How a World War changed an Alabama Family, Part 7

by Glenn N. Holliman

World War II engulfs America and an Alabama Family!

The day still lives in 'infamy', 7 December 1941.  Suddenly, without warning, hundreds of Japanese war planes swarmed over Pearl Harbor, Hawaii and the giant U.S. Navy base.  Almost three thousand American service men and women died that day and numerous ships went to the bottom or were damaged for years.  Fortunately the U.S. aircraft carriers were at sea and escaped the holocaust.  The U.S.A. and the Holliman family of Irondale, Alabama were now, fully, at war.

"On Sunday, December 7, 1941 at about 2 pm, I was standing watch in the barracks in the Norfolk, Virginia Navy Training Station when my relief told me he had heard that the 'Japs' had bombed Pearl Harbor.  Up to that time, not many of us had heard of Pearl Harbor, most thinking she was a female in one of the dives in Norfolk!  Upon receiving word we were at war I felt that at last there was some purpose in having to serve two years or more in the Navy, that finally there was a reason for my being where I was and that my experience would not be completely futile." Bishop Holliman, Memoirs 1991

Below, a training field during World War II at the Norfolk, Virginia Naval Station

 

A few days after Pearl Harbor, Loudelle Holliman Ferrell, the 28 year old wife of The Rev. Charles T. Ferrell, expressed her feelings on the national emergency in a letter.  She holds her third child, John Melton Ferrell, in 1943.

 

 "It was such a shock and such a treacherous act.  I hate war, the thought of it tears me up...what the future holds, nobody knows....I feel sorry for my unborn child (John Melton Ferrell, b. 1942) coming into such a world.  I am trying to remain calm and control myself.  Even thought the world has gone mad and the lights have gone out all over the world, there is one light will never go out...keep your faith and don't lose your grip on God."  

 

Below in 1943 during World War II, Patti Holliman Hairston, daughter of Melton and Ida Holliman, and her cousin, John Melton Ferrell, play in Jacksonville, Alabama where John's father was the United Methodist Church pastor.  Patti's father, Melton, would be inducted into the U.S. Army in August 1943 as the War continued to reach out and engulf the Holliman family.

 

Below in 2012 at the Orange Beach, Florida reunion at the home of Al and Linda Herrin Bradley, the same two cousins looking trim and incredibly youthful, John and Patti, almost 70 years later. 

 

Blessedly, the worst fears of Loudelle Ferrell concerning World War II were not realized for America, but as we all know, the human race continues to produce conflict and challenges.

Next post, the dismal Christmas of 1941....