Excerpted from A Boy From Shawboro, by G. Frank Roberts:

Chapter 3

WORLD WAR II

On December 7th, 1941 the United States was attacked by Japan at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. We were all at home on that particular Sunday when the attack occurred. When the news was received, I think Mama was preparing Sunday Dinner. Since 1939 World War II had  been raging in Europe. Little did we know at that time how much our family would be affected.

On Christmas Day 1941, shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, my uncle Sam Owens and his friend, Bill Sanderson flew the Buzzard; a home built, open cockpit, monoplane over Shawboro. Circling low and slow they flew it around our home. I can still see that red plane even today. That event made impact on me and was the beginning of a sequence of coming events that later directed me into the field of aviation.

He was grounded after an ear drum burst during winter training. Shortly thereafter, he was assigned to the University of Houston for training  in maintenance  and operation of the new secret radar being put into use by the Navy. While there, he met Rae Seward who would later become his wife.

After completing radar school, he left his ‘ 38 Ford at home and was assigned to the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Lexington in Philadelphia. (The first Lexington had been sunk by the Japanese in early 1942) This new, large aircraft carrier, was destined for the South Pacific. After a short shore leave, he boarded it after a short leave at home and  and the  Lex  steamed for the South Pacific via the "big ditch," as the Panama Canal was called.

During  each summer Elizabeth City,  North Carolina held potato festivals with parades, etc. During the festival in the summer of 1942 an aerial demonstration was put on. One of the most impressive events was a low level flight over Main Street by a Major Al Williams of the Army Air Corps. This demonstration reinforced  my determination to learn to fly. ---at eight years old.

After President Roosevelt declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy,  were known as the Berlin, Rome, and Tokyo Axis.  A pop song entitled “Remember Pearl Harbor" became  a patriotic song and  battle cry of world War II. Pearl Harbor galvanized the nation with a sense of patriotism never before seen. Even at age 8, many details of World War II were etched in my mind.

During the next several months the United  States  lost many tankers and freighters were sunk by German U Boats in the Atlantic. Many tons of  cargo were lost off the outer banks of Dare and Currituck Counties as well as the rest of the East Coast. Fire from burning tankers would light up the sky and could be seen from coastal Currituck County near home.

German submarines targeted  United States and allied ships just off the coast  silhouetted them against the light from shoreline glow. At the beginning of the war, Elizabeth City, Norfolk, and other nearby cities opposed blackouts causing businesses to lose money. Finally, however, blackouts became law and an active Civil Defense was organized. Automobile headlights were required to half painted or taped with friction tape. Night driving was discouraged and in many cases was done without headlights. A National speed limit of 35 MPH was enacted.

With the onset of war came rationing. Some rationed items were gasoline, tires, shoes, sugar, meat, and other items needed for national defense. Automobiles were issued windshield stickers for purchasing  gasoline. The letters were A for least gas, B for next amount, and a C for the most.

In addition to stamps, cardboard tokens in the shape of coins were issued to permit the purchase of meat according to family size. Margerine  was packed in plastic bags with a packet of orange colored powder which was mixed with the oleo to give it a yellow color. This was accomplished by squeezing and kneading   the entire contents of the bag.

During  the war, bacon grease and scrap metal were collected  for recycling for munitions.

Auxillary Landing Strips

Auxiliary sites on private farms were set aside for possible anti-aircraft batteries and single strip runways were constructed up and down the east coast as emergency landing sites for patrol and bomber aircraft returning low on fuel from patrols off the coast. One such strip is now  Currituck County Airport. It is  off Highway 158 near Maple

The Civil Defense effort enlisted support from the community men and women to man aircraft observation posts in nearly every community along the coast. Whenever any aircraft was either seen or heard, it was reported by phone to the Naval Air Station or Coast Guard Base in Elizabeth City. Daddy was a volunteer observer.   The “watch post” we manned was a wooden shack  behind the  Shawboro Service Station operated by Johnnie Etheridge. Telephones  were few and far between.

To make telephone call, one had to turn  the  crank to operate a magneto which generated a high voltage electric current to ring a bell reach a telephone operator in Elizabeth City. The operator would ask for the number to be called. The caller would then say “Army Flash” and  she would ring the bell at the Naval Base. Once connected, the caller would give  the person information on the aircraft with respect to altitude, direction  etc. to enable the military to verify friend or foe. It was unknown as to whether the Germans had the capability to  launch an air attack on mainland USA.

As a child, I enjoyed going with Daddy on night shifts on week ends when there was no school. One of the phases of Civil Defense training was aircraft identification. Penguin Books published a paperback with pictures and descriptions of all known aircraft, both Allied and Axis. I still have that book and learned  to identify most known aircraft of the era.

During World War II, Naval Air Station Norfolk was off limits to Civilian personnel not working there.  The Navy , however, invited the Civil Defense for a tour of the facility  Daddy went without me because I had either chicken pox or measles. During the tour, a Navy plane crash landed on a landing attempt,  because the pilot couldn't get the landing gear down. According to Daddy, the pilot circled until he was almost out of fuel and then landed on a dry concrete run way with the gear up. When the plane touched down, it skidded and caught fire. Daddy said he could never forget the sight of the pilot climbing out of the plane through the flames. From that time on he never had much use for any type of plane. He certainly had no intention of ever flying.

Production of civilian automobiles ceased. Auto assembly lines began production of  military  vehicles and aircraft in 1942. One had to have government authorization to own a 1942 auto, since they too, were on the list of rationed goods.

Daddy still owned  the 1939 Chevrolet which was "running hot." During 1942 he bought a 1941 Pontiac owned by a man named  Sam Staples in Camden County. He lived on a “dirt” road on which he demonstrated the car. When we all got into the Pontiac, he took off at high speed to demonstrate it's performance. When we reached 85, Daddy told Mr. Staples that this was fast enough.

1942 was a year in which the country suffered some of  it's greatest tragedies. The “Japs” captured many of the islands in the Pacific including the Philippines. During  April, we bombed Tokyo from the carrier Hornet which had escaped the calamity at Pearl Harbor. Army B 25 bombers were launched from the carrier in what became known as the Doolittle Raid. This raid was a great morale booster for the US.

From both Europe and the Pacific area , casualties began to mount. One of the first of our neighbors to be seriously wounded in action was Jack Bell. During July he was wounded in the invasion of Sicily. He was wounded  by the Germans as he parachuted onto the island.

During  the  summer revival of July 1943 at Providence Baptist Church I accepted Christ as my Savior and was baptized in "Blue Lake," a barrow pit from which sand for US Highway 158 was mined  on one of Grandpapa' s farms near Indiantown. At these outdoor baptisms, a small portable organ was used and Mrs. Hattie Barnard would play the Hymn " Shall We Gather at the River."

"Miz. Hattie" was the Church organist and pianist. One of the hymns, Bringing in the Sheaves, sounded like "Bringin’ in the Cheese, The Consecrated Cross I’d Bear, sounded like Constipated Cross Eyed Bear. "Love Lifted Me" sounded like O laa Thipee. Kids often had trouble understanding the words of many of the hymns and pronounced the words as they sounded.

Since sugar was rationed,  Mama saved most of our sugar  so that it could be used for the great candy making event at Christmas. War or not we were going to have homemade candy for our family Christmas Eve celebration.

About midnight Uncle James and Aunt Helen were still there after everyone else had left. This caused me so much concern that I told them to go home so Santa Claus could come back. Snow covered the ground and I was sure that I would see reindeer hoof prints and sleigh runner indentations the following Christmas morning. After all, hadn't Santa rattled the window?.

The Christmas Eve family celebration of 1942 was the last one we celebrated at the Grandy place. Daddy had purchased his own farm a couple of miles north of Shawboro known as the DeCormis Farm. We moved there during the autumn of 1943.

During World War II, many family members served with Armed Forces in both the European an Pacific areas. I was more interested in the Pacific. That was where Sam was --- aboard the U.S.S. Lexington.

During the 1940's Daddy developed a duodenal stomach ulcer and was drinking quite a bit of milk. Raw eggs stirred in milk was a great part of his diet. He suffered with that ulcer approximately 10 years.

On June 6th 1944,  the United States and it’s allies invaded France thus beginning the final push to crush Nazi Germany.  The invasion was known as D- Day.

As the US and it’s allies were defeating Hitler's forces in Europe and Hirohito’s in the Islands of the Pacific, the Japanese resorted to crash diving their Zero fighters into our warships, especially the aircraft carriers. These became known as Kamikaze or suicide attacks. The kamikazes targeted the elevators of the carriers to prevent aircraft from being hoisted to the flight deck and to cause as much damage as possible even if the  ship  did not sink. Hundreds of our troops aboard these ships died.

On November 6th 1944, a Kamikaze crash dived into the Lexington as it was patrolling off the Philippine Islands. Several  men died on the ship. Later on Sam told us about how the crew fought fire for almost two days. He further stated that when the plane exploded , a part of the pilot dangled from a yard arm suspended from a part of his parachute. There were two mass burials at sea. We hated the Japs even more than the Germans. Suicide attacks are the most despicable, and barbaric forms of warfare that can be perpetrated by humans against humans. Governments and agencies engaging in this type of warfare should be annihilated. Barbarians are no respectors of civilized humanity.

1945, Victory and Tragedy

On April 12, 1945 President Roosevelt died. Shortly thereafter in May the war ended in Europe --- VE day at last! How much longer would the war  in the Pacific last? The G.I.’s coined a saying "The Golden Gate in 48, the bread line in 49." It was assumed that the war would last until 1948.

Grandmother Owens whom had moved in with us when her son Sam joined the Navy, was taken to the Doctor several times for high blood pressure. We all feared that she would have another stroke but she kept going and continued taking care of the household.  Sam, also instructed her to sell his car  that we were keeping  for him.

When school was out, we went into the field to hoe corn and pull weeds from  the soy beans. From early morning  until dusk, we walked up and down the rows chopping weeds, grass, and thinning or cutting corn plants too close together. Both black and white people worked together without regard for race. All of  Daddy’s employees lived and worked on the farm. They lived rent free, were given garden space, and cut their fire wood  from the woods. They were paid minimum wages.  After “chopping” corn, weeds were “pulled” from the soy beans. The two crops were almost evenly planted on all the open farm land consisting  of over 300 acres.  It was while we were all getting weeds out the soy beans that Alex Ferebee, one of the black employees accidentally struck Daddy’s elbow with a hoe cutting  a deep gash.  This occurred about the time that the United States dropped the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima Japan , August 6th  1945 which killed about 140,000.

The annual  Providence Baptist  Church picnic was scheduled for August 14th.  Once again, we were going to Ocean View Park in Norfolk. This time the picnic had a special significance as the country was expecting Japan to surrender at any time. A second “A” bomb was dropped on Nagasaki on August 10th . Daddy volunteered to let our farm truck be used to transport  a load of picnickers to Ocean View about  45 miles away. Since his elbow had become infected and he could not drive, his brother Edward drove.    

The two  “stake body”  farm trucks first went to the Church, where some pews were put in  the back. ; loaded up and headed for Norfolk. Mama rode inside the cab of the truck, and my sister Elizabeth, brother Nathan, and I  rode in the back. I guess there were some 20 other passengers in Daddy’s truck. He and Grandmother Owens stayed home. It was Tuesday August 14, 1945. It was a very happy bunch that left Providence Baptist Church that day.      

Arriving at the park about an hour and a half later, everyone scattered.  Ocean View had plenty of rides such as  are now found in theme parks. Mama had a hard time keeping the three of us together. The roller coaster, Sky Rocket; was off limits. Being the oldest, she let me ride  the bumper cars and some of the others that she deemed safe. The rides cost $.10 each.

At a given time we ate our lunches at the Park’s  picnic area and made plans to leave at 8:00pm. we then resumed our merriment. At approximately 6:00pm, I climbed into one of the gondolas that were attached by cables to a tall mast and rotated in a large circle some 20-30 feet above the ground. They were shaped like rocket ships. While the ride was spinning us above the ground, all pandemonium broke loose below. People were beating on pots and pans, screaming, dancing, kneeling in prayer and making all kinds of noise. An announcement then came over the park’s PA. system. President Truman had announced over the radio that Japan had surrendered.  WORLD WAR II WAS OVER!

Because Norfolk was and is a Navy town many sailors were always present at the park. The Shore Patrol even had a station there to keep them under control. One of the incidents that I remember was a time when a sailor jumped upon a table and drank a quart of milk.

It took over two hours to return home at the Church. It appeared that everyone that had a car with any gas was on the road or in the streets of Norfolk. Every one was blowing car horns and running in the streets. Rationing was over. This was the end of one of the happiest days of my life at the time.

When we arrived home, Daddy and Grandmother had already heard the news via the battery powered radio. Grandmother was in tears, but knew that her son  Sam was safe and would soon be home. I believe that she had a premonition that she would never see him again. Her health was continuing to fail, although she was up and about each day taking care of the family.

A few days after V-J day, school started. Now in the sixth grade, I began the final year at Currituck Elementary. Our teacher was Mrs. Hilda Brumsey. On of the classmates was her daughter Anne. Mrs. Brumsey was an excellent teacher and well liked by the students. We also knew that by the end of the year the class would be divided into two groups and that the students would transfer to high schools on opposite ends of Currituck County. Some would go to Griggs on the south and Moyock on the north.

During early October, Mama, who had suffered chronic sinusitis for several years, went to the Stokes and McCoy Hospital in Norfolk. She was there a few days and the family was being cared  for by Grandmother Owens. She cooked, cleaned, and took care of Daddy, Nathan, Elizabeth and me. She was like a second mother to us. However, one of the things that we noticed was that she cried a lot and sometimes saw “green mud” on the floor that we did not see. Something was wrong.           

Mama soon returned from the hospital but had not fully recovered. Grandmother continued to take care of things as long as the could. On  the morning of  October 23rd 1945 as we were getting ready for school, we heard a commotion in her bedroom and rushed in to find her on the floor trying to get dressed. Mama and I then got her back in bed and sent Daddy to Johnnie’s Service Station to call her Doctor in Elizabeth City. Before he arrived the children had to leave for school.

Arriving home, we learned grandmother was in a coma. Dr. Bailey had made a house call and had given her some type of injection. Also at home was the family nurse, that had assisted with the delivery of all of Mama’s children. She was now Lillian Forbes, Grandmother’s niece. It was then that we knew that Grandmother was dying and would never see her son Sam again.

As soon as possible, Mama contacted the Red Cross in an attempt to notify her brother and get him home from the South Pacific but to no avail. The Lexington was now a part of the occupying fleet in Tokyo Bay. Uncle Sam never got the word until much later.

Grandmother lingered on throughout the 24th but Lillian said her feet were getting cold and kept checking her vital signs. Sometime shortly after children went to bed, she passed away on the morning of October 25th 1945. We were not awake when the hearse from Twiford’s Funeral Home in Elizabeth City took her away.

There was a custom carried over from  previous years that the practice of  “sitting up with the dead” was done before burial. Even after embalming, the custom continued but was now coming to an end. Often the body of the deceased was returned home where family members sat by the casket to assist the departed if by some chance, the person was just sleeping. Grandmother remained at the funeral home and no one sat up with her and the family custom was at an end. She was buried a few days later by grandfather Owens at a private family cemetery at Jarvisburg, NC. in Currituck County.

Mama called her a casualty of World War II. She died at age 64.