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Twin Photo Album

Twins often have interesting stories to tell. Please write or call us about your unique twin stories. We hope to hear from you! We would like to express a special thank you to Thompson Jones and Judy Anderson for sharing the following stories.

 

Twin Brothers Survived Okinawa

In World War II, Tommy and Talbert Jones, originally from North Carolina, were medical corpsmen during the invasion of Okinawa, Japan where 16,000 U.S. troops died and another 52,000 were wounded. Japan also suffered great loss of life, including an estimated 110,000 troops and civilians.

Talbert and Tommy served side by side for most of the war, being separated for only about six months. Their separation came after five brothers were killed on a sunken battleship and the military began separating siblings, to minimize the likelihood that families would lose more than one member. However, the Jones twins were very unhappy with this separation. The twins’ father persuaded a congressman to "pull some strings" to get them back together. Once reunited, they served together in a hospital in the city of Naha. The makeshift hospital, established in an old school, was the only building left standing in the city. Everything else had been leveled by bombs. Tommy’s job was to administer plasma and painkillers when the wounded were bought to the hospital. Talbert’s job was to locate and transport the wounded. Talbert found his job very painful because he would encounter many of his friends who had died during the conflict. Both brothers knew they were lucky to survive what they called a "nightmare."

Today, military policy does not allow siblings to serve in the same units. Tommy, now 75, lives in Rocky Point, North Carolina. Talbert resided in Jacksonville, North Carolina where he lived to be 72.

Big Twins!

Judy Anderson is the proud mother of twin boys, Benjamin and Daniel. Benjamin and Daniel received considerable attention when they were born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina on May 1, 1997. The reason?

The twins weighed 9 lbs. 1 oz. and 9lbs. 9ozs. Nearly 19 pounds of baby! The Anderson family received letters of congratulations from the Governor of North Carolina and the President and First Lady, Bill and Hillary Clinton. Mrs. Anderson said the attention they received was "grand" and very meaningful.