A World War II love story: Memories of fallen husband remain strong

Eleanor Stark, now 90, still learning details of his death decades later

Sitting in the kitchen of her home in southern Bulloch County, Eleanor Stark holds a photo shot in 1944 of her son Woody sitting in the lap of her husband Luther Bagley, right before Bagely was shipped off to Burma to serve in World War II. It was the last time she saw her husband he was killed in action in Burma, July 25, 1944. A photo of the Purple Heart Bagley was awarded posthumously is shown on her table. Her son keeps the original medal. - photo by JIM HEALY/staff

Eleanor Stark Web — Sitting in the kitchen of her home in southern Bulloch County, Eleanor Stark holds a photo shot in 1944 of her son Woody sitting in the lap of her husband Luther Bagley, right before Bagely was shipped off to Burma to serve in World War II. It was the last time she saw her husband he was killed in action in Burma, July 25, 1944. A photo of the Purple Heart Bagley was awarded posthumously is shown on her table. Her son keeps the original medal. - photo by JIM HEALY/staff

Standing in the kitchen of her southeast Bulloch County home, Eleanor Stark holds a photo of the last time she saw her husband alive. At age 90, Stark still drives, still speaks her mind, and still remembers with emotion her first husband, killed in action during World War II. The couple’s life together was short, as Luther “Buck” Bagley was drafted soon after their wedding. After shipping off to serve in the United States Army, he and Stark only enjoyed brief periods of married bliss before she got the news he was killed in battle.

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