Newspaper Page Text
U. GA. MAIN LIBRARY
I ATHENS, GA 30602
I Oaawiß VBI ■ %'W WWW I
Page 3A I
Houston Times-Journal
Volume 124 No. 45
1 Section, 8 Pages
Inside I
Today |
Church News 3A
Classifieds 7A
Death Notices 2A
Editorials 4A
Outdoors 6A
Sports 5A
Rack Rates Will Be $52/yr
Buy a Subscription For
$25 + tax & Save $25.75
Cong. Bishop
discusses the
fate of RAFB
By VETO F. ROLEY
Staff Writer
U.S. Congressman Stanford
Bishop said Wednesday afternoon
that Robins Air Force Base had an
excellent chance of surviving
BRAC 1995.
"The chances (of Robins surviv
ing BRAC 95) arc excellent," said
Bishop, who represents Georgia's
Second District. He added that the
base was strengthened by a strong
workforce, leadership, strong local
support and strong state support.
Bishop said that new Pentagon
spending, and a new air wing,
scheduled for the base were positive
signs for Robins. "It indicates that
the Pentagon is placing real confi
dence in the operations at Robins
Air Force Base," he said.
Bishop said that the Pentagon
would probably not make
"significant investments" in a base
that was about to close. "We are
going to do everything that we can
to put equity into the base," he
added.
"The bases in Georgia are near
and dear to the people of Georgia,"
said Bishop, adding that the
Congressional delegation, led by
Senator Sam Nunn, was
"unanimous in support of the
bases."
BRAC should also do its work
in 1995, not in 1997, said Bishop.
"We ought to move ahead and not
prolong the anxiety," said Bishop.
"We need to face whatever is going
to happen."
Bishop was in Perry Wednesday
afternoon to meet with members of
the 21st Century Partnership. The
21st Century Partnership was
formed when Robins Air Force
Base was added to the list of bases
slated for closure by BRAC 93, and
is an organization composed of
civic and business leaders in Middle
Georgia working to keep Robins
open.
Pete Rucker, executive director
of the 21st Century Partnership,
said the nurnber one goal of the
group was "to stay off the list."
The second goal, he said, was to de
fend the base if it was put on the
closure list ir. 1995.
Rucker reminded Bishop of the
base's strong contribution to the
Middle Georgia area, having a
workforce of over 20,000 jobs, in
cluding 1,500 construction jobs,
and an economic impact of $2.5
billion in the area.
The top 25 companies in the
Macon Metropolitan Statistical
Area (MSA) amounted to 75 per
cent of the base's economic impact,
with about half of the workforce in
the MSA coming from the base.
"It will be a long time before we
can do something about it (if the
base closes," said Rucker, quoting
from a statement made by Georgia
Department of Labor commissioner
David Poythress.
Rucker said the 21st Century
group continued to work with the
base to clear up problems identified
in 1993.
i • . tjy ,
■—t jH
’ vi'.’ Tt_ ' S ■
" jtej 'jj iSi ; - vr-Tjrvi > fSftihdl
*■“ ••»—- r *».<• -
Bmku
j_ *
iV
Perryan Don Norris discusses his experiences on D-Day for the first time In this exclusive
Interview. On Monday, the country will observe the 50th anniversary of this turning point
event which liberated the European Continent from the Nazis and started the end of World
War 11.
Remembering D-Day..
Norris gives first interview, 50 years later
BY BRENDA THOMPSON
Staff Writer
As the 50th anniversary of D-
Day closes in, millions of Ameri
cans the nation over have been
bombarded with media coverage of
the turning-point event which liber
ated the European Continent from
the Nazis and started the end of
World War 11.
There have been dozens of doc
umentaries and video clips, mil
lions of written words and twice as
much talk, all of which, even com
bined, has yet to do little more than
scratch the surface of what really
happened on the beaches and be
tween the hedgerows of Normandy;
the valor, the sacrafice, the loyalty
and the duty .. .the pain.
Truth is, unless you were there;
unless you saw the hundreds of dead
bodies floating in the waters or
stacked up like cordwood on the
beaches...
. . .Unless you heard the foot
steps of the enemy in the pitch
black darkness of night or saw your
buddies falling like flies in the
misty light of dawn. ..
. . . Unless you heard the
screeching crescendo of burp guns,
the muffled crunch of exploding
mortar shells, the rat-a-tat-tat of
machine guns or the booming of ar
tillery and the screams of wounded
and dying soldiers...
. . . Unless you are like Don
Norris of Perry and actually stormed
those legendary beaches on June 6,
1944, it is surely impossible to
fully understand what really hap
pened in that famous turning point
invasion dubbed D-Day.
With the D-Day anniversary on
Monday, Mr. Norris, one of the few
area veterans to have participated in
these battles, graciously agreed to
sit down and talk about his experi
ences.
This writer, however, was
unaware until the end of the inter
view that this marked the first time
Mr. Norris had ever attempted to
verbalize what happened to him as a
soldier in combat; the memories are
just that painful, even after a half
century.
“The only way you can really
know is to have been there; then
you would understand why it is so
very difficult to put it into words,”
said Norris, who moved to Perry in
Sports b
Page 5A I
Official Organ For Houston County, City of Perry & State of Georgia
1962 when he was transferred to
Robins Air Force Base as a civil
service employee. “The memories
will never leave me; the experiences
and what I’ve seen are engraved in
my mind forever; seeing people die
before you eyes and knowing there
is nothing you can do about it is
just.. .indescribable.”
Norris, a native of Ohio, was
drafted into the Army in June 1943,
a young lad right out of high
school. He attended basic training at
Fort McClellan in Anniston, Ala.,
and, six months later was sent to
Camp Orange, New Jersey where he
spent Christmas and New Years
awaiting to go overseas.
Like the thousands of other fel
low soldiers, he was told little
about where he was going and knew
little about what he was about to
see.
“All they told us was to get our
papers together, because we might
not be coming back. But we were
kids and we laughed . . .we just
didn’t know,” Norris said, adding
that on Jan. 2,1944 he and approx
imately 900 other soldiers boarded
the El de France, a Poop Pansport
ship and headed out to sea.
The boat Pip, according to Nor
ris, was a long one filled with 12
days of sea sickness and little fear
since their destination was un
known. Their first stop was in
.Scotland where the poops were
split up and sent in different direc
tions; Norris’ destination being
Wales.
In Wales, Norris joined hundreds
of others in his division for more
basic paining; still unaware of what
lie ahead, but very conscious that
something was indeed brewing.
Equipment and artillery was every
where and the soldiers spent endless
hours in sPenuous maneuvers, go
ing through inspections, checking
and re-checking their weapons and
waterproofing their vehicles.
“The next thing we knew, on the
night of June 3, 1944, they got us
together and we packed everything
up,” said Norris, his face starting to
give into the many emotions his
memories were conjuring.
“Although we didn’t know it at the
time, we were headed for the mid
lands of England, Southhampton,
and shortly after boarded another
For News And Subscriptions Call 912-987-1823
Saturday, June 4, 1994
troop carrier bound for Omaha
Beach and what we now know as D-
Day.”
For six hours on June 6, while
unbeknownst to them other poops
were initializing the start of the
famous D-Day Invasion on
Normandy’s beaches, Norris and the
400 other soldiers on his ship, sat
idle about a mile from shore,
surrounded by a ring of submarines
and artillery ships whose sole
purpose was to ensure the Poops’
safe arrival on shore.
And, though they did make it to
the shore successfully and safely,
none were prepared for the many
sight they would see as they waded
their way to the beach.
“There are a lot of details that
have slipped my mind over the
years, but the site of dead people ly
ing all around and floating in the
waters remains vivid in my mem
ory,” Norris said.
Despite it all, however, Norris
said the Poops pushed their way up
hills and rocks and spent the next
two weeks adjusting to the realties
of battle, talking out their fears
with each other, looking out for
snipers and preparing for their first
major battle-the battle of Hill 192.
Like nearly all of the battles
fought in Normandy, Hill 192 was
terraced with hedgerows, fences of
large Pee-like shrubs which once
served as property lines for farmers
and which completely encircled the
fields.
The soldiers moved from one
hedgerow to the next, unable to see
the hiding enemy and, yet, still
slowly pushing the enemy back.
They rested only short periods be
fore attacking across the next field
and the next hedgerow.
All in all, Norris said the Amer
icans were under fire at least half of
the time and, by the time it was all
over, had lost about 40 percent of
its fighting Poops sent up the hill.
Still they won the battle, took the
hill and were sent back to regroup
and get more soldiers.
Shortly after the Battle of Hill
192, Norris was among the Poops
that just before dawn on July 26
began one of the biggest pushes of
the war-the push out of the Nor
mandv Peninsula.
Please see NORRIS, page 8A
I Classified g
Page 7 A
Farmer offers
big reward for
chemical thief
BY BRENDA THOMPSON
Staff Writer
A SSOO reward is being offered
to anyone who supplies informa
tion leading to the arrest of the per
son or persons who burglarized
ABS Farms in Henderson this past
week, Sgt. Mickey Dees of the
Houston County Sheriff’s Depart
ment said Friday.
According to Dees, the burglary
occurred sometime between 11:30
p.m. Tuesday May 31, and 6:30
a.m. the next morning. Apparently,
the perpetrator(s) crawled over a
fence surrounding the farm’s main
tenance bam and loaded approxi
mately $7,000 worth of farm chem
icals on a farm-owned truck. They
then made their get-away by using
the truck to run down the front
gate.
Also on the truck, which is val
ued at $5,000, was a $750 air
»vt ' iurHpv
■K m i " ®^Hk.
IhmmHKi j£ ™
'' S; ' * "* ■ j,_'tnf ; ''' 1 *
illPlilv ■
Billy Hunter
Commission contender no
stranger to political races
Editor’s note: The following article on Billy Hunter Is the fourth
of a six part series Intended to Introduce Houston County voters
to the six candidates running for Houston County Commission
Post 2. The first three candidate’s Ronald Wayne Rag In, a
democrat from Perry, Nora Reese-Laughlln, a republican from
Warner Robins and J. B. Carter were featured In our May 4, May
14 and May 18 editions, respectively. As they consent, the re
mainder of the candidates will be profiled between now and the
July 19 General Primary Elections.
BY BRENDA THOMPSON
Staff Writer
A close contender in two previ
ous elections, Billy Hunter is again
off and running in the race for a seat
on the Houston County Commis
sion.
A Democrat from Bonaire,
Hunter made it to the commission’s
run-off elections in both 1984 and
1986 and is currently campaigning
for the Post Two scat being vacated
by Archie Thompson. Thompson,
who is the commission’s current
vice-chairman, announced that he
would not seek re-election last
month.
Hunter, along with two other
Democrats, Ronald Wayne Ragin of
Perry and Randolph E. Wynn of
Warner Robins, and three Republi
cans, John F. Wylam of Warner
Robins, James Carter of Kathleen
and Nora Reese of Warner Robins,
will go head to head in the first leg
of the race July 19 when Houston
County voters go to the polls for
the General Primary Elections.
If necessary a run-off election
will be held in August with the
surviving candidates moving into
the final stage in the November
General Elections.
When asked why he wants to
Perry, Georgia -50 Cents
ilaiMiiiiiriiMiHiMtfMMiSHMiaiMMiiaiMHaaai
compressor. The stolen truck was
later recovered near Byromville in
Dooly County; however, the com
pressor and chemicals were no
where to be found, said Dees.
Decs added that the Houston Sh
eriff’s Department is currently
working closely with law enforce
ment in Dooly County as they ex
perienced a similar burglary about
three weeks ago. A connection be
tween the two is suspected.
“We definitely feel like it was
more than one person and they defi
nitely knew what they were after,”
Dees said. “Out of all the chemicals
in the bam, they only took a certain
kind; a certain brand that has an ex
clusive, specific use.”
Anyone who thinks they might
have any information to aid in this
investigation should call Sgt. Dees
987-2800. The SSOO reward is be
ing offered by ABS Farms, Inc.
serve on the Houston County
Commission, Hunter is quick to
answer.
“I love this county. I’ve been
here for 35 years. I married here,
reared my children here and it is
home,” Hunter, a former Warner
Robins police chief and the current
owner of the Houston Mattress Fac
tory, said this week. “I feel like I
know this county well and really
think that my presence on the
commission would make a differ
ence.”
According to Hunter, 54, he first
moved here from his native home
of Fitzgerald when he was just 19
years old. He came here to join his
sister and started work with Inland
Container in Macon.
In 1963, he joined the Warner
Robins Fire Department as a fire
fighter and three years later joined
forces with the Warner Robins Po
lice Department He started. out.as a
patrolman and worked his way up
to the rank of captain before joining
the county sheriffs department in
December 1971.
Working under Sheriff Cullen
Talton, he served the county as
chief deputy from 1972 until 1976
and, in 1976. returned to the Warner
Pleasa sea HUNItR, page 8A