FOREST IN HELL

The 121st Infantry in the Battle of Hurtgen Forest

As the weather began to turn cold in Autumn of 1944, the divisions of the First Army were slowly, but steadily, moving toward their goal to capture the German capital of Berlin. German forces were not going to give up that easily.  An area of some of the most unyielding enemy resistance was centered around the area where the countries of Belgium, the Netherlands, and Germany join. The 121st Infantry Regiment, Georgia National Guard, which was mobilized in September of 1940 at the beginning of World War II, was assigned to the 8th Infantry Division of the First U.S. Army, under the command of General Courtney Hodges, a native of Houston County, Georgia. The regiment, originally made up of Georgians, was  enlarged to include men from all over the country. Co. K of the 121st and HQ Co., 3rd Battalion were headquartered in Dublin. Some Laurens county guardsmen served in other companies of the regiment. By 1944, most of the original members were serving in other army units.

At midnight on the morning of November 20, 1944, the order came for an attack on the towns of Hurtgen, Kleinau, and the Brandenberg-Bergstein Ridge.  The 8th division was assigned to relieve the 28th division, which had been engaged in bitter fighting for two months. American generals believed that one more sustained push would break the German lines. When the attack began on the morning of the 21st, the 121st, with Col. John R. Jeter in command, was moving northward from Luxembourg. The 1st battalion was assigned to take the woods south and west of Hurtgen. The 2nd battalion would be on the left flank in the Hurtgen Forest west of the town. The 3rd battalion, including Companies I, K, L, and M, was sent to the toward the woods south of town in open trucks in a cold rain. Maj. Wesley Hogan’s troops halted their ride near the Weisser Weh Valley southwest of Germeter and began a long and arduous march. When the Germans saw movement, they directed mortar fire in its direction. By now the rain had turned to sleet. The sleet would soon turn to snow. The 2nd battalion was in a “pickle.” Fortunately, Co. K had a little time to rest.

The 3rd battalion moved into a position on level ground near the Wilde Saw minefield. Anti personnel and anti-tank mines posed extreme hazards for the infantry, as well as the American tanks and vehicles. Co. I was able to move the closest to the German lines before Thanksgiving day on the 23rd of November. At the end of the day, the 3rd Battalion had made the most progress of any of the units.

Photo:  Thomas Kilgore, Company A, 121st Infantry, Macon, Georgia. 

In a move that dumbfounded some, the soldiers of the 121st were pulled back from their positions for Thanksgiving dinner. They got in lines for a cold and soggy turkey dinner. By this time, General Hodges had become furious with Major General Donald Stroh for the 8th Division’s lack of progress.

On Friday, the 3rd Battalion made a push up the Germeter to Hurtgen Road and the adjoining woods. The tanks of the 70th Tank Battalion suffered heavy losses and were forced into a withdrawal. Major Hogan ordered Co. K to attack without armor protection. The mines were becoming deadlier. Twelve engineers were killed or wounded along with thirty riflemen. When a second attack failed to succeed, Hogan removed the company commander at 1820 hours. During that night, the engineers set out to remove mines from the road and is shoulders.

Nearly as fast as they could remove the mines, German soldiers placed new ones to thwart the American advance. By the end of the 4th day of the battle, casualties in the 121st stood at 50 killed and 600 wounded. They were still three miles from

the Roer River, while Hurtgen remained under German control.

In a move of desperation, an attack on Hurtgen was ordered on the 25th.  The CCR, 5th Armored Division moved through the positions of the 3rd Battalion.  Their were serious concerns that the 3rd Battalion couldn’t keep up with the tanks due to mines and wet ground conditions. German forces began firing on the tanks as soon as they got on the road. When the attack stalled, Col. Jeter was relieved by Col. Thomas Cross. On the morning of the 26th, the 1st and 2nd Battalions moved toward Hurtgen. General Stroh was also relieved of his command. Stroh, who had lost his son in battle several weeks before, was the highest ranking American officer to lose his job in the Hurtgen Forest campaign. Brigadier General Walter Weaver took over command of the Division.

Sgt. Ira T. Garnto was head of intelligence in HQ Co. 2nd Battalion. Garnto remembered: “The trees, mostly pine trees, were in bad shape, all split and splintered. I remember sleeping sitting up some nights. I served in the headquarters 2nd battalion under the command of Lt. Col. Henry B. Kunzig. I was in the forward Command Post with Col. Kunzig. He wanted a messenger from each company and wanted someone in charge of the messengers. I took four messengers from each of the four companies in our battalion and went back to Col. Kunzig’s bunker and remained there with him. I was walking into the Town of Hurtgen after it was captured. I had just come into the edge of town and was standing by a German tank in front of the first building on the left. I was waiting on my next orders when I heard an artillery round coming in. It hit the tank with a strange thud, but it didn’t explode. I was lucky. It started snowing after a few days, but the snow was much better than the sloppy mud. The slop was worse than the snow. It slowed us down. Many of our casualties came from frostbite. The tanks had no way to go in the mud in the forest. I guess we just outlasted them.”

On the 27th, the final attack on the town of Hurtgen began. The 1st and 2nd Battalions led the assault. Co. K followed Co. I toward Hill 54. From that vantage point, mortar men pummeled the town of Hurtgen, which eventually fell. One passing soldier was stunned at what he saw. There were men loading frozen, dead bodies into a two and one-half ton truck. One man would grab one end and another the other end and place them in the truck like firewood. After nearly three months of the fighting, the attempt to take the Hurtgen Forest ended. It is criticized by some to have been one of the biggest waste of men during the European Campaign. The V Corps casualties were twenty five percent, 4,000 out of 16,000 were killed, wounded, or missing in action.

Despite the questions raised about the military advisability of the attack, the men of the 121st and the Laurens County guardsmen kept on fighting until the could not fight any more. In the early days of December the 8th Division supported the taking of Kleinhau and the Brandenburg-Bergstein Ridge. One officer of the 121st remarked, “ The men are physically exhausted. The spirit and will to fight are there, the ability to continue is gone. These men have been fighting without rest or sleep for four days and last night were forced to lie unprotected from the weather in an open field. In some instances men were forced to discard their overcoats because they lacked the strength to wear them. These men are shivering with cold, and their hands are so numb that they have to help one another on with their equipment.”

Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, on behalf of Pres. Harry S. Truman, recognized the men of the 121st Infantry with a residential Unit Citation, which read in part: “The 121st Infantry and attached units are cited for extraordinary heroism and outstanding performance of duty in action from 21 to 28 November 1944. During this period they made a relentless and determined drive to overcome bitter opposition in the Hurtgen Forest and the capture of the town of Hurtgen. The bloody and bitterly contested advance, which taxed individual fortitude and stamina to the limit, represented the major offensive effort of the 8th Infantry Division and V Corps in effecting a breakthrough in this heavily defended sector.

Despite its high casualty rate, the 121st displayed extremely courageous fighting qualities in attack a strongly fortified enemy.”

The men of the 121st gave up their Thanksgiving fifty five years ago. They dreamed of being at home - eating mamma’s turkey and dressing and taking in the traditional Dublin High School football game that morning. But, there was a job to do. Most of them had made it from Utah Beach, where they arrived on Independence Day, all the way into Germany - an accomplishment that they all were thankful for. They just wanted to do their job and come home - back to mamma’s house for next Thanksgiving. David Gladstone Daniel was killed in the Hurtgen Forest - he never had another Thanksgiving.

THE U.S.S. LAURENS

The Story of the Life of a  World War II Transport Ship in the Pacific

In the final push to bring World War II to an end in the Pacific Theatre, the United States Navy began a massive program to build one hundred and nineteen AP - 5 Attack Transport Ships - fearing the worst case scenario of a possible invasion of the island of Japan. The third ship built by Portland’s Oregon Shipbuilding Corporation was the “U.S.S. Laurens. “ This ship, named for Laurens County, Georgia, undoubtedly by Congressman Carl Vinson of Milledgeville - who was a long time friend to his Laurens County constituents and the powerful chairman of the House Naval Affairs Committee. Fifty five years ago this week, the “Laurens” began her made voyage from Astoria, Oregon, headed for action in the Pacific Ocean.


The keel of the “U.S.S. Laurens,” which was officially designated as APA 153, was laid on May 23, 1944. Seven weeks later, the “Laurens” was launched at Portland. After another seven weeks of completing her final fitting out, the ship arrived in Astoria, Oregon, where her crew, who had been training separately and together in various schools along the west coast and onboard the “U.S.S. Arlington,” was waiting to get onboard their new ship.

Captain A.R. Ponto, acting on behalf of the Maritime Commission, ordered the commissioning of the “Laurens” on September 7th, 1944. Captain Donald McGregor, U.S.N. took command of the ship with its compliment of thirty-two officers, including Executive Officer, Lt. Commander Raymond J. Solesie, U.S.N.R. and two hundred and seventy eight enlisted men. Nearly two weeks later on September 18th, the “Laurens” put out to sea on its maiden voyage with a crew, eighty percent of whom had never been to sea before. The ship traveled to San Francisco before taking a course to San Pedro, California, where Lt. John H. Livingston, would relieve Lt. Commander Solesie as Executive Officer. On the 20th of October, the ship returned to her base in San Francisco until the morning of the 26th.

In a dense fog, the “Laurens” passed under the Golden Gate Bridge and into the Pacific Ocean, this time bound for Lea, New Guniea. As the ship approached the Equator, the “pollywogs” - a nickname given to the novice sailors who have never been that far south before, were initiated into the “Realm of Neptunus Rex.” The “Laurens” arrived on the 12th of November, just in time to deliver a batch of Christmas mail.

The “Laurens” made several trips around New Guinea before making a fifteen hundred and fifty five mile round trip to New Caledonia just before Thanksgiving. On the 17th of December, the ship set out from Noumea, New Caledonia for another fifteen hundred mile trip - this time to Guadalcanal with fourteen hundred soldiers from the 35th U.S. Infantry, who were sent there to participate in landing exercises on Christmas Eve. Guadalcanal had been the scene in August of 1942 of the first American offensive of the war and one of the bloodiest battles in American history. The landings went well, although there were a few close calls. Japanese suicide bombers began to crash into the area, with one coming within one thousand yards of the “Laurens.”

On Christmas Eve, the ship set out for a short trip to Point Purvis. After a brief Christmas celebration, the ship’s crew took the ship on a thousand mile journey to Manus on Admiralty Island. On the day after New Year’s Day, again there wasn’t much time to celebrate, the “Laurens” set out on its third fifteen hundred mile journey, this time to Leyte in the Philippine Islands. For nearly three months, the ship traveled back and forth between the Philippine Islands and New Guinea.

On the 27th of March, the “Laurens” began its part in the invasion of Okinawa. With nearly one thousand men of the 24th Army Corps on board, the “Laurens” arrived in the transport area, west of Okinawa on April 1st, Easter Sunday. Once again, the ship avoided any direct hits by enemy aircraft. After two nights of night retirement, the ship was sent to Saipan in the Marianas Islands and then on a thirty five hundred mile trip to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. After three weeks in Hawaii, the crew was ordered back to San Francisco. On the 1st of June, the “Laurens” once again set out for the main scene of the war in the Pacific. After stops in the Marshall and Caroline Islands, the “Laurens” returned to Okinawa on July 24th with a load of troops and material.

On the 14th day of August, while the ship was undergoing repairs at Mare Island Naval Yard, near San Francisco, the announcement was made that the was over, finally! The next day, Capt. James Francis Byrne, arrived to take over command of the ship. The “Laurens,” with one hundred and naval officers aboard, set out for Hawaii, where the war had begun nearly four years earlier. At Honolulu, the “Laurens” picked up six hundred tons of equipment and supplies of the 3rd Battalion, 391st Regiment, 98th Infantry Division. On the 6th of September, forty eight officers and one thousand seventy two men came onboard bound for
occupation duty in Japan. One year after she was commissioned, the “Laurens” was headed toward the western Pacific for the last time.

The ship arrived on September 27th and the 98th Division went ashore. The “Laurens” took over fifteen hundred men from Japan to Okinawa, before making a return trip to Japan with a hundred passengers onboard. The “Laurens” remained anchored in Tokyo Bay until the 10th of November, 1945, when she began her journey home.

During her fourteen months of duty in the Pacific the workhorse transport ship had transported thousands of tons of equipment, ferried several thousands soldiers, and traveled nearly sixty thousand miles - a distance equal to two and one-half circumnavigations of the globe along the equator, before arriving at home in Seattle, Washington. What happened to her after the war isn’t known. The ship may have been used for a short time after the war, possibly by private companies or perhaps she was sold to the navy of another government, or she, like many other ships, wound up in the scrap yard.

The history of the “U.S.S. Laurens” was written by an anonymous crew member in the months following the war. The illustrated booklet, entitled “Life of the Laurens,” can be found in the Dublin-Laurens Museum and the Laurens County Library, making its way here through the magic of Internet auctions. The “Laurens” played a small part in the largest naval operation in the history of the world, an event that we hope will never have to take place again.

THE VETERAN'S HOSPITAL, DUBLIN, GEORGIA

As the United States got deeper into World War II, the need for long term care military hospitals rose. Congressman Carl Vinson of Milledgeville used his influence as Chairman of the House Committee on Naval Affairs to establish a naval hospital in Dublin. Over the next twenty years, Congressman Vinson nearly succeeded in establishing the United States Air Force Academy and an Air Force base in Laurens County. The plans for the hospital, which would serve as a long term care facility, were formulated in 1942. Early in 1943, the prospects of the hospital seemed dim. But Vinson persevered, and the project was approved in the late spring.

The primary need in order to establish a navy hospital in Dublin was the transportation of patients in and out of the city. The Laurens County Board of Commissioners purchased 640 acres of land three miles northwest of Dublin for the construction of an airport. The land was purchased at a cost of nearly double the amount originally budgeted. The commissioners resorted to issuing warrants to pay the cost after a bond issue and bank loans failed to materialize. The federal government took over the construction and completed the project in 1943. Among the first military uses of the airport was the delivery of mail to the few hundred soldiers who where stationed at the prisoner of war camp in Dublin.

The City of Dublin took immediate steps to aid in the construction of the hospital. The city attempted to issue bonds for the construction of water and sewer lines to the hospital. The Citizens and Southern Bank took over the financing after the failure of the bond issue. The federal government stepped in and provided the remaining funds to extend the lines to the hospital. A four lane road was built running from McCall's Point at the end of Bellevue Avenue to the hospital site. Real estate developer and theater owner R.E. Martin donated land for the road. Years later the city lined the road with oak trees. The road, originally known as the Old Macon Road, now bears the name of Veteran's Boulevard in honor of all the patients at the hospital.

Construction of the hospital began in July of 1943. Lt. Commander Louis S. Dozier came to Dublin to inspect the site and began the initial preparations. Before the construction could begin, a rail spur line was laid from the Macon, Dublin and Savannah Railroad to the site. An elevated steel water tank was the first structure to be completed. Even as the work was proceeding, the government was still in the process of acquiring the land.

The government chose a 231 acre farm site on the western edge of Dublin. The farm, known as the "Capt. Rice Place" or "Brookwood," was owned by W.P. Roche. E.T. Barnes asked the court to allow him to harvest the crops growing on the land. Judge A.B. Lovett agreed, but allowed the government to immediately go into possession of the land where the water tank was constructed. The government was allowed to take full possession of the property by September 13, 1943. Mr. Roche's home was spared, but part of his orchard was taken under a condemnation process through which Mr. Roche was paid the market value of $112.00 per acre.

In September, the engineers began laying out the streets on the hospital grounds. The streets were named for medical department personnel killed in action during the war. Gendreau Circle was named for Capt. Elphege A.M. Gendreau of San Francisco, who was killed in combat in the South Pacific. Blackwood Drive was named in memory of James D. Blackwood, of Drexel Hill, Pennsylvania, and senior medical officer of the "U.S.S. Vincennes." Johnson Drive and Alexander Drive were named in memory of Cmdr. Samuel E. Johnson, of Clinton, Alabama, and Lt. Cmdr. Hugh R. Alexander, of Belleville, Pennsylvania and the U.S.S. Arizona, who were killed at Pearl Harbor. Lt. Cmdr. Edward Crowley of San Francisco had Crowley Avenue named in his memory after he was killed in the Solomon Islands. Neff Place was named in honor of Lt. Cmdr. James Neff, Senior Medical Officer of the cruiser "U.S.S. Juneau." Trojakowski Avenue and Morrow Place were named in honor of W.C. Trojakowski, of Schenectady, N.Y., and Lt. Junior Grade Edna O. Morrow, of Pasadena, Calf., who were killed in airplane crashes. The last street, Evans Avenue, was named in honor of Lt. Cmdr. Edward E. Evans, of San Francisco, who was killed in the Solomon Islands in December of 1942.

R.A. Bowen & Co. of Macon began the grading and clearing of the land in mid September. One of the first obstacles to be cleared was the Capt. Rice home known as "Brookwood." It was built in 1903 by Joseph D. Smith. Smith sold the home to farmer, naval stores operator and businessman Capt. W.B. Rice. Rice developed the land into one of the finest farms in Laurens County. In a matter of hours, the site of many of the grandest and finest social gatherings in Dublin was gone forever.

The first bids let for buildings were for eight patient wards. The wards were built of masonry and two stories in height. The contract was awarded to Beers Construction Company of Atlanta for 1.16 million dollars. The initial plans called for a 500 bed, 5 million dollar hospital. After the end of the war, the hospital would be turned over to the Veteran's Administration which planned to add another thousand beds running the total cost to ten million dollars. After the wards were constructed, a central hospital and administration building would be constructed in the center of the complex. Nurse's quarters, bachelor officer's quarters, WAVES barracks, corpsmen's barracks, mess attendant's barracks, a gatehouse, greenhouses, a fire station and garage, an incinerator and storage buildings rounded out the remainder of the hospital area.

The buildings were designed in the colonial style to blend with the colonial homes along Bellevue Avenue. The wartime shortage of material necessitated the use of clay, wood, and cement products from the local area. A crew of five naval civil engineers, and twenty civil service engineers, inspectors, accountants and clerks began work under the supervision of Lt. Cmdr. Dozier. Dublin's civic and church organizations worked together to accommodate the hospital staff during the construction phase. A corps of 125 architects and engineers worked out of an Atlanta office building designing the project under the supervision of Lt. R.R. Grant. President Roosevelt gave final approval of a Federal Works Agency grant in December of 1943 to extend water and sewer lines and install the necessary equipment at the pumping station.

As the completion date neared, Dublin tried to cope with its growing pains. Ingram Construction Company moved its operations to Dublin and constructed twenty brick homes for hospital personnel. Captain A.L. Bryan estimated that as many as a thousand people would be attached to the hospital with as many as two hundred families would move into the Dublin area. Commander Ellington of Charleston estimated that one hundred forty new houses would be needed to house the new families. By May of 1944, the city of Dublin was forced to institute rent ceilings to prevent gouging by landlords.

Despite some instances of rent gouging, the construction personnel were well treated by the community. When the Dublin Theatre reopened in the summer of 1944, special Sunday movies were shown to the military personnel. During the late summer of 1944, the navy men played Army-Navy baseball games against the army guards from the local German prisoner of war camp. The sailors also played basketball games against alumni teams from local high schools.

Finally on January 22, 1945, the hospital was ready for full operation. Five hundred beds were in place with room for an additional three hundred and fifty more for emergency purposes. The original complex was built with four and one half million bricks which, if laid end to end, would extend all the way to Washington, D.C. There were sixty cubic yards of concrete, seventeen hundred tons of steel, eighty miles of interior piping, five elevators, five thousand windows, twenty one hundred doors, eleven acres of flooring, four acres of acoustical ceiling tiles, twenty miles of underground piping and six thousand cubic yards of earth work.

Commander Louis Dozier, a native of Macon, Georgia, was commended by the Bureau of Yards and Docks for his work in supervising the construction of the hospital. He was promoted and was assigned overseas. Commander Dozier was ably assisted by project managers Lt. Carl B. Babcock and Carleton B. Johnson. The project was supervised at the highest levels by Rear Admiral Jules James of the Sixth Naval District and was operated by the Bureau of Medicine and Surgery.

The dedication of the hospital was scheduled for the early afternoon. A light and cold rain kept many away. Nearly every politician and business leader in Georgia was invited to attend. Military leaders in the hospital's chain of command were invited to speak. Gov. Ellis Arnall and Congressman Carl Vinson were slated to speak, but were detained and did not attend. Postmaster M.J. Guyton spoke on behalf of his brother-in-law, Congressman Vinson, before a somewhat disappointed crowd. The first patients were scheduled to be brought in during the ceremonies, but were delayed by a few hours by the bad weather. The hospital was not quite finished when it opened. The commander's office was temporarily located in the front guard house and later in the surgical wing of the hospital.

The initial cadre of officers at the hospital was headed by Capt. A.L. Bryan. Capt. Bryan was a veteran of naval operations in the Pacific serving with valor in the Marshall and Gilbert Islands. Commander A.J. Delaney served as the first Executive Officer. Commander B.E. Goodrich, Chief of Medicine; Commander W.S. Littlejohn, Chief of Neuropsychiatry; Commander D.D. Martin, Clinical Director; Lt. Commander E.B. Brick, Chief of the Eye, Ear, Nose, and Throat Section; Lt. Commander V.B. Buhler, Chief of Laboratory Services, and Lt. Commander P.V. Dilts rounded out the executive staff of the hospital. The Red Cross provided a staff of nearly two dozen women to serve the hospital. The early heads of the Red Cross workers were Helen Cassidy, Merle Foeckler, and Margaret Weatherall.

The hospital, then a part of the armed forces hospital system, took on the role of aiding the war on the home front. This mission included entertainment and education of the patients. On April 7, 1945, Eddie Rickenbacker visited the hospital. Rickenbacker was the top American ace of World War I. After the war, he got into the automobile business. Rickenbacker owned the Indianapolis Speedway for 12 years. In 1938, he was named President of Eastern Airlines and served in that position until he was named Chairman of the Board in 1959. Rickenbacker's mission was to cheer up those sailors who were facing long recuperation from their injuries.

On the last day of April 1945, Helen Keller made a visit to the hospital. Helen Keller had lost her senses of sight and hearing. She could not speak. Upon the recommendation of Alexander Graham Bell, she went to a special school for the blind. Anne Sullivan taught Miss Keller to listen to others talk by placing her hand on their faces. She eventually learned to read, write, talk and type and graduated with honors from Radcliff College. In her later years, Helen Keller authored many successful books. Her visit to the hospital was part of her tour of military hospitals across the country. It was hoped that those disabled veterans would be inspired by Miss Keller's overcoming of her disabilities. Over the years that followed, touring bands and companies performed at the hospital for the sailors in the afternoons and at public dances at night. Among those were forties band leaders Les Brown, Vaughn Monroe, The Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Skinny Ennis, Glen Gray, Tommy Tucker, Jan Garber and Ted Weems.

The hospital continued to expand. A research laboratory was built in late 1945 to study the effects of rheumatic fever. Captain J.B. Logue succeeded Capt. A.L. Bryan as commander of the hospital. The last naval commander was Capt. Lea B. Sartin. Capt. Sartin was taken as a prisoner of war while serving at a Manilla hospital and endured three years in the Japanese prison camps, first as the prison doctor at Bilbub prison in the Philippines. Capt. Sartin served as Executive Officer of the Naval Hospital in New Orleans before coming to Dublin. The peak of hospital patient load came in came in June 1946, when there were 1200 Navy and 100 VA patients served by 75 Staff Officers, 80 Nurses, 300 corpsmen, and 78 WAVES. Nearly three years after the end of the war the hospital was decommissioned as a naval hospital. The ceremonial transfer was broadcast from the studios of radio station WMLT on the evening of June 30, 1948. Dr. David Quinn was named as Administrator of the new Veteran's hospital. On September 15, 1948, the hospital was dedicated by Senator Walter F. George and Congressman Carl Vinson.

THE REST OF THE STORY

Doctors, Patients and Visitors at the V.A. Hospital

Over the last six decades, hundreds of thousands of our country's heroes have received medical care in the VA Hospital. More than ten thousand physicians, nurses, sailors, waves, technicians, secretaries, and health care workers have walked the long halls, worked tirelessly to serve those who had served them and frequently held back their tears when in the presence of those who suffer terribly from the wounds of war of the ravages of time. It is to these wonderful Americans and the unnumerable legion of volunteers who have given of themselves that I dedicate these columns.

Franklin Gowdy was born to Dr. F.M. Gowdy and Margaret K. Gowdy on June 2, 1903 in Union Pier, Michigan. He grew up in St. Joseph, Michigan. Gowdy attended St. Joseph's High School, where he was vice president of the Crescent society in his junior year. While at St. Joseph's, Franklin performed in school plays and choral programs.

Franklin played tackle for the University of Chicago Maroons in the early 1920s. In 1924, he was elected captain of the football team. Gowdy was generally regarded by national experts as one of the best tackles in the county and rated by his coach, the legendary Amos Alonzo Stagg as "one of the best tackles ever developed at the University of Chicago," Gowdy was chosen to the all Big Ten team and the All American team and led his team to a 3-0-3 record and its last Big Ten Championship. He was honored by Coach Stagg in 1925, when he was asked to coach the Chicago line. His younger brother Vic followed in his footsteps, first at Chicago and then as captain of the Oberlin College team.

Dr. Franklin Gowdy graduated from Rush Medical School in Chicago. He began the practice of medicine in 1937 in Evanston, Illinois, where he met and married his wife, Dorothy Faye Brockway. Dr. Gowdy enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve shortly after Pearl Harbor. Gowdy, then nearly forty years of age, expected to serve in the Naval reserve at the Great Lakes Naval base. He was transferred to the Marines and sent to Guadalcanal attached to First Division United States Marine Corps. The First Marine Division participated in the invasion of the islands of New Britain and Pellilu. By then end of his tour in the South Pacific, Dr. Gowdy rose to the rank of Lt. Commander in the Navy. His brother Howard served as an officer in the Army Air Corps.

In his last year in the service in the Navy, Dr. Gowdy was assigned to the United States Naval Hospital in Dublin, Georgia. In January 1946, Dr. Gowdy resumed his practice of medicine in Winnetka, Illinois. He and his family resided in nearby Glencoe. Dr. Gowdy practiced medicine in the Chicago area and taught internal medicine at Northwestern University until his death on July 15, 1973.

In 1952, Dr. M. Fernand Nunez served as chief of laboratory services at the Veteran's Administration Hospital in Dublin. Dr. Nunez was a direct descendant of Dr. Samuel Nunez. The original Dr. Nunez came to the infant colony of Georgia in July, 1733 as the physician and apothecary for the Colony. Dr. Nunez delivered Phillip Minas, the first male child to be born in the colony.

Officials at the Dublin VA Hospital were honored when the national commander of American Veterans agreed to pay a visit to the hospital on January 12, 1961. The commander, a Canadian born paratroop sergeant in World War II, was the guest of honor at a luncheon held in the dining room and the featured speaker in the auditorium which was filled with patients, staff, and personnel. The commander told the veterans "It's not what you have lost, but what you have left. Disability does not mean inability." He urged the veterans to pass on to the civilians what they had learned in the military. The Commander spoke from experience for he lost both arms during the war. He tried, without his hands, at making a movie. He played the role of Homer Parrish, one of several veterans returning home after the war. Evidently he did a pretty good job. He was awarded two awards for his performance in the film. His name was Harold Russell. The classic movie from 1946 was "The Best Years of Our Lives." The movie won the Oscar for best picture. Frederich March won the Oscar for best actor. The director and writer also won the Oscar that year. Russell, one of the most famous American heroes of World War II, won the Oscar for best supporting actor and another special Oscar "for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans." In his first and only movie, Sgt. Russell was the only actor ever to be awarded two Oscars for one role. Russell went into the public relations field after the war. He died in 1993.

In the days and months before Fidel Castro took control of the Cuban government, Cubans by the thousands fled to Florida and parts of the southeast. Several families came to Dublin and in particular to the Veteran's Hospital. Three of Cuba's top physicians wound up in Dublin. They were unanimous in their view that the Cuban refugees should leave Miami and come to small American towns like Dublin, which were a more true example of American life and the strength of our country. Dr. Rogello J. Barata was a former professor of surgery at the University of Havana Medical University until 1961. Dr. Barata served as general and thoracic surgeon at the V.A. hospital. His former student, Dr. Luis G. Valdes, was Chief of Surgery in one of Havana's largest hospitals after completing his post graduate work at Harvard University. The third and most prominent physician was Dr. Delio S. Garcia, former professor of Pathology at the University of Havana. Dr. Garcia had been the former director of the Cuban National Bureau of Identification. Between 1944 and 1948 Cuba was experiencing a wave of gang killings when nearly 150 prominent people were killed. Dr. Garcia was able to identify five of the killers through scientific tests. The first murderer he identified was a young Cuban rebel by the name of Fidel Castro. The Cuban families assimilated into the community, Dr. Valde's mother-in-law taught Spanish at Dublin High School.

At the Veteran's Hospital patients came and patients went. There was something unusual about this particular patient. He was a veteran of the United States Army having fought in Korea. After the war, he married Frances Googe of Hazelhurst where he made his home. He did nothing to create the excitement. The unusual amount of attention paid to this patient Vincent Cadette came not from his actions, but because of his ancestry. His ancestor was among the most famous men of the late 19th century. Vincent was an American Indian like his great grandfather, Sitting Bull.

One of Dublin's oldest residents in 1968 was Louis Greenhaus, who was 101 years old. Greenhaus, a Russian-born naturalized citizen, was a resident of the V.A. Hospital. Naturalized as a United States citizen in 1892, Greenhaus served as a sergeant in the Spanish-American War and World War I. Between the wars, Greenhaus was a member of John Phillip Sousa's band and played under the direction of America's foremost band leaders. Greenhaus credited his daily cigar as the most important factor in his longevity.

In the early decades of the V.A. Hospital, the wards were filled with veterans of the Spanish American War and World War I. William C. Owen was Georgia's oldest surviving veteran of the Spanish American War. He turned 100 years old on September 4, 1978. Lemuel J. Rogers, who died at the VA Hospital on June 25, 1963, served under Col. Teddy Roosevelt and retired as a master sergeant in 1926.

These are a few of the thousands of stories of the people of the VA Hospital. Their complete stories would fill volumes. I encourage you to record your stories of the hospital for posterity so that the generations to come will know just what a special place the V.A. Hospital is.

IRA T. GARNTO

INTERVIEW WITH SGT. IRA T. GARNTO


2ND Bn. Hq. Co., 121st Inf., 8th Inf. Div. 1st Army





Sgt. Ira T. Garnto enlisted in Co. K, 121st Infantry on Aug. 1, 1940. After was transferred to Regimental HQ in the intelligence section. After 2 more years I was transferred to 2nd Battalion as Intelligence Chief. I enlisted originally for three years. Many of the men enlisted for only year. After Sept. 1941 and especially after Pearl Harbor, the original Co. K broke up. Only about 10% of the original members of the Company K saw combat in Europe in 1944-45.



I enlisted on August 1, 1940 and in a few days went on maneuvers in Mississippi for three weeks. After I graduated high school in 1940, I thought to myself that I should go ahead and join for a year. We knew Capt. Clifford Prince would let us out after a year if we had a hardship, besides I needed the work. My daddy died in 1928, when I was six years old. I had two older sisters and two younger brothers. My mother invested the insurance proceeds in the First National Bank in Dublin, which went bust that year. We lived on a farm just outside of Brewton. Mamma managed to hand on to the farm in 1942 when she moved to town across from Jefferson Street Baptist Church. My brother was shot down in China on the Yangee River. He was in a B-24 and they were skip bombing. I didn't know what that was, but it was where they would come in low and drop their bombs so that they would skip into the boats. They told us that we would be in the army in three more weeks.



We got to come home on just about every weekend from Fort Jackson, if you could afford it. Some times they charged five dollars to bring you home. We used to ride two in the front and three or four in the back. Some of the men bought cars. You could get one for 800 or 900 dollars. I remember E.L. Stephens bought a car. The 121st was at Fort Jackson when they bombed Pearl Harbor. Actually I was at home when they bombed Pearl Harbor. I had come home riding in a car with Capt. Prince.



While I was there, they tried to get me to go to Officer Candidate School. I wanted to serve my country, but I didn't think that being an officer was for me. They selected two of us to take a test to go to West Point. You had to have the affidavits of two officers, pass a physical, and provide a birth certificates. I had the two affidavits, which I still have, and the birth certificate. About that time we were transferred to Ft. Leonard Wood. It was cold there. In all of the confusion in moving to a new place, the chance passed me by. I remained a Sergeant because I had a lot of lateral transfers. I didn't want to go to O.C.S., but I would have gone to West Point if only for the education. It would have taken me out of the war because I would have finished after the war. I would have had to sign up for seven years which would have put me in Korea. I would not have been killed in World War II, but I could have been in Korea. That may have saved my life. They also tried to make me Battalion Sergeant Major.



We trained in old clothes. They must have been from World War II. We lived in tents in the first winter. We didn't have much equipment. We had to use old stove pipes as mortars.



After we left Fort Jackson, South Carolina, we went on maneuvers in Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The army began assigning Georgia draftees into our regiment, which was then part of the 30th Infantry. We went to Ft. Leonard Wood for about six months and then out west to the desert for another six months. After we returned to Camp Forest, Tenn., we went to New Jersey where we left for Ireland in the winter of 1943.



We went to Northern Ireland after leaving the states. I remember General George Patton talking with us. We were originally to be a part of his 3rd Army. Then we were assigned to the 1st Army. We went to Brest. They underestimated what it would take to clean up there. There were fifty thousand Germans there.



We arrived at Utah Beach, Normandy on the 4th of July. There was no fighting there, but we could still hear the guns, probably close to St. Lo. I rode in a jeep. When it left the landing craft it dipped into the war and wet us. That tickled Gen. Walker. He was killed in a few days. We lost a lot of officers in the first few weeks.



In Normandy, our first mission was to straighten out a bulge in our lines. It took us eight days. Then we sat there for eight days waiting on the tanks to show up. I dug a hole next to one of the hedgerows, which had a bush that looked like a redtip, but I don't think it was really a redtip. A mortar shell came in one night through the hedgerow and caved in my hole. It didn't go off. Another one came within ten feet of my position and tore up my raincoat and cut my telephone wire. It didn't go off. I don't think it would had killed me if it had, but the concussion would have jarred me real bad. Our liaison officer was shot. They asked me to take replacements up to the lines which I did two times. We had gotten down to about 50% strength in Normandy by August, 1944. When we got out of the hedgerows, we got into open fields which were bad. Sleeping was tough. In the day, you thought about and hoped the night would come so the Germans couldn't see you. At night, you thought about someone coming in and getting you.



Our unit never got the credit for the job we did in Normandy. In all of the pictures and films I have seen, I have never seen a soldier in them wearing our division's patch, the 8th Infantry. Sometimes we used to see the skies filled with bombers heading toward Germany. Sometimes they bombed the enemy right in front of us. They were so close they jarred us.



We got into some trouble at Brest. The bombers came over and bombed the Germans, but as soon as they left, the Germans came right back out and starting shooting again.



On the Battle of Hurtgen: The 28th Division had been kicked out of the forest. They had lost almost all of their men. We went in to relieve the 101st Airborne Division. We got there about Thanksgiving. The 28th went to Luxembourg where we came from. They really got kicked during the Battle of the Bulge. The trees in the Hurtgen Forest were in bad shape. Every battalion was quickly engaged. They were mostly pine trees, split and splintered. I remember sleeping sitting up some night. I served in the headquarters 2nd battalion under the command of Lt. Col. Henry B. Kunzig. I was in the forward Command Post with Col. Kunzig. He wanted a messenger from each company and wanted someone in charge of the messengers. I took four messengers from each of the four companies in our battalion back to Col. Kunzig's bunker and remained there with Col. Kunzig.



I was walking into the Town of Hurtgen following the capture of the town. I had just come into the edge of town and was standing by a German tank in front of the first building on the left (see p. 35, 121st Infantry History). I was waiting on my next orders when I heard an artillery round coming in. It hit the tank with a strange thud, but it didn't explode. I was lucky.



It started snowing after a few days, but the snow was much better than the sloppy mud. The slop was worse than the snow. It slowed us down. Many of our casualties came from frostbite. The tanks had no way to go in the mud in the forest. I guess we just outlasted them.



Gladstone Daniel (David G. Daniel, Jr.) is the only Laurens County man that I remember being killed in the battle.



On the Battle of Ruhr Pocket (see page 53, History of the 121st Inf. Regiment): That scene (the one depicted in the book) is very real to me. The Colonel asked me to get four German prisoners who spoke English to work KP duty in the kitchen.



Along the Roer we had a lot of night fighting. It was boogerish, but we had less casualties. At Cologne, Emory F. Scarborough was killed in an auto assembly plant. He had been promoted to Second Lieutenant on the Battlefield. He was in Headquarters 3rd Battalion and they were waiting for directions. I believe George Allen Tindol may have been there. They did manage to get a few trucks from there. We stayed in cellars, but when the warm weather came the snow began to melt and it began raining in on us down there.



The 1st and the 3rd Army after they crossed the Rhine came together in a pincer and cut the Germans off. It was one place where there was a right smart bit of trouble when a 74 ton tank with 120 mm guns came out toward us. The army had assigned a platoon of Black soldiers to F Company. There were not actually part of the company, just attached to it. They did pretty good. They fought together. One of them found a German bazooka and shot it at one of those tanks and stopped it. Another man picked up a Browning automatic rifle and shot the Germans as they came crawling out of the tank. The two men were rewarded with a pass to Paris and a promotion to sergeant. One of them was awarded a Silver Star. That was as close as we came to having an integrated unit. There were a lot of Blacks in the Quartermasters. From then on, we didn't get much fight, but there was some in some of the towns.



When the Germans got out from behind their tanks they surrendered. They just quit. They came out the cellars and surrendered. I stayed with Col. Kunzig everywhere he went after the Hurtgen Forest. On our last drive we went to Schwerin near the Baltic Sea. Col. Kunzig said very little. A German captain wanted the Colonel to go with him to the German Headquarters. I followed his jeep. The Germans were still armed. I stayed outside and didn't go in. A Lt. General surrendered an entire corps to us. They came marching in for three days. There were about 214 thousand of them. They didn't want to surrender to the Russians.



We lost about a thousand killed and four thousand total casualties. Our unit met up with the Russians, or that's what they say. I saw one Russian and he looked liked he was lost.



Interviewed by Scott B. Thompson, Sr., November 20, 1999.

DUBLIN'S ADMIRAL

The Story of Admiral Robert Edgar Braddy, Jr.

Robert Edgar Braddy, Jr., moved to Dublin at the age of nine in 1913. Braddy was a son of Robert E. and Neva Eudora Braddy. The Braddys lived on Maiden Lane in Dublin on the site of the First Baptist Church Life Center. After attending Dublin schools, he attended Gordon Military College and graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1927.

In 1942 Lt. Commander Braddy commanded the U.S.S. Bernadou, an old four stacker tanker, which was built in 1918. “The Bernadou” was named for Commander John Baptiste Bernadou, a hero of the Spanish American War. The ship was originally designed to combat submarines in World War I. The ship was launched four days before the armistice. After it was commissioned in 1919, the “Bernadou” saw sporadic service in the Atlantic Ocean. In the fall of 1939, the “Bernadou” was re-commissioned and went assigned to the Atlantic Ocean on neutrality patrol. The ship had a maximum speed of 35 knots and was just a little longer than a football field. The usual complement of a crew was about one hundred fifty.

Before the United States declared war on Germany the “Bernadou” carried Marines to Iceland in July of 1941. For the next year the ship remained in the Newfoundland-Iceland convoy in the North Atlantic. The first missions of Braddy’s ship were anti-submarine patrols. On October 25, 1942 Braddy's ship, nicknamed the “Bouncing Bee”, was assigned to carry troops into French North Africa for an attack in November, 1942. Along with the “U.S.S. Cole,” the “Bernadou” was assigned to an attack group heading for the port of Safi, French Morroco. The mission of a destroyer was to provide close-in combat support for landing troops. It was a suicide mission. Braddy’s ship was designated as the lead ship to land the first wave of infantry troops on shore.

The “Bernadou” was a part of the Southern Attack Group of the Western Naval Task Force. On the night of November 7th and 8th the attack group moved away from the main convoy. The ships moved to a rendevous point to await the signal for an attack. Just before dawn the eagerly awaited attack signal came.

The “Bernadou” and the “Cole,” commanded by Lt. Cmdr. George G. Palmer of Charleston, South Carolina, steamed toward Safi.

At 3:30 a.m. the two ships moved out headed for the harbor. H-hour was set for 4 a.m. The ship was filled with troops. All of her smokestacks had been removed to disguise her identity. It rode low in the water and was difficult to identify with her mast down. Through unchartered waters, the two ships moved their shops toward the harbor entrance. Their passage went quietly at first with a scout boat in the lead. With companies of the 47th Infantry aboard, the “Bernadou” was challenged at 4:10 a.m.. A spot light from the hills above Safi spotted Braddy’s ship. A signal from shore was answered by the same signal. The light went out. The shore batteries opened fire with their French ‘75s. The two ships along with others to the rear opened fire on the batteries. The pre-dawn skies were lit up by brilliant streams of tracer bullets and the mouths of the big guns.

Braddy ordered the ship to proceed full steam ahead. At 4:28 a.m. the ship rounded the north end of the mole. Braddy took the “Bouncing Bee” through narrow and difficult approaches to the harbor mouth. The task became increasingly difficult when machine guns began firing from jetties. Lookouts on the bridge spotted a bell buoy at the mouth of the harbor. The ships continued under heavy cross fire. Braddy and Palmer guided their ships through a multitude of vessels anchored in the harbor. Braddy ran his ship at near full speed right into the shoreline, which was lined with rocks. This daring maneuver allowed all of the assault troops to land immediately and avoid small arms fire. Cmdr. Palmer guided his ship to a dock where he unloaded his men. The invaders swarmed the shore and reached their objectives. In the dash for the harbor, not a single life was lost. The resistance from the shore soon ceased to exist.

Braddy’s good fortune continued to hold. The beaching had been eased by an underwater sandbar. It was substantial enough to hold the ship in place while the assault forces unboarded, but was not enough to cause any fatal damage to the destroyer. The “Berndaou” and four other destroyers began providing escorts for tanks and troops for the assault on Casablanca on November 10th.

For his actions in guiding his ship safely into Safi under dangerous night conditions, Lt. Commander Braddy was given the Navy Cross and an award from the Belgian government. The Navy Cross is our nation’s second highest award for heroism in the United States Navy. Secretary of the Navy Knox cited the commanders for their actions “with gallant and resolute purpose, and at grave risk to his own life and the safety of his ship and men, they successfully countered all opposition in the accomplishment of a vital and strategic mission.” Vice Admiral Henry Hewitt, in command of the invasion, cited Braddy and Coles’ ships with a large measure of the success of the operation. Admiral Hewitt nominated the two ships to the Navy’s roll of distinguished ships. The entire crew was awarded a Presidential Unit Citation for their actions in the successful operation.

After the landing at Safi, the “Bernadou” returned to Boston where she remained on convoy duty until February of 1943. She made a convoy run to Gibraltar in March and in May departed for Algeria. In July, 1943 the ship took part in the occupation of Sicily. Two months later the “Bernadou” aided in the landings at Salerno. After two convoy trips to North Africa in the first half of 1944, the ship retired to the easy runs from the east coast of the United States to the Caribbean. The Bernadou arrived in the Philadelphia Naval Yard for decommissioning on July 17, 1945. On the last day of November, 1945, the grand old lady, who had served her country so well in earning five battle stars, was sold.

Commander Braddy was also a close and personal friend of deaf and blind American author, Helen Keller. His sister, Nella, wrote a book for Reader's Digest on Helen Keller, and her mentor, Anne Sullivan. Nella Braddy also earned national acclaim for her biography of the author, Rudyard Kipling. Robert Braddy retired as a Rear Admiral on October 1, 1951. Admiral Braddy died on August 14, 1965 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.

THE GERMAN-ITALIAN PRISONER OF WAR CAMP, DUBLIN, GEORGIA

Last remaining barracks, 2009

Troup St., Dublin, GA

As the United States became more involved in World War II, more farm products were needed in support of the war effort. The problem was that many of the farmers were no longer fighting the weather but fighting in Europe and the Pacific. Those at home aided the war effort by stepping up agricultural production. In 1943, State Senator Herschel Lovett, County Agent Harry Edge, and Emergency Farm Labor Assistant Walter B. Daniel contacted Congressman Carl Vinson of Milledgeville to request the location of a temporary prisoner of war camp in Dublin.

Laurens County needed help in gathering the crops that would be ready for harvest in the summer through early fall. The gentlemen requested that a camp be set up at the County Farm on Highway 441 just above the present Interstate highway. Vinson contacted Col. I.B. Summers of the Prisoner of War Division of the Federal government. Col. Summers advised Vinson that the location of camp would not be easy because of the lack of trained prison guards. Vinson, undaunted, contacted Col. R.E. Patterson of the prison camp at Camp Wheeler, near Macon. Col. Patterson echoed the doubts about a camp for Dublin.

Under the guidelines of the Geneva Convention of 1929, prisoners of war must be paid eighty cents per day for labor outside of the prison camp. Prison labor was limited by the number of guards, not the number of prisoners. The Farm Labor Advisory Committee, consisting of Bob Hodges, Wade Dominy, C.L. Thigpen, R.T. Gilder, H.W. Dozier, Frank Clark, D.W. Alligood, and A.O. Hadden continued to press Vinson to acquire the camp to help in the harvest. Finally, Vinson succeeded and the army allowed some prisoners to be sent from CampWheeler.

The first couple of hundred prisoners arrived on August 26, 1943, under the supervision of Capt. Henry J. Bordeaux. The first prisoners were Italians. The camp was not located on the county farm but on the site of the old 12th District Fairgrounds where the New York Yankees, Boston Braves, and St. Louis Cardinals had played and where the cowboy hero Tom Mix had thrilled thousands with his traveling circus. The fairgrounds played host to thrilling feats of athletic skill by Olympic champion Jesse Owens in 1940, along with a barnstorming game with two Negro league teams. The fairgrounds were bounded on the north by the railroad east by Troup Street, south by Telfair Street and West by Joiner Street.

The prisoners arrived just in time to help with the peanut harvesting in Laurens and surrounding counties. The camp was completed in three days under the Army Corps of Engineers and the Quartermaster Corps. After the camp was set up, the prisoners were immediately taken to the fields. The men were used to chop cotton and stack peanuts.

The recently completed naval airfield near Dublin soon began handling the first direct air mail into Dublin. The guards were getting letters from Fort Benning flown into Dublin every other day. The civic and church groups made the guards feel at home with parties, home cooking, and entertainment at the service center in the Henry Building at 101 West Jackson Street. It was not long before the soldiers could return the favor. A young woman was lying in the hospital in desperate need of a blood transfusion. No local donors with a matching type could be found. Her friends called the camp commander, Col. S.L. Irwin for help.

Several volunteers arrived at the hospital within ten minutes. The soldiers came back for a second transfusion. The patient recovered. Nearly every one of the 250 guards stationed at the prison camp responded to the call of Lehman P. Keen, chairman of the 3rd War Bond Drive. The German prisoners adapted well to the South and were even heard singing "Dixie" after a hard day's work on the farm.

By October, the need for farm labor had significantly declined. The Army planned to move the camp by mid- October. The Fourth Service Command granted permission for the camp to remain open into November. One half of the five hundred prisoners were moved in the third week of October along with their guards under the leadership of Capt. Jennings. New guards were brought in to replace those who left. Shortly, the camp would close down for the winter.

Just as the allied forces began the invasion of Europe in June of 1944, the German prisoners returned to Dublin. It would be a long hot summer for the German prisoners in Dublin. One prisoner was killed by a falling tree on Snellgrove plantation. The prisoner was working with the pulpwood crew of Robert Cullens. On July the Fourth, three prisoners, Josef Damer, Jeorge Fries, and Willi Pape escaped while on a work detail at the Warner Callan Farm near Scott. They were captured the following day. Some people say that the prisoners just got lost in the woods and were not attempting to escape. The commandant of the camp instituted harsh disciplinary procedures as a result of the escape. The prisoners countered by staging a sit down strike - refusing to work on the farms. Within a few days, calmer heads prevailed. The matter was settled. By the end of the summer, the situation had eased, and the Army guards had enough free time to play baseball, basketball, and football games against the U.S. Navy at the new naval hospital.

Many of the local people bore no hatred to the prisoners. Nearly every Sunday morning the prisoners would march from the camp down Academy Avenue and turn north on Church Street for mass at the Catholic Church. Along the way the Germans sang hymns. The prisoners cooked their own food. Inside the camp there were many good cooks. Some people parked their cars outside the camp fence to catch the sounds of the beautiful German songs and get a sniff of the delicious German dishes being prepared inside the wall. Janice W. Williams of Wrightsville has a vivid memory of seeing a truck load of Germans passing through Johnson County one day. “One man stood in the back of the truck facing the front as their leader. I would watch them go through and they were strong, healthy men. Someone said they didn’t want to escape because they were out of the war and well fed,” Mrs. Williams remembered.

One day while Oliver Bennett was working in the paint shop at the Naval Hospital, he noticed a German prisoner, by the name of S. Pretscher, sketching a picture of his girlfriend on a piece of scrap cardboard. Bennett was so impressed that he asked the man to paint a picture for him. Bennett secured the necessary materials - a linen towel stretched to form a canvas and a the paint. Pretscher went into his studio, a tent on the prison grounds, and diligently worked on the painting, which was a country scene from his homeland. Pretscher presented the painting to Bennett who remained friends after the war ended. The beautiful painting remains in the Bennett family today.


The prisoners came back for one more summer to help the farmers in harvesting their crops, which were still needed for the effort. With the end of the war in August of 1945, there was no longer a need for the camp. The camp closed in early January of 1946. Today, one lone barracks from the camp still stands at the corner of Troup Street and the railroad. It serves as a living reminder of the a time which we all hope will never be seen again.

THE LAST CHRISTMAS BEFORE WORLD WAR 2

Christmas in Laurens County in 1940


The year was 1940. It would be the last Christmas before the war. It was a Christmas when Dubliners and Laurens Countians put their differences aside and celebrated the birth of Christ in its true form. A little commercialism could be found, but the main focus was the religious aspect of the 25th of December. Many were worrying about the impending war in Europe. More than a hundred local men and boys in the Georgia National Guard were training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina for a war they hoped would never come.

A county-wide celebration began on the courthouse square in the late afternoon of the 12th. Several thousand citizens gathered in downtown. Streets were blocked off for several blocks in all directions. Late shoppers were serenaded by the bands of Dublin High School and the Laurens County Marching Band seated on a specially constructed grandstand. Music filled the air - broadcast from loud speakers in the courthouse tower. The boys of Cadwell, Dudley, and Rentz vocational classes aided Georgia Power employees in stringing the lights on trees and the courthouse itself. A manager scene was constructed on the grounds. The lighting also included the traditional tree of lights on the Carnegie Library grounds (now the museum).

Another part of the display of lights was a new neon sign placed on the steel frame of the river bridge wishing new comers a "Merry Christmas!" Later the sign was change to read "Welcome to Dublin" for west bound travelers and "Thanks, Come Again" for east bound visitors on their way out of town.

Dr. C.H. Kittrell, President of the Dublin Lions Club, served as the master of ceremonies. He hailed the gathering "as the most impressive Christmas display our community has ever had."

Dr. Kittrell praised the unity shown by members of the community and its significance in the Christmas season. The Rev. Claude E. Vines prayed for world peace in his invocation. Bob Hightower, chairman of the event, praised the spirit of cooperation by the business and professional men of Dublin, except the five "scrooges" who refused to donate to the program. In all, Hightower and his associates raised more than fifteen hundred dollars. Rev. W.A. Kelley, Superintendent of the Dublin District of the Methodist Church, called for a renewed observation of the spiritual significance of Christmas. By then, children began tugging on their parents sleeves asking "when are they going to turn on the lights?" Mae Hightower made here way to the stage where she threw the lights, just at the moment of dusk. In eclectic voices the crowd filled the air with "oohs", "aahs", and "wows."
The second phase of the celebration came five days later. The ladies of the Dublin Garden Club, led by its president, Mrs. Carl Nelson, sponsored a city-wide outdoor Christmas lighting contest. Mrs. Howard L. Cordell, Sr. and Mrs. Marion Peacock headed the committees which were able to secure out of town judges to evaluate the fifty-four contestants. The judges made their decisions based on the suitability of the lights to the type of home, the size of the decorations in proportion to the size of the house, and the total artistic and color effect of the decorations.

Mr. and Mrs. O.L. Chivers, whose home still stands on Bellevue Ave. across from the Piggly Wiggly, won the first prize. The George T. Morris home, now home to the Chamber of Commerce, finished in a second-place tie with "Green Acres," the home of Mr. and Mrs. Albert Geeslin. Third place was awarded to Mr. and Mrs. James F. Nelson, Jr.


Rev. Ralph Gilliam led an impressive and inspirational candlelight service at Henry Memorial Presbyterian Church on the Sunday before Christmas. Participants in the program included Blanche Coleman, C.C. Crockett, Leah Kittrell, Charles Alexander, Sara Veal, Noble Marshall, and the music club of Dublin High School. The choir of the First Baptist Church presented a cantata at the regular Sunday morning worship service. Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus came to Buckhorn Methodist Church for an "Old Time" Christmas.

The third major event of that Christmas was a county-wide Christmas Carol program on the courthouse square, just two days before Christmas. A.J. Hargrove, the master of ceremonies, presided over a program which featured thousands of local school students. The children assembled at the school building downtown (now the City Hall.) One group, after another, formed on the school grounds and marched to the courthouse serenading parents, shoppers, and merchants along the way. At the courthouse they did an about face and marched back down the other side of the street. At four o'clock many church choirs assembled at the courthouse for the main part of the program which featured the traditional songs of Christmas, featuring soloists Mrs. Annelle Brown and Blanche Coleman.

An integral part of that Christmas in 1940 and each one since then has been the giving of gifts, especially the toys for the children. Smith's Jewelry had special last minute gifts for momma and daddy or for the special girl or man. Silverware sets sold from $15 to $150.00. Bill folds and belt sets were popular at two dollars or so. Bulova, Waltham, and Elgin watches were the most popular, all for less than forty dollars. A solitaire diamond engagement ring sold for $49.75 with the matching wedding duet for only $24.75. America's finest glassware sold from 25 cents up to $12.00.

Across the street at Lovett and Tharpe, shoppers could shop until 10:30 on Christmas Eve for the last minute gifts. For the boys, Daisy air rifles were a dollar, Wilson basketballs were two dollars and seventy-five cents, and Wilson footballs sold for a dollar and twenty-five cents. The Westfield bicycle, the top of the line, went for the sum of twenty-eight dollars. Tricycles were four dollars and wagons brought three dollars apiece. For the lady of the house, a husband could pick up a new Frigidaire refrigerator, range, or water heater for $120.00 and up. Tree light Strings, the old-fashioned kind with larger light bulbs, sold for fifty cents to a dollar.

Santa Claus came that night. Toy lead soldiers, baby dolls, comic books, and tea sets, along with the requisite new sets of clothes found their way under the trees. For the last two decades the county and city had suffered through a long and dark economic depression. Things were beginning to change. As Charles Dickens said in his "Tale of Two Cities," "It was the best of times. It was the worst of times." Our country was about to enter into a world war that would change the course of the history of man forever.

That joyous season of Christmas had two sad postscripts. Homer Jordan and M.C. Kincey broke into McLellan's Department Store. The two men helped themselves to the contents of the store early on Christmas morning. Otherwise, Sheriff I.F. Coleman and Chief J.W. Robertson reported that the day passed quietly, the only Christmas in recent memory that they didn't have to lock up a few drunks." While all but ten local National Guardsmen returned home for Christmas, two Monroe Georgia soldiers were passing through Dublin on their return to Camp Stewart. Just as Sgt. Roger Malcom and James Peters passed under the Merry Christmas sign on their way to Hinesville, they lost control of their car and crashed into the bridge. Sgt. Malcom didn't survive. It was his last Christmas. Christmas is a time to cherish with your family and friends. Remember the true "reason for the season" and have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!