As part of its mission, WHAV provides information and resources targeting health and wellness, food insecurity, after-school programs, education and housing to residents of Greater Haverhill and the Merrimack Valley. To submit news of events, fundraising appeals and other announcements, click on the image.
Walter D. Medley Jr., a 94-year-old Haverhill native, will return to his hometown to sign copies of his memoir, “The Color of the Band: A Soldier Triumphs in Love and Overcomes Hate in Occupied Germany and Beyond.”
A World War II veteran, Medley worked with author Yvonne J. Medley (no relation, that they know of) to write his own story of American history – one that many Americans may not know.
He wrote about the role that all-Black Army Bands and Honor Guard played to help win a second term for President Harry S. Truman, as well as to win support to desegregate the military. His is a story of a Black soldier’s navigation of Jim Crow racism in both the military and in American society. And it is the tender story of love, faith, and perseverance of a New England African American family that can trace its roots from slavery to the present day.
The other story-telling thread is a personal one. It’s about his first, short-lived marriage to a German woman during the war, and the surprising revelation that followed many years later. Woven through the history of Europe and America in the mid-20th century, is Medley’s recounting of his nearly 50-year marriage to Anna May (Taliaferrow) until her death, and his current marriage to wife Sharon LeCompt Medley.
The author, accompanied by his family, will be at the Buttonwoods Museum, 240 Water St., in Haverhill on Saturday, June 8, from 3 to 5 p.m. to sign copies of the book.