Keene Star (Keene, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 30, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 17, 2011 Page: 4 of 16
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4A ★ Keene Star
www.keenestar.net
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Viewpoints
Looking back at Fort Brown — Part XII; Refusing a medical discharge
When the cast and tape were removed, my
leg was bloody raw. First, the doctor painted
it with a solution they called mentholatum.
When I finished dancing, my leg was wrapped
in gauze. That solution was hot enough to
melt icebergs. The next day, I was moved to
the annex, a large four-story building. It was
full of patients and had it’s own mess hall. I
continued to take therapy at the same place,
and it became more of a challenge.
I received heat treatments and massages for
therapy. After six days of twice-a-day treat-
ments, I was lying on my back being treated
and the medic told me to slide down the table
toward him. He rubbed my knee, placed a pad
under my leg and pushed down hard on my
leg. The knee popped as though it had been
broken and waves of pain rushed through my
whole body. He flexed my leg back and forth
a few times. He told me to ride the stationary
bicycle five miles, or as far as I could. I made
the five miles by being slow and careful. The
heat treatments and massages were discon-
tinued, but I still rode the bicycle twice daily,
and the distance was increased to 10 miles.
After about 10 days of this, I was called before
another board of doctors.
The board consisted of a lieutenant colo-
nel, two majors, two captains and two first
lieutenants. We met in a hallway instead of
an office. They were in conference when I
arrived. A lieutenant walked to me, told me
to raise my pajama leg and examined my
knee. He looked the knee over, then placed
his hands below the knee and shook my leg
back and forth. My knee popped, grated and
grounded as it was moved. The other doctors
were gathered nearby and heard the noise.
This required another conference. When they
were finished the lieutenant who had exam-
ined my knee came to me and asked, “Pvt.
Carver, would you accept a discharge?”
I had never thought of being discharged,
and asked if I had a choice. He said I did. He
said an injured soldier cannot be discharged
without his permission.
“May I express the way I feel?” I asked.
“Yes, please do.”
“I was drafted to serve one year of military
training and the year is over. My country is at
war and I want to remain in the service and
do what I can to help win this war. In time,
my knee will improve, and I can serve my
country in some noncombat position. I will
not consider a discharge.”
The doctors talked among themselves a
few minutes, and the colonel came to me and
said, “Soldier, we certainly appreciate your
attitude, and we’re going to follow your sug-
gestion. You will be returned to your old unit
reclassified as a noncombatant, and on lim-
ited duty. We will start the procedure today.”
He said I would contin-
ue therapy until the orders
come through. I thanked
them, and returned to the
annex.
I continued therapy,
riding the bicycle 10 miles
twice a day. My knee im-
proved rapidly, and in a
short time there less pain-
ful. It also gained con-
siderable strength. I was
walking with only a slight
limp.
Three weeks after meet-
ing the doctors, orders came through sending
me back to Special Weapons Troop at Fort
Brown. The train left San Antonio late in the
afternoon and arrived in Brownsville at 7 the
next morning. I caught a cab to the troop area
and reported to the first sergeant for duty. I
gave him the papers I received at the hospital
in San Antonio.
He browsed through them and said, “I see
you’re assigned to limited duty. I have the
very thing for you. We’re getting a platoon
ready for guard duty on the King Ranch near
Kingsville. Get your things ready. They’re
leaving at 7 tomorrow morning.
We left Fort Brown in a four-truck convoy
short after 7 a.m. and passed through San
Bonito. At Harlingen, we turned north on
Hwy. 77 and two miles south of Kingsville
we turned west on an unpaved county road.
Twenty miles west of Hwy. 77 was a short-
wave monitoring station we were to guard. It
was housed in an insignificant building that
would have passed as a farmhouse. They had
two cars equipped to trace shortwave radio
signals and locate where they were originat-
ing. It was our job to protect this government
equipment.
Tucked away about 100 yards deep in a
mesquite forest were three small cabins and
another small building for the mess hall.
There were no bathing facilities so we bathed
in our helmets. It was early spring so we didn’t
smell too bad. I didn’t hear anyone complain
The sergeant said to me, “I see you’re on
limited duty, what can you do?”
“Anything but walk a post on guard duty.”
World War II veteran Doug Carver is a
longtime Keene resident who likes to hang
out weekday mornings at Keene restaurants.
Mr. Carver celebrated his 91st birthday Oct.
8, and on Oct. 28 received the Keene Cham-
ber of Commerce Pioneer Award, which is
presented to an organization or individual
whose long-ago contributions and influence
helped make Keene what it is today.
Doug
Carver
Commentary
■ Short Takes
The first prayer meeting was
an answer to prayer
It was to
be our first
Wednes-
day
evening
prayer
meeting.
We
planned
to have
it every
Lamar week from
Black 7-8 p.m.
at Keene
Commentary Baptist
Church.
The weather was very cold.
The precipitation had end-
ed but there were patches of
ice. E-mailing our congrega-
tion, we let them know that
my wife and I, their pastor,
would be there to lead in this
special time of communicat-
ing with God. We didn’t ex-
pect many to come.
A total of six people
showed up. I was glad we de-
cided not to cancel for God
knew that these six needed to
be together on that evening.
It was a divine appointment.
Earlier that day, one cou-
ple discovered their daughter
had advancing cancer. They
needed to share their burden
and pray with others they
loved who could intercede
with them. We are trusting
God’s mercy on this daugh-
ter as in her past battle with
cancer.
Another couple asked for
prayer for a dying cousin.
Months earlier we prayed
that the cousin would live to
go on a vacation cruise and
be able to enjoy it. He had
a wonderful cruise. As we
prayed that Wednesday eve-
ning, perhaps at the very mo-
ment to our knowledge, that
cousin slipped gently from
this earthly life to his eternal
home.
The Sunday morning be-
fore, one of our members
asked for prayer for her
18-year-old niece. The girl
was scheduled for brain sur-
gery to remove a mass. The
initial finding was cancer.
That Wednesday, before our
prayer meeting, we received a
call from the aunt. She want-
ed to let us know that addi-
tional tests showed the mass
was not cancerous.
I have permission to share
each one of these cases with
you in hopes you may know
that God knows every aspect
of your life, whether you ac-
knowledge Him or not. These
were shared with you to en-
courage you to reach out to
God in difficult and impossi-
ble times. These were shared
with you to let you know there
are churches with people who
want to encourage you, sor-
row with you, rejoice with
you. These “church people”
want to pray with you and lift
your circumstances before
Almighty God.
“I love the Lord, for he
heard my voice; he heard my
cry for mercy. Because he
turned his ear to me, I will
call on him as long as I live.
I was overcome by trouble and
sorrow. Then I called on the
name of the Lord; ‘O Lord,
save me!”’ Psalm 116:1-4 (NIV)
Lamar Black is the pastor
of the Keene Baptist Church.
Readers can e-mail him at
lamaroftx@yahoo.com.
Keene^cStar
Volume 18, Number 30
16 Pages in 2 Section
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When Ellen White
Lived in Texas
A CONTINUING SERIES BY MARY Ann HADLEY — PART SlX
Ellen G. White
Household of Faith
One-hundred-thirty-two years ago,
from November, 1878 through April,
1879, James and Ellen White lived in
Texas. While these founders of the Sev-
enth-day Adventist church did not make
Texas their permanent residence, they
nevertheless “wintered” here.
Part 1 (Keene Star of Jan. 13) told of
their trip on the M.K. and T. Railroad,
arriving in Dallas the evening of Nov. 6,
and escorted by R. M. Kilgore to the home
of a “Mr. Cole.”
In Part 2 (Keene Star of Jan. 20), the
Whites spent a week cheering and car-
ing for the ailing McDearmon family in
Grand Prairie.
In Part 3 (Keene Star of Jan. 27), we
caught up with James and Ellen who,
on Nov. 14, having traveled by carriage
through rain and black mud to Plano,
teamed up with S.N. Haskell at Texas’
first Seventh-day Adventist Campmeet-
ing. There, they organized the Texas
Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.
In Part 4 (Keene Star of Feb. 3), they
got down to the business of “wintering
in Texas.”
In Part 5 (Keene Star of Feb. 10) Mar-
ian Davis joined the household to provide
editorial assistance for Ellen.
Today, Part 6: Household of Faith.
We saw in Part 5 that Ellen wrote in
the upstairs 18x20 room, while James
wrote below in a room the same size. We
learned in Part 4 that the Bahler family of
John F., wife Mary J., and baby daugh-
ter, Grace (born 1878), also shared their
home with Arthur and Mary Daniells
during the winter of 1878-79 while Mary
cooked for the household.
Ellen had written, “We are very favor-
ably situated for we have a good cook.”
[Note: Two other individuals — Bahler’s
son, Robert, by a previous marriage,
and Mary’s Father — a brother to Elder
R.F. Cottrell — probably also lived in the
home, although there is no known record
of them in Texas until the 1880 census.]
Now that Marian Davis had arrived,
she was given her own upstairs room.
She began her work immediately, but
by mid-February was having chronic
health problems. James wrote to a sister
in Battle Creek that Miss Davis would
“doubtless go into the grave. It’s only a
matter of time.” Interestingly, Miss Davis
would live another quarter century, while
James White would go to his grave in
about two and a half years.
When the Whites came to Denison
in November, the Bahler home was still
under construction. Windows were only
tacked in, one door was not yet hung and
the plasterers had not yet completed their
task. There was a good water well in the
front yard (a rarity, according to Ellen)
and there was an ample yard around
the house. Having a water well in front
would lead us to believe the home was
set toward the back of the lot (Bahler
owned several lots on the south side —
facing north — of the Morgan Street side
of “block 80.” Soon after moving in, the
Whites purchased solid walnut bedroom
furniture, and were highly pleased with
their purchase.
Mrs. Bahler owned the house “just
across the way” in which the poverty
stricken Moore family of at least six
lived. What we do not learn from Ellen or
James’ correspondence is that a baby boy
was born to the Moore family in “Ellen
White’s home” in early 1879.
The James Cornell family of at least
four, also lived nearby. Cornell was a
cobbler. His brother, evangelist Merritt
E. Cornell, had also lived in Denision
with his wife Angie. Elder Cornell had
preached a series of sermons in Dallas
in the summer of 1875, bringing several
converts. Shortly afterward, he had left
full-time ministry in an attempt to resolve
personal problems in his household, and
had helped his brother repair shoes. Soon
sick, nearly starved, and greatly discour-
aged, Elder Cornell had corresponded
with James and Ellen White and with
their blessing had moved to Boulder,
Colo., in the early fall of 1878.
Adding to the Denison Adventist
menagerie, James White continuously
accumulated livestock. There’s the
“little mules” that get out of the pasture,
only to be brought back home by A.G.
Daniells. There are horses — at least two
ponies that are used to pull the phaeton
the Whites purchased in November in
preference to “Texas hacks which are
really lumber wagons,” and, at some
point, there are additional horses and
cattle purchased by James. [NOTE: The
phaeton was the THE sports vehicle of
that day. Ellen seemed to love daringly
fast travel, and she especially loved to
arrive at an event in the classiest vehicle
available.]
At present it is not known where James
pastured his animals, but it would have
been within walking distance, most
likely farther southwest. He mention an
oak grove one-eighth of a mile from the
house.
There was an abundance of prairie fires
in those days, some set deliberately and
maliciously by Yankee soldiers during
reconstruction; others set deliberately by
ranchers to keep down unwanted growth.
Ellen was quite sensitive to the smoke.
Mrs. Cornell (Roxie) had asthma. Then,
to complicate all of their lives, times
began to be hard, especially by January,
1879. Money became scarce.
Speaking of their strict budgeting,
James wrote to Willie, “We are making
everything reach the longest way. This
is especially the case with our late calf,
six months old. He ran with his mother
and took all the milk. We kill him, dry
him, and eat him all the way to Colorado.
Thus we lay him the longest way, so as
to reach from Denison to Walling’s Mill
(Colorado).
Obviously, James was already plan-
ning in detail his upcoming wagon train
trip to Colorado. And it would turn out
to be their good fortune that James had
made that beef jerky. Meanwhile, the
Whites were also heavily involved in
some interesting forms of evangelism.
We will consider that subject next week.
ELLEN G. WHITE ESTATE BRANCH OFFICE, DEL E. WEBB MEMORIAL
LIBRARY, LOMA LINDA UNIVERSITY, LOMA LINDA, CALIF.
Ellen G. White (r) in carriage with Sara
McEnterfer. Although this photo was
taken about 1910, the carriage is similar
to the phaeton the Whites purchased in
November 1878. It was considered the
sports vehicle of the day.
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Gnadt, Paul. Keene Star (Keene, Tex.), Vol. 18, No. 30, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 17, 2011, newspaper, February 17, 2011; Burleson, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth804060/m1/4/?q=music: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Burleson Public Library.