By Buddy Sexton While so many
other veterans of the second World War recount gripping stories of
front-line confrontations with the enemy and such, 83-year-old Mack
Cranford of Denton considers himself “lucky” to have received an
assignment in our homeland rather than overseas. Though he humbly
exalts those who “experienced the horrors of battle,” as he put it,
Mack’s contribution to the war effort was no less honorable.
Mack Cranford, a member of the Denton Lions Club for more
than 50 years, entered military service in 1943 with an induction at
Fort Jackson, SC. He was sent to Miami Beach, FL for basic training,
where performed calisthenics on the beach and practiced drills on a
converted golf course. Upon completion of basic training, Mack was
transferred to Gulfport Army/Air Force Aircraft Mechanic School in
Gulfport, MS, and later to Curtis Wright Factory School in Buffalo,
NY. Once his education at Factory School was complete, Mack was
assigned to RAAB – Reno Army Air Base – in Reno, NV.
RAAB
held the task of training pilots to fight in WWII, as well as to
keep planes in good running order and air worthy. Cranford’s job at
RAAB included the latter. And while he took his job seriously, the
old saying rang true: “All work and no play makes Mack a dull
boy.”
“One of the most enjoyable things I remember about
being in service was my involvement in sports,” he said. “RAAB had a
basketball team and a baseball team that I played on throughout the
southwestern section of the US. I remember playing the famous Harlem
Globetrotters, and I remember the antics they pulled on us! I
remember that we (RAAB) had a good baseball team too – the Reno
Flyers…”
So good, in fact, that Cranford appeared in a 1944
issue of the Reno Times just after he made Nevada’s All State team.
Reno Flyers coach spoke highly of Mack’s ability. “He is another
natural ballplayer,” the coach said. “He is a slow moving big boy
that can really move when the chips are down. He patrols his section
of the daisies like a bird dog after a brace of grouse on a cool
autumn morning.
“Mack excels at the plate and now carries
one of the highest batting averages on the Flyer roster,” Coach
continued. “He is never excited, never ruffled and never bothered by
the antics of the opponent, nor by the way a ball game progresses.
Few of the fans in the stand even know that he is on the field.
Cranford makes every play look easy.”
While stationed at
RAAB, Cranford not only enjoyed the support he received from his
coaches and peers, but he also appreciated the support shown by
citizens for service men in general. He recalled a particular train
terminal that was especially welcoming to soldiers.
“About
all of the traveling was done by rail in the States,” he explained.
“The early rail system of our nation was set up to ship cattle into
and out of Chicago, IL. Therefore, most veterans went through
Chicago several times during their tour of duty. Train
transportation in the 1940s was not as comfortable as it is today.
It was rather strenuous…”
“However, at North Platte, NE,
which is about 400 miles west of Chicago, there’s a place where cars
were switched to different rail lines for different destinations,”
he continued. “That terminal had a special section for military men.
The ladies of that community – mothers, sisters, and perhaps wives
of service men – hosted a special area for us. They provided great
snacks, or in some cases meals, and oftentimes there was some local
entertainment to help us pass the time during our lay
over.
“What was especially nice was that, if you had a
birthday, the ladies hosting this would present you with your own
birthday cake. They would lead everyone in singing, ‘Happy Birthday
to You!’ Oftentimes this was done by someone who had a son in
service. That made it more special for the service men, and for the
mothers of the service men. It was not as good as being home with
you own mother, but it helped!”
Cranford said that particular
community was wonderfully supportive in the effort to welcome the
soldiers, with all area churches and civic organizations
participating. “It was a tremendous morale-booster for all of the
service men who had a lay over there,” he said. “Though most towns
had a USO (United Service Organization), the effort the community of
North Platte, NE, put into their USO was memorable.”
Hearing
Mack’s account of the North Platte USO brings home who the service
men really were; most of the time, they were not thought of as
“service men” or “military men” – they were referred to as “our
boys.” In fact, the support shown to the fighting men during WWII is
what many people believe won the war.
As many recall,
Victory Gardens were planted in an effort to support our military,
the notion being that “an Army marches on its stomach – our boys
must be fed!”
Additionally, War Bonds were sold to help
finance the war, and citizens at home made sacrifices through gas
and sugar rationing as well as tire allocation. Blood drives were
held often for troops. And women went to work…
During the
1940s, women became skilled workers in shipyards, doing jobs
previously performed only by men. Riveting Rosy was a patriotic
concept promoted for the war effort, and she became the face of
countless wives, girlfriends, and family members who were making the
unspoken sacrifice of working in the place of their men. But
working wasn’t the only thing these fine ladies were doing back
home. Because the draft of all the young men into service
complicated courtship and marriage, many of their “girls” spent a
good deal of time waiting…
• • •
Hilda’s
story
“Mack came in on furlough a few times,” said Hilda
Cranford, Mack’s wife for nearly 62 years. “The last time he came
back to Denton we planned to get married, but my mother talked me
out of it. Mother said, ‘Hilda, wait until he gets his military
orders and base assignment! Then you can get married. Right now, you
have a job and a place to stay. If Mack gets orders for overseas,
you could end up back in Denton with no job!’
“I took her
advice,” Hilda continued, “and then, when Mack was assigned to the
RAAB, we decided to get married.”
Her parents still wanted
Hilda to wait, as war conditions and military restrictions prevented
them from knowing if Mack was being transferred to another base or
not. That disappointment had already happened to several would-be
wives, Hilda recalled. Her parents were afraid that she would travel
out to Reno but Mack wouldn’t be there. He could have been shipped
out at anytime and would have been unable to call her. Furthermore,
they were not keen on the idea of their daughter traveling alone to
Reno from Denton. Her father insisted that he should go with her if
she was to make the trip.
“There was no way I was going to go
out there to get married and have my Daddy tagging along after me
every minute!” Hilda laughed.
Because she had been working
at a local furniture company, Biltwell, long enough to accumulate a
two-week vacation, Hilda decided to use her time to travel out to
Reno and, if possible, marry Mack. As she boarded the train in
Greensboro, heavy thoughts loomed of her arriving in Reno to find he
had been transferred; still, she knew she had to take that chance.
Hilda was seated in a car reserved only for women. This “luxury”
allowed her a little more comfort and an opportunity to make some
friends along the way.
After three days and three nights of
riding the rails, she arrived in Nevada at 10 p.m. – exhausted but
relieved. Her Mack was right where she had hoped he would
be.
Straightaway, they executed a plan to get married, and
with her “vacation” time slipping away, they used their time wisely.
Mack and Hilda had befriended another Air Force couple, Carl and
Frances Ashby from Madisonville, Kentucky. It was Frances who helped
Hilda find a job at a dry cleaner in the area, and once they had
gotten an apartment, they were ready to “set up housekeeping,” Hilda
said.
“On the day I was to return to work at the Biltwell
Chair & Furniture Company in Denton – July 8, 1944 – I called
them and said, ‘I will not be coming to work today because I am
getting married TODAY!’” Hilda said with joy.
Out of sheer
luck, Mack and Hilda had made friends with a Rodeo photographer who
was originally from Winston-Salem. The gentleman photographed
their wedding as a gift – a token they cherish to this
day.
“Frances, whom I had known for less than two weeks,
became my Maid of Honor, and Carl was Mack’s Best Man in our
wedding,” she said as she pondered over their wedding day
photo.
The photograph and relating story are reminiscent of
the Biblical account of Ruth and her commitment to Naomi, as she
said, “Wherever thou goest, I will go, and your people shall be my
people.”
That concept is still true today, as military wives
– both then and now – must have that kindred commitment.
The
friendship that blossomed that summer of 1944 has thrived over the
years, as Mack and Hilda continue to visit the Ashbys often (the
couple’s children live in Greensboro.) “Frances was like a big
sister to me when I needed one,” said Hilda. “Reno was hot, we were
poor, and 2,500 miles away from our friends and parents, but it was
fine because I had him (Mack)!
“In looking back, those days
were some of the happiest times of our lives,” continued Hilda.
“Being off by ourselves was a good way to start our marriage – or
any marriage. We learned to enjoy one day at a time, and to be happy
with what time we had together. It was a time in our country when
uncertainty was the norm. We lived together with the fear and
anxiety that Mack could be transferred at any time to anywhere in
the world.”
Still, in spite of their fear of the unknown, the
newlyweds made some wonderful memories in Reno. Hilda recounted one
of Mack’s baseball games, “He had made a good hit that really helped
his team,” she said, “and so I jumped up and shouted, ‘That’s my
husband!’ It kind of embarrassed me at the time, but I was so proud
of him.”
• • •
He was her knight in shining armor and
eight feet tall in her eyes (although, to look at his RAAB Flyers
bastketball photo from 1944, Mack really does look as if he’s eight
feet tall in comparison to the 11-foot bastketball rim behind him.)
He was her new husband, and she was proud to be his wife.
In
the fall of 1945, Hilda returned to Denton, as she and Mack were
expecting the arrival of their first child the following February.
In due course, Mack was ordered to Fort Bragg for discharge. Their
daughter Sharon was born February 14, 1946, in High Point, and Mack
recalled the trip home from the hospital with his wife and newborn
daughter.
“I remember when Hilda, our newborn daughter Sharon
and I left the High Point Hospital and traveled to Denton,” he said.
“It was the same day that I was discharged from the service –
February 24, 1946. We felt extremely blessed that I could hold our
newborn daughter in my arms.”
Mack expressed agreement with
fellow veteran and Lions Club member Ozzie Freund, who commented in
last week’s article, “My hat goes off to those men who had to
experience the horrors of battle.”
“When I look down the
street from my front yard, I can see the house of the late Hiram
Ward,” said Mack. “I am reminded that his airplane was shot down
behind the Japanese lines and he was wounded. Hiram Ward was very
lucky to finally get back to the Allied lines and later back home to
Denton.
“Another neighbor of mine and also a Lion, Elwood
Dockham, was a replacement pilot in the Japanese theater where 30 to
40% of the pilots were lost from various squadrons,” he continued.
“And Lions member (John) Lomax was a part of Patton’s 3rd Army.
Patton’s 3rd Army pushed the German Army back from France to
Germany; Lomax was a part of the detachment that liberated the
infamous Ohrdruf Concentration Camp in April 1945.
“I am glad
that I was not given the orders to participate in any of those
missions,” Cranford said with reverence. “There are several men in
this community who still carry WWII scars from where they were
wounded. Many husbands and fathers died before they ever had the
opportunity to see or hold their child in their arms. I can name
several citizens from this community that I entered the service
with, but who did not come back home. Hilda and I have traveled
overseas and we have seen the huge graveyards on foreign soil where
service men are buried. YES! Hilda and I felt extremely lucky! I
have and will continue to have an abiding respect and appreciation
for those service men that experienced the horrors of war first
hand!”
Today, the Cranfords continue to be active in their
church, in civic endeavors, and in our community. In addition to
their daughter, Sharon, Mack and Hilda have been blessed with three
grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
They were also
blessed with a son, Rodney, in 1951. Sadly, Rodney died from
injuries received in an auto accident in December 1985, but they
continue to honor his memory by working in conjunction with the NC
Adopt-A-Highway program through the adoption of Highway 47 East.
They also volunteer with a group for bereaved parents, Compassionate
Friends, which meets monthly at Lexington Memorial
Hospital.
Additionally, Mack and Hilda volunteer with Meals
on Wheels and assist with BINGO at Mountain Vista Health Park. They
have been recognized many times over the years and given numerous
civic and church awards. And as was mentioned in the beginning of
this article, Mack has given more than 50 years of service to the
Denton Lions Club.
It is a tribute to Cranford that the very
first piece of memorabilia that he brought out to show during the
interview was a New Testament Bible, given to him from Central
United Methodist Church in Denton and dated February 1943. Cranford
is still a member there today. He has kept this New Testament Bible
all these years as a mark of respect to his church and to the people
of this community who prayed for him and his wife during a very
difficult time in his life and in the life of our
country.
Our community – our nation – owes a debt of
gratitude to all of the people who had a positive impact on the
outcome of WWII. It was truly a heroic effort by every American.
That is why these WWII veterans, and their wives, are called “the
Greatest Generation.”
.
Local woman charged with selling
beer to minors
A local woman has been charged with
selling beer to minors at her home on Jim Elliot Road south of
Denton.
At approximately 1 a.m. on the morning of Saturday,
June 17, Davidson County Sheriff’s Deputies responded to a tip that
the woman, identified as 44-year-old Alice O’Conner Deaton, was
selling beer from a keg to underage persons at $5.00 a head for all
they could drink. When deputies arrived at the home, they found
several people “standing around with cups and bottles of beer in
their hands, consuming the beer,” reports said. Aside from the
homeowner, all persons present ranged in age from 16 to 20 years
old.
The minors were transported to the Davidson County
Sheriff’s Office, where they were cited for Underage Consumption of
Alcohol and released to their parents.
Deaton was taken into
custody at her home and arrested on 16 counts of Sell/Give Malt
Beverage to Persons Under the Age of 21. She was placed in the
Davidson County Jail under $10,000 secured bond.
