< Previous20 People & Mountains readers (and probably anyone to whom Dean was recounting the tale) would reasonably assume he was speaking about D-Day and the Normandy Invasion. Yet, the only vessel with Dean aboard that could have helped invade France was the SS Fitzhugh Lee, which only participated in Operation Dragoon—the invasion of southern France along its Mediterranean coast, which took place later in the year and under far less dangerous conditions. We examined this through available ship logs and convoy summaries, cross-checked with the narrative Dean presented during one of his latter incarcerations. Stranger still is Dean’s claim (also in the Corrections file) to have been wounded in the chest by shrapnel during the same invasion. Strange because, with the right forms in hand, it can be easily verified or discounted. When he completed his service at sea in 1945 and took his chance at the aforementioned Officers School (dropping out after two months), Dean underwent the customary physical exam. A medical form that lists identifying marks all the way down to vaccination scars makes no mention of anything on his chest—rendering Dean’s tale of receiving a serious wound mere months before highly dubious. Contradictions such as these caused much hand- wringing for our students, who were frustrated by their inability to reconcile Dean’s heroic, globetrotting tale with the facts on hand. We had to remind them frequently of the offense for which Dean was most often locked up: forgery. To be a successful forger—especially when most transactions took place face to face (credit cards hadn’t been invented yet)—one had to be very good at presenting an alternative version of reality that seemed true. His success and freedom depended on it. To profile a person like Homer Jackson Dean, therefore, is to commit to taking no fact at face value. His fabrications were simply too numerous. Dean claimed to be aboard the SS Birmingham when it was torpedoed in the Caribbean—unlikely, since he was getting married for the second time in West Virginia that day. He supposedly braved the dangerous North Atlantic supply run from Great Britain to the Soviet Union, but convoy records located by our team indicate his ship had completed that run weeks before he came aboard, and never went again. It’s ironic that Dean felt the need to fabricate so much of his own record since he served more than two very real years in an extremely dangerous line of work. Merchant Mariners suffered an incredibly high casualty rate during World War II—second only to the U.S. Marine Corps—since merchant and cargo ships were the primary targets of German U-boats. Between the Merchant Marines and a brief second stint with the Coast Guard in 1946, no one could claim that Homer Jackson Dean had shrunk from his duty. Pay records from his National Archives files do corroborate his employment on the vessels he identified. Final confirmation of the postwar Coast Guard tenure came from none other than the National Cemetery Administration staff in Pruntytown, which provided us with a copy of his discharge. Dean’s plot only thickens after the war when several governors become involved in his twisting tale of forgery, grand larceny, and murder. Members of our project team, most notably researcher Abbi Smithmyer and administrator Kristen Bailey, poured countless hours into straightening the crooked paths of the story and assisting Morgantown’s University High School student authors Molly Cook, Derrick Kosinski, and Max Vitale. Digging into Dean’s story as it spans West Virginia and the globe is a journey worth taking—as it is with all of our veterans. Kyle Warmack, the West Virginia Humanities Council’s program officer, directs the West Virginia National Cemeteries Project (WVNCP). Since 2021, the WVNCP has been funded through the Department of Veterans Affairs’ Veterans Legacy Program, allowing high school students— assisted by graduate-level researchers—to write biographies of individual veterans interred in our national cemeteries at Grafton and Pruntytown.Fall 2025 21 View our full Donor List at wvhumanities.org Contribute online at bit.ly/donatewvhc or by mail at 1310 Kanawha Blvd E, Charleston, WV 25301. Thanks to You, We Met Our $50,000 Match! A special thank you to the Federation of State Humanities Councils with support from the Mellon Foundation for providing $50,000 in matching funds to the West Virginia Humanities Council. With your generous support, and a heartfelt legacy gift from Sally and Don Richardson, we met our match, doubling the impact on the Council’s future. We’ll keep bringing West Virginia’s stories to life—from continuing public programs such as History Alive! to hosting Pulitzer Prize-winning authors. We’re honored to enrich communities across the Mountain State. Your gift helps preserve West Virginia’s folklife, fund e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia Online, and care for the MacFarland-Hubbard House, our historic 1836 headquarters in Charleston. You made this possible. If you believe our culture connects us all, stay with us. We need you! Together, we can preserve, share, and celebrate the unique story of West Virginia. Cryptid pins designed by Liz Pavlovic Give Every Month Join our monthly giving circle and receive one of our limited-edition West Virginia Cryptid pins as a special thank you. Leave a Legacy If you believe in the lasting power of our work, please consider leaving a legacy that will carry the West Virginia Humanities Council into the future. Legacy gifts help protect our stories, traditions, and culture for generations to come. They’re a meaningful way to express your values and support the communities you love. Talk with your attorney or financial advisor to explore how your planned gift can make a difference. Invest in West Virginia Your support preserves our cultural heritage through the West Virginia Folklife Program, brings our story to the world via e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia, and sustains educational programs like History Alive! and traveling exhibits such as Born of Rebellion . Your help also maintains the historic MacFarland-Hubbard House as a welcoming space for public programs and community events. Please consider donating today. For questions or to start a conversation, contact Development Director Katie Morris at morris@wvhumanities.org or call 304-346-8500.22 People & Mountains Join us to celebrate the season at our annual Holiday Open House, Friday, December 5, 4 to 6 p.m., at the historic MacFarland-Hubbard House in Charleston. Step inside our beautifully decorated 1836 headquarters, enjoy festive refreshments, and reconnect with friends and colleagues in a welcoming atmosphere. SAVE THE DATE! Council Staff Eric Waggoner, Executive Director Stan Bumgardner, e-WV Media Editor Heather Campbell, Fiscal Officer Katie Morris, Development Director Erin Riebe, Grants Administrator Tricia Stringer, Operations Manager Kyle Warmack, Program Officer Jennie Williams, State Folklorist waggoner@wvhumanities.org bumgardner@wvhumanities.org campbell@wvhumanities.org morris@wvhumanities.org riebe@wvhumanities.org stringer@wvhumanities.org warmack@wvhumanities.org williams@wvhumanities.orgThe West Virginia Humanities Council, an independent nonpartisan nonprofit institution, is the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities. We welcome comments and financial contributions. The West Virginia Humanities Council gratefully acknowledges support from the National Endowment for the Humanities; the West Virginia Department of Tourism; and foundations, corporations, and individuals throughout the Mountain State and beyond. Please address correspondence to: West Virginia Humanities Council 1310 Kanawha Blvd E Charleston WV 25301 email wvhuman@wvhumanities.org or call 304-346-8500 Produced and published by Marcus Constantino, Appalachian Visuals. Layout design and typesetting by Brianna Rose Jarvis. @wvhumanities At the West Virginia Humanities Council, we believe the humanities have the power to connect us, even in uncertain times. Across the state, our programs and grants create spaces for West Virginians to come together, share stories, explore new ideas, and engage in meaningful conversations. As we celebrate more than 50 years of championing the humanities in the Mountain State, your support matters now more than ever. We remain committed to preserving, honoring, and celebrating the stories that make West Virginia unique. Our stories are full of heart, determination, and resilience. Thank you for standing with us. This vital work would not be possible without you! To make a contribution, visit us online at wvhumanities.org/donate/ donate-here or mail your gift to: 1310 Kanawha Blvd E Charleston, WV 25301 For questions or to explore more ways to give, please contact Development Director Katie Morris at morris@wvhumanities.org. Your gift today ensures the voices of West Virginians are heard now and for years to come. Join us in this important work. wvhumanities.orgNext >