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| Noah, age 14 |
On the battlefield of World War II my mind would travel back in time. I would think of home in the community of Barnesville, Northwest Lawrence County. Hard times were part of my life in the 1920s and '30s, but I didn't know it was bad during the Great Depression. Those of us who were born when Calvin Coolidge was President thought times were normal. The United States recovered from the Great Depression at the beginning of World War II. The war to be fought gave all young men a job. Work became available making guns and war equipment for those that did not serve in the armed forces.
At the age of 17, I was fighting the Japanese in the Pacific war. I had two things going for me. I was an expert shooter with a rifle from hunting rabbits and squirrels for food and I knew about surviving while living in a log house and growing food from the soil on the hilly/rock farm by Saw creek.
During the three years of war, I dreamed a lot when I had time. The pleasant dreams involved Lawrence County. I could see the beautiful downtown Lawrenceburg with all the friendly people around the courthouse square. Some of the men were on benches under large beautiful shade trees on the North side of the courthouse. They were doing what they liked best - whittling on a piece of cedar wood, telling big stories to each other while chewing tobacco at the same time. What they discussed was educational to me, but I quickly learned to stay upwind from them to avoid the spit of the tobacco juice flying through the air.
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