September 20, 2013 Coats Museum News
Rationing had made little print in the news recently until shoe rationing touched even the youngest feet. Beginning on May 1, 1945, shoes rationing included infants leather shoes. One of those affected by the new mandate could have been the daughter of Sgt. and Mrs. Raeford Parrish who announced the birth of a daughter, Judy Raye, on March 28, 1945. Maybe Sgt. Parrish fought even harder to bring this horrid war to an end so that he could hurry home to join his young family (Harnett County News April 12, 1945).
The world was shocked by the death of the American president-Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR was called the “Great Humanitarian” as the nation mourned. Harry Truman followed him (Harnett County News April 19, 1945).
Coats also had a death announced. Richard Moore Byrd, 86, had died on Wednesday at his home in Coats. The funeral was at Gift PBC. His wife, Mrs. Pleasy Byrd; his son-Jethro Byrd- and five daughters-Mrs. Daisy Stevens, Mrs. Eunice Stephenson, Nola Eleanor, Mrs. Mattie Sox and Mrs. Howard Beasley- survived him. The Distinguished Unit Award was given to First Battalion of 117th Infantry for its heroic stand against Germany’s panzer division. Pvt. Claude Blackwelder was a member of that Battalion (Harnett County News April 26, 1945).
Franklin D. Roosevelt had died one day after the United States had invaded Okinawa. American troops had liberated the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald and encountered a scene whose horror defied description. Celebrations across America and Europe marked VE Day, May 7, 1945. However, a kamikaze attack on the aircraft carrier Bunker Hill that killed 373 reminded Americans that the war was not over. In 1945, the U.S. Armed Forces reached 7.2 million. As a result of the war, 54.8 million people had died worldwide. American casualties for the war amounted 292,000 killed or missing and 613,611 were wounded (Dickson, 3).
Mrs. Carlos Stewart and her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Edwin Stewart, were hostesses for the Woman’s Club of Coats. Mrs. Carlos Stewart was president of the club. Mrs. Lucy Kelly presented the program on “Highlights of Roosevelts’s Death”. June jurors were drawn and from that list one can recognize the names of some of the citizens of Grove in 1945. Those names to peruse are Stuart Turlington, W.M. Hayes, Luther Miller, J.V. Johnson, Cullon Walston, Melvin Daniel and Richard Hayes (Harnett County News May 10, 1945).
Mrs. Sherrill Stephenson hosted the Coats Community HD Club. Surely the N.A. Taylor family was proud to read their son’s name in the news and even prouder that he was the recipient of the Purple Heart for wounds he had received in action in Germany. Who was this hero? You read about him earlier. Sgt. Randolph Taylor was the hero (Harnett County News May 17, 1945).
Mrs. Helen Roycroft Rowe graduated from Women’s College on May 28, 1945 with a major in primary education. (A Coats classmate of hers, Mildred Johnson, also graduated in May from the University of North Carolina. She graduated with a degree in journalism and took a job in Washington, D.C. as a reporter to cover the U.S. Capitol for the U.S. News Magazine.) Two other classmates of Helen’s, Henry A. Turlington, Jr., was serving with an U.S. Army medical detachment in the Philippines and Pfc. Joseph Rupert Parrish, son of Eddie L. Parrish, was with the 7th Army in Germany (Harnett County News May 31, 1945).
Cpl. Dennis F. Coats was in Czechoslovakia with the Field Artillery. Mrs. Mary Grady Stewart,, 47, of Coats had died on Wednesday in Harnett County Hospital. Her husband, R.M. Stewart, survived her as did her mother, Mrs. Rosa Gregory. Robert, Charles, William, and John T. Stewart were her four sons. Mrs. Gerald Spivey was her only daughter. Miss Mary Ellen Capps of Dunn married Pvt. Robert Turlington on June 16, 1945. The couple’s parents were Mr. and Mrs. L.A. Turlington and Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Capps (Harnett County News June 28, 1945). Who knows where the Harnett County Hospital was located and what other names it has been called?
Miss Edna Langdon of Coats became the bride of Sgt. Rudolph Ogburn of Willow Spring on July 14, 1945. Mrs. Clem Godwin played the piano and the bride’s sister, Miss Ruth Langdon, was the attendant at the ceremony.
With the war in Europe over, the lights went on in the British Isles for the first time since September 2, 1939. Was that correct? Was that at night or was it all the time? I do know that Ford Motor Company made the first postwar civilian passenger automobile since February 1942, and the U.S. exploded the first atomic bomb in the desert of Alamogordo, New Mexico and ushered in the Nuclear Age. An U.S. Army bomber crashed into the seventy-ninth floor of the Empire State Building, killed fifteen people, and damaged eleven floors.
President Truman announced the dropping of the atomic bomb which weighed only 400 pounds but killed 100,000 including the entire Second Japanese Army in Hiroshima. A second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and killed an additional 36,000 people. What was not known is that the U.S. had no more A-bombs in reserve. On August 14, 1945, Japan unconditionally surrendered and on August 15, VJ was celebrated (Dickson 5, 6).
Does it not seem that a great majority of our young men were involved in the war? Do you wonder how some families were able to harvest the farm crops without the aid of husbands and sons? One very surprising source of help that came to Harnett County was the use of 118 German prisoners at Fort Bragg. These prisoners were transported to the tobacco fields as workers. The farmer paid them 30 cents per hour plus cost of transportation (Harnett County News July 9, 1945).
Three sons of Mr. and Mrs. Almond D. Williams of Coats were in the armed services at the same time. O. Homer Williams was aboard the USS Maryland; Clayborn Williams was at St. Albans Naval Hospital, and Stacy Williams was at Naval Air Station, Beaufort, S.C. A visit to the Coats Heritage Square will share a very interesting fact about Homer Williams. Pfc. Edgar Raynor was at Camp Butler. Is he the same young man who was a POW earlier in Germany?
I do know that Mr. Sanford Stewart and Lewis Lee, both of Coats, attended a barbeque supper for Mr. and Mrs. Herman Temple’s son who was inducted into the US Army (Harnett County News August 2, 1945). The paper failed to give the young man’s name. Does any reader know who he was?
Beth Kilgo of Clearwater, Florida spent several days in the Coats Museum sharing her memories of growing up in the Bailey’s Crossroads area. She has enchanced her stories and the stories of her sister, Lindy Edwards, with drawings and photos from many years ago. Many of the readers will recall that Lindy was the first Coats policewoman. In fact she administered the breathalyzer test from the one we have in the exhibit at the museum. Also in that same exhibit one can find a photograph of Lindy with many of the early Coats policemen and auxiliary team.
Former Coats teacher and librarian, Marie Salmon, used many techniques to engage her library students and she will be long remembered for all she did for the school. Lindy was her library volunteer and the voice behind the puppet Overdue, Pork Chop and other teaching puppets. Thanks to Beverley Howard, Sandy Kay Howard and of course, Marie Salmon, Overdue, the ostrich puppet has rejoined many other relics saved from the old Coats School.
Many of the late Christine A. Parrish’s friends continue to honor her with memorials and the museum folks sincerely appreciate Becky Pope, Julia Stewart, Kiwanis Club of Coats, Woman’s Club of Coats, Gerry Honeycutt and the co-workers of Christine’s step-son Ronnie Parrish. Gerry and the Woman’s Club also remembered Frances Cade. Patsy and Stacy Avery and H.L. and Gayle have remembered Vertie Williams. Thank you to all.
PLEASE BE MINDFUL THAT THIS COLUMN APPEARED IN THE DAILY RECORD ON SEPTEMBER 20, 2013.
Rationing had made little print in the news recently until shoe rationing touched even the youngest feet. Beginning on May 1, 1945, shoes rationing included infants leather shoes. One of those affected by the new mandate could have been the daughter of Sgt. and Mrs. Raeford Parrish who announced the birth of a daughter, Judy Raye, on March 28, 1945. Maybe Sgt. Parrish fought even harder to bring this horrid war to an end so that he could hurry home to join his young family (Harnett County News April 12, 1945).
The world was shocked by the death of the American president-Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR was called the “Great Humanitarian” as the nation mourned. Harry Truman followed him (Harnett County News April 19, 1945).
Coats also had a death announced. Richard Moore Byrd, 86, had died on Wednesday at his home in Coats. The funeral was at Gift PBC. His wife, Mrs. Pleasy Byrd; his son-Jethro Byrd- and five daughters-Mrs. Daisy Stevens, Mrs. Eunice Stephenson, Nola Eleanor, Mrs. Mattie Sox and Mrs. Howard Beasley- survived him. The Distinguished Unit Award was given to First Battalion of 117th Infantry for its heroic stand against Germany’s panzer division. Pvt. Claude Blackwelder was a member of that Battalion (Harnett County News April 26, 1945).
Franklin D. Roosevelt had died one day after the United States had invaded Okinawa. American troops had liberated the Nazi concentration camp at Buchenwald and encountered a scene whose horror defied description. Celebrations across America and Europe marked VE Day, May 7, 1945. However, a kamikaze attack on the aircraft carrier Bunker Hill that killed 373 reminded Americans that the war was not over. In 1945, the U.S. Armed Forces reached 7.2 million. As a result of the war, 54.8 million people had died worldwide. American casualties for the war amounted 292,000 killed or missing and 613,611 were wounded (Dickson, 3).
Mrs. Carlos Stewart and her daughter-in-law, Mrs. Edwin Stewart, were hostesses for the Woman’s Club of Coats. Mrs. Carlos Stewart was president of the club. Mrs. Lucy Kelly presented the program on “Highlights of Roosevelts’s Death”. June jurors were drawn and from that list one can recognize the names of some of the citizens of Grove in 1945. Those names to peruse are Stuart Turlington, W.M. Hayes, Luther Miller, J.V. Johnson, Cullon Walston, Melvin Daniel and Richard Hayes (Harnett County News May 10, 1945).
Mrs. Sherrill Stephenson hosted the Coats Community HD Club. Surely the N.A. Taylor family was proud to read their son’s name in the news and even prouder that he was the recipient of the Purple Heart for wounds he had received in action in Germany. Who was this hero? You read about him earlier. Sgt. Randolph Taylor was the hero (Harnett County News May 17, 1945).
Mrs. Helen Roycroft Rowe graduated from Women’s College on May 28, 1945 with a major in primary education. (A Coats classmate of hers, Mildred Johnson, also graduated in May from the University of North Carolina. She graduated with a degree in journalism and took a job in Washington, D.C. as a reporter to cover the U.S. Capitol for the U.S. News Magazine.) Two other classmates of Helen’s, Henry A. Turlington, Jr., was serving with an U.S. Army medical detachment in the Philippines and Pfc. Joseph Rupert Parrish, son of Eddie L. Parrish, was with the 7th Army in Germany (Harnett County News May 31, 1945).
Cpl. Dennis F. Coats was in Czechoslovakia with the Field Artillery. Mrs. Mary Grady Stewart,, 47, of Coats had died on Wednesday in Harnett County Hospital. Her husband, R.M. Stewart, survived her as did her mother, Mrs. Rosa Gregory. Robert, Charles, William, and John T. Stewart were her four sons. Mrs. Gerald Spivey was her only daughter. Miss Mary Ellen Capps of Dunn married Pvt. Robert Turlington on June 16, 1945. The couple’s parents were Mr. and Mrs. L.A. Turlington and Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Capps (Harnett County News June 28, 1945). Who knows where the Harnett County Hospital was located and what other names it has been called?
Miss Edna Langdon of Coats became the bride of Sgt. Rudolph Ogburn of Willow Spring on July 14, 1945. Mrs. Clem Godwin played the piano and the bride’s sister, Miss Ruth Langdon, was the attendant at the ceremony.
With the war in Europe over, the lights went on in the British Isles for the first time since September 2, 1939. Was that correct? Was that at night or was it all the time? I do know that Ford Motor Company made the first postwar civilian passenger automobile since February 1942, and the U.S. exploded the first atomic bomb in the desert of Alamogordo, New Mexico and ushered in the Nuclear Age. An U.S. Army bomber crashed into the seventy-ninth floor of the Empire State Building, killed fifteen people, and damaged eleven floors.
President Truman announced the dropping of the atomic bomb which weighed only 400 pounds but killed 100,000 including the entire Second Japanese Army in Hiroshima. A second bomb was dropped on Nagasaki and killed an additional 36,000 people. What was not known is that the U.S. had no more A-bombs in reserve. On August 14, 1945, Japan unconditionally surrendered and on August 15, VJ was celebrated (Dickson 5, 6).
Does it not seem that a great majority of our young men were involved in the war? Do you wonder how some families were able to harvest the farm crops without the aid of husbands and sons? One very surprising source of help that came to Harnett County was the use of 118 German prisoners at Fort Bragg. These prisoners were transported to the tobacco fields as workers. The farmer paid them 30 cents per hour plus cost of transportation (Harnett County News July 9, 1945).
Three sons of Mr. and Mrs. Almond D. Williams of Coats were in the armed services at the same time. O. Homer Williams was aboard the USS Maryland; Clayborn Williams was at St. Albans Naval Hospital, and Stacy Williams was at Naval Air Station, Beaufort, S.C. A visit to the Coats Heritage Square will share a very interesting fact about Homer Williams. Pfc. Edgar Raynor was at Camp Butler. Is he the same young man who was a POW earlier in Germany?
I do know that Mr. Sanford Stewart and Lewis Lee, both of Coats, attended a barbeque supper for Mr. and Mrs. Herman Temple’s son who was inducted into the US Army (Harnett County News August 2, 1945). The paper failed to give the young man’s name. Does any reader know who he was?
Beth Kilgo of Clearwater, Florida spent several days in the Coats Museum sharing her memories of growing up in the Bailey’s Crossroads area. She has enchanced her stories and the stories of her sister, Lindy Edwards, with drawings and photos from many years ago. Many of the readers will recall that Lindy was the first Coats policewoman. In fact she administered the breathalyzer test from the one we have in the exhibit at the museum. Also in that same exhibit one can find a photograph of Lindy with many of the early Coats policemen and auxiliary team.
Former Coats teacher and librarian, Marie Salmon, used many techniques to engage her library students and she will be long remembered for all she did for the school. Lindy was her library volunteer and the voice behind the puppet Overdue, Pork Chop and other teaching puppets. Thanks to Beverley Howard, Sandy Kay Howard and of course, Marie Salmon, Overdue, the ostrich puppet has rejoined many other relics saved from the old Coats School.
Many of the late Christine A. Parrish’s friends continue to honor her with memorials and the museum folks sincerely appreciate Becky Pope, Julia Stewart, Kiwanis Club of Coats, Woman’s Club of Coats, Gerry Honeycutt and the co-workers of Christine’s step-son Ronnie Parrish. Gerry and the Woman’s Club also remembered Frances Cade. Patsy and Stacy Avery and H.L. and Gayle have remembered Vertie Williams. Thank you to all.
PLEASE BE MINDFUL THAT THIS COLUMN APPEARED IN THE DAILY RECORD ON SEPTEMBER 20, 2013.