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Looking back: Uvalde prepares for war


Allene Mandry

Contributing writer

“The war changed everything for everyone. It was a great unifier as it brought the wealthy and the poverty stricken together in Uvalde. It basically became the center of our lives.”

Those are the words of Jane Fulmer Willingham, daughter of former First Baptist Church minister Maurice Fulmer.

“There were more in church every Sunday, some that had never been to our church before,” she added. “I remember rich and poor standing on the steps of the church consoling one another.”

Earlier in 1941, Uvalde had witnessed a great deal of progress and change: Painter Bus Lines was razed at Getty and Oak and moved to 228 E. Main; teachers became eligible for the state retiree system; 12 grades were instituted at Uvalde High School; drivers’ education was offered; the North Uvalde post office was discontinued and North Uvalde schools were closed; the Coca Cola bottling plant at the corner South Getty and Calera opened with Albert M. Biedenharn Jr. as manager; the Uvalde and Northern ran its last train in August of 1941; and Dub McFatter Jr. opened Firestone Home and Auto Supply.

Long before Pearl Harbor, Uvalde residents were not only feeling the effects of the war but were doing what they could for the war effort even though the U.S. hadn’t formally entered the war. In January of 1940, former President Herbert Hoover requested that the Uvalde Leader-News participate in the sponsorship of a nationwide move to raise funds for war-stricken Finland. In April of 1941 the American Legion sponsored a British and Greek war relief film on Wednesday with all money going to the war relief fund. Tickets were 50 cents. In Knippa, 18 members of the Knippa Home Demonstration Club met in the home of Mrs. Zach Duncan to prepare a box for the British War Relief.

In July of 1941 Jack Pickens, owner of the El Lasso, gave a special 10 a.m. Friday matinee with the price of admission being a piece of aluminum for the government drive to collect aluminum for defense. The following day, anyone taking a piece of aluminum to certain stores was served a bottle of cold Dr. Pepper.

Housewives joined the cause by donating household items. In August of 1941, Mrs. Joe Hale and Mrs. James E. Brice of North Uvalde stripped their kitchens of all aluminum. Mrs. Irven A. Clark donated her aluminum thimble for the war effort.

Planes began arriving at the newly-constructed Garner Field on Sept. 22, 1941, although the first cadets had to be housed at the Kincaid Hotel until their barracks were ready. The base formally opened in October of 1941 with three 6,000-feet hard-surfaced runways.

Those old enough to remember know exactly what they were doing at the time they heard that Pearl Harbor had been bombed.

Ben Harp, now 92, recalls, “My friends and I were driving home from turkey hunting when a stranger waved us down to tell us the news.”

Willingham, 11 years old at the time, recalls, “We had just returned home from a Sunday drive and heard the phone ringing. When my dad answered the phone, he said, ‘War, what war?’ and his face got really serious. He turned to my mother and said, ‘Melba, we’re at war.’”

Twelve days after the bombing on Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, County Judge Bob Davis ordered blackout practice in the event of an air attack. On Dec. 19, Uvalde High School students heard Roosevelt’s actual declaration of war.

Uvalde residents united immediately behind the war effort. Within two weeks of Dec. 7, postmaster J. W. White announced that the $25 defense savings bonds were completely exhausted. Alamo Lumber Company and Painter Bus Lines gave bonds to all their employees.

By February of 1942, Uvalde teachers were issuing sugar rationing books, one book to a family. On April 3, 1942, Police Chief Martin Davis visited West Main to make sure students were prepared.

Austin Taylor was chairman of the Uvalde Tire Rationing Board. In March, April, and May of 1942, Uvalde was rationed 11 cars. One lucky purchaser was George Noyes Evans who was allowed to buy a station wagon. Residents were asked to take their old license plates to the Chamber of Commerce to be used in the war effort. Rationing forbid the use of school buses for transporting football teams and bands, so the school was forced to transport students in private cars.

Bob Saunders, who lived in Knippa at the time, recalls, “It wasn’t unusual to see cars with different sized tires on the front and back. There were a lot of cars that were up on racks because of the tire shortage, and some of the cars around Uvalde had cedar posts or 2-by-4’s for front bumpers. I went for what seemed like years trying to get a 24-inch tire for my bicycle, but by the time I could get one, I had outgrown the bicycle. Shoes were also hard to get. Even those from Sears were sometimes made of pasteboard.”

In September of 1942, Uvalde Odd Fellows and Rebekas met at the lodge hall in a campaign to help Texas Odd Fellows buy a $278,000 bomber.

Garner Park, which opened in June of 1941, was transferred to the War Department in January of 1943 to be used for quartering soldiers from Randolph Field. That same month it was announced that building permits were down from $120,000 in 1941 to $66,339 in 1942 because of the government freeze order on new connections of water, electricity and other utilities.

In June, the Uvalde Lions Club placed milk bottles throughout Uvalde to collect money to buy cigarettes for members of the armed forces. They collected $85.

In March of 1943, Miss Amy Caskey of Sabinal and Effie English and Lydia Rodriguez from Uvalde enlisted in the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps, but six more were needed to fill the quota for March. Lieutenant Pat Treadwell, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. B. B. Treadwell, completed officer-training school in Ft. Des Moines, Iowa. In July of 1943 Miss Opal Smith, former homemaking teacher, was the first woman to solo at Garner Field.

Also in March, Uvalde housewives faced a meat shortage when the city abattoir was closed. A rumor that sales of meat had been frozen caused a run on the city’s markets.

For Hitler’s 54th birthday in April of 1943, Walter Painter bought $10,000 worth of Victory bonds, enough to drop several bombs on Hitler.

The Uvalde Leader-News kept residents informed of what was happening overseas. It was announced in the June 4, 1943, issue that Edward Stapleton was a prisoner of the Japanese in the Philippines. John Oliver, a Uvalde businessman, was among 11,000 Americans captured on Mindanao where he was held for 3.5 years.

Game was plentiful during the hunting season of 1943, but there was a shortage of ammunition, along with gasoline and tire restrictions. Earlier that year, sportsmen were asked to turn over their knives for use by the fighting forces in the South Pacific, particularly in the jungles of New Guinea and Guadalcanal.

In December of 1943 Uvalde High School held an auction sale to buy bonds. A pound of sugar brought $750. Sugar was the first food to be rationed as the war with Japan cut off imports from the Philippines, and cargo ships from Hawaii were diverted to military purposes. Fortunately, for many Uvalde residents, they were able to replace sugar with Uvalde honey.

Women and girls would meet trains carrying soldiers as they came through town. On Christmas Day in 1943, they presented the soldiers with 125 pounds of cracked pecans.

Flight officer Willie Davis Collins, son of Mr. and Mrs. Carvel Collins and a Mustang pilot, was reported missing in March of 1944. In July of 1944, Knox Carlisle was wounded in France and sent to England to recuperate. Wayne Howard, a member of Patton’s Third Army, died on Nov. 10 at Metz, and Lt. Douglas Flowers, a bomber pilot, was shot down over Italy on Nov. 11.

The Uvalde County quota for bandages was 47,000. Ninety percent of all bandages used by the Red Cross were made by Red Cross volunteers. During March of 1945, Donald H. Dill, campaign chairman, announced that the annual Red Cross War Fund campaign in Uvalde and Real counties had raised $9,400, one-half of their goal. The citizens of Knippa gave $250.

Victory gardens were essential to the war effort. In March of 1945 residents were called on to plant more and bigger victory gardens. Residents could sign a pledge at the city water office and get a greatly reduced water rate, but the resident had to agree to plant not less than five vegetables in a minimum area of 150 square feet. A chicken ordinance became necessary as chickens were running loose and destroying victory gardens. Wire was released from government restrictions so that people could fence their gardens and contain their chickens.

Young and old were involved in the war effort. Boy Scouts were collecting waste paper and Girl Scouts were collecting waste fats which were taken to Blackburn’s Grocery. A campaign to collect used, serviceable clothing to send to Europe resulted in a freight carload of clothing.

On Arbor Day in March of 1945, 12 trees were planted to honor Uvalde men killed in the war: Albert Capt, Santiago Esparza, Douglas Flowers, Wayne Howard, Cecil Irwin, Johnny May, Archie Robey, George L. Stidham, Herbert Swift, Valeriano Torres, Raul Uriegas and Antonio Valle.

By April of 1945 the war effort in Europe was winding down; plans for Victory in Europe Day were announced by the chamber of commerce. Plans called for the immediate closing of all businesses and schools with news of the collapse of Germany. A patriotic gathering was to be held at the plaza featuring the high school band and speakers. As a result of the victory in Europe, gas rations changed from four to six gallons.

The war in the Pacific ended on Aug. 14, 1945, when Japan surrendered to the Allies. One month prior to the surrender, Seaman First Class Robert R. “Bobby” Racer, serving on the USS Kete, became the first submarine casualty from Uvalde County. Racer was from Sabinal and was lost at sea along with 86 other men when the ship was en route to Midway. Its fate remains a mystery.

Of the hundreds of Uvalde County men who enlisted in the war, at least 44 gave their lives for their country. It was a sad time for the families back home, but the war brought out the very best in the people of the county.

Bobby Racer. Former Sabinal resident Racer was lost at sea aboard the USS Kete, which disappeared in March of 1945.

Bobby Racer. Former Sabinal resident Racer was lost at sea aboard the USS Kete, which disappeared in March of 1945.

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