Thursday, January 25, 1945
Our Army and Navy Boys
Mrs. Kathryn (Rider) Sheets, of Huntersville, received a card from her husband, Corporal Hildie Hudson Sheets, who was reported missing in France September 12th, stating he is a prisoner of War in Germany. He said he was well and being treated as well as could be expected.
George P. Edgar, of Hillsboro, has been notified by the War Department that his son, Captain Thomas Edgar, had been seriously wounded in action on the western front in France. On Monday, Mr. Edgar received a letter from Captain Edgar stating that he was not so seriously hurt. He wrote from a hospital in England. Captain Edgar is a member of a Tank Destroyer battalion.
Mrs. Walter Graham has received word from the War Department that her son, Jay B. Graham, had been seriously wounded in action in Belgium. He is a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division.
Mr. and Mrs. Arnot McNeill, of Marlinton, have been notified by the War Department that their son, Gerald, had been seriously wounded in action on the western front in Europe.
Mrs. Lawrence McLaughlin, of Dunmore, has received word from the War Department that her son, Private Cliff A. McLaughlin, was slightly wounded in action on December 27 in Germany.
Corporal Charles McClung, stationed somewhere in the Dutch East Indies, writes home that he spent the day and night of January 6th with a friend from back home, Loy Sharp, of the Navy. He says the two of them had right much of a celebration. Corporal McClung is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Tony McClung, of Charleston, and Sailor Sharp is the son of Elmer Sharp, of Jerico Road.
Private First Class Loman B. Pugh, son of Mrs. Elva Pugh, of Arbovale, has been cited by the 338th Infantry of the 85th “Custer Division” and awarded the Combat Infantryman Badge for actual participation in combat against the enemy with Lieutenant General Lucian K. Truscott, Jr.’s Fifth Army in Italy. Standards for the badge are high. The decoration is awarded to the infantry soldier who has proved his fighting ability in combat.
THE MAN FROM MARS
To Americans, Superman is just a character in a comic strip, but after meeting Sergeant John William Warren, of Buckeye, West Virginia, Co.D.10th Infantry, the Jerries – 22 of them – are not so sure.
Warren, a squad leader was leading his men through an attack on a Nazi held pill box which was well defended with machine guns, mortars and small arms fire.
When the squad reached a point only about 75 yards from the pill box, which lay at the top of a winding road, Warren deployed his men in ditches along the sides then emulating two gunned Jesse James, he walked out into the center of the road and blazed away with two pistols. As fate would have it, the Sergeant had only one round of ammunition, but the 22 amazed Krauts decided surrender instead of valor would be best. – Clipped from an English newspaper.
LETTER
Dear Mr. Price:
My wife being a West Virginian and from Pocahontas county and proud of it, and I too like those parts and have lots of friends out there, I always look forward to summer vacation to fish the Greenbrier from Cass to Marlinton. We take your paper and get a great deal of kick out of your stories about deer, bear and fishing, and what about those panthers you people were seeing out there. I wonder about them. Don’t you think they are wild cats? Reading your stories makes me think about a little story my granddad used to tell me, he being a Virginian, but raised in Blue Ridge and liked outdoor life, and many a pleasant day have I spent in the woods with him.
I am going to try and tell you the story as he used to tell it to me. If you don’t mind, put it in your paper. Maybe some of the boys will get a kick out of reading it.
Here goes:
GREAT GRANDAD
Great Grandad, when the land was young
Barred his door with a wagon tongue,
The times were rough and the wilderness mocked;
And he said his prayers with his shotgun cocked.
He was a citizen tough and grim,
Danger was like duck soup to him.
His great-grandson now falls asleep
And fears no harm from the darkness deep
For Great Grandad fought and won
And tamed the land for his great-grandson.
Great Grandad was a busy man,
He cooked his grub in a frying pan,
And picked his teeth with a hunting knife,
And wore the same suit all his life.
He ate cornbread and bacon fat,
But great-grandson would starve on that.
Great Grandad was gaunt with toil
Grimed and seamed with the sun and soil.
But great-grandson is fat and clean,
And rides to work in a limousine.
Twenty-five children came to bless
Great Grandad’s home in the wilderness.
Laugh at that statement if you can
But Great Grandad was a busy man.
Twenty-five children and they grew
Stout and tall on the bacon too;
Slept on the floor with the dogs and cats,
And shopped the woods for their coonskin hats.
Freud was a mystery, so was jazz
Or giving their parents a scornful razz.
If they got fresh with Great Grandad
He tanned their hides with a hickory gad.
He raised them rough, but he raised them well,
And they took hold of the ways of hell.
He filled them full of the fear of God
And flailed their pants with an old ram rod.
They grew strong of heart and strong of hand,
The firm foundation of our land.
Twenty-five boys, but his great-grandson,
To save his life – can’t manage one!
Tommie Thomas
Fork Union, Va.
BIRTHS
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Carl Ross, of Cass, a daughter.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. William Toliver, of Marlinton, a son, named William Shelby.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. E. R. Baker, of Marlinton, a son.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Sparks, of Marlinton, a daughter, named Mildred Sue Sparks.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Cain, of Stony Bottom, a son, named Roger Earl Cain.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Andy W. Broyles, of Marlinton, a daughter.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. H. W. Holmes, of Buckeye, named Alata Lon.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Landes, of Mt. Grove, Va., a son, named Gerald Wayne.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. John W. Irvine, of Marlinton, a son, named Roger Lee. The father is in the U. S. Army in the European sector of the war.
Born to Mr. and Mrs. Emmett T. Douglas, of Dry Branch of Elk, a son, named Albert Lawrence.