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Jesup, Georgia 31545

Wednesday, December 12, 2012

75

Our familys Pearl Harbor story has roots in Americus

Signature storiestold and retold define a family, providing connectivity from one generation to the next. On Dec. 8, 2012, I listenedyet another time DINK to what hapNeSMITH pened 25,916 Chairman days ago. For Marjorie Vines NeSmith, the infamous day was yesterday. As we turned into the circle of my mothers alma mater, Georgia SouthWestern, I watched her chin quiver. The corners of her azure eyes moistened. And then she began to narrate, as if she had a 71-year-old newsreel stored beneath her 88-year-old silver hair.

My Opinion
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Dec. 6, 1941, had been a joyous day on the Americus campus. Coeds had been busy swapping gowns, so every young lady would have a new dress to wear to the Saturday dance. We jitterbugged the night away, she said. We listened to a new voice of the Tommy Dorsey OrchestraFrank Sinatra. As the records spun, couples twirled across the gymnasiums varnished hardwood. Dabbing her eyes, she said, We had such a good time. As we drove near Sanford Hall, I knew to slow down. I could tell she was searching for the spot. Seconds passed, and she said, Its not there, but it was right here. The stone bench was gone, but not the memory of Sunday afternoon, Dec. 7, 1941. The valedictorian of Warwick High School, a cute, 17-year-old, curly-headed brunette, was sitting on a bench in front of her dormitory. Along with other girls, she was reliving the night before while

studying for the next days exams. Thats when they heard the raucousness rolling their way. The horn of a 1939 Ford was honk, honk, honking. The car was sausage-stuffed with boys. Some were clinging to the running boards. All were yelling: The Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor! We didnt know what to think, she said. We didnt know where Pearl Harbor was, but we knew our lives would be changed forever. As the sun set that night, students gathered on the steps of Wheatley Hall, the administration building, for a vespers service. We held hands, we prayed, she said. And we sanga cappellaGod Bless America. It was beautiful. The Greatest Generation will never forget what happened on Dec. 7, 1941just as Sept. 11, 2001, jarred the souls of every American generation since Pearl Harbor Day. When I stopped my vehicle in front of Wheatley Hall, Mother dabbed her eyes, again. Waiting for us was the universitys president, Dr. Kendall Blanchard. He had invited me to give the gradua-

Georgia SouthWestern State University president, Dr. Kendall Blanchard, and alumnae Marjorie NeSmith point to where she was sitting on Dec. 7, 1941, when she heard Pearl Harbor had been bombed. tion commencement address. He suspected I wouldnt say no. He knew Georgia SouthWestern is embedded in my familys soul, through this signature story. Mother remembers boys rushing from campus to enlist on Dec. 8, 1941. She remembers being caught up in patriotism, too. She had dreamed of becoming a teacher. A scholarship was helping make that dream come true, but if her friends were willing to fight for freedom, she must do her part in the war effort, too. She put down her studies and went to work. In 1946, she married her war hero. Three children followed. College was put on holdforever. Thats why Dec. 8, 2001, was important. I wanted Mothermy teacher of important life lessonsto revisit her alma mater and tell me, again, what happened so long ago. On the next visitthanks to her eight great-grandsonsa new bench will be waiting on the spot, near Sanford Hall at Georgia Southwestern. They, too, will want their children to know where this old signature family story began on Dec. 7, 1941. dnesmith@cninewspapers.com