American Legacies Organization, Inc.

By Linda Clark

This past Monday, my very dear, close friend, who is like a dear sister to me, called me and said that her husband had passed away from a stroke. This was a shock as I had a recent phone call of her dying of cancer. Anyway, we got to talking about the old days over the phone. She needed someone to talk to.

By Pat Collins

February 26, 1893

Birmingham, Alabama

The Birth

It was a cold day in February, 1893. Martha Jane Collins had started her labor early in the morning hours, but she still had plenty to do. She had to get in the wood and kindling to get a fire started, get the children up and dressed for school, feed them, fix their lunches and get them off to school. With some luck-she might be able to get all this done before the baby came.

By Heather Hartley

The Mill Creek Zanja

The Mill Creek Zanja, probably best known today as the creek running through the University of Redlands campus and Sylvan Park, is the main reason Redlands has flourished over the years.

The ships loudspeaker, that reminded Billy of the offensive Irish Sergeant Major from Catterick Camp, announced that they were looking for a barber. Interested parties with hair cutting experience should report to the manager of the hairdressing shop - the chance of making money was not lost on the young opportunist.

"I've been listening to you boys and girls recite the Pledge of Allegiance all semester and it seems as though it is becoming monotonous to you. If I may, may I recite it and try to explain to you the meaning of each word?

Falaise Gap. We were set on a sloping field about two hundred miles from the road. When the Gap was closed we saw truck loads of prisoners being hauled out. I remember the funeral services for Sgt. Roy. We went over to Headquarters battery. The service was like one that would take place at home except it was held outdoors in a small clearing in the forest. It struck me as being ironic that we could hold a service like this after all the dead we had seen before this who were disposed of like so much garbage.

The village that we stayed in while we were there was shelled the morning that we landed, and most of it had burnt completely flat. One native woman cooked a ton of food for us. We had fried chicken twice while there, which was a treat, and a thanks at the same time. Then one of the boys bought a pig and they cooked that while we were there.

There was one thing about the wind that comes howling in the winter, (howling is when the wind makes a noise that sounds like a train, then it gets louder, then fades, then comes back again). The major reason for the howling is usually due to cracks in the walls,

We flew our 24th mission on New Years Day 1945, and from our 14th mission on, we Led or Deputy Lead in the formation of our 36 plane formation. It was a position in formation we thought and considered to be safe. At least better than tail end Charlie. We were flying Deputy Lead on January 6, 1945, target railroad marshalling yards was our primary, Duetz Bridge, Cologne, Germany our secondary target.

When thinking back, about days gone by, we can recall the different games we played as young’uns; it may have been marbles, played with “Cat-eyes and logrollers, dodge ball, or the more manly game of “Mumbly-Peg.”