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The True Citizen, Wednesday, May 24, 2023 — Page 5
Ronda Rich
A MEMORIAL MEMORY NEVER TO BE FORGOTTEN
The last living link to an
almost-forgotten story that
happened during an almost-
forgotten time, took her last
breath a month ago. Her name
was Mildred Lawson.
It’s easy to mourn a life well
spent and well served to God,
country, and community. But
the real sadness for me came
when I realized that there
was no witness left to tell the
story of a particular day when
America was fighting wars on
multi-continents.
Across America, men as
young as 18, who had never
left their hometowns, were
called to travel to foreign
lands, to step into fields where
bullets rang out and death
grimly awaited.
Britain, a small country with
courage and heart, had been
fiercely fighting off the mas
sive German army, alone, for
over two years. Then came the
Japanese attack on Hawaii’s
Pearl Harbor that brought a
sleeping giant to life and sent
our military to the Pacific to
fight Japan and to Europe and
Africa to help the Allies fight
off the Germans who had al
ready claimed Paris.
Should this kind of history
interest you, I highly recom
mend The Splendid and The
Vile By Erik Larsen who re
counts the Battle of Britain and
illustrates valor at its grandest.
The German Air Force was
mightily trained, having pre
pared for two decades. Hero
pilots from World War I led
the Germans, yet stunningly,
embarrassingly, Royal Air
Force fighters, averaging 20
years old with mere weeks of
training, fought back and won
air battle after air battle.
Winston Churchill begged
America to intervene. “My
mother was American,” he
resorted to telling President
Franklin D. Roosevelt, who
wanted to join the fight (he had
once served as Assistant Naval
Secretary) but Americans were
resolute: Stay out.
Pearl Harbor, however,
proved there was no choice.
We had to fight.
When Miss Mildred left for
her eternal visit with the Lord,
she was the last survivor of
four who could tell the story
of two country boys filled with
moxie and enormous patriotic
spirit. They struggled through
the horrific Depression, trav
eled out of the hills and found
opportunities toward better
lives. They could raise fami
lies without worrying how to
scrounge up food.
The way they figured it was
this: They owed it to America,
to give their service and, if
necessary, their lives.
Miss Mildred and my Mama
were married to those two
men: Ralph and Tooney (a
nickname). Both men had
been exempted from the war
because they were married and
each had a baby. Shortly after
Pearl Harbor collapsed, Daddy,
Mama, Aunt Ozelle, and Uncle
Tom headed to Newport News,
Virginia, so the men could help
build battle ships in Norfolk.
After a time, they returned
home.
It was 1943 and even with
the strength of America and
Russia entering the battle zone,
Germany, Italy, and Japan were
formidable. Many were the
times, that it appeared the war
in Europe could not be won by
the good guys - Britain and
her Allies.
In a small Southern town,
Daddy and Tooney devoured
the newspaper stories and
listened to Edward R. Murrow
as he reported for CBS Radio
from London. One midday, as
Daddy reached over to turn
off the radio after listening to
Murrow’s latest report, they
both shook their heads.
“They won’t draft us,”
Tooney said, thinking aloud.
Daddy nodded. “That’s
right.”
Tooney suddenly brightened.
“But we could enlist!”
Daddy studied on it for two
seconds then exclaimed, “Grab
your hat and let’s go.”
Together, they joined the
Navy and were quickly dis
patched - on different ships —
to the midst of the South Pa
cific battle zone where they
remained until the war ended.
The twist to this story? The
wives, each left with a baby
and a job, did not know until
15 years after the war’s end
that their husbands had vol
unteered.
“I’d wrung his neck,” Miss
Mildred recalled, laughing.
To all the soldiers and their
families: Thank you!
Ronda Rich is the best-sell
ing author of the forthcoming
novel, St. Simons Island - A
Stella Bankwell Mystery.
Gray
Continued from front
their son,
showing his
unit’s for
mation and
where he was
when he got
shot.
According
to The Na
tional WWII
Museum, the
critical nature
of the mail ef
fort was ad
dressed in the
1942 Annual Report to the
Postmaster General which
stated: “The Post Office, War
and Navy departments realize
fully that frequent and rapid
communication with parents,
associates and other loved ones
strengthens fortitude, enlivens
patriotism, makes loneliness
endurable and inspires to even
greater devotion the men and
women who are carrying on
our fight far from home and
from friends.”
The amount of military mail
traveling back-and- forth inter
nationally during the war was
massive. As the war waged
onward, the number of pieces
of mail increased. In 1945,2.5
billion pieces went through
the Army Postal Service and
8 million pieces through Navy
post offices, according to the
National WWII Museum.
In response, Victory Mail
(V-mail) was put into place
to reduce the space needed to
transport mail on ships and
airplanes. Letters and draw
ings sent to loved ones back in
America were shrunken to 4 V2
x 5 inches after they were pho
tographed in microfilm. The
Army’s Micro Photographic
Mail Service was only imple
mented between June 1942 and
A drawing and a letter to Simeon Jr.’s parents arrived in a 4 V2 x 5-inch micro
filmed size.
November 1945.
Many years later Joyce and
Simeon re-visited the spot
in Germany where he was
wounded.
“It was just like he said it was
(in the drawing),” Joyce said.
“It was a little valley with a vil
lage and a church on the hill.”
Simeon retired from the U.S.
Post Office January 3, 1992.
He died January 17, 2021. He
had received the Purple Heart
and Bronze Star for fighting
in the Battle of the Bulge. The
“Bulge” was a turning point in
World War II, marking the last
time the Germans could launch
any kind of large offensive.
“Soldiers fought in brutal
winter conditions, and the
U.S. Army lost approximately
19,000 men (and suffered some
75,000 total casualties) in
what became
the United
States' dead
liest single
World War II
battle,” ac
cording to the
Arlington Na
tional Cem
etery website.
Simeon Gray Jr. received the
Purple Heart and Bronze Star
for fighting in the Battle of
the Bulge, the United States’
deadliest single World War II
battle.
News that their son’s health was improving
came via the U.S.P.S. system.
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