How a World War changed an Alabama Family, Part 1

by Glenn N. Holliman

War on Two Fronts - World War II at Home and Abroad....

 Above the German Army 'goose steps' toward war under Adolph Hitler....

 

From 1939 until 1945,  violence, unprecedented destruction of life and property and mass movements of military, workers and refugees swept Europe, North Africa, the Pacific Islands and Asia. Scarcely an American, civilian or military, was not affected by the investment of the United States in armaments and the training and positioning of 13 million soldiers, sailors and airmen during World War II.   

Over 200,000 Americans died among the 50 million or so who perished across the battered planet.  Six thousand Alabamians lost their lives among the 250,000 who mobilized. 
 
In the United States, after a decade of the Depression, rearmament, a massive government stimulus plan if you will, led to full employment.  Positions went begging as millions of young men were conscripted into the military.   

The steel industry in Birmingham added 7,000 jobs in two years.  Childersburg, Alabama, population 500, was overwhelmed by 14,000 construction workers to build a DuPont plant.  Ship building in Mobile, Alabama increased the city's population from 79,000 to 125,000 between 1940 and 1943.  Workers, pulled from economically depressed Alabama farms, literally lived in tents to take advantage of well-paying jobs in the Gulf Coast port. 

For the first time in American history, large numbers of women worked outside of the home, filling positions once held exclusively by men.  With their own pay checks, women enjoyed increased independence and an enhanced ability to determine their own futures.

 

 Left, the iconic Rosie the Riveter of World War II fame, illustrated the importance of women in the work force.

Millions of men and women left home and relocated to work in war industries or to serve in the military. Geographical, gender, class and racial divides were crossed. Customs and mores altered under the pressures and stresses of world war and rapid change.  There were marriages under war time deadlines, and later John Doe letters and divorces.  American families were never the same.

The Ulyss Holliman family of Irondale, Alabama, with seven offspring born between 1908 and 1924, was not immune from these economic, social and military forces.  This family saw three sons and a son-in-law go to war and a daughter propelled into the work force which would lead to a career track in banking.  Three children would marry during the conflict.  After the war, two sons would use the G.I. Bill to further their educations and go on to expanded careers in government and business.

Below on the lawn ca 1938 at 2300 3rd Avenue North, Irondale, between the Ulyss and Pearl  Holliman house and the Robert and Vena Holliman Daly house (background), pose numerous members of the family not knowing they would soon be swept into a World War.

Left to right are Ida and Melton Holliman, young Ralph Holliman, his older sister Virginia, Ulyss and his wife Pearl Caine Holliman with her hands on Mary Daly (Herrin).  Robert and Vena Holliman Daly are on the far right, the parents of Mary, the first grandchild of Ulyss and Pearl.  Both Melton and Ralph would serve in France with the U.S. Army.  Virginia would marry in early 1942, work at Robert's bank and discover she enjoyed a business career outside of the home.

Pearl, age 51 in this photo, would age dramatically during the war, consumed by worry for her children and their sacrifices.

Because this large family saved many of the letters they wrote each other during the conflict, one is able to relive these fateful years and explore the tensions and worries of a family and nation in transition. 

Below a 1944 airmail letter from the oldest Holliman son, Melton, age 36, from his Army deployment station in New York, just before shipping overseas to England.

 

 

 

Below, an envelope from Bishop Holliman, age 23, to his sister, Loudelle Holliman Ferrell, age 29, who saved his letters from the War.

The articles which follow are based on these letters, family interviews and my father, Bishop Holliman's memoirs.   I have divided these years into 'The War Front' and "The Home Front', allowing a look into the events, home and broad, that so affected the lives of this extended family

I am grateful to the Ferrell, Daly, Herrin, Cornelius, Hairston and several Holliman families for preserving and sharing these irreplaceable resources on the war.

These articles are written with several audiences in mind:

 - One, for the descendants of this family.

- Two, to provide some wartime history of Irondale, Alabama and other families mentioned in the letters. 

- Three, to add to the record the story of the World War II generation that saw their world upended and their lives forever changed.

My WWII sources, other than a life time of reading and an M.A. in history, are:

Alabama, The History of a Deep South State by William W. Rogers, Robert D. Ward, Leah Rawls Atkins, and Wayne Flynt (1994)

The Dark Valley, A Panorama of the 1930's by Piers Brendon (2000)
A History of the Second World War by B.H. Liddell Hart (1971)
The Great Crusade by H. P. Willmott (1989)
World War II by C.L. Sulzberger (1969)
A World at Arms, A Global History of World War II by Gerhard L. Weinberg (1994)
Total War by Peter Calvocoressi and Guy Wint (1972)
Blood, Tears and folly, An Objective Look at World War II by Len Deighton (1993)
Eagle Against the Sun, The American War with Japan by Ronald H. Spector (1985)
The Pacific War by John Costello (1981)

 Next the Storm Gathers....

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!).

Since early 2010, I have been publishing research and stories on the broad spectrum of Holliman (Holyman) family history at http://hollimanfamilyhistory.blogspot.com/ . For stories on my more immediate family since the early 20th Century, I have been posting articles since early 2011 at http://ulyssholliman.blogspot.com/ .

Let's save the past for the future! If you have photographs, letters, memorabilia or research you wish to share, please contact me directly at glennhistory@gmail.com. Several of us have an on-going program of scanning and preserving Holyman and related family records. Write us please about your items. Thanks to the Internet, we are able to scan, upload to the web (with your permission) and return the materials to you.
 
Announcing also a "Seminar and Site" gathering October 18 and 19, 2013 in Fayette, Alabama for Hollimans and associated families whose ancestors are from that area. Space at the Rose House Inn is limited for the occasion due to a football weekend. For information, contact me at the above email. Hope to see some of you there. - GNH