Same side of the family, but on the Garwood side, provided Union soldiers for the Civil War. One of them was imprisoned in Andersonville, the most horrific prisoner of war camp in that war. He survived and went on to live a productive and (I assume) a long and happy life, after his release.
My Grandfather Lyons, also on my mother's side, married to her Aunt Lavinia Lyons, who raised my mother and her sister, Sarah, after their mother died, fought in World War I, only he was stateside along the Mexican border during that fantastical history event when the Germans tried to enlist Mexico in a war against us.
I have a photo of him by his tent in an arid and dusty field.
World War II is where my father's side shows up. My father was in the Navy in both the North Atlantic and the South Pacific on troop transport ships. A story he told us had to do with a destroyer that was guarding them that was hit and sinking. the sailors who escaped were picked up by my father's ship and one of them was his own uncle, my Uncle Yock. Uncle Yock had been in World War I when he was underage and lied about his age, and again in World War II when he was over age but again, lied and got away with it and served in the navy. Both my father, his brother Clyde, and their Uncle Yock, came home alive and uninjured from the war. How lucky were we.
My brother served in Vietnam, and again, he is alive and well and living in West 'by God' Virginia on my father's property. My brother was in the marines, so we covered all the branches except the Coast Guard: Grandpop Lyons in the army, Cheeseman and Garwood in the army, Dad, Uncle Clyde and Uncle Yock in the Navy and my brother Joe in the marines.
Which brings me to my mother, Mary Lavinia, who worked at the Philadelphia Navy Yard to support the war effort. All I remember her telling me of her work there was that she was a courier which was great fun because she learned to drive and she got to drive a jeep.
One of the best history programs I have ever seen, and I have seen decades of them on every kind of war and history topic in all kinds of historic sites from Monmouth Battlefield to the Bayshore Discovery Project at Port Norris, was the presentation given by Stacy Roth, a history re-enactor. I have seen Stacy Roth portray Molly Pitcher, but my all time favorite was her portrayal of Rosie the Riveter. If you have read any other posts you may have seen me praising the artwork of Norman Rockwell, American's greatest illustrator and the chronicler of our world in the decades that he painted the covers used for the Saturday Evening Post. His cover of Rosie the Riveter is iconic and it was the first time I saw an image of that character who, like Molly Pitcher and Betsy Ross, stands in for all the women who supported all the great events of our nations history.
Stacy, when she portrayed Rosie the Riveter, had the works: she had the riveter equipment, she had a local woman who worked as a riveter and her diary. Stacy had numerous paper artifacts as well, magazines, booklets, and statistics on women war service in the local area. It was enlightening engaging and highly informative.
Once I even did a history performance of my own for World War II. At the time, Red Bank Battlefield was hosting a World War II re-enactors encampment. Although Red Bank Battlefield was a Revolutionary War site, its location on the Delaware made a a site for a World War II watchtower and lookout facility. Don't forget, we had German subs on our own Atlantic coast in New Jersey, and we were ever vigilant of the risk of them sneaking up the Delaware River.
World War II sites in South Jersey:
A few years ago, my cousin Patty and I went to visit the opening of the Cape May Fire Tower World War II exhibit. This fire tower was a lookout for subs on the coast. A very nice WWII veteran gave us a tour and we were honored to give a donation to the support of this memorial.
Another site I visited many many times hiking with my friends, Barbara Solem and Barbara Spector, was in Estelle, the site of the Belco Plant - the ruins of which are in the woods beside a wooded hiking trail. It is where they made shells for World War I.
Sea Girt has a museum now with an exhibit for World War Ii and when I get my new car I will definitely visit. It is a coast guard base museum but is currently sponsoring World War II exhibits.
The most amazing World War II site I have ever visited (back in 2010) in the U.S. was the Reading, Pa. largest WWII re-enactment in the WORLD. They had an entire French village to re-enact street by street combat, refurbished World War II aircraft flying air displays, jeeps, trucks, a German army camp, Red Cross, and even a USO show with singers and musicians. It was vast! I will look it up and see when it is happening again and I will let you know.
Here it is:
Mid-Atlantic 29th Anniversary Air Show and World War II Weekend June 7, 8, 9, 2019, Reading Pa.
DATES OF FUTURE WORLD WAR II WEEKENDS
In case you like to plan long-range, MAAM's WWII Weekend is always held the first full weekend (including Friday) in June. June 5-6-7, 2020; June 4-5-6, 2021; June 3-4-5, 2022; June 2-3-4, 2023 ; June 7-8-9, 2024.
Happy memories and Happy Trails - I hope your Memorial Day wa safe and enjoyable and that you took a minute to remember those who fought to keep us SAFE and FREE.
Jo Ann
wrightj45@yahoo.com
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