The Last Mile

When Sergeant Kenneth Hemric got back to Yadkinville, N.C. (pop. 760), after 32 months as a prisoner of war in Korea, his mother asked about his future. "Whatever I do," he replied, "I'm going to fix it so you won't have to worry."

Meanwhile, Hemric had some living to make up. He spent $3,370 of his back pay for a fire-engine-red hardtop convertible Mercury. He picked up his longtime friend, Corporal Locksley Hutchens, a P.W. for 34 months, and in three days they drove 800 miles in and about Yadkin County. Last week, rounding a bad curve, the car crashed into a power pole. For Ken Hemric, 23, and Locksley Hutchens, 22, the future ended.

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