This past week your editor had the three albums that deceased member Louis Barra had updated back in the early 1990's of World War II veterans from Roanoke. (They are now the property of the Roanoke Museum, but had been obtained to use the information for the Woodford County Historical Society's books they are getting ready to publish). Your editor wanted to copy any information located in them about our current Legion members who served in WWII. We still have 18 of them as active members. Anyway, at the front of the booklet, there is the following introduction that Mr. Barra wrote. Since many of you have probably never read it, it is reproduced here (with some minor corrections to spelling, punctuation, etc. but no attempt at verification of data) as the 70th anniversary of Pearl Harbor draws near - the event that plunged the country into World War II.
THEY LEFT US FOR WORLD WAR II - by Louis Barra
I have compiled a three book pictorial and historical album, which is dedicated in honor of the many service men and women, who left the comfort of their homes in Roanoke and immediate surrounding areas. Some paid the supreme sacrifice with their lives, others endured severe hardships. To them and their families and loved ones, this album is an honorable memorial.
Prior to Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, a few men had volunteered for the Armed Service duty. Little notice was paid except an occasional news in the local Roanoke Post as the Fuhrer, Il Duce, and Tojo were grabbing up the headlines and loose real estate all over the globe. The outbreak of World War II for the United States started a chain reaction for volunteers for service. It was duly noted and pictures of the soldiers and sailors began to flock in to posted to the store windows of Herbst Grocery for locals to have a look see. The Herbst store is now in 1995 the Roanoke Variety & Pharmacy.
These photos postings became a task as soon as President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated the National Draft Lottery on October 29th, 1940. Draft boards were drawn up from every Woodford County town, with Roanoke being no exception. The Selective Service Board met in the courthouse at Eureka and selected for draft status able bodied men of age. Those selected were sent a "Dear John" letter or as it officially said, "The President wants you..." to report to Eureka for military duty on such and such a date. Selectees were given about a week to put their civil affairs in order, and then reported for their physical exams. Those who were declared fit for duty were classified "1A". Those who had physical disabilities or work duty related to the National interest had a lower classification and were exempt, but subject to later review.
As I mentioned before, the upswing of draftees and volunteers brought on a deluge of pictures to be posted to the uptown grocery store, and these displays were moved to the Dr. E.H. Wallace old building (dentist office). Now, in 1995, that was where the upstairs of today's barber shop is. Norene Herbst, assistant receptionist, diligently took over the task of posting the pictures for display. She also scanned the Roanoke Post, and Peoria & Bloomington papers, for news about service men and women to match the photograpsh. Norene started a 3"x5" file and kept it updated. The portrait shot pictures were furnished by Roanoke High School's infamous science teacher and camera bug, Brooks "Pop" Wiles.
AN OLD SCRAPBOOK TAKES OVER... World War II ended and the 230 some pictures were taken down. Norene kept her 3"x5" file, but the photos ended up in an old fashioned album. The pictures were randomly crammed in this album with not one name to identify the many service men and women in the scrapbook. It was then given to Roanoke American Legion Post #463, where it was viewed for a few years, then thrown into a back room for about 40 years of storage.
A NEW ALBUM IN THE MAKING... One day about three years ago, Harley Aeschleman, current 1995-96 Legion Commander, approached me to do something about fixing up that [old scrapbook], so I took it home and started.
The first task was to identify the photos which had no names on them. I removed the 300 pictures from the old scrapbook and placed them on a table where 5 or 6 of our World War II vets attempted to identify them. Of the 300 photos, 70 of them were duplicates, with some as many as 6 pictures of the same person. All but 16 servicemen were identified. A notice, with these photos, was placed in The Roanoke Review to the public to help with identification and a quick response was given to 9 names. Some calls were local and some were long distance. An ironic twist to this I.D. procedure was in one case where a sister and a sister-in-law gave positive identification but another caller out of town gave a wrong I.D. of that same soldier. Another soldier, who was since deceased, we had most of the name because of his sailor's uniform, but Norene Herbst, a stickler for detail. contacted his wife for more military information, and she replied he had been in the Army. So much for positive I.D. There are still 7 in that category, who's photos appear in the back of Album #2.
ADDING THE HISTORY TO THE PICTURE... With the pictures neatly in place, I went thru weekly issues of the 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944 and 1945 copies of the old Roanoke Post and jotted down service data. In the early years, service men and women wrote home and it was easy to find out where G.I.'s where located, but then censorship took over and they went overseas, giving only rank and unit. But the hitch came when only APO (Army Post Office) or FPO (Fleet Post Office) addresses were given. After much scrounging I found out Norene Herbst had all those 3"x5" card with all the service history I needed, which she graciously gave to me. I have a large military library at home and by talking to veterans and following recent newspapers, I have been able to add the service history to most of the photos.
CONTENT OF TWO PHOTO ALBUMS... There are about 230 pictures in the albums, most with extensive data and some with less. About 93 had no photos but many had good service history. About 25 of the 93 had no history at all - I suspect some of these were not called to duty.
Editor's Note: Part II tomorrow about some of the summaries, statistics and nostalgia that Mr. Barra added to his report.
THEY LEFT US FOR WORLD WAR II - by Louis Barra
I have compiled a three book pictorial and historical album, which is dedicated in honor of the many service men and women, who left the comfort of their homes in Roanoke and immediate surrounding areas. Some paid the supreme sacrifice with their lives, others endured severe hardships. To them and their families and loved ones, this album is an honorable memorial.Prior to Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, a few men had volunteered for the Armed Service duty. Little notice was paid except an occasional news in the local Roanoke Post as the Fuhrer, Il Duce, and Tojo were grabbing up the headlines and loose real estate all over the globe. The outbreak of World War II for the United States started a chain reaction for volunteers for service. It was duly noted and pictures of the soldiers and sailors began to flock in to posted to the store windows of Herbst Grocery for locals to have a look see. The Herbst store is now in 1995 the Roanoke Variety & Pharmacy.
These photos postings became a task as soon as President Franklin D. Roosevelt initiated the National Draft Lottery on October 29th, 1940. Draft boards were drawn up from every Woodford County town, with Roanoke being no exception. The Selective Service Board met in the courthouse at Eureka and selected for draft status able bodied men of age. Those selected were sent a "Dear John" letter or as it officially said, "The President wants you..." to report to Eureka for military duty on such and such a date. Selectees were given about a week to put their civil affairs in order, and then reported for their physical exams. Those who were declared fit for duty were classified "1A". Those who had physical disabilities or work duty related to the National interest had a lower classification and were exempt, but subject to later review.
As I mentioned before, the upswing of draftees and volunteers brought on a deluge of pictures to be posted to the uptown grocery store, and these displays were moved to the Dr. E.H. Wallace old building (dentist office). Now, in 1995, that was where the upstairs of today's barber shop is. Norene Herbst, assistant receptionist, diligently took over the task of posting the pictures for display. She also scanned the Roanoke Post, and Peoria & Bloomington papers, for news about service men and women to match the photograpsh. Norene started a 3"x5" file and kept it updated. The portrait shot pictures were furnished by Roanoke High School's infamous science teacher and camera bug, Brooks "Pop" Wiles.AN OLD SCRAPBOOK TAKES OVER... World War II ended and the 230 some pictures were taken down. Norene kept her 3"x5" file, but the photos ended up in an old fashioned album. The pictures were randomly crammed in this album with not one name to identify the many service men and women in the scrapbook. It was then given to Roanoke American Legion Post #463, where it was viewed for a few years, then thrown into a back room for about 40 years of storage.
A NEW ALBUM IN THE MAKING... One day about three years ago, Harley Aeschleman, current 1995-96 Legion Commander, approached me to do something about fixing up that [old scrapbook], so I took it home and started.
The first task was to identify the photos which had no names on them. I removed the 300 pictures from the old scrapbook and placed them on a table where 5 or 6 of our World War II vets attempted to identify them. Of the 300 photos, 70 of them were duplicates, with some as many as 6 pictures of the same person. All but 16 servicemen were identified. A notice, with these photos, was placed in The Roanoke Review to the public to help with identification and a quick response was given to 9 names. Some calls were local and some were long distance. An ironic twist to this I.D. procedure was in one case where a sister and a sister-in-law gave positive identification but another caller out of town gave a wrong I.D. of that same soldier. Another soldier, who was since deceased, we had most of the name because of his sailor's uniform, but Norene Herbst, a stickler for detail. contacted his wife for more military information, and she replied he had been in the Army. So much for positive I.D. There are still 7 in that category, who's photos appear in the back of Album #2.ADDING THE HISTORY TO THE PICTURE... With the pictures neatly in place, I went thru weekly issues of the 1941, 1942, 1943, 1944 and 1945 copies of the old Roanoke Post and jotted down service data. In the early years, service men and women wrote home and it was easy to find out where G.I.'s where located, but then censorship took over and they went overseas, giving only rank and unit. But the hitch came when only APO (Army Post Office) or FPO (Fleet Post Office) addresses were given. After much scrounging I found out Norene Herbst had all those 3"x5" card with all the service history I needed, which she graciously gave to me. I have a large military library at home and by talking to veterans and following recent newspapers, I have been able to add the service history to most of the photos.
CONTENT OF TWO PHOTO ALBUMS... There are about 230 pictures in the albums, most with extensive data and some with less. About 93 had no photos but many had good service history. About 25 of the 93 had no history at all - I suspect some of these were not called to duty.
Editor's Note: Part II tomorrow about some of the summaries, statistics and nostalgia that Mr. Barra added to his report.
