Arvin Peace: An American Hero
May 22—CORBIN — Christian Care Communities is happy to celebrate one of our residents who has shown us what it looks like to be an American Hero, Arvin Peace.
As a young man, Arvin was eager to serve his country. So eager, in fact, that he gave a false birth date to the selection service in order to be drafted. Soon afterwards he received his orders to go overseas. Arvin's first year of military service was helping to rebuild an occupied and devastated Japan. While in Japan he served in the Quartermaster#127 Bakery Company, which oversaw baking bread for the other divisions. In the beginning his primary responsibility was to keep seven ovens lit and burning. In time, the US soldiers trained the Japanese to do the jobs they were assigned & the soldiers then shifted into a supervisory capacity. Today, at age 97, Arvin's memories are limited, but Arvin specifically remembers how well the Japanese he worked with got along with him and his comrades.
After World War 2, jobs back home were difficult to come by, leading Arvin, even after his first successful tour, to reenlist years later and serve in Korea as a member of the 82nd Airborne Division. There, he held an incredibly important position — teaching soldiers how to parachute from planes.
Arvin holds close the military trunk filled with pieces of his life while he was serving our country. The trunk includes family pictures, certificates, and keepsakes.
Arvin Peace served his country well not once, but twice. Arvin is proud of his time served in the army, and we are just as proud of him and all he has accomplished. Today, Arvin is dedicated to his Church community at Steeles Chapel Christian Church where he and his wife Lela sang in a Quartet.
May is Older Americans Month and Christian Care salutes all of our residents and it's an honor to care for all of them.
