of the way drifted around until he finally was able to get it going again. He made it to the beaches much later in the day.

Nate was a fantastic respected Scouter. He also served as a state qualified hunter safety instructor for years. Many of the ward's boys and girls obtained their hunter safety card because of him. I did too. He and his wife, Francis, lived in the home just west of the ward building and he passed away at the age of 91 in February of 2009. I was honored to be one of his pallbearers at his funeral in Morgan. I wish that I had a better memory of all the campfire stories about his life that he told us.