Page 110 - barefoot-in-the-sand-remembering-the-waning-days-of-the-hopewell-community-(1998)-bruce-c-gragg

Barefoot In The Sand: Remembering the Waning Days of the Hopewell Community (1998) Bruce C. Gragg 106/123

UNCLE CURTIS COMES HOME FROM WAR

Several months after the end of the war Uncle Curtis came home on
leave for about three months. I was in the second grade and Vera was
in the fourth, we got off the school bus and the car was in the front
of the house, and the family was standing around the car. Soon he
raised his head up and surprised us, we didn’t know when he was due
to come home. We knew he was on his way home but not when to expect
him. A lot of time was spent trying to get his mind away from the
war. Often when we would be eating a meal, he would hear an airplane
he would jump up and run outside to identify the plane. This was
always a problem in combat, they never knew whose plane was
approaching.

One thing he did to help relax was shoot a .22 rifle. He borrowed
Elias Waldron’s single shot, and he bought a couple cartons of
shells. He taught me how to shoot a rifle, and I got to be a pretty
good shot. I was still to small to do a good job of hand holding it,
so we used fence post in the front yard to rest the rifle on to
shoot. He would make a target and mount it on a pine tree. I am sure
Carlton Carter found a lot of lead in a few of the trees when he cut
the timber in late 52 and early 53. Maybe it didn't do too much
damage to his saws. After shooting at "big targets" we began to use
spent cartridges as a target. At this time our fence around the house
was still field wire, with big post as corner and gate posts. The
dirt road, "Wilson Road", had a slight curve in front of our house.
We were out shooting one after noon, not thinking about anyone
walking the road. We knew if a car was coming we could hear it. Soon
Mrs. Texie Rhoden and Callie Belle walked up. It seems as though the
bullets we had been firing had just caused them to take a detour. The
slugs were landing in the palmettos between the road and their field.
The shots were passing through some heavy under brush and going about
a quarter mile before dropping in the palmettos. That was a rather
scary thing to have happen. After that we made sure where the targets
were in relation to the area behind it. I had to grow a bit more
before I could hold a rifle without support. He later ordered from
Sears a J.C. Higgins automatic 22 rifle. He left it with us until he
returned from overseas in 1951. It was an automatic and a lot
heavier. With it I took care of a lot of snakes, I also used it at
times when ’coon hunting. We also would take it to the river on
fishing trips.

Uncle Curtis and Dot were married in May 1950, just before he left
for an assignment to Okinawa. He was coming home for his last leave
before going to California, on his way overseas, and made a detour to
Pensacola and they were married. When they came in late at night and
woke us up and broke the news. Burnette was very

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