Chapter 40 - "Gibbon's Secrets - World War II Time Line 1944

The summary of Reg's (my dad) Time Line for the end of 1944 is interesting to read relative to the scattered troops we now have around the world at the end of 2009.


     The war in the Pacific has been progressing, with the US fleet aking more control on their quest toward Japan.  Many of the islands are now under US control, and bombing runs to Japan are easier and more organized.
     The war in Europe reaches a fever pitch with the German troops launching a counter-offensive called the "Battle of the Bulge".  This battle involves many of our brave troops, and Christmas 1944 found many of them spending a very cold and fearful Christmas, far away from home.
     Again, it is so important for all of us to pray for our loved ones scattered all over the world, from islands in the Pacific to the battlefields in Europe.  I pray specifically for Dale and Tom, and ask for their continued protection.
     Reg Phelps 
     Curtis, Nebraska


Fast forward to 2009 - we can now say the same general prayer for our servicemen & women who are at the battle stations, and a specific prayer for the ones we personally know. 

Chapter 28 - "Gibbon's Secrets" - Reg's Scrapbook - World War II 1942

December 28th - 1942
The German Supreme Command of the Wehrmacht gives orders for the retreat of the German Army out of Kaukasus.


My dad, Reg Phelps, added this note at the end of Chapter 28:
     It has been a very painful effort for me to continue putting this time-line of news stories together for my scrapbook, as World War II continues through the year of 1942.  I have reached several very low points, with just a few high points recorded.  I am so proud of all our troops, from the sailors involved in their battles at sea, to our soldiers and marines in their battles on land.  I continue to marvel at their patriotism, and have included them in my nightly prayers.  I will continue to do so until this war is won.
Reg Phelps
Gibbon, Nebraska


I am so lucky that dad collected all of those news stories from World War II and preserved them in the three scrap books that he left for me.  We need to remember the history of World War II and that is one of the basic reasons that I wrote my book, "Gibbon's Secrets".

Chapter 27 - "Gibbon's Secrets" - Christmas 1942

Christmas time 1942 was for caring and sharing, and the Phelps family seemed to come together as close as they ever had been.

It was a different Christmas, with so many of the boys away from home, and so many changes happening in and around Gibbon.  Christmas Eve found a large crowd at the Baptist Church for the candlelight service.  There was a close-knit group of people with the Phelps family caroling on the South Side of Gibbon, and now had arrived at the church for this special time.  Reg and Addie brought a young man from North Carolina with them for the service, Lt. Jim Jones, along with Jean and Bud.  Lorraine, Jack, Rose and Tom had also been caroling with them, and joined in the church to continue their Christmas worship.

After the service, everyone gathered around the young lieutenant, wanting him to feel the warmth of this small town.  Erskine Claar introduced himself to Lt Jones, and said,  "It is good that you are with our family at Christmas.  I have been holding a prayer vigil at our church each Saturday morning, and you are welcome to join us as we pray for the many servicemen and women serving our country."  Lt. Jones said, "Thank you for your prayers and your family support.  These are the things that keep us going while we further our training."  Jean was shy around this young man, but said, "We're glad that you could join us during this special time of the year." Bud said, "Welcome to Gibbon, Lieutenant Jones, you are now an honorary member of the Phelps family."  Lt. Jones said to the two kids, "Thank you both for the nice welcome.  It is my pleasure to be included as part of your family."

Here we are again, praying for many servicemen and women serving our country across the globe.  Right now we are in the middle of a blizzard so we need to pray for anyone out and about on these Nebraska highways as the windchills are in the minus double digit readings.  Many of the planned Christmas activities and church services have been cancelled - including our family that would normally be together and our oldest daughter's house tonight.  Also, our plans to be at our middle daughters house tomorrow has also been postponed.  I know that they are all giving thanks for the special celebration of Christ's Birthday which is much more important and our family gatherings can be held a couple days late.


God Bless you all and Merry Christmas.  

Chapter 19 - Gibbon's Secrets - December 1941

December 1941  
      The Christmas of 1941 came during a time of mourning for the many service men and women lost in the attack on Pearl Harbor.  Dale Pitke's ship the "USS Arizona" sustained a loss of 1,100 lives.  Dale lost many friends that tragic day.  He also lost all of his own personal belongings that were left on the ship when he came home on leave.  He was very fortunate to have been home at that time, and the Gibbon townspeople all adopted him as their personal hero.  Bud started writing Dale soon after he returned to active duty.  He pledged that a weekly letter would be sent to Dale, until the day he came home again.  The "Five Friends Forever" helped Bud with the letters, and a strong bond was developed between this sailor and these five boys.

This short memory from my book "Gibbon's Secrets" points out the difference between our patriotic attitude then and now.  The closest thing to a "Patriotic Attitude", shown that Christmas 1941, came after the 911 attack on our soil by fanatic terrorists when citizens all over the country rallied around President George Bush.  The differences shown by President Bush vs. President Obama was a profound caring attitude toward our great country.  President Bush never made excuses for our actions as a great country, either in the past or in the present - you can't say the same now.  I am proud of our country, but do not like the excuses made recently in foreign countries about how uncaring or too aggressive we were in the past.  If it wasn't for our aggressive actions during World War II many of the people in Europe would be speaking German rather than French or whatever language found in their country.  How can we again show pride in the USA?  One way we can accomplish this is to continue our fight against the current administration's actions toward us becoming a socialistic country.  Stand up and be counted - make your voices heard regarding your feelings against the Health Care Bill or the Cap & Trade (Tax) Bill that will be the next up.


I'm going to share one more Christmas memory from World War II - this is a factual memory from a GI that was in "The Battle of the Bulge" in 1944.  This memory was shared with me by Frank Chambers, a GI from World War II, who allowed me to include his true memories in my book "Gibbon's Secrets".


December 25, 1944 (from Frank Chambers' Journal)
     I had a decent Christmas meal from my mess kit.  It got a little cold by the time I ate it.  I have a heater for my truck can...I took my steel helmet and placed it on the truck can floor, then lit my K ration wax box..it does not make smoke and can keep warm when I'm driving.  I put the cans of beans and stuff on my truck manifold...that works well until a can of beans exploded and made a real stink.
     Today we had blue sky for the first time.  Our bombers and fighters were really busy.  We saw dogfights very near us.  Also saw gliders being towed by planes.  I hear that they are heading for a Belgium city called Bastogne, just east of us a few miles.

This was just a simple entry in a GI's journal - about what was going on the Christmas in 1944.  Simple yes, but all of Frank's entries were the simple kind that really touches your heart.  


I feel that I am very fortunate to have grown up during the World War II times and felt the experiences of how it was then on the "Home Front"should be shared through my book "Gibbon's Secrets".  We have a new "Home Front" today, and we are fighting different battles -- but I still am praying for our men and women in the armed services defending our freedoms -- again in countries far away from home.  God Bless them and keep them safe.


Merry Christmas to all of you reading this blog.




       

Chapter 19 - Gibbon's Secrets - December 1941

     December 15th 1941, the Gibbon Grade School presented the Christmas program that they had been working on, well ahead of the attack by the Japanese.  The kids had been working hard on their program.  The school administration felt, in light of the current world situation, that it would be good for the morale of the community for them to go ahead with their performance.  The program consisted of several different scenes, starting with singing from the kindergarten group.  Bud was proud that his friends were really involved in many of the areas of the program.
     Jimmy Lyons, Donny Hawke, Jackie Sigler, Jerry L Randall, and Charlotte DeBrie were among the group in 'Old King Cole's Christmas'.  Marilyn Kirk was featured in, 'Kitty's Present'.  Marilyn Kirk, Bud Phelps and Duncan McGregor were among the characters of, 'Christmas Eve at Home'.  Christmas carols were sung by grades five through eight, which included all of Bud's friends.  When the entire cast came out for their final bows, they received a standing ovation from the attendees.  The crowd of people in attendance for this "Christmas Carol Program" started the evening with heavy hearts, but left the auditorium with smiles on their faces.  They all were thanking the Lord for the innocence of these Gibbon Grade School students, and the joy they brought to everyone this night.

The information shown above from the "Christmas Carol Program" was taken from an original program that Duncan McGregor had saved.  When I was visiting with Duncan, during one of my research trips to Gibbon, he showed me several programs from our grade school years, and made copies of them for me to utilize in my book "Gibbon's Secrets".  I thought it was so amazing that he had saved those little memo graphed programs over all these years.  1941 was a bleak Christmas in  Gibbon and one that I have special memories of - my folks did their best to still make it special. 

Remember when I requested notes about Pearl Harbor - Here is a great one!

The following is a letter from Mike Becker - Hartington, Nebraska - it really should touch your hearts as it did mine.  Some times we do not give young men and women (kids) the respect they deserve - we are too quick to point out the bad in them, not the good.  This letter from Mike indicates to me that we need to share more with our young men and women about our glorious and historic past and stop making excuses on how negligent our country has been.  God Bless them for showing their feelings while visiting Pearl.  I did not edit Mike's letter - I posted it here just as I received it - you can really tell it came from his heart.

Hi there. I know this isn’t what you’re looking for, but I felt compelled to share it with you anyway.  I’m only 50, so wasn’t around for 1941. I never served in the military as the Vietnam draft had just concluded about a year before I became eligible. But onto what I wanted to share…

 This past summer I was fortunate enough to accompany my son and about 50 other track athletes from around the US to travel to Australia for an international track meet. For the most part, these kids were  from 16-18 years of age. They were a fun-loving and outgoing bunch of youth that really represented our country very well.

As part of their tour in July, on the way home they were routed to Honolulu for three days of fun and sun.  I don’t remember if the entire group was required to tour Pearl Harbor, but I know that a vast majority of them did. When I signed up for the Pearl Harbor tour (I had not ever been to Hawaii), I visited with the guy doing the signups. He was a native of Hawaii and I got to discussing Pearl Harbor with him.

He said that his dad was Japanese and was working in Pearl Harbor on the day of the attack. He said “In fact, he was a crane operator and they (authorities) wouldn’t let him down for 3 days after the attack. They would bring food and water up to him, as they needed him to help clear the wreckage from the harbor.” 

The same person was also our tour guide for the Pearl Harbor tour on the bus, and he did an incredible job.

But what wanted to share with you is what really struck me about the tour (other than the absolute destruction and lives that were lost in the attack), were the kids themselves.  As I’d stated before, they were a very fun-loving and outgoing group of kids. They were always joking around with each other and having a very good time with the coaches and adult chaperones.

But when we got to Pearl Harbor, their attitudes changed 180 degrees. They were very withdrawn and maybe more inquisitive than anything else. And when we boarded the boat to ferry us to the Arizona Memorial, their attitudes changed even more… if that is possible.  Not one of them said a word as they were ferried over to the memorial. They were very reverent and understood the meaning of the events of that terrible day. They were as serious as I’d ever seen them – even more serious than when they were when they participated in their events in the track meet in Australia.  Not one of them cracked a smile nor a joke. They were at the “ground zero” of the WWII era (Hiroshima and Nagasaki notwithstanding).

I just wanted to share with you how proud I was of not only the servicemen that gave their lives that day, but also how proud I am of the young American teenagers that came face-to-face with something so terrible.  Yes, these days they typically have headphones on and listen to their music while their noses are in their cellphones texting their friends. But this was not one of those days.

Not only was I, myself, proud of the servicemen who gave their lives and those who survived, but I was also proud of our teenagers, many who may have realized for the very first time the sacrifices made before them so they could live with freedom. It was a moment that I will never forget.

Thanks again for “listening”. When you asked for stories, I just had to share my experience from this last summer, and the transformation of those young teenagers.

  

Have a very Blessed Christmas!

Mike Becker

I will also ask you to remember, "The Reason for the Season" - the birth of Christ.

Bud

All I have to share today is Brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Again we are starting the day here in Lincoln with -3 (F) with -18 (F) wind chill - as I said brrrrrrrrrrrrr!  I have an appointment at 10:00 this morning and must get out in it.  Let's see - cord pants, hiking boots, a turtle neck shirt, a sweater - then top it off with a scarf, gloves, hat, and a jacket - that should do it.  You have a safe and good day.

I have a great story to share with you about the boys in December 1941 that I will post on the 15th of Dec.

In the meantime, thanks for your many comments about my blog - to me it is very important that we remember our past - so that we can do a better job with our present - and plan the future with more certainty.


Several more of you have shared your stories - keep them coming - how else can we share our memories.  


Thanks!!!!