| ||||||||||
 
Dr. Ronald P. Rogers CHIROPRACTOR Support for your body's natural healing capabilities 270-384-5554 Click here for details 
  
Columbia Gas Dept. GAS LEAK or GAS SMELL Contact Numbers 24 hrs/ 365 days 270-384-2006 or 9-1-1 Call before you dig 
Visit ColumbiaMagazine's Directory of Churches Addresses, times, phone numbers and more for churches in Adair County Find Great Stuff in ColumbiaMagazine's Classified Ads Antiques, Help Wanted, Autos, Real Estate, Legal Notices, More... 
|
Pearl Harbor Day deeply etched in memories of many Sunday afternoon visiting kin brought the news to Bull Run Road. Our family was at the dinner table and heard it on the radio. A Russell Countian heard it at Sunday service, at Coffey's Chapel, Eli, KY. Hardly a person alive then has any less vivid memories of where they were than later generations remember of their whereabouts on 9/11 or the Day President Kennedy was assassinated. By Ed Waggener George Keltner and L.G. McKinley shared memories of Pearl Harbor Day after we posted a few items about the "Day of Infamy," on December 7, 2010. Mr. Keltner called to remind us of how deeply that event is etched in the memory for so many of his generation. "Today we all talk about where we were on September 11, 2001," he said. "And most of us still recall where we were when President Kennedy was assassinated, but not so many of us now remember where we were when the news of Pearl Harbor got to us. I'll never forget it," he said. "We were living, at the time, on Bull Run Road. Every Sunday afternoon we had lots of company, and that day was no exception. We heard the terrible news in the afternoon, when kinfolks came in who had been listening to their car radio told us that the Japanese had bombed Pearl Harbor. "That was all we talked about the rest of the day," he said. Monday, December 8, 1941, was a school day, Mr. Keltner recalls. "I'll never forget the walk up the hill to Columbia High School. "I remember that there wasn't attention to the usual studies that day. All we talked about was Pearl Harbor." From that day, Mr. Keltner remembers, he wanted to join his brothers as part of the United States Navy. "That was our branch. We were Navy men. I begged dad to sign for me to join, then,, but he wouldn't at the time. He told me that when I was 17 years old, I could enlist." George Keltner joined the U.S. Navy, with his parents' permission, when he reached that birthday. He hadn't graduated from Columbia High School at the time, but he did so when he returned. "Miss Mary Lucy Lowe was the principal then," he said. "She always kept track of the brothers of students already in the European war, and she did even more after war broke out in the Pacific. And from Pearl Harbor on, she did everything she could from the home front. When those of us who had interrupted high school to serve came home, she arranged for us to receive High School diplomas from Columbia High School. "I was one of those who benefitted," he said. "I still have fond memories and great respect for 'Miss Merr(y} Lucy' because of she cared. Because of the patriot she was." Waggener family was at Sunday dinner My sister Fay McKinley told me she didn't remember much of than the war talk during that day when we were growing up on Jamestown Hill in Columbia. "I do remember, vaguely, that we were eating Sunday dinner," she said, "and, as I remember, we heard it on the radio."Jean (Jean Cravens, our older sister) remembers a short time later Dad and Ralph Willis talking about the Japanese attack and she was listening. She tugged at Daddy and asked, 'Will they come here and get us?' and Dad told her, 'We hope not.'" Peanut was in church Fay's husband, L.G. "Peanut" McKinley, Columbia, KY, had a vivid memory of exactly where he was when he learned of the bombing. He grew up in Russell Springs, he said. And the family attended church at Coffey's Chapel in Eli, KY, the church where Rev. Laura Henry Harris of Columbia is pastor today. The family lived in Russell Springs then, but they continued to go to Eli, to Coffey's Chapel Methodist Church, a church the family had played such a big role in establishing and a town in which the family had such a presence. There were so many McKinleys in Eli that it's nickname was "McKinleytown." On the main street, there were McKinleys and McKinley inlaw every other house, some of whom, besides Peanut, became well known in Columbia, as did the former Adair County High School Band Director, Ethard McKinley. It was during the morning service on December 7, 2010, Peanut remembers, that a man - whose name he doesn't remember now - came into the sanctuary and interrupted the service to announce the attack. Peanut enlisted in the United States Navy in 1944. He was 16 when he enlisted. He wasn't dishonest about his age. "They didn't ask," he said.He served in the Pacific. George Keltner served in the European Theater. If you have memories of Pearl Harbor, and would like to share them, we hope you'll submit them using the Contact Form with this article, or using any Contact/Submit form -EW This story was posted on 2010-12-10 08:46:53
Printable: this page is now automatically formatted for printing.
Have comments or corrections for this story? Use our contact form and let us know.
More articles from topic Local History:
Grandson of John Roy, Mayor of Royville, sends more on Mayor 100 years ago for Sunday, December 5, 2010 Crail Hope store warm lay-over on bus ride to Greensburg HS Ione Stapp, Cave Hill Rural School, Metcalfe Co., KY Finally: What a Chemical Fire Apparatus is/was revealed 100 Years Ago: adieu Thanksgiving, hello Christmas Looking Back Sat., 1 year ago: It was mostly about THE Band Node Store reminds writer of her store, at Sulphur Well Back then, Plum Pointers could be irreverent at times Private comments, en passant, from Jim View even more articles in topic Local History |
 
115 Jamestown St. Columbia, KY. 270-384-2496 
  
   
 Provided by the Adair Co Fiscal Court and the Adair Co. Emergency Mgt. Agency 
|
||||||||
|
| ||||||||||
|
Quick Links to Popular Features
Looking for a story or picture? Try our Photo Archive or our Stories Archive for all the information that's appeared on ColumbiaMagazine.com. | ||||||||||
|
Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728. Please use our contact page, or send questions about technical issues with this site to webmaster@columbiamagazine.com. All logos and trademarks used on this site are property of their respective owners. All comments remain the property and responsibility of their posters, all articles and photos remain the property of their creators, and all the rest is copyright 1995-Present by Columbia Magazine. Privacy policy: use of this site requires no sharing of information. Voluntarily shared information may be published and made available to the public on this site and/or stored electronically. Anonymous submissions will be subject to additional verification. Cookies are not required to use our site. However, if you have cookies enabled in your web browser, some of our advertisers may use cookies for interest-based advertising across multiple domains. For more information about third-party advertising, visit the NAI web privacy site.
| ||||||||||
