American Legacies Organization, Inc.

My life was rough. As a little child I worked long hours on the farm, hanging tobacco to dry. My mother had tried to teach me to work with the animals, but after she forced me to kill a chicken, I became incapacitated whenever I went near that part of the farm. Against my struggling, fighting and tears, Momma made me cut that chickens head of with an axe.

The first half a screenwriter would struggle to maintain even an “R” rating. The last half might be to clean and spiritual even for the Wonderful World of Disney that played on Sunday evenings for so many years. However, one common thread ties his entire life story together and leaves a legacy for us all: tenacity. And this tenacious spirit played out whether drinking in the local pub or preaching in a prison.

In the beginning it appeared that everyone in Egypt was called Ali, starting with the elderly man who cleaned the company office and ate so much garlic that he emptied rooms as he approached. There was also the Ali who supervised others at the bakery in Moascar and was responsible for loading yeast onto his truck. A third Ali supervised the removal of the yeast at Fayid, one of the destinations.

Haywood knew that mama would like it in heaven, because she use to read to him from her book called the Bible, and would describe a beautiful and wonderful place to him. A place where there was no sickness or sorrow or pain. A place where her Mama and Daddy were waiting for her.

There’s a little church where we used to go.

You may recall, it was St. Joe.

“Hard Scrabble,” was a nickname, it wasn’t famous, nor held no fame.

Our mom and dad, always faithful and true,

For miles they walked, the best they could do.

With Harold, Richard, Jean, Norma and Linda too,

We went to Church, Fountain Ferry and Zoo.

The fast kind of life was not their goal.

‘Sing for your Supper’ the sign said outside of the church as Billy was making his way back to Kempston barracks one evening at Christmas time in 1946. Hearing the sound of the congregation inside the invitation was very tempting to the hungry young lad whose only concern was whether he could live up to his end of the bargain, considering that he couldn’t sing a note in tune.

Nanny and her brother Lester and his wife Ada would almost always bring Louise up to my parents house for Easter. My Mother, Myra Wagaman Riley nee Wike, would make a big Easter dinner. Mom would color eggs for baskets and make a dozen for hiding. I loved hiding eggs. We were lucky if we found 9 out of 12 eggs.

By Milton Long

A tank BN is made up of three medium and one light tank companies, a Headquarters Company and a Service Company. Service Company was responsible for the maintenance, and supply of all vehicles in the BN. In combat this would mean providing gas and ammo to the combat vehicles including anything attached to the BN. In Service Company we were divided into two groups, those with the job of supply and those with the job of maintenance.

We moved into his mother’s home in Lebanon, PA. The only modern thing were water and electricity, which was required in the city. We lived on the edge of town, so we did not have sewer for a bathroom. There was an out house at the end of the yard and any dirty water was thrown out in the backyard.

Mines were not the only thing lying around. The area was full of dead Americans, mostly very young and just off the boat. When the Bulge started everyone was shoved into action. Kids just coming over were sent into the line, I found out later that the ASTP program was closed and they were sent over. Right by our tent was a young kid lying in the snow and up the road, in a woods no one dared go in, were quite a few dead.