Newspaper Page Text
Wednesday, September 11,2019
dawsonnews.com I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I 5A
World War II, hard work and family
Hall County woman reflects
on 100 years of life
By Jeff Gill
DCN Regional Staff
Aline Friedsam can relax
these days, as she did one
recent Sunday afternoon
while recalling her nearly
100 years of life from an
easy chair in her daughter’s
Chestnut Mountain home.
But much of her years
have been spent in serious
labor, from her early days
in Marshallville in Middle
Georgia, where “everybody
had a job,” to her time spent
in the Army during World
Warn.
“I’m still hanging
around,” she said, laughing.
And loved ones are rec
ognizing her endurance
with a 100th birthday cele
bration on Saturday, Sept.
7, at Mulberry Creek
Community Center in
South Hall.
Loved ones from Georgia
and neighboring states are
arriving to mark the mile
stone with barbecue and
“all the fixings,” plus a cake
in the shape of the number
100.
“It will be nice,” daughter
Pat Bowman said.
With all the attention
she’s getting these day,
Friedsam paused for an
interview to reflect on a life
well spent.
She was bom and raised
in Thomaston, then later
moved with family to
Marshallville, about 40
miles south of Macon.
“It was a country town
and everybody worked,
peach packing and that type
of thing,” Friedsam said. “It
was a small town.
Everybody knew what
everybody else was doing.”
Then, World War II broke
out.
Two of her brothers
entered the service and
would go on to serve in
Europe, surviving the war
to return to Georgia. Moved
by their service but also
wanting to go to business
school, she joined the U.S.
Army in 1943.
“She wanted to go to
school and, coming from a
big family back then, there
wasn’t money to send peo
ple to school,” Bowman
said. “She wanted to further
her education.”
Her training led her to a
position teaching secretarial
skills to soldiers bound for
overseas, as women weren’t
allowed in such positions
overseas, Friedsam said.
“It was very interesting
and (soldiers) were very
anxious to learn everything
they could learn,” she said.
“It worked out real good.”
Also, “they kept us busy
all the time,” Friedsam said.
She doesn’t have a whole
lot of memories from that
time, including when the
war ended.
But she does remember
“at the time I was in, there
weren’t many women in the
service. They just weren’t
joining. They just thought it
was a men’s place, I think.”
Jeff Gill DCN Regional Staff
Aline Friedsam, pictured in August, turns 100 this this
month. Loved ones from Georgia and neighboring states
are arriving to mark the milestone with barbecue and "all
the fixings," plus a cake in the shape of the number 100.
Herman Friedsam.
Photo for the Dawson County News
Aline Friedsman.
One significant moment
in those years was meeting
her future husband, Herman
“Tex” Friedsam, who was
based at what is now
Robins Air Force Base in
Warner Robins, south of
Macon, where she also
served.
He served in the Army
Air Corps (predecessor to
the Air Force) and at one
time was stationed in
Guam, working as a
mechanic.
After the war, he “came
back to Georgia and
farmed,” Bowman said.
Herman and Aline, who
had risen to the rank of lieu
tenant before leaving the
Army in 1945, also got
married.
Aline was one of the first
civilians to work at Robins
Air Force Base after the
war, Pat said.
She would go on to help
her husband raise beef cat
tle and sheep. She also was
the secretary for a state
sheep breeders group.
Bowman recalled her
mom “worked hard in the
garden every year, and she
did canning and freezing.”
The Friedsams also
raised four daughters,
including Bowman, who
ended up marrying a mili
tary man and moving
around many times. She
ended up settling in Hall
County in 1991.
Aline’s husband died in
2003, and she moved in
with Bowman in 2004.
Aline has 8 grandchildren
and 14 great-grandchildren.
These days, Friedsam is
taking life in stride, enjoy
ing days at her daughter’s
home. She also reflects on
family, as she is the last of
her three sisters and four
brothers — all who died in
their late 70s and 80s.
“They were hard-work
ing folks,” she said.
Photo for the Dawson County News
Aline Friedsam with her husband, Herman.
Photo for the Dawson County News
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