I had no idea I was leaving La Feria permanently when Twila and I left for Tolar early in the summer of 1942; I expected to be back in September, but failed to anticipate effects on our family of the improved U.S. economy (resulting from preparation for, then involvement in, World War II).
Selective
service (military drafting) was reinstituted in 1940, so new military training
facilities were constructed all across the nation, and factories busily
produced war-making equipment and munitions (much of which was shipped to
European allies, through sales and lend/lease programs). Those economic stimuli were good, but other
factors bode evil, for German submarines were sinking U.S. ships carrying war
materials to our allies in Europe long before we formally entered the war.
U.S. entry
into World War II as a combatant was precipitated by a surprise Japanese air
attack on Pearl Harbor early on Sunday morning, December 7, 1941; much of our Pacific fleet
was destroyed. A day or two later,
following an address by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the United States
Congress declared war against Japan and Germany. (The war in Europe had been growing ever more intense since the
late ‘30s, so U.S. participation therein had been expected; that it would begin
with a Japanese attack in the Pacific was unexpected by ordinary folks, but
some pundits believe President Roosevelt knew an attack was coming.)
I
was kicking a football around our yard when I heard about Pearl Harbor. The implications of the attack were
discussed among those in church Sunday evening. At home, my dad considered the possibility of his being drafted,
for he had registered (along with all men ages 18 through 36) with Selective
Service when the military draft was started in 1940; he was 37, however,
by the time WW II started, so was never called.
The North Texas economy benefited greatly from military activity. Camp Bowie was built at Brownwood, Fort Hood at Killeen, and other military
training facilities dotted the countryside.
Fort Worth’s economy was growing fast because of the new Consolidated
Aircraft Corporation facility and adjacent Carswell Air Force Base near
suburban White Settlement. [Consolidated built B-24 Liberator bombers and Carswell trained B-24 flight crews around the clock; each
facility utilized thousands of workers, many from surrounding communities
(including Tolar).]
◊◊◊
My failure to anticipate changes to my future resulting from economic
activity in North Texas (and Fort Worth in particular) may have resulted from
either (1) inattention, (2) no discussion at home (Twila says our parents
probably wouldn’t have chosen to worry us with “maybes” had they been
considering changes, so nothing would have been said in our presence), or (3)
few visible war-induced economic changes in the Valley, where there were no
defense industries; Fort Brown had a small regular army unit and Fort Ringgold
at Rio Grande City had a cavalry unit, but both existed long before WWII. Nevertheless, even though we saw little
war-begotten economic activity in the Valley (other than greater demand for agricultural
products), war’s reality was evident:
Perhaps I should have anticipated the possibility of a move back to
North Texas, because my grandmother Grammer had “campaigned” for just that in
her letters, telling us how much the economy around Fort Worth had
improved. I hadn’t paid much attention,
because she had seemed to be in a similar “campaign mode” all the five years
we’d been away.
I doubt that Mama Grammer’s campaigning had much effect on my parents’
decision regarding our place of abode, but what they saw when they came north
that summer (1942) caused my dad to visit Mr. and Mrs. Good (his pre-depression
employers), who asked him to rejoin Good
Marble & Tile, because
improvement in Fort Worth’s economy had increased demand for tile work. He accepted their invitation, and went to
work immediately.
The opportunity for employment in Fort Worth, only thirty-five miles from Acton, was fortuitous, for my granddad Grammer and my grandmother Miller were in poor health, and our family could be supportive. Papa Grammer died August 19, before we found a home in Fort Worth, so my parents were with my grandmother during her transition to widowhood; inasmuch as she couldn’t drive, she needed more assistance than a totally self-sufficient person might have.
My mother and dad made a brief trip to La Feria to collect our
household effects; Twila and I didn’t go, so had no opportunity to tell our
friends goodbye, and I’ve seen only a few La Feria acquaintances in the decades
since we left the Valley:
·
Martha (Frenchy) Bramwell and Paul Stohler were
upperclassmen at Howard Payne College when I enrolled in September, 1943.
·
I saw a few friends and acquaintances during a weekend trip
to La Feria when I was stationed at Corpus Christi (1945).
·
I visited the Amerines in Laredo while I was stationed at
Corpus Christi, saw them a few times in Fort Worth when they visited my parents
during the ‘40s, and visited with them at their home in Alice for a couple of
hours one summer day in the mid-‘80s.
·
Jimmy Ragain was an HPC student during my Junior and Senior
years (1946/47, 1947/48).
·
I crossed paths with classmate Edwin Moore during the
summer of 1950, when we were both enrolled at the University of Texas.
·
I saw Rosemary Wiseman and Mr. Jack Mitchell during visits
to La Feria’s First Baptist Church (once in the ‘80s, then again in the ‘90s).
·
I saw about twenty members of the LFHS class of ’44 – with
which Twila would have graduated had we not moved from the Valley – when I was
invited to, and attended, their 1999 Harlingen reunion held at the home of
Bobbie (Cloud) Haire.
I saw several old friends, including Arthur Haws and Richardson
Hoverson from my class, when I attended an “all-years” LFHS reunion on South
Padre Island in October, 2004.