Walking to My Promised Land

By Worth C. Hampton

One soldier's journey to get back home to the country and family that he loved.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Jul 4, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543937695

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1941

I was born on Spring St. in Gainesville, Ga., Sept. 26, 1915. The name Worth, my Mother told me, was common at the time. My people moved to Anderson, S.C., when I was one year old, first to Biggs St., then to K St. and later to P St. and Nixon St. Later when I was about 15, we moved to Gossett St., where I stayed until I went into the Army on Jan . 23, 1941. My Father, Mother and three brothers, Bill, Homer and Ted, had moved to Williamston, S.C. about two years before but I stayed on at Riverside Boarding House ran by Mr. and Mrs. M.M. Thomas.

I had a good friend, Martin Majeski, at Riverside, and we had a lot of fun together and then joined the Army together and went to Fort Bragg. We were put on the Blue Ridge Train under the street in Anderson. I remember the smoke, I had never ridden on a train before and the smoke blew in the window. Trains back then were coal burners. We had been given lunch bags by Sgt. Blackwell, the recruiting sergeant in Anderson, and we had a train picnic. We rode between Riverside and Toxaway Mills and across the Rocky River. I thought I would never see Anderson again. We went to Belton, S.C., and changed trains for Charlotte, N.C. I had never seen a town that big! In the Charlotte Post Office, we were sworn into the Army. Since Martin stood on my right, his serial number was one number higher than mine. I was 14037578, his was 14037579.

From Charlotte, N.C., we were carried by bus to Fayetteville, N.C., nine miles from Fort Bragg. From Fayetteville, we went by special bus to Fort Bragg. We arrived in the early night and were carried by the guard to the guard house where we slept until morning when we were carried to F Battery, 17th FA (Field Artillery). Back in Anderson, S.C., Sgt. Blackwell had told us that the 17th FA were in nice red brick barracks but we now found out that they had just moved into portable tents on Smoke Bomb Hill. Cold, I mean it was cold on Smoke Bomb Hill in January! The wind whipped across the artillery range right into our camp. We had little coal burning heaters which didn’t throw out much heat. We had to depend on our 5 blankets to keep us warm. There were 7 of us, all new recruits. The sparks from the little coal heaters sometimes set the tent on fire, so some men ended up with no tent. Each tent held 6 men.

Our training began under Corp. Denton in the battery street. I remember, the wind blew so hard that we could hardly hear the commands. Once, Martin misunderstood the command, to the rear march, and went the wrong direction. I remember when he came running up and fell in again. As our training advanced, we began to go on trips to the range. At first, we didn’t take anything but the trucks and would only sit in position about 10 minutes, then come back and have donuts and coffee in the kitchen. These maneuvers always happened at night. We usually got back about 10:30 P.M. and came into the kitchen for our coffee and donuts. Boy, that was good after that cold! I remember, one night we had Major Arnold, our Battalion Commander, with us to eat donuts and coffee. He was standing with our Battery Commander, I believe, James H. McCord and looking at the men. He motioned for me to come forward and he ask me what I wanted to do in the Battery. I told him that I wanted to learn how to shoot the battery. He turned to Sgt. McCord and told him to put me in the instrument and survey section when I had finished the basic training. This was done and I was never in any other section and became section leader later. Martin and me went into Fayetteville several times to the movies. Fayetteville, N.C. was a bigger town than our hometown, Anderson and the agricultural business was tobacco, rather than cotton, as it was in Anderson.

As our training advanced, we began to maneuver around on the range, which was very large and contained all kinds of terrain, forests, lakes and rivers and some mountains. Perfect to maneuver on. The main road down the center of the artillery range was Longstreet, a road named after the great Confederate General. Other roads were so named.

The Sergeant Commander of my instrument and survey section was away in an Army hospital, I think. I never saw him. Corporal Hagstotz commanded the section. He was of German descent. About three months after I was in the Army, he was transferred. I don’t know why or when but I never saw him again. This made me the Senior Private in the section and I was soon made Private First Class and then Corporal. The draft had started now and all the Batterys were filled along with the sections. Any of the drafted men who had at least a high school education were placed in the instrument and survey section. I soon had 10 or 12 men, some college men among them. Soon I was made Buck Sergeant, which was a great honor. This advancement was not necessarily because I was any smarter than the others but because I was there before the drafted men and because the Army was expanding fast. Fort Bragg, N.C. was an artillery post and we had 25 regiments of Field Artillery, I was told, both animal and motorized. It was a wonderful thing to see as they moved along the road. This was especially beautiful sight on parade day. One parade day, we had a great honor. President Franklin Roosevelt and his staff and many other civilians and military leaders inspected us. This was about August of 1941.

At this time in 1941, we were planning a great maneuver in South Carolina and North Carolina and Louisiana. There were many rumors of war with Germany. The war in Europe was about two years old having started Sept. 1, 1939 against Poland. Now England and France opposed Germany and her ally, Italy. Russia and Germany had an agreement of friendship but Russia was not fighting against England and France.

Before 1941 maneuvers, Virginia and I had planned to be married when it was over, about December of 1941. Virginia Majeski was the cousin of my best friend, Martin Majeski, who was with me at Fort Bragg. So, the maneuvers started about the first of September and we were with the Blue Army and were opposed the Red Army. This war was made as realistic as it could be, planes bombed us with small bags of flour and tanks rushed us and artillery was pulled into a new position nearly every day. We learned many new things which helped us later in the real thing. I’m sure glad that we had the time before the active war to train our drafted. They were unhappy because they had been drafted in October of the year before. For one year now, the rumor was that they would be kept an additional year. During the SC and NC maneuvers, they went around writing with chalk everywhere, over the hill in October. I think some of them meant it. The moral was low. They actually wrote, Ohio, which meant that they were going over the hill or deserting in October. (When they finished their maneuvers). Some may have carried out this threat but I didn’t hear of any that did. We kept them busy, I guess they didn’t have time to think about this.

The maneuvers moved on through November 1941 into December and Virginia and I set our plans to be married Dec. 7, 1941, after the maneuver. I had a furlough beginning December 6,1941, and when we got back to our area at Fort Bragg, I turned my section over to Corp. Yates and headed home to be married the next day. I stopped in Williamston, S.C. and borrowed my Dad’s new 1940 Chevrolet car and went on to Anderson to see Virginia. I drove back to Williamston that night and spent the night with Dad and Mom. Next day, I returned to Anderson to be married at the First Presbyterian Church. Dr. Appleby was to perform the ceremony.

As I drove down South Main St. on the way to Flat Rock to pick up Virginia, with the car radio playing and the breeze blowing into the open windows, there came an attention, stand by for a special announcement on the radio. I pulled over to the left into Mr. Russell’s yard where Sky City now is. I sat there and listened. We somehow knew, even during maneuvers, that war was near. The announcer said, The Japanese have bombed Pearl Harbor and all soldiers are to return to their home station. All leaves are canceled. Return to your home station immediately.

Can you realize how I felt? I knew it would be a struggle to get back to Fort Bragg with thousands, who had been on maneuvers and on furlough now trying to get back there. I went on down to Virginia’s Dad’s house and told her good-by. We didn’t know when or if we would ever see each other again or ever get married. I guess it was worse on her than me because I had the problem of getting back to Fort Bragg and the war to think about and she didn’t.

I got back to Dad’s and gave him back his car and caught the last bus toward Charlotte. Remember, it was Dec.7, 1941, Pearl Harbor Day. Before we got to Charlotte, the bus was over crowded with soldiers. No civilians were allowed on. The bus lines were putting on new extra buses and no civilians rode that day. We moved slow because of all the troops and didn’t reach Charlotte until after daylight Dec. 8 (Monday).

I have never seen such a sight as I saw between the bus station and Post Office in Charlotte. Thousands of soldiers, in every kind of condition and every kind of uniform were trying to get into Fort Bragg, which was about 96 miles away. Later, all buses which came into town were unloaded of civilians and packed with soldiers and sent off toward Fort Bragg. The crowd of soldiers did not seem to decrease. Later in the afternoon, the military police began stopping passenger cars and putting all civilians except the driver out into the parking lot. The cars were filled with gas and soldiers and directed toward Fort Bragg. I don’t know what happened to the people, women and children who were taken off the private cars and the cars filled with soldiers, but someone said the Red Cross took care of them. I saw some wonderful things happen while I waited in the middle of the street in front of the Post Office and bus station. Some of the soldiers got drunk and passed out in the middle of the street and I saw uniformed civilian police pick them up easily and carefully and carry them over to the court house lawn, where they would not be hit by a car. They laid them down with great care. I am afraid that a few days before, they would not be treated so well. I remember a Rudyard Kipling poem about British soldiers called Tommys, which were the same as our GIs. He wrote, For it’s ‘Tommy this , an’ Tommy that, an’ chuck him out, the brute!’ But it’s ‘Savior of it’s country’, when the guns began to shoot! I saw great examples of unity between soldiers and the civilians. One woman was helping and telling everyone to treat them carefully because she hoped her son in Hawaii was ok. All this made me real proud of my country. The Army was unified because of Pearl Harbor. I had been afraid for our unity before Dec. 7, but not now. The Army was ready to fight. I have thanked the Lord many times for the Japanese bombing Pearl Harbor. This was rough on the people killed and wounded there but without Pearl Harbor, I would have feared for our unity. The Army and the civilians were ready to fight after the Dec. 7th tragedy at Pearl Harbor.

I waited all day without food except cookies and coffee given out by the Red Cross and civilian women who were helping them. There weren’t any lines formed because there were just too many people. I doubt if the good people of Charlotte, N.C., have ever forgotten that day. When a car or bus was empty, the M.P.’s just pushed anybody in Army or Navy or Marine uniform into it. Some were packed so tight that they fell out the other side.

In the afternoon, word came down to give rides to engineer troops only. We thought that something new must be being built at Fort Bragg. I know, I do not remember all I saw during Dec.8,1941, but I do remember what a strange experience it was to be in the street between the bus station and the Post Office in Charlotte, N.C., that day. Finally, I was pushed into a Charlotte City Bus which was being used to haul soldiers to Fort Bragg. Boy, it felt good to sit down, even though I couldn’t move or hardly breath because of the packed soldiers. I remember, that the Highway Patrolmen led us toward Fort Bragg. It was dark but when we went through a little town, the civilians cheered us and the town police stopped all traffic to give us the right of way. We were Kings of the Hill that night! We were going pretty fast but it seemed a long time before we got into Fayetteville, N.C., which was the town for Fort Bragg. All the buses and cars from Charlotte were unloaded and turned around to bring up more soldiers. Fort Bragg is 9 miles from Fayetteville and we all had to find new rides. Things were easier than Charlotte because the Army and Police had everything organized. They called out each regiment and when they yelled, 17th Field Artillery he had a seat for me.

Things looked different now. The 9 miles from Fayetteville to Fort Bragg had always been lighted very bright but there were no lights that night. The Post M.P. kept stopping us to make sure we were all soldiers because Fort Bragg was, at that time, off limits to nonmilitary personal. Several M.P.’s came aboard before we got to the Post and when the bus got to the 17th Field Artillery regiment, each man’s papers were examined before he was allowed to get off. I remember the Post was black dark and strange that night and when I got off and walked across the parade ground in the dark toward F Battery, I fell into a deep wide hole that hadn’t been there before. Not only that, but I fell on two men sitting behind a mounted machine gun, who protested vigorously! By this time, my eyes were more accustomed to the dark and I saw the two men were from the 36th Field Artillery. I must have gotten off at the wrong regiment! Boy, a fellow could get killed walking around Fort Bragg on the night of Dec. 8,1941! The two men called the M.P.’s on their phone and they came and I identified myself and they carried me to the Battery Officers’ Quarters because I needed to see Sgt. McCord, my Battery Commander, since I was on furlough. It was after 11:00P.M. and no one was supposed to be out after that. I was challenged several times by guard post that had not been there when I had left Fort Bragg on the Saturday before. Man, this Post was getting on the alert as the men returned from their interrupted furlough. I expected to be given some duty as soon I reported to Sgt. McCord. The Sgt. was in his pajamas and reading behind blacked out windows. When I left the Post on Saturday, there had been no blacked-out windows. Things had really changed.

Sgt. McCord ,who was now a Lieutenant, greeted me and ask me if I had gotten married. I told him that I had not gotten married and was reporting for duty. I could see myself with a crew of men putting up black outs or digging new machine gun pits. Lt.. McCord must have been thinking what I was and felt sorry for me. He said, Well, we have no orders to move yet but expect them soon, so I’ll tell you what you must do. Get off the Post, as quick as you can, and go home and get married. I’ll notify you when we move and you can come to where we go. I’ll instruct Corp. Yates, your second in command, and he can handle your section until you catch up with us.

Boy, I never expected this but Lt.. McCord was really giving me a break. I got out of there as soon as I could and picked up my M.P.’s waiting at the door. They escorted me to where I could catch a bus and waited till one came. I’ll tell you, it could have been dangerous without them!

I then discovered something. It had been almost impossible to get to Fort Bragg that night, but going away from it was easy. I checked the buses going toward Charlotte from Fayetteville and found that one had just departed but the next one would be at 6 A.M. I had a wait of 5 and ½ hours, so I went to the Rosemont Hotel in Fayetteville and registered and ask to be called at 5:30A.M.

Safely aboard the bus the next morning, I had no problems, but I could see a lot of soldiers did have problems. Everything east bound toward Fort Bragg was still loaded with soldiers.

I arrived in Williamston S.C. at about 2:00P.M. and picked up Dad’s new 1940 Chevrolet again and arrived at Virginia’s house and picked her up after she dressed for the wedding. We got in touch with Dr. Appleby and also Robert Anderson and his wife, Lounell, to be witnesses. Robert, or Pete, as he was called, was my oldest, best friend. Since Pete was already married, I took him aside to question him about the ceremony and how much money to give the Preacher. Pete advised me on everything and especially the money. He said 5 dollars was the correct amount and to give it to him and he would give it to the Preacher. Imagine that, just $5! It must have been the correct amount because we are still married 45 years later! The best years of my life! I would never have amounted to anything without Virginia! Not that I have amounted to anything anyway but without her, I would have been less. We didn’t have much of a honeymoon because of the times. We couldn’t go anywhere because I felt it my duty to be at home when or if the Battery Commander called me. We stayed 20 days at the Majeski home and at my parents in Williamston. I helped Mr. Majeski on the farm and Virginia helped her mother in