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Terkel’s WWII account
tells of vets’ ( best’ years
By Robert Allota
Sp»clal to The News
“THE GOOD WAR AN ORAL HISTORY OF
WORLD WAR TWO Studs Terkel
(Pantheon; 589 pages, $19.95)
Studs Terkel has done it again. He’s compiled a
gigantic work of oral history. This time the subject is
World War 11. .
As in his past works, “Hard Times” and “Working,”
Terkel has interviewed “ordinary” Americans from
coast to coast, asking them to talk about what the Second
World War meant to them and how it affected their lives.
Terkel’s “ordinary” folk range from private soldiers to
generals, all with a tale to tell.
A review Some might question the au-
thor’s use of “TTie Good War” as
a title because they feel there is no such thing as a
“good” war. Terkel uses the title in quotation marks
since the majority of his interviewees refer to the war
that way. It seems the Second World War is looked upon
by participants and non-participants as a benchmark in
their lives, a reference point for everything that hap
pened thereafter.
“The Good War” presents, however, an interesting
problem to the reader: Are the interviewees recounting
their experiences? Or has time rewritten all their
perceptions?
Notwithstanding that unanswerable question, Terkel
succeeds as he usually does in getting people to talk
about their innermost feelings. And they do! In this case,
they talk about war, patriotism, racism, bigo try and
national destiny, flavored with the experience and matu
rity of age.
An interesting aside to readers of his other books: In
this one, he is able to compare one person’s experience
against that of another. Sometimes they agree; some-
Book journeys through England
ENGLISH JOURNEY Beryl Bain
bridge(Braziller. 158 pp. $12.95.)
The late J.B. Priestley wrote an
earlier “English Journey,” which he
described as “a rambling but truthful
account of what one man saw and
heard and felt during a journey
through England in the autumn of
1933.” ,
This book by the well-regarded
English novelist Beryl Bainbridge is
a diary covering some 2V 2 months
spent retracing Priestley’s footsteps
50 years later, in late summer and
fall of 1983, for the filming of a docu
mentary series for British television.
Ms. Bainbridge’s route may have
been programmed, with serious pur
pose, but her account of it is racy and
irreverent, colored with personal ob
servations, sparkling with spontane
ity. She shows a welcome readiness to
Thanks to your generous support so far this year
the Humane Society was able to save the lives of
500 cats and dogs. 60 of these animals are in
foster homes now still waiting to be adopted. The
costs of feeding animals until they are adopted
plus their shots and having them spayed or
neutered add up to considerably more than what
the modest adoption fee covers. Without your
support very few of these animals would have
had a chance. Keep more animals alive in 1985 by
sending a tax deductable donation to the Forsyth
County Humane Society today. If all the grateful
purrs and wagging tails could be translated they
would surely be saying "Thank you for your kind
ness. We love you, too!"
FORSYTH COUNTY HUMANE SOCIETY, P.O. Box 725 Cumming, Go.
Here is my donation. Please use it to help:
1 □ Build an animal shelter in Forsyth County
I □ Feed and maintain animals
| □ Establish a low cost spay/neuter program |
■ □ Purchase a mobile adoption center.
. Name i
I Address i
| City |
| Phone |
■ □lam interested in providing a foster home for cats and/or dogs. ■
Joe Rosenthal’s Pulitzer Prize photo
Marines atop Mt. Suribachi, on Iwo Jima in 1945
times not. It is up to the reader to decide which story he
or she wants to believe. “The Good War” makes for good
reading. At the same time, it makes the reader wonder
how this nation went through the turbulent ’6o’s with the
anti-patriotic, anti-establishment sentiments.
Robert Alotta is a professor in the Communications
Department of Mississippi State University.
be sidetracked from obedient atten
tion to the official schedule, noticing
details like the effigy of an old woman
in Salisbury cathedral “with a nose
curved like Punch,” or describing
unexpected encounters as with Pau
lette, the topless fire-eater, in South
ampton.
Along the way, she finds vivid con
trasts, sadness and gaiety. “Some
one’s murdered Liverpool and got
away with it,” is one reaction, to her
native city today. But there was
“nothing wrong with Manchester,”
Newcastle was positively festive, and
the countryside was lush and produc
tive.
In the Cotswolds there was “a
slumbering, rural village. No cars,
and a girl on a horse standing motion
less in the middle of the village
pond.” In Birmingham, “everywhere
we walked buildings were either
going up or coming down, or else the
roads were being widened to take yet
more motor cars ... it seemed there
was neither time nor room for pedes
trians. We were literally a dying
breed.”
She laments the disappearance of
many of the shabby, old-fashioned
towns Priestley had deplored. “Show
me another motorway, I thought,
another shopping precinct, another
acre of improved environment and I
shall pack up and go home.”
Her impressions are delivered
mostly in short, sharp bursts, with
fast cutting from vignette to vignette.
Her own personality is the link, the
continuity, emerging as the diary is
read.
Deaths
Heard
Funeral services will be held at 2
p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 6, 1985, at the
chapel of Ingram Funeral Home for
Homer R. Heard, 81, of 114 Pirkle
Ferry Road, Cumming.
The Rev. J.R. Boling and the Rev.
Johnny Purcel will officiate the serv
ice for Mr. Heard who died Sunday
night. Interment will be held in Saw
nee View Gardens.
Surviving Mr. Heard is his wife,
Mrs. Lena Stewart Heard of Cum
ming; a daughter and son-in-law,
Imogene and Ralph Cowart of Cum
ming; a son and daughter-in-law,
Leverette and Sallie Heard of Cum
ming; a daughter-in-law, Mrs. Sylvia
Heard of Cumming; four grandchil
dren, Donald Heard, Mrs. Nancy
Jones, Jimmy Cowart and Mrs.
Sandra Tallant, all of Cumming; two
great grandchildren, Lori Jones and
Jody Tallant, both of Cumming; a
sister, Mrs. Gladston Henderson of
Cumming; a sister-in-law, Mrs. Ruby
Proctor of Cumming; and a number
of other relatives.
Deacons of Pine Crest Baptist
Check on
your late
W-2, 1099 s
People who want to file an earlier
tax return for 1984 should take steps
now to obtain statements of income,
such as Forms W-2 for wages, of
Forms 1099, for interest or dividends.
“Often times taxpayers find them
selves filing closer to April 15 dead
line than they had originally intended
when they could have avoided delay
by contacting the issuer of the
statements to make sure they were
being sent,” said IRS district director
Michael J. Murphy.
A copy of Form W-2 from each
employer must accompany the tax
return. Also Murphy cautions taxpay
ers to be sure all W-2’s are attached to
their returns before they’re mailed.
“Failure to do so will result in a delay
of your refund,” Murphy said. After
January 31, anyone who has not re
ceived their Forms W-2 should con
tact their employers and request the
form. “If you still have not received
statements by Feb. 15,” added Mur
phy, “you should call the IRS tax
information and assistance number
listed in your local telephone direc
tory.”
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with the
Forsyth CountvNews
Subscribe Today-Call 887-3126
FORSYTH COUNTY NEWS—WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 1985-
Church will serve as honorary pall
bearers.
Wilkie
Funeral services were held Sun
day, Feb. 3, at 2 p.m. at the High
Tower Baptist Church for Mrs.
Christine Jones Wilkie, 51, of Cum
ming route 2.
The Rev. John Lummus and the
Rev. Clyde Boling officiated the serv
ice for Mrs. Wilkie who died Saturday
morning following an extended ill
ness. Interment was held in the
church cemetery.
Surviving Mrs. Wilkie is her hus
band, J.T. Wilkie of Cumming; one
son, Edwin Wilkie of Cumming; par
ents, Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Jones; two
brothers, Donald Jones of Cumming,
and Jerry Jones of Ballground; three
sisters, Mrs. Gladys Bryson of Dora
ville; Ms. Lynn Jones of Smyrna;
Mrs. Betty Crowe of Ballground;
mother-in-law, Mrs. Gennie Wilkie of
Cumming; a number of brothers and
sisters-in-law and nieces and neph
ews.
Ingram Funeral Home was in
charge of services.
rjri Me always gives you
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Give him the
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241 Atlanta Rd. 887-6063 Cumming, Ga.
iW
Nominated
Chip Starr is one of 24 students
nominated by Garder-Webb Col
lege, Boiling Springs, N.C. for
inclusion in Who’s Who Among
students in American Universi
ties and Colleges. The Who’s
Who Award is given annually to
outstanding student leaders.
Selections are made by campus
nominating committees and are
based on above average aca
demic standing, community
service and leadership ability.
Chip is the son of Mr. and Mrs.
Marvin Starr, Cumming.
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