CHRISTMAS 1942

CHRISTMAS 1942

By Andy Weddington

Tuesday, 24 December 2024

Christmas is a season not only of rejoicing but of reflection.  - Winston Churchill

Since yesterday, for whatever reason I've been thinking about Christmas 1942 in Salisbury, North Carolina.

Salisbury is the oldest continually populated colonial town in the western region of North Carolina, and county seat of Rowan County since 1753. 

And happens to be home to my parents and generations before them and family today. 

By way of "modern" history the soft drink Cheerwine (1917), grocery store Food Lion (1957 - Food Town), and Rack Room Shoes (1922 - Phil's Shoes) founded in Salisbury. 

From records search, the Eve's low was four degrees below freezing and Christmas Day three degrees higher for the low with highs in the 50s and no recorded precipitation. 

So a white Christmas but for dreaming - which could happen as the now nostalgic song, White Christmas, was just out (penned by Irving Berlin for the 1942 musical Holiday Inn).

America was a year into World War II.  

And men from Salisbury's population of little more than 19,000 were fighting in both theaters.

Barely six months earlier a boy of six would have learned a great uncle was killed at sea.

Most likely, his father broke the news in a way a first-grader could understand. ' ... a German submarine sank your great uncle's ship and your great uncle was one of six men who did not escape ... '

Imagine the thoughts, and questions, of a boy. 

The history is on Monday, July 13th U-boat 166 sank the S. S. Oneida off the coast of Cuba. Twenty-three of 29 crew survived.

Six men dead. 

Six families forever changed.

And twenty-three families forever changed, too. 

Christmas 1942, and every Christmas thereafter, different.

That casualty of war had earlier left Salisbury settling in coastal Virginia. His son, a young enlisted Marine, was fighting in the Pacific. 

But lots of family, and friends, in Salisbury prayed for their safety.

They grieved.  

Like most at six there was surely initial sadness but not lasting long. After all, there's more important matters at that age. 

So I've been thinking about that boy.

Too, reflecting on being a boy and the excitement and magic of Christmas. 

I wonder if that boy had any memory of the horrible July news. 

And what Christmas 1942 was like for him.

Such as life goes, answers never to be known.

The boy now gone nearly 11 years - kept secrets; some sea deep. He'd have turned 89 a month ago today.

Merry Christmas, dad! 

Merry Christmas, great uncle Francis Bost Weddington - casualty of war. (Junior survived the war.)

Ironically, forecast low and high temperatures for today and tomorrow in Salisbury are damn near exactly those 82 years ago. 

But, I'm still dreaming of a white Christmas (plan to catch Holiday Inn later today)! 

Yes, Cheerwine (rare treat) in the fridge. 

Merry Christmas one and all!