All comments and suggestions are welcome. If you have old pictures or old stories to share, please contact me by e-mail: itawambaconnections@gmail.com.
How many of your followers are old enough to recall December 7, 1941? I was 10 years and 3 days old. And, I do remember the day and circumstances as if it were yesterday. Both Leon and Lecil Stone's families had attended Sunday church services at Bexar Methodist Church with the parents, Kate & Morman B. Stone and had been home long enough for a typical fried chicken dinner with our grandparents and the adults had settled down to listen to either Blackwood Brothers or the Stamps Quartet out of Dallas, Texas over KRLD radio. Anyone familiar with the times in western Marion County, AL will know there wasn't electricity until early 1950's! The radio at the Stone home was battery operated and it was the only one that I recall ever seeing run on a car battery and to preserve the life of that battery, the radio wasn't allowed to be on unless a particular program was being listened to!
My cousin, Carolyn Stone and I were "dancing" (jumping around) on the tin top roof of the storm cellar, enjoying ourselves when her mother, Ella Holloway Stone, ran out of the house screaming, "We're at war, we're at war. The Japanese attacked us at Pearl Harbor." "We" knew where Pearl Harbor was because mother's brother, Ancil Lee Dyer, was stationed at Hickam Field as an army cook. We learned in great detail of the day that President Roosevelt declared would live in infamy when Uncle Lee came home on furlough in the summer of 1942. He had finished the first shift of cooking breakfast and had hardly settled down with a cup of coffee and a cigarette when the bombs began to fall. He even had a postcard photo showing where a strike had landed in the mess hall floor.
Mother had another brother, James "Jim" Fred Dyer, in the Army Air Corps who had just arrived in Manila, the Philippines 3 or 4 days prior to Dec. 7th. Jim was in the Death March of Baatan. He remained listed as "missing in action" until his surprise visit home in June 1944. Where had he been since early 1942? He had some experience as a mechanic which gained him some freedom with his captors to keep their trucks running. His freedom around the camp let him arrange for 6 or 7 officers to escape with him. They fought and lived with guerrillas, living on snakes, rats, monkeys and such until contact with the U. S. Military in Australia could arrange to pick the men up by submarine and they supposedly reported directly to Gen. MacArthur when they arrived in Australia.
Although Uncle Jim died in 1973, many details about the survival that led to their recovery have remained a secret. He was in his second term as Tax Assessor of Marion County, AL when he died.
Such stories as has been told to you over the years are why these men have been called our greatest generation by Tom Brokaw.Bettye Stone Woodhull
I am a decendant of Peter and Catherine. I have Peter's parents as Fredrick Rush and Honour Wells. Some say his father is William but I have nothing to confirm that. Have you found any more about them? Please email and we can compare what we do and don't have. teresa8324@gmail.com Teresa
5 comments:
Hey! Hurry up with pictures and the write up of the reunion. We want to hear bout all the good food that was brought!bettye
THE DAY THAT LIVES IN INFAMY
How many of your followers are old enough to recall December 7, 1941? I was 10 years and 3 days old. And, I do remember the day and circumstances as if it were yesterday. Both Leon and Lecil Stone's families had attended Sunday church services at Bexar Methodist Church with the parents, Kate & Morman B. Stone and had been home long enough for a typical fried chicken dinner with our grandparents and the adults had settled down to listen to either Blackwood Brothers or the Stamps Quartet out of Dallas, Texas over KRLD radio. Anyone familiar with the times in western Marion County, AL will know there wasn't electricity until early 1950's! The radio at the Stone home was battery operated and it was the only one that I recall ever seeing run on a car battery and to preserve the life of that battery, the radio wasn't allowed to be on unless a particular program was being listened to!
My cousin, Carolyn Stone and I were "dancing" (jumping around) on the tin top roof of the storm cellar, enjoying ourselves when her mother, Ella Holloway Stone, ran out of the house screaming, "We're at war, we're at war. The Japanese attacked us at Pearl Harbor." "We" knew where Pearl Harbor was because mother's brother, Ancil Lee Dyer, was stationed at Hickam Field as an army cook. We learned in great detail of the day that President Roosevelt declared would live in infamy when Uncle Lee came home on furlough in the summer of 1942. He had finished the first shift of cooking breakfast and had hardly settled down with a cup of coffee and a cigarette when the bombs began to fall. He even had a postcard photo showing where a strike had landed in the mess hall floor.
Mother had another brother, James "Jim" Fred Dyer, in the Army Air Corps who had just arrived in Manila, the Philippines 3 or 4 days prior to Dec. 7th. Jim was in the Death March of Baatan. He remained listed as "missing in action" until his surprise visit home in June 1944. Where had he been since early 1942? He had some experience as a mechanic which gained him some freedom with his captors to keep their trucks running. His freedom around the camp let him arrange for 6 or 7 officers to escape with him. They fought and lived with guerrillas, living on snakes, rats, monkeys and such until contact with the U. S. Military in Australia could arrange to pick the men up by submarine and they supposedly reported directly to Gen. MacArthur when they arrived in Australia.
Although Uncle Jim died in 1973, many details about the survival that led to their recovery have remained a secret. He was in his second term as Tax Assessor of Marion County, AL when he died.
Such stories as has been told to you over the years are why these men have been called our greatest generation by Tom Brokaw.Bettye Stone Woodhull
I am a decendant of Peter and Catherine. I have Peter's parents as Fredrick Rush and Honour Wells. Some say his father is William but I have nothing to confirm that. Have you found any more about them? Please email and we can compare what we do and don't have. teresa8324@gmail.com Teresa
TO ALL OUR ROBINSON RELATED, "Have yourself a Merry little Chrismas". bettye
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