To everyone in Highlands he was he guy who was always around, the waterman who was always happy to help someone, the native who knew everyone and everything about what used to be Middletown when his family first settled here.
To the US Army, he was Elmer Layton, a top secret Courier for the United States when he served in the Army Air Corps during World War II.
There aren’t many stories about Elmer’s war years, other than fun and heartwarming memories he and other soldiers from Highlands shared with their families, both in letters sent from foreign places and conversations once back home.
There is the story about how, as a courier, Elmer traveled around Hawaii with his briefcase shackled to his arm. He was also being armed with orders from his Commander that he better never come back without it, or at the very least, his arm better be missing with the briefcase if he did.
Or the time the battery on the Harley he traveled on throughout Oahu bounced off the bike, and without any money, he had to hitchhike back to his station. From what the family remembers, of all the places on the island during the war, Elmer used to say he liked Kahuku airfield the best. Located at the north end of the island, there were many underground bunkers there, and he liked how desolate and protected the area looked at this time of war.
There is also the heartwarming story late in 1944, when a group of military heroes from Highlands all had the chance to get together when all were stationed for various times in Hawaii. There was a time in 1944, at the beginning of December, that Highlands natives all of whom volunteered to serve in the war had the chance to get together. There was a reunion of sorts among Elmer, Arden Bedle, Harry Rubley and Ardeth Canan, who served in the Nurse Corps. It was Rubley who wrote about the get together to his mom, and she spread the news so all would know each of the fighting patriots was safe. It must have been a memorable Christmas for them all.
After returning from the war and settling back in Highlands, Elmer was also a hard working volunteer for Columbia Hose Company No. 1 of the volunteer fire department, and at one time also served as state delegate along with the department’s vice president, Sherman Smith.
Nor was Elmer the only hero in his family during World War II. His sister Dena, later Dena Layton Kadenback Parker, was an air raid warden in town, one of the many volunteers who patrolled the streets and beaches at night, assuring all window shades are secured tightly so as not to let any light be seen. Air Raid wardens along the Highlands waterfront also had to keep watch at sea for any lights or signals of any time that enemy submarines or ships were in the area.
For historians, Elmer’s family’s deep roots in the Bayshore can be traced back to a King’s grant of 240 acres to a grandsire in what is now the Chapel Hill area. The Layton Family graveyard is located just off Kings Highway, and Elmer’s ancestors Hannah and Anthony, who were both born in the mid-18th century and died in the early part of the 19th century are buried there. Elmer himself grew up in a house that used to be a grocery store and is no demolished at 99 Bay avenue.
