Sixteen Reasons for Thanksgiving

               Published in Marietta (GA) Daily Journal, 11/20/21

            In his novel “Anna Karenina” Tolstoy declared, “All happy families resemble each other; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.”

            A recent visit to my hometown to see a 93-year-old sister brought Tolstoy’s sentence to mind. For an entire year, thanks to Fauci & Company., my childless, frail sister neither saw nor was she seen by any of her siblings. Finally seeing Margurette plus four more of my 16 brothers and sisters reminded me of the deep love all 17 of us have had for each other.

I’ve always placed my beloved siblings in chronological “clumps.” My oldest brother R.C., born in 1917, was a farmer, though not a life-long tenant farmer like our father. R.C. eventually had his own farm and land. Our father worked on the farms of three different “men on the hill,” never owning a handful of dirt. Unlike Paul (1919) and Pete (1921), R.C. remained in Mississippi, relishing hard labor. I admire him immensely.

            Who could blame Paul and Pete for joining the Army in order to escape the cotton fields? They had picked cotton from early boyhood. Many other Southern farm boys took the same path. Paul and Pete loved the military, despite their duty in some of the worst fighting of World War II.  Nobody enjoyed life more than they. How culturally enriched the Hines family became when Paul brought home an Italian bride from Trieste soon after the war ended. Away from her home and its Adriatic breezes, Antonia fought nobly and successfully against Southern heat and grease.

            Ida, Jewel and Authula (just call her Thula) were housewives their entire lives. I wouldn’t be scornful of the word “housewife” in their presence if I were you. Well aware of the changing culture in the late 50s and early 60s, all three of them would tell you quickly what they thought about the increasingly negative influence of Hollywood. Born in 1922, 1924, and 1926, respectively, they, like their mother, loved and served their families sacrificially. These stalwart sisters weren’t too concerned about women’s liberation. Instead of “I am woman, hear me roar,” they were more inclined to say “I am woman by the grace of God.”  

Ida was what Southern folks would often call “a mess.” Overflowing with stories and jokes, she could occasionally be slightly risqué which led our mother to cup her hand over her mouth to abort laughter and then whisper, “Ida!”

 Margurette and Minnie (1928 and 1930) comprise one of the four clumps of two. Margurette was the last sister to be a full time housewife while Minnie, a mother of three, was a Registered Nurse. Minnie married a Yankee. Funny and brilliant, Ramsey took delight in our country ways and loved coffee and laughter as much as we did. Margurette and Minnie’s love for each other always made me think they were twins.

Walter Hines, Jr. (Bub) and Durwood (1931 and 1933) comprise the fourth clump and the second duo. Bub was a businessman and then a pastor; Durwood was a mail carrier. They both told hilarious jokes and always kept up with current events. This latter habit rubbed off on me.

The remaining three clumps are the ones with whom I grew up. The siblings named above had left home and had families by the time I was born. Almedia (1935), Ruby (1937), and Janelle (1938) were as close as three sisters could be. They were smart. Because our mother enjoyed working in the garden and fields with our father, I still picture these precious sisters doing most of the household chores. Almedia became the executive secretary of the state Pardons and Parole Board; Ruby, the secretary for a prominent lawyer who ran for Governor; and Janelle a secretary for Sunbeam Corporation and later Raytheon.

Carolyn and Tressie (1940 and 1942) were only four and two years older than I yet each often seemed like a mother to me. Carolyn married a Marine and traveled the world; Tressie had a family and became a Registered Nurse.

I and Carlton (1944 and 1947) grew up under the gentle reign of Eisenhower (a hero to both Paul and Pete). Carlton graduated from the University of Southern Mississippi and has worked in banking and insurance. We’re close. “Baby brothers” have to stick together.

No day passes without one or more of these siblings parking in my mind. Our poverty was elegant, though real. Rather than turning us into rabid socialists, it steered us to call upon the God our parents loved and served. R.C., Paul, Pete, Ida, Jewell, and Durwood have left us. Their invigorating spirits have not. I’m thankful for all 16 of these incredible people.

 

Roger Hines

November 18, 2021

 

 

 

The Generals Among Us, Part I

 

                                                The Generals Among Us, Part I

                                   Published in Marietta Daily Journal 11/6/21

            In the preface to his account of World War II titled “A Soldier’s Story,” General Omar Bradley writes, “In this book I have tried to achieve one purpose: to explain how war is waged on the field from the field command post. For it is there, midway between the conference table and the foxhole, that strategy is translated into battlefield tactics; there the field commander must calculate the cost of rivers, roads, and hills in terms of guns, tanks, tonnage – and most importantly – in terms of the lives and limbs of his soldiers.”

            Bradley, the clearest of writers, doesn’t present us a biography. The book is not about him but about the big war. If his chapter 4, “With Patton to El Guettar,” doesn’t grip readers, chapter 15, “D Day, Normandy,” will. No literary or military critic should claim that Bradley “sizes up” his fellow generals; he doesn’t. He describes them and does so in reference to their decisions, their handling of crises, and their responses to strategies with which they disagreed.

            The closest to characterizing that Bradley gets is in Chapter 1, “Summons to the Normandy Invasion.” Writing his story only 6 years after the war ended, Bradley informs us that Patton has just “stormed in to breakfast.” He continues, “Patton’s vigor was always infectious, his wit barbed, his conversation a mixture of obscenity and humor. He was at once stimulating and over-bearing. George was a magnificent soldier.”

            Generals have always been a study for many people. My source of interest in them is twofold: 1) two brothers who came home from WWII with changed attitudes about race, as well as with countless stories that revealed their respect for military leaders – they both admired Eisenhower – and 2) the fact that at least three generals are my personal friends.

            What a privilege it was to re-unite and talk recently with one of those friends. Had I known Major General Jere H. Akin in October of 1980, I’m sure I would have clipped from the Marietta Daily Journal the picture of Colonel Akin at his promotion ceremony. Had I known him in 1996 I would have tried to make it to the Fort Rucker National Prayer Breakfast where the General spoke, asserting that “the majority of military leaders who have strong leadership qualities also exhibit openly a strong faith in God.”

            The General and I first met at Burnt Hickory Baptist Church just after his stint as program manager of transportation for the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games. Planning a network of 2,000 buses that moved close to 140,000 people hither and yon – sponsors, volunteers, athletes and all of their entourages - sounds like a challenge. Fear not. The General was retired at the time but not long enough to forget his role in coordinating and tracking the movement of more than 300,000 U.S. soldiers, their equipment, and food during Operation Desert Storm.

            The abilities that such tasks require should be admired, but there are many other qualities held by those who have reached the title of “General,” and Akin possesses all of them, qualities such as work ethic, vision, and faith. At the prayer breakfast, Akin asserted, “Faith is dreaming your dream, leaping into the unknown, and praying for guidance.”

            General Akin was born in Atlanta. He graduated from West Fulton High School and North Georgia College, now North Georgia University, one of the six senior military colleges in the United States. While there he met his future wife Gwen Payne from Carnesville, Georgia.

            Among many other assignments, Akin was twice assigned to the Pentagon, working with the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Vietnam War and then the Army Staff during Desert Storm. Having served in four divisions – the 8^th in Germany, the 1^st in Vietnam, the 2^nd in Korea, and the 101^st Air Assault division, the assignments he enjoyed most were “working directly with soldiers assigned to infantry divisions.”

            General Akin has some strong beliefs about the nation’s current military leadership: “The complete harmony of Desert Storm didn’t happen in Afghanistan. I was truly disappointed with President Biden and strongly believe he should be held accountable for this total disaster.” Referring to the Congressional Hearing on Afghanistan, Akin stated, “General Milley was weak. The President and military leaders should have been working together to succeed. This didn’t happen.”

            Veteran’s Day was declared to honor men like Akin, generals or not. Moving one’s family 20 times, as the general did in order to serve his country, is no little sacrifice. Keeping foot soldiers at the fore of your mind is the mark of a true General, the kind of General my brothers and Omar Bradley informed me of.