Feb. 11 Edition

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.” --- Psalm 3:5-6

Birthdays this week include: Kim Dunn - Feb. 10, Rachel Jones and Floyd Leaks - Feb. 11, Jamie Rusell - Feb. 12.

Happy Anniversary to: Jerry and Frances Langford - Feb. 12 and Tully and Norma McCoy - Feb. 13.

Here we are in the final stretch of Winter with hopefully no bad weather to come before Spring arrives again.  Few places are as beautiful in the Spring as New Edinburg, Arkansas, but maybe I'm slightly prejudiced about that.

There's very little going on this time of the year after the holidays, and the last two historical excerpts I've published have received a lot of positive reaction, so here's another.  The older folks will remember this, and perhaps the younger folks will learn something from it.

In the early 1940s, before yearbooks were the thing, the senior high school produced a few issues of an in-house newspaper revolving around the school itself and their classmates who were at war.  I have photocopies of three issues and one original issue.  If you have any others, I'd love to have a chance to copy it for the museum archives. Here are some excerpts from the February 5, 1945 edition of The New Edinburg Eagle:

War dead: "Sgt. Burton Moseley, aged 29, of near New Edinburg, was killed in the crash of a B-24 (Liberator) bombing plane near the Muroc Army Air Base in California in January 1944. Marvin McCollough, Cleveland County's first World War II casualty, is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Joe McCollough of New Edinburg.  He was reported missing by the Navy following the attack on Pearl Harbor. Cpl. Charles Irvin Martindale, 22, son of Mrs. Nettie Martindale of New Edinburg, was reported killed in action July 26, over Geelink Bay, New Guinea."

The more fortunate: "Pvt. Loyd King, son of Mr. and Mrs. Alvin King, has been reported wounded in action. Pfc. Charles Ballentine, son of Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Ballentine, of the Marines was wounded on Saipan. It is reported that he is improving. He is now in a hospital in California.  Pvt. J. B. Bryant, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Bryant, is in a hospital somewhere in France with frozen feet."

Marvin McCollough's younger brother, Henry, was my neighbor for many years and made a good effort to dissuade me from joining the military when I was of age.  He repeatedly mentioned how he thought his brother's life had been thrown away and I guess he became sort of a pacifist because of that.  It was understandable.

Please feel free to share items of interest for this column: birthdays, anniversaries, events, historical items of note, pictures, or whatever you feel moved to send.  Go Eagles.