Gulfport World War II veteran honored with place in in Congressional Record: 'This is your story'
GULFPORT, Fla. - Thursday morning brought the honor of a lifetime for a World War II veteran.
Lum Atkinson, 98, of Gulfport was given a place in the Congressional Record and celebrated for decades of community service by those who could call him their little league coach.
"It doesn't seem that long [of a life], you know?" Atkinson said.
He spent 40 years as a lineman at Florida Power and Light, and he coached little league. He and his wife Mary had three daughters, including Kathy, whose nickname is "Cookie."
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"We were brought up at the ball field," she said on Thursday. "However, many nights a week on the weekends, cleaning the field, getting ready for the next week."
Atkinson said he knew he was headed to the field that bears his name on Thursday, but he didn't know why.
He was greeted by dozens of his former ballplayers, and his family arranged for his life story to be summed up in 900 words, and entered into the Congressional Record.
"This is your story," said Samuel Wilson, a field director for Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-St. Petersburg). "Your story is our story. And now your story is going to be in the halls of Congress and officially etched in the Library of Congress for history."
Family said the lessons of Atkinson's life is that the importance of fostering community has to be passed down from generation to generation.
"One of the centers of the community was the kids," said Atkinson's nephew, Joe Hickman. "And the other thing, too, it's like it was so formal yet informal, because back then kids would go out there and if you had an empty field, you just ran out there with a glove."
Atkinson's story includes 50 years of coaching little league, raising a family, and, according to the Congressional Record now, being part of the main landing force at northern Okinawa to help free Japan from the grip of fascism.
But there's one moment in his life that couldn't have been in the Congressional Record, and that's what happened at Thursday's celebration.
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"I don't believe they did it without me finding out," he said.
Atkinson has been awarded the World War II combat action ribbon and the good conduct medal. The ballfield at Tomlinson Park was named for Cpl. Atkinson in 2002.
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