The Shadow
Lt. Colonel Doug Bahrns, husband of Jana Allen Bahrns from Alleghany County, has been gifted a photograph album from the 1930s, that Kenneth Washburn, his grandfather who fought in World War II, acquired in Europe.
Washburn, Bahrns’ grandfather on his mother’s side of the family, was a 2nd Lt. in the U.S. Army. He saw action in the European Theater during World War II, where he came into possession of two unique photo albums concerning Hitler’s rise to power.
Doug said, “My grandfather gained possession of two albums filled with photos of Hitler and high officials of Germany that were taken prior to World War II.”
He continued, “One of the photo albums was stolen before he came back home, but I now have possession of the other one.”
The photograph album with German inscriptions contains more than 100 photographs, many of Hitler and his German forces during the 1930s in various locations in Germany.
Doug entered the U.S. Marine Corps following his graduation from VMI in 2003, and in 2004, he fought as a platoon commander in Phantom Fury, the second battle of Fallujah in Iraq.
He was awarded the Bronze Star with a V for valor for the role he played in the battle.
After serving as Lt. Colonel in command of 1,027 U.S. Marines at Camp Lejeune[RA1], he was recently transferred to attend the war college at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Ala.
Jana, who became Doug’s wife in 2011, continues to pursue her career as an actress who has performed in numerous TV and film productions such as “George and Tammy,” “Welcome to Flatch,” and “The Righteous Gemstones.”
As the lead female actress, she recently finished filming for “The Sins Beneath,” a psychological feature film thriller yet to be released.
Also, she performed as the lead female role in “Remember Yesterday: A Wilmington Love Story” which premiered in Wilmington, N.C. earlier in the year.
Doug and Jana spent Christmas in the Alleghany Highlands where they posed with the pre-World War II photograph album that contains black and white pictures taken by an unknown photographer.
