September 1943

James says, "Linda, you asked what we were doing in September 1943. This is what I was doing in Alfalfa County.

"In 1943 World War II was getting up to speed. In January Churchill and Roosevelt held their Casablanca Conference on the 14th-24th. General Monty Montgomery took Tripoli. In September the Italian surrender was announced and the Allies landed at Salerno. On December 24-26 the Leaders Roosevelt, Churchill, and Stalin met in Tehran.

"Meanwhile, in the spring of 1943 in Alfalfa County, I was finishing second grade in the Jet Public School. My father was already back to his hometown, Goltry (10 miles south of Jet) where he was the new manager of the F. J. Gentry Lumber Company's yard there. He replaced Eugene Mills who had been called into the Navy. We moved to Goltry once school was out. I began third grade in the Goltry Public School.

"At Goltry, cursive writing was taught in the second grade. I arrived from Jet where cursive was taught in the third grade. So I was a year behind my classmates. My teacher pointed out to me that I was so "stuck in the mud that not even a log chain could get me out!" But I did get out of the mud and moved on through the school on schedule, graduating in 1954.

"The home we moved into in Goltry had "outdoor plumbing" and indoor chamber pots. We took a bath in a wash tub in the kitchen floor. Mom heated water on the kitchen stove and used the hot water to temper the cold bath water in the tub. We four kids took turns bathing in re-warmed water—smallest/youngest first. Later, after finishing the sixth grade in the spring of 1947, we moved to a different home in Goltry. It had indoor plumbing and had a hot water heater. Woo Hoo!"
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