The Allen American (Allen, Tex.), Vol. 42, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 10, 2011 Page: 2 of 20
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A military career in one paragraph
When it came to World
War II, my father was not
much of a nostalgic. If it
weren’t for some yellowed
papers and old photo-
graphs, there would be al-
most no record of his
three-and-a-half years in
the U.S. Army.
The credit for preserv-
ing his military record re-
ally goes to his future wife
and my mother: Lt. Mary J.
Lynch. Stored safely in her
dresser were three en-
velopes filled with letters,
photographs and official
correspondence collected
from their years in the
Army from 1942-1946.
It is hard to say whether
the stack of papers is what
was important to her or
just what survived the
years. Some are literally
marching orders while oth-
ers are just memos written
in military jargon. All of
them are carbon copies, of
course.
A typical memorandum
comes from the 12th Gen-
eral Hospital and it in-
structs the nurses to “Pack
your trunk lockers at once
for shipment. Do not put
anything in your trunk
locker that you will need in
the future as no one knows
when this will be available
to you. Pack in it every-
thing not to be carried in
your bedroll or on your per-
son. Keep in your posses-
sion your gas mask and
helmet.”
Two single documents
that tell the whole story are
their military separation
papers or, officially, the
Army Separation Qualifica-
tion Record. My father’s
states that: “Lt. William
Carroll attended OCS (Of-
ficer Candidate School) at
Fort Dix and was assigned
to a Signal Air Warning
Battalion. His unit was
sent overseas to Oran in
1943 with heavy radar. The
unit went through all
North Africa campaigns,
then through Italy and took
part in the invasion of
Southern France on D-Day.
Unit moved to N. France
and into Germany and was
near Munich on V-E Day
and returned to U.S. in Oc-
tober 1945.”
The author of my
mother’s separation papers
was even more brief. “Lt.
Mary Lynch was trained at
Little Company of Mary
Hospital in Evergreen
Park, 111. She served as a
general duty nurse in the
Mediterranean, North
Africa and Rome-Arno
campaigns.”
For all of the traveling
and hardships and excite-
ment, their entire military
career was summarized
into a paragraph by a clerk
who probably typed thou-
sands of similar carbon
copy documents.
My favorite documents
are the V-Mail letters that
my father wrote to my
mother as they traveled
about North Africa and
Italy. Working around the
censors, the letters are
written almost in code. “We
are about 150 miles north
PHOTO COURTESY OF TIM CARROLL
Lt. William Carroll and Lt. Mary Lynch (far right) in Oran, Algeria, 1943
of where I last saw you,” he
says. “It looks like we are
shipping out to one of two
places and one of them is
where you are now” and so
on. Apparently no vital mil-
itary secrets were divulged,
but they did keep in touch
and marry after the war.
For those of us who
never served in the mili-
tary, it is easy to think of
the military in large num-
bers and snippets from his-
tory books and TV news.
For those who did serve
our country, I am sure it
was much more of a per-
sonal experience, full of
memories both good and
bad. They have their own
letters and orders and sep-
aration papers that tell
their story.
For the men and women
in each one of those stories,
we extend our thanks and
appreciation as we cele-
brate Veterans Day.
Don’t we all need a little free stuff?
Obituaries; In Memojlam, Services
CHEEK
Melba Jean Cheek died
peacefully at her home
in Plano Saturday,
October 29th after a
long illness. A proud
native of Louisiana, she
was a devoted Christian,
passionate animal lover
and wonderful friend to
many.
As an Executive
Assistant at KONE
Elevators, Williams
Communications and
other major corpora-
tions, she was the
essence of professional-
ism, a joy to work with
and a mentor to many.
A country girl at heart
with sophisticated style
in everything she did,
she could toss hay bales
in her overalls during
the day and dazzle the
big city in sequins at
night. With a heart as big
as Texas and the sass of
a spicy Louisiana etouf-
fee, she was a vibrant
woman who loved life to
its fullest, yet looked
forward to her reward in
heaven.
She is survived by many
loving family members
in Louisiana, friends in
Texas and around the
world, and her beloved
animals. A memorial
service will be held at
her church, River of
Glory, 501 Accent Drive,
Plano, Sunday,
November 20th,
2:30 PM. In lieu of flow-
ers, memorial donations
are requested for the
SPCA of Texas at 2400
LoneStar Dr., Dallas,
75212 or at
www.SPCA.org.
HENDERSON
Myrtle Henderson
Of Little Elm, Texas
Bom Oct 12, 1955
Died Oct 31, 2011
972.398.4243 obituary@acnpapers.com
Have you
heard the word
“ineptocracy?” It’s
a new word for a
system of govern-
ment where the
least capable to
lead are elected
by the least capa-
ble of producing
and members of
society least likely
to sustain them-
selves are rewarded with
goods and services paid for
by the confiscated wealth of
a diminishing number of
producers.
That’s a catchy descrip-
tion and appeals to those
that think America’s be-
come a welfare state. But
it’s not quite true.
America can rightfully
claim to have the richest
and fattest poor folks in the
world. Is that a good thing,
you might ask? I believe it
is. It doesn’t say much for a
country if it has the skinni-
est and poorest poor folks
in the world. American in-
genuity and free enterprise
has led to a standard of liv-
ing the rest of the world en-
vies. Now, some folks have
started believing the high
standard of living is an en-
titlement, and
more free stuff
ought to come
with it.
I can’t recall
who wrote it, but
I’ve read that the
folks getting free
stuff are mad at
the folks paying
for the free stuff
because the folks
paying for the
free stuff cannot afford to
pay for the free stuff and
their own stuff too. Folks
paying for the free stuff
want to stop paying for the
free stuff, but folks getting
the free stuff want more
free stuff on top of the free
stuff they’re already get-
ting. The folks forcing the
people to pay for the free
stuff are telling the folks
getting the free stuff that
the people paying for the
free stuff are being greedy,
so the folks getting the free
stuff are beginning to hate
the people paying for the
free stuff and want the
folks forcing the people who
pay for the free stuff in the
first place to force those
people to give them even
more free stuff. Sounds like
what’s going on with the
Ken Byler
(the
alien.
amm C3.lT AHenAmencan.com
Roger Will
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No portion may be n
nity Ne\
Occupy Wall Street move-
ment, doesn’t it?
A while back, a lot of
folks figured out how to get
free stuff without looking
like thieves or feeling
guilty about it — and it
wasn’t the poor folks that
figured it out. It was corpo-
rations, bureaucrats and
politicians. Sometimes, the
free stuff was called “in-
vestments” or “government
subsidies.” Sometimes it
was called “grants,” and
sometimes it was called
“loan guarantees.”
Though it’s not called
free stuff, it is, and tax pay-
ers are paying large agri-
culture corporations twice.
First, in ethanol subsidies
to grow corn for gasoline.
Second, in higher food costs
because of a shortage of
corn.
Smart folks figured they
could get the free stuff by
electing politicians who
promised to give them
more free stuff in exchange
for their vote or large dona-
tions to their campaign.
Now, the free stuff giv-
ing has been going on so
long, there are more folks
getting free stuff than
there are people who pay
for the free stuff. How did
all this happen? It appears
the prime source for more
than 50 percent of the reg-
ular paychecks and health
and retirement benefits in
this country is the Ameri-
can tax payer. The govern-
ment is the biggest
employer in America and
education is next, and both
are funded by taxes. Nei-
ther has to show a profit or
break even. Anybody that
messes with the taxpayer-
funded paychecks or bene-
fits runs the risk of getting
out voted in the next elec-
tion. And nearly 90 percent
of the wealth in this coun-
try is held by one percent of
the population and 40 per-
cent of the adult population
pays no income tax. So
things have gotten way out
of balance.
I draw social security,
which, with no choice, I
paid into for 50 years, and
I’m part of the 40 percent
that pays no income tax, so
I’m getting some of that
free stuff myself. I pay the
government over $100 a
month for Medicare cover-
age. The government then
sends the money to the
American Association of
Retired People. Now I don’t
know how AARP, an organ-
ization that promised me
discounts on motel bills
and overnight bus trips to
casinos, got between me
and Medicare, but they did.
Could it be because the
CEO of AARP donated mil-
lions of dollars to Barack
Obama’s campaign?
President Obama has
become the man with the
worst memory to ever oc-
cupy the White House. He
doesn’t remember Rod
Blagojevich, Bill Ayers or
sermons by Reverend Jere-
miah Wright. He doesn’t re-
member where his college
records are and just barely
remembers that he was
born somewhere in Hawaii
near his mother. President
Obama doesn’t remember
that the last stimulus did-
n’t work and “bailout” be-
came another word for
“CEO bonuses.” And Presi-
dent Obama doesn’t re-
member the taxpayers lost
$535 million dollars on his
Solyndra investment.
Meanwhile, America is
starting to look like the Ti-
tanic, which was believed
to be unsinkable. While
some passengers are ask-
ing for refunds or discounts
on their tickets, others are
busy gathering up the sil-
verware and bedsheets and
heading for the lifeboats.
And Democrats and Repub-
licans are like two drunks
arguing with the captain
over the bar bill.
As for me, I could use
some more free stuff. Since
I paid for them twice, I’m
thinking about food
stamps.
Ken Byler is a Star
Columnist, an author
and artist. Email him at
k byler@tx.rr.com.
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Mann, Rick. The Allen American (Allen, Tex.), Vol. 42, No. 11, Ed. 1 Thursday, November 10, 2011, newspaper, November 10, 2011; Plano, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth808932/m1/2/?q=music: accessed June 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Allen Public Library.