I've talked about a lot of little known WWII facts this week, but I wanted to talk about some local information.
Hometown Heritage:
One of our local men, Mr. Lloyd Beauchamp, was up at college in Georgia when the US entered WWII. He was studying to become a doctor. The college he was attending closed (Author’s note: I’d never given any thought to the fact that it was primarily men that were attending college at this time. Colleges were closing across the country because scores of men were enlisting.). He, and his friend, took the train back to Gainesville.
Mr. Lloyd and his friend went to try to enlist in the Army. They stood in line a majority of the day, there were just so many men voluntarily enlisting. He and his friend were determined to join the Army on the Buddy System. Unfortunately, Mr. Beauchamp got turned away because he was blind in one eye. He asked what he could do to help with the war effort, given that he was unable to serve. They told him that if he wanted to help, he could go home and farm because the Country was going to need food. See, so many of the young farmers were enlisting, and they could foresee that the country was going to have a food shortage.
Hometown Heritage:
One of our local men, Mr. Lloyd Beauchamp, was up at college in Georgia when the US entered WWII. He was studying to become a doctor. The college he was attending closed (Author’s note: I’d never given any thought to the fact that it was primarily men that were attending college at this time. Colleges were closing across the country because scores of men were enlisting.). He, and his friend, took the train back to Gainesville.
Mr. Lloyd and his friend went to try to enlist in the Army. They stood in line a majority of the day, there were just so many men voluntarily enlisting. He and his friend were determined to join the Army on the Buddy System. Unfortunately, Mr. Beauchamp got turned away because he was blind in one eye. He asked what he could do to help with the war effort, given that he was unable to serve. They told him that if he wanted to help, he could go home and farm because the Country was going to need food. See, so many of the young farmers were enlisting, and they could foresee that the country was going to have a food shortage.
The food shortage did come to fruition. The US implemented wartime rationing. In fact, Mr. Lloyd’s wife, Mrs. Doris, gave her daughter, Mrs. Cindy Jo, her old ration coupon book. Whether you had money or not, if you did not have your ration coupon for a certain item, you were not allowed to buy it. By the end of the war, the restrictions on most items, and gasoline were lifted. However, the rationing of sugar lasted until 1947 (Schumm, 2014).
Mr. Lloyd never returned to college to become a doctor after the war, he continued to farm. It’s eye-opening to me, how even here in a small town like Chiefland, lives were greatly changed and affected by WWII.
Did you know that our little Cross City Airport played a part in WWII?
It was opened as a public airport in 1940. In August of 1942, it was used as an active training base for the Air Forces School of Applied Tactics. The Air Force then began the construction to make the airport a dive bomber military training airfield. It was used as part of the Army Air Forces Centers Combat Simulation School in North Central Florida; and also served as a unit training center by Third Air Force (http://military.wikia.com/wiki/Cross_City_Air_Force_Station).
Local Lore:
The Black Diamond Restaurant that is located between Chiefland and Fanning Springs, was a hub back during the WWII. It’s been told that because of the influx of pilots training in Cross City, the girls from the Tri-County area would flock to The Black Diamond with the hopes of finding themselves a pilot.
One of the local restaurants in Chiefland during the early 40s, had a huge world map on the wall. Local people would come in and put their soldiers name on a napkin or a slip of paper and tack it to the map, where they were currently at. This helped the community keep track of where the local soldiers were.
Schumm, Laura (2014). Food Rationing in Wartime America. Found on the History website:
http://www.history.com/news/hungry-history/food-rationing-in-wartime-america
“Cross City Air Force Station” found on the Military Wikia site:
http://military.wikia.com/wiki/Cross_City_Air_Force_Station
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