“It was the greatest honor of my life—to serve my country.” – Charles McAdams
“War is not glamorous. War is and always has been about Killing and Death.” – Henry Colton
“I did nothing heroic—each of us just did what we had to do.” – Landon Roberts
“A government does not tell me who my enemies are.” – Michael Robinson
“This is only the second time I have told this story—once to my grandson when he was bored on a long car trip and now here”. – George Lamprinakos
“I was anxious. For three years I never knew if I was a bride or a widow.” – Mary Ellen Wolcott

Each of these people reacted to the war in a unique way; there was no standard response. Charles McAdams grew up in segregated Asheville and served in both the segregated, and later desegregated, Army. Henry Colton was a decorated pilot, but the scar left from the day he was informed of his brother’s death and delivering the news to his brother’s widow and her three year old son have never left him. Landon Roberts looked for submarines in the Pacific. Rabbi Michael Robinson went on to work in national organizations devoted to peace and reconciliation. George Lamprinakos was 18 years old when he landed in Europe just after the Battle of the Bulge for the infantry push across the frozen landscape of Europe. Mary Ellen Wolcott’s husband returned safely to her arms as they began a new life together after the war.

In speaking to folks about the research behind Mountain Memories: Home Front to the Frontline, many replied: “How will you ever get them to open up?” This generation’s stoicism has earned them a solid reputation. And, in fact, some were unwilling to talk. One veteran, who did not participate, simply replied: “I’ve been trying to forget what happened there for over 60 years.” Most, however, were very willing, even anxious, to share their experience with us. Many expressed a sincere hope that by telling their story they would help humankind more closely examine the roots of war and seek different solutions. The challenges we all face in our world today echo many of the issues faced by “the Greatest Generation” over 60 years ago. May the wisdom and the sacrifice of our elders inform the future decisions of our students and citizens.

As in the work of the Center for Diversity Education, teaching about WWII offers an excellent opportunity on many core issues of diversity such as xenophobia, racism, anti-Semitism, the role of women—all of which are intentionally included in WWII Mountain Memories. We look forward to sharing the exhibit with area schools students in grades 6-12.

WWII Mountain Memories was created in cooperation with the Library of Congress’ Veterans History Project and the UNCA Special Collections, where these testimonies will be archived for future researchers. While this exhibit used only excerpts from 60 selected interviews, the entire text of the almost 100 interviews will be archived. The Center for Diversity Education wishes to thank both the veterans and civilians who were interviewed for sharing these tender memories along with the 15 volunteers who made this archival record possible.

Photo of Adolf Hitler from corbis.com

Following the defeat of Germany in WWI, the Weimar Republic went into a deep and worsening economic depression. Many millions of people were out of work, resulting in long bread lines. A widespread financial collapse of many nations—including the United States—soon followed.

In Germany, a national election brought to leadership a political party that was grounded on the idea that one race of people was superior to all other races of people. This political party, the National Socialists or the Nazis, under the leadership of Adolph Hitler, contended that White Christian people were superior to all other races—in particular Jews. They also proclaimed the inferiority of Blacks, homosexuals, the mentally and physically handicapped, and the Roma (Gypsies), among others. While the Jewish community made up less than one percent of Germany’s population, it became Hitler’s main scapegoat.

William Pelley Pack Memorial Library, Asheville, NC

This hatred was not unique to Germany. Anti-Semitism had been a part of Europe for over a thousand years. Nor was it only a problem in Europe. The United States had its own forms of hatred, including both anti-Semitism and racism. In the 1920s and 1930s the Ku Klux Klan was gaining in power across the south with wide spread intimidation and lynchings. Jim Crow laws, which detailed where Blacks could and could not go, where they could and could not work and go to school, and much more, were in place across the South until the 1960s.

A program known as the American School of Eugenics was begun in the early 1900s. This program assigned a value to those who should have children and those who shouldn’t, so as to increase the “purity and superiority of the people.” These laws prevented Whites and Blacks from marrying and having children. It also called for the sterilization of certain types of people, often African Americans and the mentally handicapped. This practice of Eugenics occurred even in our own state. In 2002, the state of North Carolina apologized to the people it had sterilized through a Eugenics program up until the 1970s.

William Pelley edited a newsletter called Pelley’s Silvershirt Weekly, in which he published many of his racist and anti- Semitic ideas. Pack Memorial Library, Asheville, NC

In the 1920s, U.S. industrialist Henry Ford wrote a series of anti-Semitic articles in his newspaper the Dearborn Independent, later compiling them in a book entitled The International Jew: The World’s Problem. His longtime support of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party, well documented in a December 20, 1920 New York Times article, resulted in his receiving the Grand Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle in 1938. Ford was the first American, and the fourth person in the
world, to receive this award.

Ku Klux Klan Truck in a 1925 Asheville Parade Photo by Herbert Pelton NC Collection, Pack Memorial Library, Asheville, NC

In Asheville, William Pelley founded a hate group known as “The Silver Shirts.” They marched in local parades down Patton Avenue and distributed their national newspaper from offices next to the train depot in Biltmore Village. By the early 1940s, the organization was defunct as Pelley was convicted of tax evasion by the IRS and sent to prison. Robert Best of Greenville, SC was an outspoken racist and anti-Semite who was forced to leave the United States. He relocated to Germany where he broadcast Nazi propaganda over the radio airwaves. The hatred of these various groups and individuals had already divided the world and threatened to tear it asunder.

On November 9-10, 1938, Kristalnacht targeted the burning of Jewish businesses and synagogues and Hitler and the Nazis went to war with the rest of Europe.

The Ecusta Plant and Brevard

Harry Straus began construction of the Ecusta plant in 1938, on the eve of the war in Europe.

Tobacco is big business in North Carolina, but all of the cigarette paper was produced in Europe prior to 1938. The major tobacco manufacturers were concerned that a war in Europe would disrupt that source and looked for ways to begin paper production in the U.S. Harry Straus developed a new process that could make this high quality paper here in the United States. Using hiswater process, and with over $2 million of financial backing from major cigarette manufacturers, he set up his plant in Brevard, North Carolina, employing over 900 people by 1947. Cigarettes were a part of every weekly supply packet during WWII.

The Lichtenfels Family and Leipzig, Germany

The Ecusta plant, financed in part by major tobacco companies, provided a domestic source for cigarette paper as well as jobs for the region.

The German government began to institutionalize the hatred of certain people in the early 1930s, culminating in the Nuremberg Laws in 1935. These laws stated where Jews could and couldn’t go, where they could and couldn’t work or go to school, and much more. Many Jews decided to leave as they saw the climate worsening; some emigrated to western North Carolina. Gus Lichtenfels, an immigrant from Leipzig, Germany, came through Asheville in 1914 on his way to Texas and never left. Eventually, he married Edna Long and operated the Asheville Cotton Mill on River Road.

The Ecusta plant, financed in part by major tobacco companies, provided a domestic source for cigarette paper as well as jobs for the region.

By the 1930s he began to receive letters from his relatives in Leipzig. With the passage of the Nuremburg laws in 1935, Jews were restricted from jobs, schools, and public places. Eventually, the letters began to plead that he sign an affidavit that would allow them to immigrate to America. Over time, he and his wife Edna helped over 30 friends and family members escape Nazi Germany.

Joseph Lichtenfels recalls: “I remember that my Mother, Edna, and my sister, Helen, had a large file drawer where they kept all the forms that had to be filled out for each person. They had to be filled out in multiple copies so they were always typing on carbon paper. Senator Robert Reynolds was very helpful in helping us get so many family members out.”

Anni and Josef Albers at Black Mountain college, ca. 1936 Photo by Ted Dreier, courtesy of the Josef and Anni Albers Museum

Joseph Albers, Bauhaus and Black Mountain College
Bauhaus Design was a burgeoning artistic movement in Germany in the 1920s. The philosophy of this movement was founded on the idea that “form follows function.” Any decorative technique must complement what the object is used for. Many “traditionalists” objected to this new approach for design, and eventually the Nazi Party outlawed all expressions of this artistic movement, labeling it “degenerative art.” The Nazis also targeted Jazz music because African Americans, who they termed an “inferior race,” developed it. Many of the leaders in the Bauhaus Movement fled to the United States. Among them were Joseph and Anni Albers who came to western North Carolina to work at Black Mountain College.

Portion of a letter to Henry Allen Moe, Secretary of the Guggenheim Foundation, from John A. Rice, head of the Black Mountain College, concerning Josef Albers: September 27, 1933

Anni and josef Albers at Black Mountain college, ca. 1936 Photo by Ted Dreier, courtesy of the Josef and Anni Albers Museum.

“…Now there is one other thing. One of the men whom we want to get is Joseph [sic] Albers, who is a teacher of art in the Dessau
Bauhaus, who has been thrown out of his position by the Nazis because of his political opinions. He is not a Jew, but we have been held back from getting him because we feel that it would be unfair to bring a foreigner into the college on the same terms as we ourselves have taken places here, and we have tried to raise enough money to guarantee him around two thousand dollars a year above his room and board.” — Courtesy of the Swannanoa Valley Historical Museum

Harry Straus began construction of the Ecusta plant in 1938, on the eve of the war in Europe.

The Ecusta plant, financed in part by major tobacco companies, provided a domestic source for cigarette paper as well as jobs for the region.

In July 1940, President Roosevelt moved a contingent of the US Naval Fleet to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii as a deterrent to Japanese aggression. The move to war had been building on both the European and Pacific fronts with many nations already engaged, including Britain. The US predicted an imminent attack by the Japanese on mineral rich Southeast Asia, or perhaps the Philippines, but few predicted they could make the long distance to attack the US on home soil.

Naval dispatch from the Commander-in-Chief Pacific (CINCPAC) announcing the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7,1941 From the Collection of the Library of Congress

In the early hours of Sunday December 7, six Japanese aircraft carriers launched over 400 attack airplanes. By 8:00 am they had arrived at Pearl Harbor and opened fire in a devastating surprise attack. Within a short time, five of eight battleships were sunk or sinking with the rest badly damaged. Most of the combat planes were knocked out before they ever got off the ground. Over 2,400 people were killed.

Vernon Branson, of Asheville, was on the USS Tennessee tied up on “Battleship Row” at Ford Island, Pearl Harbor. It was positioned inboard of the USS West Virginia, aft of the Maryland and Oklahoma, and forward of the Arizona and Vestal.

Streaming from the shattered fuel tanks, oil turned parts of Pearl Harbor into a sea of flames, following the Japanese attacks. This picture was taken from near the naval air station boat landing. Barely visible through the smoke area are a damaged U.S. battleship and the capsized USS Oklahoma. From the Collection of the Library of Congress

On this Sunday, Mr. Branson was sitting with others in the mess hall having coffee and reading the comics, while awaiting “colors” when they heard planes overhead. Their first reaction was that the planes were U.S. aircraft on maneuvers. He and the others stepped out through the hatch just in time to see one of the hangers erupt in a huge ball of flames. He still failed to consider an attack, thinking instead that a U.S. plane on maneuvers had made a terrible mistake. But then he saw the Rising Sun emblem on the Japanese planes and knew they were under attack.

Left to right: USS West Virginia, severely damaged; USS Tennessee, damaged; and USS Arizona, sunk. Vernon Branson was aboard the Tennessee. From the Collection of the Library of Congress

The dive-bombers, torpedo planes and fighters were flying low overhead, dropping bombs and strafing everything in sight. Several of the Tennessee crew were lost to the strafing attacks. Branson was ordered to his battle station, but it became apparent that the broadside guns would not be effective against the low flying attack aircraft. He was ordered below to load ammunition on hoists to be raised through shafts to the guns on top deck. Dressed in a white skivy shirt and black shorts, he spent the next 24 hours inside this watertight compartment three decks below the water line. “The air inside our compartment became so fouled with oily smoke from the burning Arizona and the West Virginia that we were ordered to put on gas masks. It was so dark we could not see the ammunition we were loading but did it all by feel.” The next day they returned to the top deck to see the Arizona twisted, the West Virginia listing toward the Tennessee, and the Oklahoma only yards away capsized with many of her crew still alive and trapped inside.

The next day, December 8, 1941, President Roosevelt

addressed the Congress, commenting on “the day that shall live in infamy.” The speech was followed by a declaration of war on Germany and Japan.

US State Department Representative Elmer Fisk with children at the Internment Camp E. B. Bowers Collection, Presbyterian Historical Society, Montreat, NC

In 1942 the United States State Department approached the director of the Assembly Inn in Montreat, NC about housing Japanese and German civilians who were technically non-combatant enemies of the United States. On October 29, 1942 the Assembly Inn became home to 264 Japanese and German civilians, 152 of them children, for the next six months. They were mostly the families of businessmen who worked in Central and South America and were taken into the custody of the Immigration and Naturalization Service when the U.S. entered World War II in 1941. The Germans lived on one floor, while the Japanese lived on another. Only rarely were the two groups allowed to interact. The German men were allowed to stay with their families, while the INS soon sent the Japanese men to an internment camp in Texas.

German Internees playing chess at the Montreat Internment Camp E. B. Bowers Collection, Presbyterian Historical Society, Montreat, NC

The Assembly Inn, being a service of the Presbyterian Church, sought to treat these internees in the most humane way possible. The staff, including desk clerk Elizabeth
Barr Bowers (whose photographs document this story), took a great interest in the families. The Inn furnished Japanese and German bibles to all residents, including the two daughters of a Buddhist Priest. As Christmas 1942 approached, the staff asked residents if they wanted Christmas trees.

A rare opportunity for one of the German girls to spend time with some of the Japanese women E. B. Bowers Collection, Presbyterian Historical Society, Montreat, NC

The residents agreed, though according to Robert Campbell Anderson’s 1949 Story of Montreat from Its Beginning, at least one German responded, “I know you are the enemy.” Presents were presented to the children. One of the most memorable moments for Dr. Anderson, then director of Assembly Inn, was one evening when the Germans sang Christmas carols on one level and the Japanese sang carols on another level. Residents of Black Mountain came out to Montreat and began singing carols outside the Inn. “Immediately the windows of the lobby and sun parlor were thrown open, and the Germans, Japanese, and the young people from Black Mountain engaged heartily in the singing of the same carols” (p. 119).

Assembly Inn staff person Mrs. Dorsey with Japanese children at the Internment Camp E. B. Bowers Collection, Presbyterian Historical Society, Montreat, NC

During those six months, according to Dr. Anderson, the Assembly Inn “cleared” $75,000, enough to clear all their debt, put in sidewalks, and still have a substantial capital account. A rare opportunity for one of the German girls to spend time with some of the Japanese women E. B. Bowers Collection, Presbyterian Historical Society, Montreat, NC German Internees playing chess at the Montreat Internment Camp E. B. Bowers Collection, Presbyterian Historical Society, Montreat, NC

The artist plays upon racial stereotypes of the Japanese in the American Press. Library of Congress Collect

In times of war, nations seek to galvanize the national identity in order to rally people to the cause. Images in the government and the media link the national identity to friends and family members. Pictures of virtuous looking young men and women accompany pleas to “do your part.” Generally, these posters encourage people in the positive ways they can aid their nation.

Often the effort to rally a nation to war involves demonizing the “enemy.” The “powers that be” polarize the two sides: good and bad, the righteous and the infidel, often the large powerhouse and the smaller underdog. The use of images in the media shapes the citizens’ perceptions of the “other.”

In times of war we see the media work with the government in unifying the people. Images throughout Germany and Nazi Europe used caricatures of the Jewish people and others that were described as “less than human” to sway public opinion. Over and over again, in the newspapers, movie theatres, posters on the streets, and even children’s books and board games, citizens were taught and encouraged to hate.

The artist plays on racial stereotypes of Jews in the Hungarian Press. United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collection, courtesy of Orzagos Szechenyi Konyvtar, Budapest

As the Japanese swept through the Philippines, they posted flyers announcing what would happen to Filipinos who cooperated with the Americans. Blowing Rock native, Harry Martin, spent time in Saipan. He recalls that citizens were jumping off cliffs and throwing women and children over the edge rather than be captured by U.S. forces. The U. S. tried to counter this propaganda by making announcement over loudspeakers, but for the most part it was unsuccessful.

Even in the United States our enemies were portrayed as stereotypes to underscore their “otherness.” Words represent images in people’s minds. Editors commonly referred to the Japanese as “the Japs,” or “Nips,” and even our allies the Soviets as “the Reds.” The following headlines appeared in the Asheville Citizen and the Asheville Times during the war: “Nips Surprised,” and “POW Camps Described As World Peopled By Little Yellow Men With Clubs.”

Evacuation of the artwork from the National Gallery of Art to the Biltmore House. Photographs courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

Western North Carolina’s seeming remoteness from the east coast, and particularly from the large cities of the Northeast, is sometimes seen as a plus. The National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, one of the major repositories of the artistic treasures of our nation, opened its doors on March 17, 1941, only nine short months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The directors of the museum were worried from the beginning of what the Axis powers might do to these national treasures if they gained a foothold on US soil. David Finley, director recalled:

“I went to Senator and Mrs. Peter Gerry, who had been friends of mine for many yeas. I asked, if America should become involved in the war, would they be willing for me to take our most important paintings and sculptures to Biltmore House, in the Blue Ridge Mountains near Asheville, North Carolina. I had been there occasionally when Mrs. Gerry was Mrs. George Vanderbilt and she and her daughter lived at Biltmore House… They said there was a large vacant room in Biltmore House, where we could store everything as their guests. John Walker, Harry McBride, and I went to Biltmore to get everything in readiness. So when the attack was made on Pearl Harbor, we were prepared; and on New Year’s Day 1942, we moved out all of our most important works of art.

We engaged an express car, which was attached to the Southern Railway train to Asheville; and into that car we put the metal vans, which were taken out next morning at Biltmore Station and loaded on trucks to carry them to the Biltmore House. It was a long climb through the park, along winding roads, and up hills covered with ice. The trucks swayed from side to side and in my imagination I could see Raphael’s Alba Madonna and all the rest crashing on the road. But we arrived safely; and at Biltmore everything remained in perfect condition until the war ended.” – Excerpted from A Standard of Excellence, by David Finley, 1973, Smithsonian Institution Press

Local historian, Lou Harshaw, a college student at the time, recalls seeing the boxes on her visits to the Biltmore House:

“These big, heavy crates were stacked almost to the ceiling with a little tiny walkway in between. You had to almost turn sideways to get through. They had all the windows blocked off. Though it was not important to me at the time, years later I understood the significance. They were the National Gallery pictures, stored there in case of bombing.” Evacuation of the artwork from the National Gallery of Art to the Biltmore House. Photographs courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

The war demonstrated that world powers must have access to natural resources. Prior to 1939 the United States exported a great deal of steel to Japan, an island nation that is particularly poor in natural resources. When Japan’s rapid expansion in the Pacific continued unchecked, the U.S. refused to trade with Japan. This caused a steel shortage in Japan. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the U.S. dramatically picked up the production of airplanes, ships, tanks, and vehicles, as well as weapons requiring a vast amount of various metals. This led to a scarcity of those metals. To help support this need, people began recycling—the first national effort to do so. Students were encouraged to bring their scrap metal to the schools to be recycled Barbara Lashley, a Girl Scout at the time, remembers going door to door collecting pots and pans and other metals. One collection spot was in front of the Vance Monument. Underutilized metal products also made their way to scrap metal yards. Asheville even melted down a World War I cannon that had been captured from the Germans and mounted in Pack Square as a memorial to soldiers.

The need for scrap metal was so great that folks salvaged material from landfills and pulled up trolley rails buried under pavement. The track being pulled up here ran along Patton Avenue. Photo courtesy of the Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

The cannon at the left of the photograph (In front of the Vance monument) was a memorial to World War I soldiers. During WWII it was recycled to contribute to that war’s effort. Photo courtesy of Pack Memorial Library.

Wilma Ray, age 5 Courtesy of Julia Ray

Mrs. Julia Ray, of Asheville, recalls:

“The new troops would leave from the front of Courthouse early in the morning. Our community would be organized to meet them there with donuts and coffee—so they would not leave feeling like they were on their own. Our daughter, Wilma,

was 5 or so and she wanted to do something to make a contribution. She kept talking to us about it and explaining how she wanted to help. We took a basket and filled it with donuts. She would be with us at 6:00 am to pass the food out to the soldiers.”

This CP&L advertisement encouraged local girls to take part in the war effort. Courtesy of Girl Scouts of Western North Carolina Pisgah Council Archives

Just as adults contributed to the war effort through buying war bonds, dealing with rationing, and supporting the soldiers, so too were children. They longed for work that would help, and they found it.

Girl Scout and Boy Scout troops were active in the scrap metal drives. Children would save War Stamps—at 10 cents apiece they were more affordable than War Bonds. Schools would compete to see who could collect the most pounds in iron or raise the most money in war stamps. Children would also make decorations for the Army and Navy hospitals in the areas. Some children were trained to be on the lookout for German and Japanese warplanes and to report them to the Civilian Defense.

Girls Scouts of Troop 13 doing their part Courtesy of Girl Scouts of Western North Carolina Pisgah Council Archives

“I remember my Girl Scout troop would go door to door collecting aluminum and scrap iron. We would take it to this big bin at Pack Square. People would give us all kinds of metal like car parts and pots and pans—stuff like that. I also remember going with my troop every Saturday morning to St. Joseph’s Hospital where we would roll bandages for Bundles for Britain” — Barbara Lashley Smith

President Franklin Roosevelt as a guest at the Grove Park Inn during the dedication of the Great Smokies National Park in 1940 From the Grove Park Inn Historical Collection

At the outbreak of WWII, WNC was already familiar with prisoners of war. During WWI, Hot Springs had been used as a place to hold German civilian sailors. Soon after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the State Department leased the Grove Park Inn for the relocation and temporary housing of Axis diplomats. During this time, the Inn did not accept any other guests. 242 German, Italian, and Japanese diplomats lived there beginning in May 1942. Guards were placed at all entrances and barbed wire was strung on the perimeter of the property. Alan Neilson, age 16 at the time, worked as an elevator operator at the Grove Park Inn. He remembers seeing the laundry of the diplomats and families, including diapers and all manner of clothing items, strung from one end of the Great Hall to the other. Neilson later flew in the Army Air Corps over Europe.

Letter of apology to guests whose reservations were necessarily canceled due to the housing of Axis Diplomats and their families following the attack on Pearl Harbor From the Grove Park Inn Historical Collection

Following the permanent placement or return of diplomats, the Inn was used first by the Navy and then by the Army as a site for “Rest and Relaxation” (R and R) for returning soldiers and then officers. The Philippine Government, in exile, led by President Manuel Quezon, had its headquarters at the Grove Park Inn for three months in 1944.

Others sites throughout WNC were also used to hold German prisoners of war. Prior to WWII, NC State University operated the Swannanoa 4-H

Camp for youth camping. The Federal government took it over in 1942 to house German officers. According to local history, their first duty was to cut out all the understory plants, such as mountain laurel and rhododendron, around their barracks, so they would not be able to hide during an escape. They spent their time there building an addition to the main building at the camp and accenting it with stonework. As the camp was near Moore General Hospital, it was also used as an officers club for the medical team located there.

Soldiers on “R and R” on the front porch of the Grove Park Inn From the Grove Park Inn Historical Collection

Many local citizens recall Prisoners of War who worked on local farms, such as Hickory Nut Gap. It is not known where these prisoners were housed.examskip

Letter received by Charles Hendricks, admitting him to service at Buck Creek. Courtesy of Charles Hendricks.

Although World War II unified much of the nation, a number of people objected to war in any situation. Then as now, many of the Conscientious Objectors (COs) refused to fight out of a religious conviction that killing other humans is wrong. This is often not an easy stand to make, particularly in the 1940s. Many folks have a violent reaction to those who refuse to fight.

Charles Hendricks, responding to his moral opposition to war, chose to be sent to the Buck Creek Service Camp. Photo courtesy of Charles Hendricks

Some COs refused to cooperate with the United States government and were jailed. The late Arle Brooks, formerly of Celo, refused any service and was imprisoned in Danbury, Connecticut. Upon sentencing him, the judge stated: “I am going to sentence you; it is hard for me to do it, but it is my duty, and I feel like Pontius Pilate. I have got to obey the law…” (American Friends Service Committee, United States of America v. Arle Brooks). During WWII approximately 6000 men were sent to federal prison; two thirds of those were Jehovah’s Witnesses. The Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse any allegiance to government entities and are often the first jailed in nations all over the world, including Nazi Germany. Once in prison, COs were threatened by prison administrators, guards, and fellow inmates. Often they spent long periods in total darkness and solitary confinement.

Signs posting fire crew assignments Photograph by James Fox, courtesy of Swathmore Peace College

Others chose to participate in alternative or noncombatant service. Some, such as Asheville resident Clarence Schmidt, enlisted in the military, but registered Class 1-A-O, meaning he objected to combat duty. Schmidt went on to work in the Panama Canal Zone as a clerk for a Personnel Unit. In regards to how others felt about his stance, he said, “even the local draft board supported me.”

Charles Hendricks of Greensboro was raised a Quaker, and when the war began he knew that as a pacifist he could not serve in the military. While his brothers went into noncombatant service (Class 1-A-O) as medics, Mr. Hendricks chose to be sent to the Buck Creek Service Camp near Marion, which was operated and funded by the Quaker community. While there, he helped build Crabtree Park on the Blue Ridge Parkway and fought forest fires in the national forests in that area. “I was sympathetic to issues raised by the war and to the need for solving problems, but not by killing people. The government set up these CO camps where I felt like I could serve my country but not kill people. Some of my friends wouldn’t even do that and would rather go to prison—which they did.”

Men from Buck Creek Service Camp returning from fighting fires in Western NC Photograph by James Fox, courtesy of Swathmore Peace College.

Mr. Hendricks arrived at Buck Creek in January 1942 and was released in 1946 (also serving in a number of other CO camps). When asked how the folks around him felt about his decision, he said that for the most part they were okay, but sometimes people would say things. The mood of the country at war made being a CO an unpopular choice. “But I knew for me it was the right thing to do. One time I went into Marion to buy a bathing suit. When the salesperson asked me where I was stationed I told him I was at Buck Creek. He said ‘I don’t have anything to sell you.’”

Women Volunteered their skills behind numerous war related projects with the help of the Red cross. Here the women of the local Greek community are sewing garments for Greek war refugees. from the asheville citizen, courtesy of george lamprinakos

The American Red Cross worked to provide relief of all kinds for soldiers. Red Cross packages fed prisoners of war, Red Cross bandages dressed soldiers’ wounds, while Red Cross socks, mittens, and afghans warmed soldiers’ bodies and hearts. This work took a great deal of money, almost all of it raised in communities across the nation. Louis Lipinsky, Asheville businessman, philanthropist, and namesake of the main UNCA auditorium, chaired Buncombe County’s Red Cross War Fund Drive from 1942-1945. The entire community stepped in to help: Ivey’s department store and Carolina Power & Light sponsored full-page ads in the local newspapers. Area business and local citizens pledged money at a time when many resources were scarce; the area was still feeling the consequences of 12 years of economic depression. Even area schools contributed. By April 1, 1943 the Asheville School’s student body had contributed $340 to the War Fund, while pupils of David Miller Junior High School had contributed $360.

Mrs. Hugh Lamb (on right) was the Buncombe County Red Cross’s chief cutter during the war years and was once described in the Asheville Citizen as having “a genuine talent for handling a pattern, a bolt of cloth and a pair of scissors.” Photo from the collection of June Lamb

Some of this money funded the four Asheville Red Cross Production Rooms, one of which was located at David Miller Junior High School. Mrs. Hugh Lamb ran another Production Room in the old Haywood Road Post Office in West Asheville’s Bledsoe Building.

Area schools also participated in the Junior Red Cross. Classes could contribute money (50 cents for elementary classes, $1 for high school classes) to participate. In 1943 the local Red Cross sought 100% enrollment from area schools. According to the Asheville Citizen of November 13, 1943, “Allen Home and Black Mountain Negro Schools [were the] first to report enrollment of 100%.”

Soldier Sanders’s American Red Cross team lost the 1943 ETO Tournament in the quarterfinals. At some point, Mr. Sanders (back row, second from right) drew glasses on himself. Photo from the collection of Soldier Sanders Collection, Buncombe County Chapter of the American Red Cross

Local citizens also stepped forward to provide other services for the Red Cross. Emily Meares, daughter of Mrs. J.E. Meares of Kimberly Avenue, became the Acting Program Director of an American Red Cross Club in Southport, England. The club served as a hostel, entertainment center, and home-away-from-home for soldiers in Britain. Her role called on her at times to lend money to soldiers and even help pregnant British women find their servicemen. She served in this capacity for 2 years.

Letter received by Emily Meares while working with the Red Cross in England From the Emily Meares Collection, Buncombe County Chapter of the American Red Cross

Red Cross Clubs also sponsored sporting events. Soldier Sanders of Cherokee played on a Red Cross basketball team while stationed in Great Britain with the Army Air Corps. His team went on to win the Northern Ireland Air Corps Championship in 1943 and went on to represent Ireland at the European Theater of Operations Tournament, which was played at the Royal Albert Hall.