Thursday, May 11, 1944
PRAYER ON INVASION DAY
Both the Methodist and Presbyterian Churches of Hillsboro, invite and urge you to join with us in earnest prayer on the day when the Allied Forces shall begin the invasion of Western Europe. The call to prayer will be made by the tolling of the church bells. The church doors will be open all day, so that you can enter the sanctuary for silent prayer. On every hour during the day the bells will ring, and that will be the signal for those who will, to pause where they are, and offer a prayer. At 8:00 p.m., the congregations will assemble in their respective churches for a period of public prayer.
In our private and public observance of these arrangements, let us humbly confess our sins and those of our nation before God, interceding for the men who would face agony and death in the great invasion, praying not only that our forces might be victorious, “but even more earnestly that we might be a people whom a righteous God can trust with victory and power.”
Our Army and Navy Boys
Mr. and Mrs. Guy Dean, of Lobelia, have been notified of the death of their son, P. F. C. Harlan Dean, who was killed in action in Italy March 30, 1944.
– – –
Headquarters, European Theatre of Operations – When word was passed officially that airborne troops were in the theatre in strength, West Virginia had more than a passing interest, for hundreds of her sons were among the parachute and glider men ready for the assault on Hitler’s roofless Europe. A leader of one of the rugged parachute infantry battalions is Col. Robert L. Wolverton, of Elkins. All American airborne troops – ground forces, who use gliders and troop carrier planes – have been attained at Fort Benning, Georgia, or at Mackall, North Carolina. They maneuvered in Tennessee.
Colonel Wolverton’s outfit set a record by marching 110 miles in three days after 13 weeks basic training. Pocahontas County soldiers in the airborne troops ready for the invasion are –
Pfc. Gerald R. McNeill, Marlinton, radio operator. Pfc. Howard E. Bowers, Huntersville, ammunition bearer. Pfc. Carl C. VanReenan, Marlinton, mortar gunner. Pfc. Daniel G. Stone, Bartow, gunner. Corp. Jay B. Graham. Buckeye, fireman, now cook.
Mr. and Mrs. Elihu Moore have received word that their son, Ralph, has arrived safely “somewhere in England.”
– – –
Staff Sergeant Oran L. McLaughlin has been cited for a good conduct medal. He is the son of Mr. Mary J. McLaughlin, of Dunmore.
– – –
Pfc. Loran S. Jordon, of Greenbank, has arrived at a port “somewhere in India.” He is one of a contingent of veterans from the North Africa and Italian fighting.
– – –
Miss Peggy Smith, who is in training for a Red Cross worker, foreign service, is home from Washington, D. C. for a few days with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Zed S. Smith, Jr. Her brother, Major Z. S. Smith, III, is expected home from the South Pacific next Monday.
GOLDEN HORSESHOE
The West Virginia Club Golden Horseshoe Test, for Pocahontas County was held at Marlinton and at Greenbank May 5. The winners for the county are: Fred Mouser, Jr., Marlinton; Faye Morrison, Marlinton; Samuel Callison, Marlinton; Virginia McChesney, Brownsburg.
FIELD NOTES
While some have caught nice trout and enough of them, the bigger and better trout waters have been in poor shape for fishing. It has been raining too much and too often. I got mine alright by fishing a small stream, well stocked with hand raised trout. However, it is only right to confess that in teaching grandson, Basil Price Sharp, aged eight, going on nine, how to fly fish, he beat my time, about two to one.
– – –
Benton Smith reports the unusual – he and his partner caught a trout. The men were fishing a pool in Glady Fork of Cranberry when Benton got a bite. Then, the other man got a bite. They both pulled up on struggling trout and they accused each other of fouled lines. When they landed their fish, it was one trout with both hooks swallowed down. It was taking all comers that day and playing no favorite.
– – –
On April 4, which was a cold, snowy day, D. D. Gladwell, unearthed a big blacksnake while working on a fence row down on the Dock Cutlip farm on Locust Creek. The snake had evidently wintered in an old post hole; possibly a foot underground.
– – –
No finer flower in the spring woods than is the trillium. One plant, one flower is the rule. However, R. B. Slaven went to the woods and got a few plants, which he set out in shady places around his house on Lower Camden. This year one of the plants had fifty-four blossoms on it.
– – –
J. O. Kellison was up from Jacox one day last week. He reported his season’s fox catch at twenty-six head; mostly grays. He also got a couple of wild cats.
– – –
For several years past, the foxes have cost Mrs. Dan Beverage rather dearly in poultry at her farm home on Bucks Mountain. Last winter there was plenty of fox sign around the place so she began to bait up places and set traps. The result of her trapping was eight head of foxes – three reds and five grays. The money result in bounties and returns for fur was nearly fifty dollars.