Before Songbird began in May 1943 and Edwin, Barry, and Sydney ever saw Ft. McClellan, the real-life 27th Division from New York made the fort its temporary home. The National Guard unit from New York was the first to train in the expanded post during World War II. The 27th Division was made up of 1,200 men and officers under the lead of Major General William N. Haskell. Their time at Ft. McClellan consisted of a 16-week basic training course, combat training, and actual fiel

Even in war, art must go on! Edouard Patte, a Red Cross Inspector, was surprised to find an art studio when he visited Fort McClellan’s POW camp in 1944. He wrote, “Since my last visit 4 barracks were set aside as art studios. Within them are working a few painters, sculptors, toy-makers and handicraft addicts who do some commendable work. Those little studios with self-made benches, old canvas frames, tin cans full of red, blue, yellow, black, and white, with paintings of Eu

While World War II produced innumerable soldiers, tanks, and warships, it also produced something else – marriages! With the uncertainties of war, couples across the country rushed to the altar before men were shipped overseas to enter the war. The 1941 marriage rate, 12.6 per 100,000 population, was the highest recorded rate ever in the United States. Anniston, AL was no exception. The Anniston Star reported in January 1942 that during the month of December 1941 alone at lea

When Jason and I talked to older adults at the Fair on the Square a few weeks ago, they all had the same thing to say about Anniston, AL in the 1940s. They said it was a “booming” town. People from the rural surrounding areas and soldiers from Ft. McClellan poured into the city to work, shop, eat, and watch a movie. Many cities throughout the United States experienced a similar population growth during World War II as men and women left the farm for new work opportunities. Ot

In an earlier post, we learned about the burning of the Alabama Hotel in 1944 and the tragic death of a young war bride. We had the honor this past weekend at the Fair on the Square Living Museum in Jacksonville, AL to meet Charles White. Mr. White was actually in Anniston the day of the fire and remembers the event vividly. Check out this video for his firsthand account. For more info on the fire you can read our original post at: http://www.thewarsongseries.com/#!Tragic-Iro

A new hospital just opened next to our subdivision this week. Fittingly, during my recent research, I read about the first hospitals in Anniston, AL, where I was born. This account from Annie’s Town Revisited: A Picture History of Anniston, AL by Tee Morgan was amazing! Oh, how times have changed. She writes this account of a patient’s stay at the old Garner Hospital: “In an entry in the diary of Maximillian B. Wellborn on February 22, 1940, he writes of his surgery: ‘I staye