In a three-room cabin clinging to the side of Powell Mountain in Cracker's Neck, Va., Bessie Dickenson sat at her quilting one night last week while her husband, Van Buren ("Dave") Dickenson, gaunt and sick at 72, listened to the radio. Suddenly Dave called out: "Bessie, listen to this. It says one of those boys has changed his mind and is coming home. I just know it's Ed." Said Bessie: "I just know it's Ed too, Dave." Later she mused, "Of course, I'll bet every mother listening thought the same thing. But we...
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