Chapter 8: 1954-1959, Professional and personal success

Clayton had joined the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers and had been working as a foreman for one of the contractors working on the Cadillac Tank Plant in Cleveland, Ohio. The experience and reputation which he established there made him one of the top electricians in the area and brought him to the attention of an even larger contractor.

2 At work, Clayton was known as “Ernie,” and everyone respected his electrical and mechanical knowledge and skills. “Ernie, we have a job at the Lewis Research Center that we’d like you to handle for us,” Bob Garland of McCoy Electric told him. “I’m working for Durkee,” he replied.

3 “Ernie, this is big!” Bob persisted. “They want us to wire some 33,000 Horsepower motors that will drive the compressors for a wind tunnel that is sixty feet in diameter, and we want you to be our general foreman for the job.” Clayton was silent.

4 “Of course, you’d be making a lot more money than you are now,” Garland added. “I’ll have a free hand to run the job the way that I want to run it?” he asked. “Of course,” Bob smiled.

5 Next, Bob introduced him to one of McCoy’s estimators who had been instrumental in landing them the job at Lewis. “Ernie, I’d like you to meet Bill Levenstein – this guy knows the numbers.”

6 “Bill,” he responded as he extended his hand. “Ernie, it’s good to finally meet you. It’s going to be great to have the wizard of the Tank Plant on our side,” Bill said as he smiled and shook Ernie’s hand.

7 From that point forward, Clayton was finally able to do more than simply make a living. He and Doodle started saving money.

8 “I’d like to buy a little piece of land and build a house,” he confided to her. “That would be nice but won’t that take a lot of money?” she asked. “With what I’m making now, I think that we could have enough in a couple of years,” he replied. “Well, let’s see what we can do,” Doodle agreed.

9 In the meantime, however, Buck had found himself in the middle of a real dilemma. The buxom blonde he had married after leaving the service proved to be ill prepared for marriage and motherhood.

10 “Betty has flown the coop!” he told Doodle. “And I don’t have nobody to take care of this baby.”

11 Edna fell in love with Donald Ray the first time she saw him. “This is the baby that Clayton and I could never have together,” she told herself. Clayton, however, was of another mind. “We’re not going to raise your brother’s baby!” he declared.

12 Fortunately for Buck, however, there was another childless couple in the family who were willing to take on a baby. Luke had married for the third time to a divorcee from Opelika, Alabama where they were currently living together.

13 “We’ll take him if we can raise him as our own – without any interference from you,” Delores told her brother-in-law. Buck agreed, and Doodle was heartbroken.

14 After the work at NASA’s Lewis Research Center was finished, McCoy Electric was hired to do the wiring for the new Edsel line at the Ford Plant. It was another big job for Clayton and his associates, but the new model would prove to be a dud for the Ford Motor Company.

15 Then, in 1958, Bill Levenstein approached Clayton about a new opportunity that had been presented to him by a group out of Lorain, Ohio. “Ernie, I’d like for you and Edna to join us at dinner this evening so that we can talk over some business,” Bill began. “I have a proposal for you that I think you’ll be interested to hear about,” he explained. “Sure, I’ll hear what you gotta say,” Clayton told him.

16 That night, as Clayton feasted on prime rib and Edna nibbled on a filet mignon, Bill told them that he was leaving McCoy Electric. “I am going to be opening a Cleveland office for Great Lakes Electric, and I want Ernie to work for me,” he told them. “You would be the Superintendent of all of the electricians, and you’d be making a whole lot more money than you’re making now,” Bill continued.

17 Clayton stopped eating for a moment and looked up from his plate. “I don’t take any shit from anybody,” he told him. “If I’m going to do this, I will do it my way – without any interference from anybody else.” Clayton liked Bill, but he knew that he could be a tyrant and a micromanager.

18 “Of course, Ernie that goes without saying,” Bill smiled. “If you want to put some money in, we could even do this together,” he offered. “I don’t have the money to do that,” Clayton responded. “But I do like the idea of running my own show.”

19 The following year, Clayton and Doodle had enough money to purchase six acres of land in North Ridgeville, Ohio. “I’ll be a little closer to work,” he told her. “Yeah, and I like the trees and the quiet,” she added. They now had the land and the means to build their new house.

Chapter 7: 1950-1953, The Korean War

It had been just over three years since the old Army Air Forces had been transformed into a new and separate branch of the U.S. Armed Forces when Buck arrived in Texas for his training. Also, by that time, the Korean War had already been raging for six months; and a whole lot of water had already flowed under the proverbial bridge in Truman’s ongoing “police action” in Korea.

2 The previous June, thousands of troops from the communist northern portion of the Korean Peninsula had poured across the 38^th parallel into the pro-Western Republic of Korea (ROK) to the south. Under the guise of a United Nations resolution, President Truman had ordered American troops into the conflict early the following month in support of the ROK.

3 By August, what was left of the ROK’s army (along with their American allies) had been confined to an area around Pusan in the extreme southeastern portion of the peninsula. The following month, General Douglas MacArthur launched a counter offensive against the communist forces at Inchon. In November, the Chinese entered the conflict and quickly erased the gains that MacArthur had achieved during the offensive.

4 For Buck, however, Korea was still more than a year away. He would have to complete his training first. He was slated to be a radio/radar technician, but his training had barely begun when he received word of his mother’s death. He was granted emergency leave to return to Huntsville for the funeral.

5 By the time he got back to Texas, however, there was no way for him to catch up with the training he had missed. Instead, he was sent to Boston University for four months of training to work on aircraft engines. “This is the most boring shit I’ve ever dealt with,” he told one of his classmates.

6 In fact, about the only interesting thing that happened to him while he was there was a letter he received from Doodle. “Leslie married that nice Maynard girl named Dorothy,” she informed him.

7 Technically, Leslie was his nephew, but he had always been more like a brother or best buddy to Buck. “Well, at least he’s having some fun,” he thought.

8 From there, Buck was sent to San Marcos Air Force Base in Texas and then on to Perrin Air Force Base. At Perrin, he was tasked with working on some twin-engine B-26 planes that the Air Force was using for reconnaissance. Buck, however, was more interested in drinking and women at that point in his life.

9 At the end of July, he turned twenty-one years old; and he was ready to celebrate. He and some of his buddies headed into Sherman (about seven miles from the base) and invaded the first saloon that they came to there.

10 After several drinks, Buck’s attention focused on a buxom blonde seated at the other end of the bar. For a moment, he caught her eye. She smiled and winked at him. He raised his glass to her, and then left his bar stool to stagger over to where she was seated.

11 As he got nearer, he noticed that she was surrounded by several other men who were actively competing for her attention. Buck pushed through several of them and got close enough to speak. “Hello, darlin,” he began.

12 “That’s not the way it works, darlin!” the woman laughed. “I’ll need your dog tags if you’re goin to be talkin to me.” Buck quickly took them from around his neck and handed them to the platinum vision seated before him.

13 “Hey, buddy, can’t you see that I was here first,” he heard someone say behind him. “Yeah, you gotta get in line,” another man protested.

14 Someone gave him a shove, and Buck started swinging. His fist landed first in the man’s face who had told him to “get in line.” Then Buck felt someone’s fist hit his face, and he was suddenly careening toward the floor. Someone kicked him before he could get back up, and he could see that others were now fighting above him.

15 He pulled out his pocket knife and stabbed the man who had kicked him. The man let out a howl and quickly crawled away through the melee. Buck’s hand felt warm and wet. He looked down at his hand. It and the knife were covered in blood.

16 His head was swimming, and he was suddenly very nauseous. “I’ve got to get outta here,” he thought. Then he somehow managed to make it to the door and ran outside. He looked both ways and kept on running. He squatted down in a nearby ravine and hid there until morning.

17 Unaware that the beautiful blonde had given his dog tags to an MP after the fight, Buck thumbed a ride back to the base. The police arrested him at the gate.

18 “This is very serious,” the lawyer told him. “Don’t say anything to anybody!”

19 Dick wired him fifty dollars to help with his fines, and the lawyer managed to get him out of it with a slap on the wrist. Even so, Buck’s days in Texas were now numbered.

20 “If you don’t volunteer for Korea, I can guarantee that you will get every shit detail that comes down the pike,” his CO told him. Buck was on a plane to Japan two days later.

21 From there, he rode in a mail carrier to Kimpo Air Base which was a few miles to the northwest of Seoul, Korea. In other words, he was close enough to the fighting that he would never really feel safe and secure while he was there.

22 Like the other airmen on the base, Buck lived in a tent with a wooden floor and an oil stove for when the nights turned cold. He slept in a sleeping bag on top of an army cot. As there wasn’t any warm water, showers there were rare (even in the summertime). Like his buddies, he also drank a lot of coffee and ate a good many C-Rations while he was in Korea.

23 His first time on guard duty was miserable. It was pouring rain, and the only thing he had to protect him from getting drenched was a thin poncho. As a consequence, he spent most of his time in the guard shack.

24 When the CO checked on him that night, he startled Buck so bad that his teeth started chattering. He shined a flashlight in his face and asked him if he was awake. “Yes, sir!” Buck replied. “See that you stay that way!” the CO barked in reply.

25 The nights were always difficult at Kimpo. They were close enough to the 38^th parallel that the North Koreans would sometimes slip into the base and kill some unsuspecting airman while he was sleeping.

26 Each night, they were also subject to a flyover by the communists. They would drop fragmentation bombs out of their planes and try to hit the tents of the sleeping airmen below them. “Did Bed Check Charlie get anyone last night?” was usually one of the first questions asked each morning.

27 And, if the nights weren’t enough to torment the Americans, there was the fact that the people from the North looked just like the people from the South. Hence, unless the person was wearing a uniform, there simply wasn’t anyway to distinguish friend from foe. Hence, Buck and the other airmen stationed there were always suspicious of the natives streaming in and out of the base. “Is that Gook carrying scraps of food or explosives in that pail of his?” Buck wondered on more than one occasion.

28 His next time on guard duty was even more frightening than his first had been. He heard something moving in the tree line, but it was so dark that he couldn’t see anything.

29 “Halt! Who goes there?” he shouted into the blackness before him. There was silence. “Advance and be recognized,” he demanded. He thought he heard a stick or twig snap. “Jong-gee!” he screamed in the best Korean he could muster with his Southern accent.

30 His heart was beating fast now, and a cold sweat had broken out across his forehead. Another stick snapped in the darkness. He pointed his rifle at the darkness before him and opened fire. A spray of bullets hit the trees in front of him.

31 Within minutes, he was surrounded by other airmen and his CO. “Miller, what in the hell are you doing?” the CO demanded. “Sir, I thought I heard something out there,” Buck replied. “You think you heard something!” the CO repeated.

32 His shift on guard duty for that evening was over. Nevertheless, he spent most of the rest of that night answering questions about exactly what had happened and why he had decided to fire his weapon.

33 Then, one night, the base alarms sounded. They were on red alert. It was the middle of winter, and the temperature was hovering around zero. It was two o’clock in the morning, and it was pitch black outside.

34 Buck and his comrades had to position themselves on the cold, snow-covered ground with their weapons pointed at the perimeter of the base. They could hear the Chinese soldiers shouting and screaming in the distance. Buck’s teeth were chattering again, but it wasn’t from the cold.

35 Fortunately, the Chinese and their North Korean allies never overran their position. Although the airmen of Kimpo felt the constant pressure of the not too distant front, they never had to retreat or surrender their base to the enemy.

36 In the meantime, Leslie had been inducted into the U.S. Army and was on his way to Italy. He was to be stationed in Trieste and would work in the motorpool there.

37 “At least he’s not in Korea,” Doodle told Clayton. “This way I’ve only got one of them to worry about!” “He’s still pretty damn close to the commies,” Clayton reminded her.

38 In the meantime at Kimpo, the wing of one of the Australian Meteor’s stationed at the base tipped the runway and crashed. The plane had burst into flames, and everyone was loading into emergency vehicles to rush out to the crash site. “Miller, ride in that ambulance,” Corporal White pointed. Buck jumped in the vehicle just as it pulled away from the hangar.

39 As they approached the wreckage, Buck could see that the plane was fully engulfed in flames. “Can you smell that?” someone asked. “Yeah, there’s no mistaking that smell,” another answered. Unlike his comrades, however, the boy from Alabama had never smelled burning human flesh before. He was horrified.

40 When the fire was extinguished, Buck had to help them pull the boy’s charred body from the twisted metal of the plane. He learned later that he was only nineteen years old. “He was from Sydney,” another man volunteered. “We all bleed red,” Buck thought to himself.

41 Finally, early in 1953, word came that the United States and its allies had concluded an armistice with the North Koreans and their allies. The war was finally over. “Maybe we can get the hell out of this God forsaken place!” one of the airmen shouted. “I could go for that,” Buck agreed.

42 He was released from the service on December 17, 1954 at the “convenience of the government.” He touched back down on the soil of the United States at Seattle, and he kissed the ground when he got off the plane.

43 There were, however, no cheering crowds or ticker tape parades to welcome him and his comrades back home. Like the men who had fought in the war, the American public wanted to put Korea behind them as quickly as possible.

44 Buck got started on forgetting right away. He immediately proceeded to get drunk, and he stayed that way for the next three days.

 

Chapter 6: 1950-1951, Declining health

Buck was the last of her children to leave the nest. He had dropped out of school to find a job, but he had recently decided to return there when he couldn’t find anything.

2 Hence, although Mittie no longer had as many mouths to feed, she could also no longer rely on the additional income which her children had contributed during their time in the household. Sure, Pearl and Murph helped out when they could, and Dick helped some now and then since his divorce from Annie. Even so, Mittie struggled to pay her bills.

3 She continued to sew and take in laundry and boarders to help pay the bills, but there never seemed to be enough to pay for everything. In fact, much of the food she had consumed over the last several months had been purchased on credit at the local grocery store. She would pay her bill down when she got a little money, but Mittie never quite managed to entirely eliminate her debt.

4 To complicate matters, she often suffered severe and debilitating chest pains. She was tired all of the time now and often didn’t seem to have the strength to do the things which she had been doing all of her life.

5 “Mama, are you ok?” Pearl asked. “You look as white as a sheet.” “I’m just tired and give out all of the time,” she replied. “Maybe you should see the doctor?” her daughter suggested. “Don’t know what good that would do, and I can’t afford it anyway!” Mittie declared.

6 Pearl, however, was just about as stubborn as her mother and made an appointment for her. “I made an appointment for you with Doctor Maples for tomorrow morning,” she told her. “Murph and I will take you,” she continued before her mother could protest.

7 When the doctor had finished, he motioned for Pearl to join her mother in the examination room. “Miss Miller, your heart is enlarged, and it is having trouble pumping your blood through your body. We call it congestive heart failure,” he explained.

8 “What can we do for that?” Pearl asked. “She’s going to have to start taking it easier, and we’ll put her on digitalis – that will help,” Dr. Maples replied.

9 “From what your mother just told me, I suspect she has already had a number of heart attacks,” he continued. “So, let me say again, you must start taking it easy around the house,” he reiterated as he looked directly at his patient.

10 On the way back to Merrimack, Mittie sat quietly with her hands folded in her lap and looked out the car window. “Have you heard from Doodle lately?” Pearl asked. “I had a letter from her yesterday,” she replied. “How are they doin?” “They’re doin alright I reckon.”

11 Mittie was preoccupied with worry. She was worried about what the doctor had said, and she was worried about her children and whether or not she was going to have enough money to pay the rent next month.

12 “I am finished with school,” Buck announced that evening. “What will you do, son?” Mittie asked. “I’m going to Ohio and stay with Doodle and try to find a job up there,” he told her.

13 In the meantime, Dick had been out drinking again with his former brother-in-law. “I don’t know why he wants to waste his time running around town with Buddy,” Mittie wrote to Doodle. “I guess he just likes to worry me!” “Bowser got drunk and lost his whole paycheck,” she continued.

14 Edna read her mother’s letters with dismay. It was apparent that she was overwhelmed with worry, but Doodle felt powerless to do anything about it. After all, she was over six hundred miles away. “What can I do?” she fretted.

15 That fall, Mittie was sitting out on the porch visiting with Sis and Herman’s wife and crocheting when she felt a sudden stab of pain. “Oh, oh my!” she gasped. “Mama, are you ok?” Sis asked. “I think you’d better call for the doctor,” she whispered. Her forehead had broken out in a cold sweat.

16 Ethel stayed with her mother-in-law while Sis went inside to call for the doctor. “The doctor is on his way, Mama,” Sis told her when she returned. Then they helped her into the house and put her to bed.

17 “She’s had another heart attack,” the doctor told them. “She is in a very weakened condition now,” he continued. “I don’t even want her walking up and down the stairs anymore!” “She must not have any excitement for a while,” he finished.

18 Although Luke had divorced the mother of his children and remarried by that time, his first wife decided to take the children to see their grandmother when she heard about what had happened. “Can I bring Barbara and Terry to see you?” she asked over the phone. “Tell them that their granny would love to see them,” Mittie replied.

19 When they arrived, Pearl ushered them into the kitchen where Mittie was seated at the kitchen table. “Give your granny a hug,” Brooksie told her children.

20 Later, worried that the children might be getting bored, Mittie invited them to play a game of Chinese checkers with her. When their game was finished, she tried to get them to stay and eat with her.

21 “We’ve got to get home,” Brooksie smiled. “Well, I’m so proud that you came to see me,” she told them.

22 In the meantime, Buck had returned to Alabama and signed up with the Air Force. He wouldn’t leave right away, but he was scheduled to leave for his training by the end of the year. His drifting and wandering days were over, but his mother was not comforted by the development.

23 The Korean peninsula was now engulfed in war, and the news from there was not good. “I don’t guess I’ll have another minute’s peace as long as I live,” she declared.

24 In November, Mittie received the news that her father had died in Tennessee. “They didn’t let me know that he had died, because they were afraid to worry me,” she wrote to Doodle. “Needless to say, I didn’t sleep a wink all night.”

25 Dick, however, had landed a job at Redstone Arsenal and had temporarily moved back into his mother’s house. Then, in December, Mittie received a phone call informing her that Dick had been hurt in an accident at work. Once again, she was in turmoil.

26 “Your brother has been hurt, and I don’t have any way to get to him in the hospital,” she told Buck and Pearl when they got home. “You don’t need to go anyway, Mama!” they both exclaimed. “We’ll go and check on him,” they assured her.

27 “He mashed his fingers in one of them presses,” Buck told her when they returned. “They had to take off a couple of joints,” Pearl added. “Lord have mercy, is he goin to be alright?” Mittie demanded. “Yeah, Mama, he’ll be alright – it’ll just take time to heal,” Buck assured her.

28 A week later, Buck had left for his training in Texas. She had another one of her “spells” on the day he left. Then, just eleven days into the new year, she had a massive heart attack and died. Mittie’s long struggle was finally over.

Chapter 5: 1949, A dirty little hillbilly

In September, Wayne was enrolled in the first grade at Lowell Elementary School in Lorain, Ohio. As an extremely timid and shy child, he was terrified at the prospect of leaving home and being in class with other children. To make matters worse, he still had a pronounced Southern accent which would serve to make him stand out among his classmates.

2 Now, as a child of the South, Wayne had certainly been exposed to prejudice and discrimination against Blacks, but he was not prepared for what awaited him in Miss Smith’s classroom. The teacher began by having each student stand at their desk and say their name. When it was Wayne’s turn, she got a disgusted look on her face.

3 “Now, children, I want you to lift up your desktops and see how your books, papers and pencils are neatly arranged inside of your desks,” she continued. “You will be expected to maintain good housekeeping in this classroom and to keep your desks neat and in proper order,” she told them. “I will not tolerate laziness and poor housekeeping,” she said as she looked directly at Wayne.

4 Later, as Miss Smith began to work with the children on their alphabet and writing skills, she walked around the room to make sure that the students were correctly copying what she had written on the chalkboard. She paused by Wayne’s desk and watched him struggle with his writing. Unlike most of the other children in the room, Wayne hadn’t attended kindergarten or had any other kind of preparation for school.

5 “No, no, no!” she said aloud. “Are you that dumb?” she asked. “Pay attention and follow my directions!” she demanded from the bewildered little boy. “You haven’t written your name at the top of the paper,” she pointed out. Wayne was too afraid to tell her that he didn’t know how to write his name.

6 Over the weeks that followed, things went from bad to worse. Wayne struggled to keep up with the other children, and the teacher continuously berated him in front of the other students.

7 “I am going to go around the room and examine your housekeeping,” she announced one day. “When I come to your desk, you will raise your desktop,” she instructed. “All of your books on one side, Jimmy!” she snapped at the first little boy. “Straighten those papers,” she told the little girl who sat in front of Wayne.

8 Wayne’s stomach fluttered, and he slumped down in his chair. She stopped in front of his desk and a look of pure contempt enveloped her face. She snatched his papers out of the desk and threw them on the floor beside it.

9 Then she grabbed his chin and dug her thumb nail into the skin. “You dirty little hillbilly!” she screamed. “You had better clean this mess up and do it quickly,” she demanded.

10 The tears streamed down Wayne’s cheeks as he struggled to pick up the papers and straighten up the contents of his desk. “What a little pig!” she mumbled to herself as she moved on to the next student.

11 Later, Wayne overheard Miss Smith talking to one of the other teachers. “I do wish that we didn’t have to deal with these ignorant and filthy hillbillies,” she told her. “They can be a trial,” the other woman agreed.

12 Over the months that followed, Wayne eventually caught up with the other children, but he had to work twice as hard as the rest of them to do it. And, of course, there was no praise or acknowledgement from Miss Smith for his efforts. His teacher had made up her mind about “hillbillies” long before she had ever laid eyes on Wayne, and it was a foregone conclusion that his first year of school would be miserable.

Chapter 4: 1948, An election surprise

As Vice President, Harry Truman had succeeded to the presidency at the death of Franklin Roosevelt. Now, he was running for a term of his own, and everyone agreed that the odds were against him.

2 After all, the Democrats had been in power for sixteen years. The Republicans had been in the wilderness long enough. It was their time. And, that’s exactly what most of the pollsters and political pundits were expecting. Unfortunately, they had left the Doodle’s and Clayton’s of America out of their calculations.

3 “Truman is NOT Roosevelt!” Doodle exclaimed. “Yeah, but he’s a Democrat,” Clayton reminded her. “My family has always voted for the Democrats, and I don’t intend to start voting Republican now,” he finished. “Well, he’s not half the man that Roosevelt was, but he is better than Dewey and the Republicans,” Doodle agreed.

4 Then, on November 2, like many of their fellow citizens, they went to their polling place and marked their ballots for Harry Truman. The following day, the pundits and pollsters were wondering what had happened; but Clayton and Doodle knew exactly what had happened.

5 The “professionals” had placed much too high of a premium on everyone’s personal dislike of Truman. They had also grossly underestimated the loyalty of Democrats, and the attachment of Roosevelt’s voters to his policies and legacy. “Dewey never had a chance,” Clayton mumbled as he read the paper that evening.

6 Nevertheless, although they could not have foreseen it at the time, in just four years, they would both be ready to vote for a Republican. Like many of their fellow countrymen, Clayton and Doodle would come to dislike many of the decisions that Truman would make as president.

7 More importantly, in 1952, the Republicans would have the good sense to nominate one of the men who had led them through the perils of World War II, General Dwight Eisenhower. Thus, in the span of just four years, Clayton and Doodle would be transformed from “Yellow Dog” Democrats into truly independent voters. 

Chapter 3: 1946-1947, Heartaches, challenges and trials

Raymond Miller and Emmett Davidson had been riding around the outskirts of Huntsville in Raymond’s Model A Ford. They had been drinking and sightseeing for most of the day. It was a chance to blow off some steam and get away from Lorene and Bonnie (their wives) for a little while.

2 It was February, and it was a dreary and cold day. They had been driving along the main north/south highway out of the city and decided to pull over and take another drink just outside of Hazel Green. The land here was flat and consisted of one empty cotton field after another.

3 “Give me a swig of that,” Raymond said as Emmett put the bottle to his lips and turned it toward the roof of the old car. “Sure, old buddy, have a little nip,” Emmitt responded as he passed the bottle to his friend. Raymond looked at the bottle and smiled.

4 “I’ve enjoyed the hell out of today!” he declared. “Yeah, me too, but I guess we’d better be gettin back to the old ball and chains,” Emmett replied. “Oh, alright, if we must,” Raymond chuckled.

5 The car, however, refused to turn over when Raymond tried to start it. “Shit fire!” he shouted as he slammed his open hand down on top of the steering wheel.

6 They both got out of the car, and Raymond raised the hood and began scanning around the engine for any obvious problems. “It does this sometimes,” Raymond explained.

7 Just then, a truck pulled up and parked behind them. “Hey, y’all need any help?” the driver yelled from his open window. “Could ya give us a little push to get us started?” Raymond asked. The driver looked at the man seated beside him and smiled. “Yeah, we can give you a little push,” the man snickered.

8 Raymond and Emmett quickly got back into the car, and Raymond put it in gear and waved to the man behind them. The man eased his truck forward until it made contact with Raymond’s rear bumper and began pushing the Model A along the road.

9 The car lurched forward slowly at first, and then quickly picked up speed as it veered back onto the pavement. “That’s too damn fast you son of a bitch!” Raymond shouted.

10 Then, just as he popped the clutch to start the engine, the right front tire left the pavement. The old car lurched toward the ditch before Raymond could steer it back onto the highway and rolled over.

11 Raymond and Emmett were both thrown from the car, but the vehicle landed on top of Raymond. The men in the truck watched in horror as the scene unfolded before them. They quickly pulled off of the road just ahead of where the accident occurred and parked. Raymond was dead before they reached him. Emmett was still breathing, but he was obviously badly hurt.

12 By that time, another vehicle that was traveling south (back toward Huntsville) pulled off the pavement on the other side of the highway. A man and his wife rushed across the road and stopped beside the overturned car.

13 “Help us to get this one loaded into the truck!” the other two men shouted at the man standing beside his wife. When that was accomplished, the two men in the truck headed straight for the hospital in Huntsville.

14 In the meantime, a Madison County Sheriff’s deputy had arrived at the scene of the accident and made arrangements to take Raymond’s body back to Huntsville. Lorene and Bonnie were notified about what had happened a short time later. Mittie fainted when she learned about the accident.

15 The following day, Emmett too succumbed to the injuries he had sustained in the accident. He had survived the Allied Invasion of Normandy and had received a Purple Heart during his service in WWII only to die in a car accident a little less than two years later.

16 Ironically, Raymond’s body was taken to Athens to be buried there among his father’s people. Emmitt was buried in Maple Hill Cemetery in Huntsville. Both men’s families were left to cope with the loss and unfinished business of the lives of two young men which had ended so suddenly and unexpectedly.

17 Doodle was devastated by the loss of her big brother. “He’s the one who held our family together through the really hard times,” she told Clayton. All he could do was hold her as she wept.

18 A month later, Doodle learned that she was pregnant. They had finished the evening meal, and Clayton had kicked back in a chair in the front room. She had just finished washing the dishes and was still drying her hands on the dish towel when she walked into the room.

19 “Well, it looks like we’re going to have a baby,” she told him. “Are you sure?” Clayton asked with a smile. “I’m pretty sure,” she replied.

20 At almost the same instant, there was a knock at the front door. Doodle crossed the room and opened the door, and there were two Huntsville Police officers standing on the porch. “Mam, sorry to bother you this evening, but does Clayton Jones live here?”

21 “I’m Clayton Jones,” her husband volunteered from his chair. “We have a warrant for your arrest.” “What for?” Doodle demanded from behind her husband. “Failure to pay his child support,” one of the officers replied.

22 Clayton quickly got up out of his seat and walked toward the door. “I’ve paid my child support,” he protested. “Not according to your ex-wife,” the officer continued.

23 “I’ll strangle the life out of that bitch!” Doodle declared. “I advise you not to do that, Mam,” the other officer told her.

24 “Anyway, this is all for the judge to decide,” the first officer concluded. Then they loaded Clayton into their police car and headed back to the jail.

25 Within a few hours, Doodle had managed to post bail and get him out of jail. “I can’t find the canceled checks that prove that we’ve paid child support,” Doodle told him on the way home. “She must have stolen them while we weren’t home,” Clayton replied.

26 “You know that I’ll go back to jail without them, and I’ll owe her a bunch of money on top of that!” “What are we going to do?” she fretted. “We’re going to have to leave Alabama as soon as possible,” he told her.

27 By the following day, he had sold the house which they had just purchased a few months prior to this event. They also sold or gave away most of their furnishings and clothing. “It ain’t much, but it’ll have to do,” Clayton told her as he stuffed the cash into his wallet.

28 They loaded what few belongings they had left into the black, two-door 1936 Chevrolet parked in the driveway and left Huntsville just after sundown. Wayne was jammed into the backseat with a pillow and a blanket and off they went.

29 The car had two spare tires in the trunk to provide for the numerous flats which they were almost certain to encounter on a long road trip. Clayton had also purchased several of the Camel brand cold patches in the small tin cans for patching the inner tubes in those tires. And those preparations proved to be very useful as they encountered their first flat about a half hour after leaving Huntsville.

30 They had driven for about three hours when Clayton suddenly pulled off of the road and stopped. “I made a wrong turn back there!” he exclaimed. “Where’s that damn map?” he demanded. Doodle handed him the map and pulled out the flashlight and turned it on.

31 As she held the light over the map, Clayton studied it for a few minutes before speaking again. “Well, we’ve driven about a hundred miles out of the way,” he finally said.

32 They thought that they had been travelling in the direction of Texas. Clayton had heard a rumor that there was work to be had in Houston.

33 “I don’t guess it really matters,” he sighed. He closed his eyes and raised his index finger into the air in front of him. After a moment of hesitation, he lowered his finger onto the map before him and opened his eyes. “Lorain, Ohio,” he said. “We’re headed in that direction anyway, so we may as well keep going,” he told them.

34 They settled first in a little cottage at Vermilion-on-the-Lake. It was the only place they could find to live. Housing was at a premium after the war, and nobody wanted to rent to people with small children.

35 The stress and strain of the past two months had taken its toll on Doodle. She miscarried. “This happens,” the doctor had explained. “You’ll be able to have other children,” he assured her.

36 And, sure enough, in the fall of 1947, Doodle learned that she was pregnant again. From the beginning, however, something did not feel right.

37 “I’m bleeding down there,” she told the doctor. “And I’m having sharp pains in my right side.” “Let’s have a look,” he said.

38 When the examination was complete, he smiled and told her that there was nothing to worry about. “You seem to be progressing normally,” he assured her.

39 A few weeks later, her entire belly and pelvic area was hurting. She got dizzy and nauseous, and finally fainted in the middle of the floor one day. A neighbor called for an ambulance, and they carried her to the hospital.

40 When Clayton arrived, the doctor was still with his wife. He was sitting in a waiting area when the doctor approached him. “Your wife has had what we call an ectopic pregnancy,” he began. “She has lost the baby, and we may lose her,” he told him flatly. “She is very sick, but we will do everything we can for her,” he finished.

41 Clayton slumped back down in his chair. His eyes were full of tears. “She can’t die,” he whispered to himself.

42 He didn’t have anything to worry about. Doodle was determined that she would never leave Wayne to face the world alone. Her recovery, however, was very painful and slow.

43 Nevertheless, as Wayne’s birthday approached, she decided that she had been in the hospital long enough. “This will be my son’s fifth birthday, and I’ve always been with him on his birthday,” she explained to the doctors and nurses. They made arrangements for the ambulance to take her home on the fifth of December. 

Chapter 2: 1946, Neighbors

Junior was the same age as Wayne, and he lived right next door. The two little boys played together in the yard between the two houses, and both of them tried to avoid the older neighborhood bully, Johnny Turner.

2 Johnny was two years older than them, and he never missed an opportunity to hit or shove Wayne. Junior was bigger and plumper than Wayne and didn’t present as appealing a target as his smaller playmate. There was also the fact that Wayne was terrified of Johnny and made no attempt to conceal his fear.

3 “Come here you little sissy!” Johnny demanded. Wayne froze right where he was and didn’t move a muscle. “Did you hear me?” Johnny persisted. Then he picked up a piece of brick and slammed it into Wayne’s face.

4 Wayne went home with a bloody nose and a fat lip, and he was screaming bloody murder and crying. “What happened?” Doodle asked as she scooped the little boy up into her arms. She grabbed a cloth and wetted it with cold water in the kitchen sink and began dabbing at his lip and nose. “What happened?” she repeated when he had calmed down enough to talk.

5 “Johnny hit me with a brick,” the little boy sputtered. “Well that’s about enough of that!” she declared. “You’ve let that little hellion run over you for the last time!”

6 She put Wayne down beside her, grabbed his hand and pulled him toward the door. “You’re going to give him the same thing that he’s been giving you!” she told him. “There he is,” she pointed.

7 Wayne just stood there beside her with his head down. “You’re going to hit him, or so help me God, I’m going to hit you!” She bent down and pulled a half-dead rose bush out of the ground and pointed at Junior. Wayne didn’t move.

8 She hit his legs with the rose bush. He flinched at the pain but refused to move toward Johnny. Doodle struck his legs with the bush yet again.

9 This time, however, Wayne sprang into action. He suddenly lunged forward and was on top of the bully before his mother could process what was happening. His little fists were flying into the face of the astonished Johnny who was now below him on the ground.

10 Mr. Bates had been watching the entire thing unfold from his porch across the street. “You shouldn’t be encouragin that kind a behavior,” he shouted. “You stay out of this you hooked nose son of a bitch!” Doodle screamed. Then she picked up a rock and threw it in his direction just to emphasize her point.

11 “What’s all this about?” Mrs. Turner demanded from her own porch. “It’s about you controlling that little devil!” Doodle screamed. She picked up the same fragment of brick that Johnny had used to hit Wayne and headed toward his mother. Mrs. Turner let out a little screech and retreated to the safety of her own home.

12 “You’d better never hit him again!” Doodle told Johnny. Then she grabbed Wayne by the hand and pulled him back to their own home.

13 Two Huntsville police officers arrived about twenty minutes later. One headed for Mrs. Turner’s house and the other headed for Clayton’s and Doodle’s house.

14 “What seems to be the problem here?” the officer asked Doodle. She explained the situation and told him about what she had done. “If you have any more problems, Ms. Jones, you’ll need to call us,” he told her. “You can’t go off on your own settlin things like this,” he finished.

15 Nevertheless, although the episode had provoked a whole lot of drama, Johnny Turner never bothered Wayne again. From that time forward, Wayne and Junior were able to play in their own yards without fear of being pummeled by Johnny.

16 That freedom would also shortly get them into a different kind of trouble. The boys found some blue paint that Clayton had stored under the house.

17 It was a hot Alabama summer, and both boys were running around the yard without shirts in little cotton shorts. Somehow, they managed to get the lid off of one of the cans, and Wayne dipped his brush into the blue paint within.

18 The idea came to him as he stared at his friend standing before him. He lifted the brush and began painting. He started with Junior’s torso, and then worked on his extremities.

19 However, before Wayne could complete his masterpiece, his canvas ran up onto the front porch and knocked on the door. When Doodle opened the door, there before her stood a chubby little blue Junior.

20 “Lord have mercy, Junior,” she said almost to herself. “What have you done?” she asked. “W-a-y-n-e pain-ted m-e,” he said in his slow, deep Southern drawl.

21 Doodle started laughing. She grabbed Junior by the hand and led him next door to his own house and knocked on the front door. When his mother opened the door, Doodle couldn’t help but laugh at the expression on the woman’s face.

22 “Ms. Jones, what has happened to my son?” she demanded. “Wayne painted him!” she exclaimed and began laughing again.

23 “I really don’t see what’s so funny,” the woman said with both hands on her hips. “I’m sorry – I don’t mean to laugh, but just look at him,” Doodle replied. At that, Junior’s mother took another long look at her son, and she too began to laugh.

24 “Come on, I’ll help you clean him up,” Doodle offered. They got a gallon of coal oil and put Junior in the bathtub. They ended up just about taking the hide off of the little boy, but they did eventually get most of the blue paint off of him.

25 “Thank you for your help,” Junior’s mother told Doodle. “What are neighbors for?” Doodle asked. They both broke out into laughter again. Wayne and Junior weren’t quite sure what to make of their mothers’ strange behavior, but they were both relieved that they didn’t appear to be in any trouble for what had happened.

Fullness (1945-1963)

When thou hast eaten and art full … and all that thou hast is multiplied (Deuteronomy 8:12-13)

Chapter 1: 1945, Starting over

Clayton Jones was back in Huntsville, and he was ready to put the war and his first marriage behind him. After all, he was still young, and life seemed full of possibilities. His buddy had arranged a blind date for him that evening with a girl from Merrimack. He was excited at the prospect of female company after being with a bunch of homesick sailors for so long.

2 “Clayton, are you finished in there?” his father demanded through the bathroom door. “Almost, Daddy,” he shouted back. He knew that he was going to have to look and smell good if he was going to have a chance with this girl.

3 In Merrimack, Edna Miller was getting ready for that same date. “I’ll show Buford Hendrix just what he’s lost,” she thought to herself as she applied her lipstick in the mirror over the dresser in her room. Wayne was playing in the floor by her mother’s rocking chair.

4 “How do I look, Mama?” she asked as she entered the front room. “Pretty is as pretty does,” Mittie replied. Edna smiled and rolled her eyes. Then she bent over and gave Wayne a kiss and a hug.

5 “I’ll probably be home fairly late,” she told her mother as she straightened back up. “Be careful,” Mittie responded.

6 “Now I understand why Luke never introduced me to his sister,” Clayton blurted out when he saw her. Edna smiled and stuck out her hand. “I’m Edna, but everyone calls me Doodle,” she told him. “I’m Clayton Jones, and you sure are pretty,” he stammered. Edna laughed nervously and suggested that they dance to dispel the awkwardness.

7 Glenn Miller’s In the Mood had just started playing as they stepped out onto the dance floor. As it turned out, they both did a pretty mean jitterbug.

8 When that song was finished, they danced to a few more tunes and then joined their friends at a round table on the edge of the dance floor and ordered some drinks. “You’re not a bad dancer,” she told him. “You’re not too bad yourself,” he grinned.

9 After a few drinks and some light conversation, they noticed that their friends had disappeared. “Where’d they go?” Edna asked. “I think they wanted to go somewhere together,” Clayton told her. “Would you like to go somewhere else?” he offered. “Why not?” she responded. “This isn’t the only club in town.”

10 The pair hit a few more of the joints on the outskirts of Huntsville, and then parked for a while just off of Pulaski Pike. They talked, kissed and petted until sunrise.

11 “We’ve been out all night!” Edna exclaimed. “So what, we’ve had a good time haven’t we?” Clayton replied. “You don’t understand – I can’t do this,” she persisted. Tears welled up in her eyes. “I have a young son, and a reputation to maintain,” she explained. Clayton sighed.

12 “Well,” he finally said. “Why don’t we just get married?” “What?” Edna gasped. “If we get married, it won’t be anybody’s business if we stay out all night,” he told her. “But we barely know each other,” Edna protested.

13 “All I know is, hot or cold, you’re for me!” Clayton exclaimed. Edna sat in stunned silence for a few minutes. “Well, what do ya think?” he finally demanded. “Do ya wanna find a justice of the peace and get hitched or not?”

14 “You would really do that to protect my reputation?” she asked. “Sure, why not?” he replied without flinching. “I think you’re just about the prettiest thing I’ve ever seen,” he told her. “Let’s do it,” he urged.

15 They tied the knot on Saturday, December 15, 1945 there in Huntsville. They spent their honeymoon night in the Russel Erskine Hotel.

16 “Can you afford this?” she asked. “Doodle, it’s our honeymoon!” he grinned in reply. “You’ve made me the happiest guy in town,” he continued. “Nothing’s too good for you!”

17 “I sure am hungry for some fried chicken,” she admitted. He called down to the front desk and ordered her one of their “chicken in a basket” specials. “I don’t think I’ve ever had room service before,” she told him. “And I love these green olives!” she exclaimed. Clayton laughed out loud and gave her a squeeze.

18 The next morning, she told him that she needed to check on her son and tell her mother about their marriage. “Let’s go,” he told her.

19 When they walked through Mittie’s front door, they were met with a cold stare. “Where have you been young lady?” her mother demanded. “Mama, I’d like you to meet my husband, Clayton Jones,” she began. The surprise and shock on Mittie’s face was unmistakable.

20 “You’re married?” she stammered. “When?” “We got married yesterday,” Edna replied. Clayton walked over to Mittie and embraced her. “Hello, Mama,” he said. “Well, hello,” Mittie managed in reply. “Have a seat,” she offered.

21 Doodle quickly crossed the floor and scooped up Wayne. “This is your new daddy,” she told him as she pointed toward Clayton. “I already have a daddy!” the little boy exclaimed.

22 Dick’s and Annie’s daughter, Bennie Jo, had been playing quietly with a baby doll in the corner. Suddenly, she looked up at the strange new man in her aunt’s life and smiled. “That makes you my Uncle Clayton,” she said as she pushed her way up into his lap.

23 That was too much for Wayne. He looked from his mother to the strange man and then to his cousin and proclaimed, “Well, my mother went and married him, I guess that makes him my Daddy!” That finally broke the tension in the room, and everyone had a good laugh.

24 Unfortunately, the Miller household wasn’t the only one who would have a hard time adjusting to the new marriage. Clayton’s former wife and children would also have to be told about the new arrangements, and they were very likely to be even less pleased with the news than Mittie and Wayne had been.

Chapter 13: 1945, Victory and the end of the war

“We’ve just been informed that this line has been awarded the Army and Navy E Award for production,” the foreman announced. “Congratulations ladies!” he smiled as he walked down the line toward his office.

2 Doodle looked across the line and smiled at Margaret before returning to her work on the bomb assembly line at Redstone Arsenal. The work was hard, but she and her coworkers could be proud of the fact that they were making a substantial contribution to the war effort – supporting their husbands, brothers and cousins fighting overseas.

3 A few minutes later, there was a loud pop. Doodle looked up and noticed Margaret staring blankly straight ahead. Her face was unusually pale and without expression. Then she noticed Margaret’s intense grip on the rail of the assembly line in front of her and the dark red color spreading across the midsection of her coveralls. At the same moment, the alarm went off and Margaret wilted onto the floor before her. Production came to a standstill.

4 “Get out!” the foreman shouted. Doodle and the other women headed for the exit as the foreman and his associates circled around the heap in the floor that a few moments before had been Margaret.

5 “What in the hell just happened?” screamed Betty Jean as they assembled in the yard outside of the building. “A burster charge exploded,” one of the other women responded.

6 “I think that it killed Margaret!” one of the others cried. “Oh my God, it did,” Doodle thought. “That’s exactly what just happened!”

7 As she boarded the bus to return to the mill village, Edna Earl “Doodle” Miller was shaken to her core. Margaret had been standing there smiling one minute, and the next minute she was dead. Doodle had been just a few feet away from her when it had happened. She kept replaying the events of the day over and over again in her mind as the bus made its way to Merrimack.

8 As Doodle walked up the steps and onto the porch of her mother’s house, she could see her mother sitting in the rocking chair and her darling Wayne playing in the floor next to her. The radio was on and it was almost time for the news. She hesitated and stood there for a moment looking and listening, not wanting to open the screen door and tell her mother what she had just witnessed at work.

9 “Gabriel Heatter is brought to you this evening by Kreml Hair Tonic,” the announcer droned. “The best-dressed men use Kreml daily for that well-groomed appearance,” he continued. “It works to restore that naturally lustrous look to brittle and wiry, wind-tossed hair – the kind of look that the girls really like!” he finished. “And now, Gabriel Heatter with the news.”

10 “Good Evening everyone! There is good news tonight. The war in Europe is at an end. Germany has surrendered. The guns have fallen silent and peace has enveloped the continent…” “Doodle, why are you standing out there on the porch?” Mittie shouted from her chair.

11 “Sorry Mama, I didn’t want to interrupt your news!” she offered as she pushed open the screen door and walked into the front room. By that time, Wayne had already gotten up off of the floor, traversed the room and wrapped his little arms around his mother’s legs. Edna reached down and scooped her son into her own arms and hugged him tight as tears rolled down her cheeks.

12 “Well, I sure am glad this war is finally coming to an end!” Mittie proclaimed. “Me too, Mama, me too!” her daughter agreed.

13 “Maybe it won’t be long until Buford will get to come home,” Mittie speculated. “Maybe it won’t be too much longer till Luke and Dick will be able to come back home,” she added. “I hope so Mama,” Edna replied.

14 “I’m really tired this evening; would you mind if Wayne and I laid down for just a minute?” she asked. “There’s a pot of beans on the stove and some cornbread. Aren’t you hungry?” Mittie pressed. “Not right now Mama, maybe in a minute.”

15 The war in Europe was over, but the war in the Pacific dragged on for a few more months. In August, President Truman authorized the use of atomic bombs against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

16 By the end of the month, Japan had surrendered too, and Doodle’s divorce petition had been granted by the court. Clayton’s marriage was also a casualty of the war.

17 Millions of people had perished in the conflict. Many more had been maimed and crippled. Countless buildings had been destroyed by the soldiers and their armaments, but the cost to human relationships was truly incalculable. Nevertheless, for those who had survived this fiery trial, the opportunity for a new and better life now seemed within reach.

 

Chapter 12: 1945, A Marine, a dog and Hell

Dick Miller was a scout/sniper in the United States Marine Corps when he was identified by command to take part in the Marine’s dog training school at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. He was just what the Marines needed for this program. Dick was young, strong, mean and cocky. He was also proficient with a rifle and had some experience with reconnaissance by scouting ahead of his platoon.

2 The program had begun in 1942 and employed a large number of Doberman Pinschers and German Shepherds as scout and messenger dogs. It had proved invaluable to Marines in the Battle of Guam where 25 dogs and three handlers had lost their lives scouting ahead of the units which they were assigned to protect. Indeed, they had saved many young marines from being ambushed or walking into hidden mines.

3 Dick was assigned a German Shepherd named Sandy to train with. Sandy was a male dog of about two years of age when he met his new handler. He weighed about eighty pounds, and he was all muscle.

4 At first, Sandy was chained to a post beside Dick; but it didn’t take long for the canine to figure out what he was expected to do. “Watch,” Dick commanded. Sandy took a few steps forward and crouched down ready to spring forward at his handler’s command.

5 Another marine approached the two, and Sandy went wild. He was snarling, barking and straining at his chain. “You old peckerhead,” Dick smiled and knelt down and gave Sandy a pat on the head.

6 Next, he placed Sandy on a leash, and the same exercise was repeated. Eventually, Sandy didn’t need a chain or leash. He was Dick’s dog now and would almost instinctively respond to whatever his handler wanted him to do.

7 One day, after Dick had returned Sandy to his kennel, he walked over to watch one of his buddies who had been assigned to the messenger dog program. “Watch this,” Sam smiled. Then he knelt down next to his dog and attached a message collar to the animal. He stood back up and said, “Report!”

8 The dog took off across the field and stopped in front of another Marine about one hundred yards away. “That’s not bad,” Dick smiled. “Oh, that’s nothing,” Sam replied. “Some of these dogs will carry messages for miles!”

9 The next morning, Dick and Sandy learned that they would be going to the Pacific. They were to be part of the United States Marines’ efforts centered on the Japanese controlled island of Iwo Jima.

10 Although B-29 Superfortress and B-24 Liberator bombers had been pounding the island since December, the Marine’s role in Operation Detachment didn’t really get started until February. The guns of the big battleships signaled the beginning of the invasion.

11 Within a few hours, thousands of Marines had stormed ashore under withering enemy fire. By the end of that first day, the Americans had already suffered over 2,400 casualties.

12 Nevertheless, the ground campaign to dislodge the Japanese from the island had just begun. Mount Suribachi, the central feature of the island, was riddled with caves and defensive positions and waiting Japanese soldiers.

13 It was a perfect hell. There were mangled bodies everywhere. The marines had to fight for every inch of ground. The volcanic soil and terrain of the island prevented digging in and offered few opportunities for cover.

14 After the tanks arrived, they had some cover; but the enemy was merciless. Even so, the tenacious Marines eventually reached the base of Mount Suribachi, and a small platoon quickly ascended the mountain and planted an American flag at its summit.

15 “We need our dog teams to scout ahead of our ground troops,” one officer requested. “These sneaky little slant-eyed bastards keep ambushing us and hitting us from places we thought we’d already cleared,” he reported.

16 Thus, Dick and Sandy (along with the other members of the War Dog Platoon) came ashore to support the units that were already in place. Sandy quickly went to work sniffing out enemy hiding places, mine emplacements and traps.

17 A bullet whizzed by Dick’s head and Sandy crouched down suddenly. Dick pulled the pin on one of his grenades and tossed it into the hole just ahead of them. The explosion sent something high into the air that landed right beside him. It was the head of a Japanese soldier!

18 By the end of the conflict, of the approximate 21,000 Japanese defenders, only about one thousand men were taken as prisoners. The Allies suffered about 25,000 casualties. Even so, Allied deaths were about one third of the enemy’s losses.

19 Eight of those who had been killed, however, were dog handlers. Nevertheless, Dick and Sandy had survived the carnage.

20 Dick did not know it then; but, as his time in the Pacific was drawing to a close, his cousin was walking into a different kind of hell in Germany. Hoyt Miller walked into what would later be referred to as a concentration camp and saw bodies stacked up like cordwood. The smell was beyond horrible, and it would stay with him for the rest of his life.

21 “The commander wants pictures of everything to prove to future generations that this really happened,” he heard a lieutenant say to a young man with a camera. Hoyt slowly turned to his buddy and said, “You let me ever hear anyone say that this didn’t happen, and I’ll punch him in the damn nose!”

22 In the meantime, after Iwo Jima was secured, Dick and Sandy returned to Camp Lejeune. Dick had a brother in the Navy, cousins in the Army and a friend in the Seabees. He wondered what stories they would have to tell when they got home.

23 Within a few months, the war was over. Dick and Sandy were finally discharged from the United States Marine Corps. Like so many of the over five hundred dogs who returned to the United States after the war, Sandy went home with Dick. He was Dick’s dog now.

Chapter 11: 1945, The Po Valley Campaign

On April 20^th, the tank-infantry units finally pushed the Germans out of the mountains and began pursuing them across the valley to the Po River. Now the enemy was in full retreat. There was little or no resistance at this point. The Germans suffered thousands of casualties and many of them were taken prisoner during this part of the campaign.

2 Things were moving so fast that Buford’s tank collided with a German vehicle that was towing a piece of artillery. “What in the hell?” Bob shouted. “We’ve run into some Germans!” Buford excitedly explained.

3 After surveying the situation, Bob concluded that they would have to put some distance between themselves and the Germans if they were going to destroy the equipment. So, he backed the tank up about thirty feet and blasted the vehicle and artillery piece into oblivion. “That was kinda fun,” Buford grinned.

4 It wasn’t fun for the Germans, however. A large number of German troops who had witnessed the incident quickly surrendered to the American forces. Moreover, it wasn’t long until many more of the enemy were surrendering.

5 As the Germans were pushed toward the river, they began to panic when they saw that there wasn’t any way to cross it. A few brave souls jumped into the fast-moving water, but they were quickly swept away. Thereafter, the Allies began to take on many more prisoners.

6 Within a week of pushing them out of the mountains, the tank-infantry crews had cleared the enemy from the south side of the river. The tanks of three companies of the 757^th deployed along the river to support the infantry as they crossed the water in assault boats.

7 They kept shelling the already retreating Germans to make sure that they didn’t turn around and try to pick off their comrades while they were vulnerable in the boats. That accomplished, they waited patiently while the engineers threw up a pontoon bridge so that they too could cross the Po.

8 When the bridge was finished, the tanks hurried across and continued their pursuit of the Germans toward Legnago and the Adige River. However, when they arrived at the Adige, everything quickly ground to a halt.

9 The M1 Treadway Bridge that the engineers had erected would not accommodate the tanks that were equipped with flotation grousers. Fortunately, eight of the tanks from Company A (including Buford’s) were not equipped with the wider tracks, and they were able to cross the bridge and continue to support the ground troops. The rest of the battalion’s tanks were diverted to a nearby railroad bridge and crossed there.

10 On April 27^th, “A” Company made contact with a German convoy and began firing on it. “Blast those Krauts to Hell and back, Buford,” Bob encouraged. When Buford and his buddies were finished, what little remained of the enemy convoy fled the scene in disarray.

11 As the month drew to a close, Sgt. Kenneth Martin’s tank had to stop for an irrigation ditch. Unfortunately, his infantry unit came under enemy fire at precisely the same moment, and the tank was helpless to defend or support them.

12 Sgt. Martin quickly borrowed an M1 rifle and started off in the direction of the sniper. Under withering machine gun fire, he made his way toward the sniper’s nest and shot him dead. Then he destroyed the weapon and returned to his tank. There was no stopping the boys of the 757^th Tank Battalion!

13 The tanks had covered about one hundred and forty miles in just over two weeks and had fired over 3,500 rounds of ammunition. Thousands of Germans had been killed, wounded and captured; and the survivors were still fleeing north toward the mountains.

14 At the beginning of May, all four of the line companies of the 757^th assembled near Treviso and waited for new orders. They didn’t have to wait long. They were detached from the 91^st Infantry Division and assigned to the 85^th. Company “A” was attached to the 339^th Infantry Regiment and moved northward again.

15 It was raining now, and everyone was tired and miserable. “Man, this rain is getting me down,” Bob admitted. “Yeah, I know what you mean,” Buford agreed. “This has got to be over soon!” someone else grumbled.

16 They did not, however, meet much resistance from the fleeing Germans. In fact, they continued to collect hundreds of prisoners every day, and most of the time that was accomplished without firing a single round!

17 They were racing against the fleeing enemy – trying to get to the Alps before they did. “I don’t want to have to fight those bastards in the mountains again!” Bob exclaimed. Buford nodded.

18 Then, suddenly, they received orders to halt their advance. All enemy troops in Italy and Austria had surrendered. The war in Italy was finally over! Company “A” was deployed to provide security for the mountain village of San Candido. Nevertheless, it was now obvious that Buford would be returning home to Alabama very soon.