Newspaper Page Text
Forsyth County News - Sunday, May 26,1996
Forsyth Life
Serving your country
extends beyond war
By Marcia Domian
Lifestyle Editor
The dropping of the bombs that
destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki
brought an end to the war in the
Pacific in less than a week. The
United States developed the atomic
bomb (A-bomb) as the first step
toward producing the more power
ful hydrogen bomb (H-bomb).
In the years following World War
II v the development of the H-bomb
faced many political and technical
obstacles. The government gave
priority to perfecting and stockpil
ing atomic bombs, as scientists
snuggled with the complexities of
the H-bomb.
Pleasure to develop the H-bomb
after the Soviet Union
defalcated its first atomic bomb in
Augwst of 1949. By this time, the
United States was well aware of the
ideological differences in our for
eign policy and that of the Soviet
Union. The cold war had begun.
The military, the Joint
Congressional Committee on
Atomic Energy and several noted
physicists called for production of a
super bomb. The General Advisory
Committee of the Atomic Energy
Commission, chaired by J. Robert
Oppenheimer, unanimously recom
mended that the bomb not be
developed, because of the technical
difficulties, the danger of enlarging
tlje A-bomb stockpile and moral
considerations. Both recommenda-
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Royston Ingram, lower left, is pictured with members of his
unit on Eniwetok Island. Ingram witnessed several H-bomb
tests in the early 19505.
Sojourner’s House to hold fund raising “roast” on June 2
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Sojourner's House
Ruth Goode, executive director, takes members of the United Way Board of
Directors on a tour of the temporary shelter for the homeless. The house is located
in Cumming and has been operating at capacity since February of this year.
tions were passed to President
Harry S. Truman.
However, at the end of January.
1950, Truman ordered that the
United States should investigate the
possibility of producing hydrogen
bombs.
If you were a child grpwing up in
the 19505, you knew the Soviet
threat was a real one. (I still
remember the “duck and cover”
jingle). We built bomb shelters and
school children were told to crawl
under their desks to protect them
selves from a bomb blast, if one
should occur. We had fire drills and
bomb drills.
And what of the people who
worked to develop our country’s
weaponry? Countless numbers of
military personnel were directly
involved with the testing and devel
opment of the arsenal it was their
job.
Drafted into the Army in 1953,
Royston Ingram of Cumming
wanted to do his military duty and
get back to college and the girl who
had promised to marry him. He
never dreamed he would end up
thousands of miles from his native
Georgia.
After his training, he was
assigned to the Quartermasters
Corp.— the promised slot in the
Mortuary Department never mate-
See INGRAM, Page 2B
See INGRAM, Page 2B
A time to honor and remember
John Mobley recalls D-Day 1944
By Marcia Domian
Lifestyle Editor
The Western Allies had been
planning, preparing and stocking
a the island with equipment and
personnel for Operation Overlord.
For two months preceding the
invasion of Normandy, British
based aircraft had bombed
German-held rail lines, bridges
and air fields in France to soften
the resistance of Hitler’s troops.
Under the cover of darkness,
paratroopers were dropped inland
behind enemy lines to destroy and
disrupt communications. Allied
ships shelled the coastal installa
tions, and at 6 a.m. on June 6,
1944 5,000 Allied landing craft
began to disgorge their troops. It
was D-Day.
Along the French coast, at five
landing points, more than 150,000
troops disembarked to begin the
Allied liberation of Europe. In that
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Photo submitted
Sgt. Mobley, at left, is pictured at the rehabilitation facility. All the young men in the
picture lost arms or legs in the war and participated in an intensive rehabilitation
program.
number, was First Sergeant John
L. Mobley, 4th Division, 22nd
Infantry, 2nd Battalion,
Headquarters Company. Mobley
was 26 years old, with a wife and
daughter.
As the first sergeant, Mobley
was responsible for the record
keeping and carried ashore per
sonnel information, forms for
casualty reports and countless
other forms for the daily paper
communication that would be
necessary in the coming months.
“My boat hit the shore about
8:30 in the morning,” said
Mobley. “There was gunfire and
some artillery bursts, but it wasn’t
too bad. Maybe I was too nervous
to notice.”
The first onslaught of Marines
had managed to gain some
ground, and Mobley and his head
quarters company eventually were
able to dig in at Carentan —about
10 miles from the beach. As the
Marines cleared the area, the
By Marcia Domian
Lifestyle Editor
A champagne brunch will be held
to raise funds to support
Sojourner’s House on Sunday,
June 2 at the Standard Club in
Alpharetta. Tickets are SSO each
and 50 percent of the price is tax
deductible. The champagne brunch
will begin at 12:45 p.m., followed
by a fun “Roast and Toast” of
Ralph Jackson with former sheriff
Wesley Walraven serving as
emcee.
The program promises to fun and
entertaining as seven of Ralph
Jackson’s “best friends” make
jokes and tell tales. Fred
Stephenson, Denny Bledsoe, Bill
Shepherd, Russell Matthews, Perry
Bush, Joel Kennedy and George
Evans will be on hand to roast and
toast Jackson.
Jackson and his wife, Libby, are
long-time supporters of Family
Haven and Sojourner’s House and
Jackson has volunteered to be in
the spotlight.
The Standard Club will provide a
fabulous brunch some of the
items on the menu are fresh fruit,
freshly-made omelets, scrambled
Allied troops advanced, and the
support system and soldiers dug
in.
“One of the first objectives was
to secure the airfield at Cherbourg
and set up a base of operations,”
said Mobley. “There was intense
fighting and it took more than two
weeks before the field was
secured.”
Cherbourg was captured on June
27, 1944, giving the Allies a
major port to continue the flow of
men and supplies.
“Since I was with Headquarters,
I was in the rear and didn’t come
face to face with any action, but
you could hear it,” said Mobley.
“Our first night, our company
took it’s first casualty. A para
trooper accidentally dropped his
carbine, it went off and shot the
Captain right through his utility
belt. He died the next day.”
Gaining ground was difficult
and the Allied troops had not
counted on the French farmers’
eggs with sauteed onions and
mushrooms. Traditional bacon and
sausage, sliced nova salmon and a
whole poached salmon will com
plement any plate. For dessert, try
cheese blintzes with fruit topping
and sour cream, finished off with
coffee, tea and bagels galore.
Sojourner’s House is Forsyth
County’s homeless shelter for peo
ple who are temporarily homeless
due to fire, job loss or a difficult
transition. More than 90 percent of
the occupants, have been single
women with children who have
suddenly found themselves with
out safe shelter.
The goal of Sojourner’s is to help
families regain their self-sufficien
cy and maintain their dignity in the
process. Sojourner’s offers an
opportunity for many to get back
on their feet. Ruth Goode, execu
tive director, stressed that
Sojourner’s is a temporary shelter
with the average stay being
approximately 4 to 6 weeks.
“We will work with families as
long as they have a strong commit
ment to bettering their situation
and their goals are being met,”
Goode said. “Living in a shelter is
Family "gold"
takes sacrifice
RAGE3B !•]
practice of planting hedgerows. A
hedgerow was an earthen fence
sometimes running as high as four
feet surrounded by thick
hedges with interwoven roots. The
hedgerow was a natural barrier
and virtually impenetrable?
Removing the Germans who had
dug in around the hedges was dif
ficult. But, once freed of their
occupants, the Allied troops made
good use of them.
“After the Battle of the Bulge,
we moved pretty fast,” said
Mobley. “We kept moving with
the front, first through France,
then on to Belgium and
Luxembourg. My unit was
advancing to cross the Rhine and
we were caught up in the
Hurtegen Forest in France when it
happened.”
German artillery had made “a
toothpick factory” out of the trees
See MOBLEY, Page 2B
not always the best of circum
stances, but for some it is the only ■
thing available to them.”
Sojourner’s House reopened its
doors to the homeless in July of
1995. A fire had severely damaged
the house in 1993, and the Board
of Directors has worked hard to
bring the house back on line to,
serve the growing need. Water!
problems also delayed the home ;
from operating at capacity, and in
February of 1996 Sojourner’s was
able to accommodate its full occu
pancy of twelve.
Sojourner’s is at capacity, and ’
presently all the adults have jobs '
and are working to find permanent
homes. The shelter furnishes the 1
family with a clean, safe environ- ’
ment, food and clothing from the •’
Family Haven Thrift Store.'
Counseling is available by staff
members from Family Haven if it
is needed. The purpose of the shel-1
ter is to build back self-esteem and*
allow clients to find a job, save j
their money to be able to rnaket
I
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See SOJOURNER, Page 2B