Thursday, November 12, 2015 • C-2
LEWIS COUNTY HERALD, HOHENWALD, TENNESSEE
LEWIS COUNTY HERALD, HOHENWALD, TENNESSEE
A World War II Veteran’s Story
I Once Was Lost, But Now I’m Found
The story of how the War Memorial Building was seemingly lost for over a half century. by Judy Runions
In July of 1914, war which centered in Europe, broke out on a global scale. WWI, the “Great War”, as it was known, was fought in the muddy trenches throughout Europe. When America joined the battle in 1917, many Lewis County boys stepped up to join the fight, my grandfather, Elliot Ferguson, was but one of those men. The battles were fierce with the introduction and use of mustard gas and other horrific chemical weapons. On November 11, 1918, an armistice was signed, which ended the fight in Europe and subsequently WWI. At the close of the war 21 million soldiers were wounded and nine million lay dead on the battlefield. Five Lewis County soldiers were among the dead; Fred E. Lomax, Jasper C. O’Guinn, Paul Peevyhouse, John McKinley Wix and Baxter Johnson. Wanting to honor these and other fallen soldiers from the county, a meeting was held in August of 1920 to consider building a memorial. It was stated in the local paper that a memorial for Lewis County boys who lost their lives in the war should be built. It further stated that we, as Lewis County citizens, are indebted to these noble boys and should in some way show our love for them. A committee was elected. Their duty was to devise plans to raise funds for a memorial, to decide what kind of memorial would be built and where it would be located. An article soon appeared in the Lewis County Herald which announced a Pep Meeting would be held. This meeting was to arouse voters in regard to the importance of securing favorable action on the question of issuing $30,000.00 in bonds by Lewis County and $20,000.00 by the City of Hohenwald for the purpose of erecting a building which would be dedicated to the memory of all Soldiers, Sailors and Marines who have ever served in the Armies of our nation in the wars in which the U.S.A. has taken part. The interest of Lewis County citizens, to build a memorial was evident, but with the closing of the phosphate mines and furnaces in Gordonsburg, Ruppertown, Napier and Allen’s Creek and the near depletion of the timber business, many Lewis County citizens found themselves without work. Life be-
came hard for many Lewis County families. Stated in the article were reports that citizens of the county were in favor of new industry coming to Hohenwald with the building of a factory to provide jobs, but could not understand why a Memorial Building should be built at this time. These concerns were met with the following reply: “Nations have built monuments to heros prior to days that our history began, and they will continue to do so as long as patriotism warms the hearts of men.” Arguments were given that a Memorial Building was built in our state capitol for the cost of $3,000,000.00 and served as a sacred reminder of the many lost lives from our state. This state Memorial Building is being used to house a number of branches of state government and our Memorial Building could be used in the same manner. In conclusion opponents said that if a favorable vote was cast it would be up to the county and city officials to secure a contract from some reliable firm who would agree to operate a factory in said building. This would have to be done before bonds would be issued. This came to a vote in May of 1938. The voters of Lewis County gave their stamp of approval to issue bonds to erect a Memorial Building. The vote was 451 for and 66 votes against. Work soon began on the War Memorial Building, and in only two short years it was completed. A bronze plaque was erected establishing it to be the War Memorial Building of the County of Lewis and the City of Hohenwald. According to the property deed for February of 1940, the City of Hohenwald and Lewis County jointly owned the War Memorial Building with each having one half interest. The City of Hohenwald later sold their one half interest back to the County. Adjacent to te newly built War Memorial Building was the Hohenwald Athletic Field, a park that had been built by Milton Brown Bates. Mr. Bates owned and operated a blacksmith shop and gristmill on this property before deciding to build an athletic field. With the property being so close to the school, which was then located where the courthouse now stands, it would truly be an asset for the
school and county, he thought. So, Hohenwald’s first athletic field was built here in 1922. Many football and baseball games were held on this field. A flyer published in the Lewis County Herald told of a fourth of July baseball game between Hohenwald and Centerville. It advertised that following the game a big barbeque would be provided. The school was later moved to its current location, and the park became part of the War Memorial Building complex, thus becoming Memorial Park. A contract was secured from the General Shoe Corporation, Genesco, and production began on July 5, 1940. With the shoe factory up and running, life in Lewis County began to get much better. Then came WWII. With the onset of war most of the county’s men left to fight, leaving most jobs to be filled by women. Men went off to war, women worked the farms and in factories and all of America pulled together to help win the war. Life once again was very hard. When the war was over, people just wanted to forget their troubles and the horrors of war and get back to living, and that’s exactly what they did. What had been built and known as the
War Memorial Building was now only referred to as “the shoe factory”. In 1946, the American Legion and the VFW worked together to build a meeting hall for returning vets, since the War Memorial Building was occupied by the Genesco Factory. It was named Memorial Hall. Many events were held at the Hall, a brick building located where the library now stands. It was soon forgotten by most that the shoe factory was really the War Memorial Building, and thus Memorial Hall became known as the War Memorial Building. No one meant for this to happen, but alas with the passing of time things such as this often do, memories fade, people forget and time marches on. Years passed and the Memorial Hall building was torn down to make way for the Lewis County Library. The monument which stood in front of Memorial Hall was moved to the courthouse lawn. Soon the War Memorial building and Memorial Hall were all but forgotten. The Genesco factory closed and the old building stood idle for years. Then in 2001, the county decided to renovate the old building and use it for office space. During the renovation, a brass plaque commemorating the War Memorial Building as a monument honoring those who served from our county, was removed. This plaque stood affixed to the wall next to the building’s Smith Street main entrance for decades, from shortly after the building’s construction until the County’s renovation project began. For years, employees working at the shoe factory likely walked pass the plaque daily, never noticing it. Fortunately, during the renovation, Mr. Gene Kealhofer removed the brass plaque from the wall and stored it inside the building in an old office closet. Had Mr. Kealhofer not recognized the significance of his find, it would have likely been thrown away, tossed in the rubble, to be lost forever, but instead it lay stored in a dark closet collecting dust.
The Spitzer Firm Phone 931-796-7974 Fax 931-796-7924
Attorneys-at-Law
Michael E. Spitzer Jack B.D. Heath • Selena Hinson
19 Cedar Street • Hohenwald, TN 38462
email: spitzerfirm@bellsouth.net
jack.spitzerfirm@gmail.com
During a County meeting, a discussion arose as to what the newly renovated building would be called once completed. In an effort to find out as much information on the building as possible. Mr Leon Hunter asked local historian, Sammye Lawson to do some research. Hours were spent going through records, looking at recorded deeds and searching old newspaper articles. Eventually, the history of the War Memorial Building was rediscovered. In addition to the “re-discovery” of the War Memorial Building’s history, the original brass commemoration plaque was also found. Wanting to display the original brass plaque, Mr. Leon Hunter, with the support of the County, City and others, raised funds to purchase a granite stone with the original commemorative plaque affixed to it. In May of 2007, on Memorial Day, a dedication ceremony was held in front of the War Memorial Building, where the stone was publicly unveiled and still proudly stands. In 2013, inside the War Memorial building, the Lewis County Veteran’s War Memorial Hall was created. How fitting that the faces fo Lewis County soldiers now line the hallways of the War Memorial building, a building which was built to honor and forever remember the sacrifices of those who were willing to serve. Through the diligent research of Mrs. Sammye Lawson, we now know the story behind the War Memorial Building. Sammye and her family searched laboriously to obtain this information, even leaving a copy of the documentation in the history room at the local library. After reading the documentation she had gathered, I felt compelled to share it with all of Lewis County. All of the research and information presented in this article belongs to the late Sammye Lawson. We as Lewis County citizens are indebted to her for promoting and preserving our county’s local history. As one former commissioner said, “We lost a treasure when we lost Sammye Jo.”
We at the Spitzer Firm stand in awe and admiration of those men and women who have selflessly put themselves in harms way that we might enjoy the freedoms found only in America. We will never forget your sacrifice nor will we allow that for which you have fought to be cast aside. We honor your service.
This is Gene Durham, one of the few World War II Veterans hanging around. More and more people are insisting that we veterans tell of some of our wartime experiences. I am not a hero, nor did I see any combat. But, I did train as a Gunner on the four-engined Bomber called the B-24 Liberator. As soon as we completed Gunnery School we were scheduled to go to combat in Germany or the South Pacific. They gave a number of us an IQ test and some of us scored high enough that they were made instructors of the other Airmen. I trained the other Airmen how to tear down a 50 caliber machine gun and reassemble it and fire a few rounds. This I was doing at the war’s end. I had one extraordinary frightening experience during flight training. It is best described by my comrade from Baltimore who has been my lifelong friend for 71 years. We were both barely 18 years old when we enlisted in the military. His name is Edward M. Dunn, Jr. We still visit each other. Here are his words written in his autobiography: “We flew in B-24s over the Gulf of Mexico at 400 feet, put a burst of ammo into the water, and tried to hit the same spot. I did pretty good at this manueuver. Unlike the rifle range at Keesler where they tried to teach you to shoot with one eye shut. I couldn’t hit the side of a barn doing it that way. I was always very good with rifle. “After flying at four hundred feet, we climbed to about 6,000 feet where we shot at sleeves being pulled by obsolete training airplaines. I understand they had women pilots. Each Gunner had colored ammunition. When the plane landed, the different colors in the sleeve were counted, and that is how your score was determined. “The next day, we were to do some high-altitude flying. We were to go to twelve thousand feet and take our
air masks off after having them on for a while. We also had to switch gunnery positions. This was to get the feel and knowledge of each position. It was my turn to go to the forward top turret and swing around in it a few times. Walking through the bomb bay, I noticed the doors did not shut tight. I looked down, and there was nothing but 12,000 feet of air. I thought to myself, ‘Nothing but twelve thousand feet of air! What am I doing up here?’ I returned to the waist position because my training was over for the day. “So I got up in the bulkhead over the bomb bay with my buddy Gene Durham. He was sound asleep. The instructor pointed out the square hole to look at; one propeller had stopped spinning. First thing you know, the order came through our earphones to put on our Mae West and parachute. We may have to bail out. Then on the other side - bingo, another engine stopped. We were in serious trouble. “We had a good pilot. After we had fallen to about 2,500 feet, he got the other two engines revved up enough to bring us in. I believe that is as close as I ever want to get to coming in on a wing and a prayer. I didn’t think those large airplanes would glide, but this one came down like stair steps. “The biggest part of this story was Gene Durham. I tried to wake him up. Finally, I succeeded. Having come out of a sound sleep, now it was hard to make him understand what was happening. That was my last flight. After I got out of the
air corps, it took me fifteen years to get on a commercial plane. Gene said he was scared to death! “We graduated from gunnery school in an elaborate military ceremony. We had a band and all kinds of brass on hand. There were about 2,500 students. After we were presented our wings and our promotions to PFC, an officer came to the mic and said before dismissal, ‘The following men, when your name is called, take one step forward’ There were about one hundred names including me. After all the names were called, the command was given to ‘right face and forward march’ right out of ranks and up to headquarters. “What had we done? We couldn’t figure anything we had in common. Finally, an officer appeared and told us why we were at headquarters. We were being detached from this unit. Within a few weeks, the whole unit would be in England. They would be replacements for those killed in action or those being rotated home. He explained that we were the top one hundred students in this class. According to the testing they had been doing, we all had an Army IQ of over 120. I have been told this converts into a civilian IQ of 160. There was a new airplane in production (the B-29s). The air corps need to develop an instructional staff, and they needed to do it fast.”
Daniel B. Atkinson 1SG (Retired) Daniel B. Atkinson enlisted in the Tennessee Army National Guard October 2, 1965. He served 37 years and eight months, being forced to retire June 2003. 1SG Atkinson began a career of full time National Guardsman, working in Columbia in 1972. He served as Unit Administrator of the local guard from June 1, 1980 until March 29, 1999. In 1979, talk was a National Guard Unit needed to be relocated to the Middle Tennessee area. Local officials, William T. Rasbury, Phillip Grinder, Guy Nicholson, T. C. Carroll, and Paul Spears, along with Sgt. Atkinson began the work for Hohenwald to obtain the unit. In 1980, Hohenwald National Guard, Co. B 473rd Support Battalion began. The unit operated out of the Hohenwald Memorial Ball Park from 1980 until 1989, at which time the Hohenwald National Guard building on West Main Street was completed. The
Thursday, November 12, 2015 • C-11
1SG Atkinson addressing the 771st Maintenance Company in Columbia September 13, 1998. unit served under the 473rd Battalion until its change in 1995 to the 771st Maintenance Company.
Gene Durham 40A N. Oak St. Hohenwald, TN 38462
We thank the brave men and women of our Armed Forces for their dedication and sacrifice. Your dedication to our country and to the defense of our freedom will never be forgotten.
God Bless America.
The Oliver Companies www.olivertechnologies.com 931-796-4555 • 800-284-7437
Honoring and Supporting our United States Military
State Senator Dr. Joey HenSley