Friday, June 5, 2015

How a World War Changed an Alabama Family, Part 29

by Glenn N. Holliman



The Allies Punch Back, and more Hollimans join the Fight

By the winter of 1943, the Axis tide  crested and began a slow retreat to eventual defeat.  The Japanese evacuated Guadalcanal in the South Pacific, a German army surrendered in Stalingrad (left photograph) and after a setback at Kasserine, the U.S. and British armies continued their punishment of  two German and Italian armies in North Africa.


In the States, more and more young men were called to the colors to man the tanks, airplanes and ships emerging from assembly lines.  Two of these serviceman that late winter and early spring were from the Holliman family of Irondale, Alabama  - W. Ralph Holliman (b 1924) and his brother-in-law, Walter Cornelius (1922-2006), husband of Virginia Holliman (1922-2011)

Right, ca 1927, Irondale, Alabama, Pearl C. Holliman holds her youngest of four sons on her lap, Ralph.  To her left are Virginia, the later wife of Walter Cornelius, and Bishop Holliman, far left.  By the spring of 1943,  Ralph and Walter joined Bishop in the Armed Forces.  Pearl was thirty-nine years old when this picture was made. This photograph is courtesy of Susan Cornelius Williams, Virginia's younger daughter.



Pearl Caine Holliman (1888-1955) wrote in January 1943 from 2300 3rd Street, North, Irondale to my father, Bishop Holliman, at his Navy radio training base in Casco Bay, Maine:



 "Well, I guess Dad and I will soon be in this big old house by ourselves.  It won't be long before Ralph (the youngest son) will be gone.  Every one that was in his class left last Saturday.  I know the Lord is able to take care of him, just like He has with you...."

In this letter and several others, my grandmother admonished my father to answer the letters of a girl in Philadelphia whom he had met and dated in the fall of 1942.  

 "I think you have treated  her rather bad, for I think they was nice to you and you should have showed your appreciation more than he have.  I do not know what to do, the girl thinks you have gone so please write her something.  You may go back there sometime, and what will she think about me?"


Left, the girl who finally caught Bishop Holliman!

That girl was my future mother, Geraldine S. Stansbery, an East Tennessee transplant living with her family in Philadelphia.  Short story is my father eventually did write 'Gerry' and in June 1945, their war romance blossomed into marriage.  By 1956, the couple had three children, and eventually eight grandchildren!


Below, the engagement photograph of Walter and Virginia Holliman Cornelius.  Walter would serve in the U.S. Army Air Corp during World War II and be stationed in Saipan in the Pacific.  Photo courtesy of Susan Cornelius Williams
 


Another marriage in the family....Later that winter, Pearl wrote that her youngest son, Ralph, would be leaving for Ft. McClellan, Alabama on March 26, 1943.  Born in 1924, and at age 19, he and his high school sweetheart, Motie Chism (1925-2003), tied the knot, a few weeks before Ralph shipped out.  That war time marriage lasted until Motie's death in 2003.  



Below in the 1980s, Gerry, Ralph and Motie Holliman.


Ralph wrote the week before his Army induction in March 1943 to his brother, Bishop: 

"I have been expecting it before now.  It will be pretty hard leaving everybody (his bride of two weeks), but I'm no better than anybody else.  I'm willing to go, and I am going to do the best that I can.  Motie and Mama are taking it pretty good so far but I dread the next few days.  If you don't mind, drop them an encouraging note."

A few weeks later, now in the Army, Ralph wrote again with a bit of dry humor that the family knows and loves:   

"When I left home, I left everyone crying.  They'll get over it thought.  I think I kissed everyone goodbye except the dog.  He might have been in the bunch too!"

In addition to a war time marriage that spring, Pearl's oldest daughter, Vena Holliman Daly (1909-1990), was expecting her second child.  Her husband, Robert W. Daly (1901-1959), wrote to Bishop: 

"Vena is about two months pregnant and under the care of Dr.  Nufield, the baby specialist.  She has been pretty sick at times, but he believes he can stop this. We could not hardly think of Mary not having an older brother or sister later in life when we were old or gone." 

Vena Holliman Daly (1909-1990) taken around 1926, a school girl who favored her mother.

The baby born in October 1943 was Robert W. Daly, Jr., now a retired biology professor from the University of North Alabama and father of three children, John, Suzanne and Irisand numerous grandchildren.   

Below, Bob Daly, ca 1946 in Irondale. Photo courtesy of Susan Cornelius Williams.  Also decades later in November 2013 at the home of this blog writer, Bob, wearing more clothes on a cold autumn evening in Pennsylvania, pays a visit, while yours truly pets a black cat. 


Next Posting, more of the Ulyss and Pearl Caine Family during World War II....
 Have questions about Holliman family history? You are invited to join the Hollyman Email List at Hollyman-Subscribe@yahoogroups.com and the Hollyman Family Facebook Page located on Facebook at "Hollyman Family". Post your questions and perhaps one of the dozens Holyman cousins on the list will have an answer. For more information contact Tina Peddie at desabla1@yahoo.com, the list and Facebook manager for Hollyman (and all our various spellings!).

There is also a massive Ancestry.com Holyman and Associated Families Tree available for review.  For an invitation to this collection of over 20,000 individuals, please write glennhistory@gmail.com.  

Also one will find additional Holliman history at http://hollimanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ .

I also have a collection of associated family manuscripts and research collected by the late Walt Holliman, Cecil Holliman and Rhodes Holliman.  Happy to send these materials by email and to insure their research is available.  The surnames: Alexander, Baldwin, Barham, Bass, Beall, Blakeney,  Baker, Bond, Bostick, Brewer, Bryan, Bryant, Bullock, Calvert, Carter, Champion, Chew,Cofer, Cole, Crafford, Crockett, Curtis, Dale, Daniel, Davidson, Davies, De Mallpas, Douglas, Duckett, Edwards, Edgerton, Emerson, Fitzhugh, Fowlehurst, Fox, Gains, Garrison, Gonson, Graves, Gray, Guyton, Guins, Hall, Hamby, Hawkins,Hendrix, Hill, Hogg, Holliman, Holt, Howard, Jackson, Jones, Judkins, Love, Lucas, Maget, Mansfield, Manwaring, McBee, McComas, McCurdy, McNewsome, Nicholson, Norsworthy, Noyall, O'dell, Oliver, Pearce, Peerce, Pettigrew, Petway, Pitman, Plow, Plyler, Porten, Prather, Petite, Ridgely, Riggan, Roberts, Smith, Spencer, Sprigg, Standley, Stanyard, Swan, Strother, Thompson, Thornton, Thrope, Trelawney, Turpin, Underhill, Underwood, Wallace, Walters, Weedon, Whitherspoon, Whitten,Williams,Wilmot,Wilson, Whitaker and Yerby.  These are mainly Alabama families and their ancestors from the Carolinas and Virginia. Materials vary from one page to 200. - GNH at glennhistory@gmail.com.