The Home Guard Was Ready To Defend Charlton During WWII.
03/26/00

Photo: When World War Two ended in 1945, Charlton County people flocked into their churches to give thanks. Shown above is Folkston's 1945 era Methodist Church and First Baptist Church. The two churches rang their church bells to give thanks for an end to that four-year war.

They're dying now at better than 45,000 a month; veterans of World War Two. That war ended 55 years ago so most of the veterans are now in their declining years. Likewise, those that manned the home front are also in their senior years.

But, turn back the calendar to the years 1942 through 1945. NBC newsman Tom Brokaw calls those who went to war, "The Greatest Generation."

People in Charlton County were enjoying a quiet Sunday afternoon on December 7, 1941 when the lightning bolt hit: "Japanese Attack Pearl Harbor" radio news reporters broke into normal programming to tell the nation. America was at war.

People in Charlton County didn't know what to do. Most didn't even know where Pearl Harbor was. However, unanimous patriotism swelled in their breast. "Those Japanese should know better than jump on the United States" could be heard over and over again in Stapleton's drug store and over the counter at the Suwannee Store on Folkston's Main Street. The war was to end in victory for the Allies in late 1945, only after the atomic bomb was used to bring Japan to its knees.

In those four years, while the county's young were fighting all around the world, the Charlton County home front mobilized. In the early months of that war a Charlton County Home Guard was mobilized, with veterans from World War One, and a college R.O.T.C. graduate, Alva J. Hopkins, of Folkston to help guide the effort.

Every Sunday afternoon the home guard could be seen marching up and down Folkston's Main Street, while onlookers lined the street parking spaces. The members wore khaki work pants and shirts, and carried shotguns, brought from their homes, on their shoulders. The spectators applauded as the small group marched by. The home guard was to defend Charlton County in the event of an enemy invasion, which many feared would soon happen.

Another contingent of the Home Guard was assigned to guard the Railroad Bridge across the St. Marys River between Folkston and Boulogne. It was feared that enemy saboteurs would attempt to blow up the vital rail link.

Young men set up camp on the banks of the river there. Tents spread around a campfire in the center of the encampment. Some members of that river guard were Robert Harrison, Everett Jones, Alton M. (Shorty) Mizell, Rudolph Cook and many others. They walked patrol across the bridge throughout the night and day determined to shoot anyone attempting to monkey with the bridge. One fisherman, passing underneath in a boat, was challenged; but, being hard of hearing, could not hear the order to halt. He came awfully close to being shot out of his boat before the guard finally got his attention and he threw up his hands. As the war raged on, all of these young men would enlist in military service. Robert Harrison was in on the invasion of North Africa; Alva Hopkins had charge of a sawmill in the jungles of New Guinea, Mizell, Jones and Cook saw battle in Europe.

An airplane spotter's headquarters was built atop the Charlton County Courthouse. It was just a small wooden cubicle next to the large bell that struck to signify the hour, but the volunteers took the work seriously. A crank telephone was mounted on the side of the little building, and the switchboard operator, Mrs. Nettie Keene, gave those calls top priority. The plane watchers were to report all planes flying over the town to a Jacksonville dispatch office. This they did dutifully.

The Charlton County schools got into massive scrap drives, bringing metal and rubber from throughout the county to a central location in Folkston, to be taken to Jacksonville for recycling into tires and guns.

On the home front in Charlton County, a draft board was formed that would send hundreds from home to serve in the armed forces. A ration board dispensed meager allotments of tires, coffee, meats and gasoline. A regular passenger car got only an "A" stamp, entitling it to 3 gallons of gasoline a week. Pulpwood trucks commanded a "T" sticker, allowing much more gasoline. Many of the  "T" stickers found their way into the black market, as gasoline-hungry civilians were willing to part with their money in exchange for the more liberal sticker. When someone was discovered selling their "T" stamps, they were given no more gasoline at all.

Housewives became use to innovations, designed to be helpful, but sometimes proving of no value at all. Such was a brief history of unsliced bread, thought to stay fresh longer. Housewives had to buy special knives to cut the loafs into slices. This experiment was short lived.

Housewives formed support groups, meeting weekly to sew scarves and sweaters for their servicemen. Cakes and cookies were shipped in large quantities from post offices in Folkston, Homeland, Winokur, Racepond, Saint George and Moniac.

During those trying years, the people throughout Charlton County banded together in a common cause…to win the victory. It took but a short trip to Fernandina Beach and Brunswick to witness American ships being blown up by Nazi U-boats near the beaches. Saboteurs landed on the beach near Jacksonville, but were captured soon in New York before getting a chance to ply their trade.

The events brought World War Two close to home. It was brought even closer when the families of 19 Charlton County servicemen got messages beginning "We regret to inform you.." notifying them of the death of their loved one. Hundreds more were wounded in action but returned home, some crippled, with legs missing, and shell-shocked.

World War Two was a bitter experience, for the military and for the home front. When victory came over Japan, ending that war, church bells rang throughout Charlton County, and men and women found their way into churches to give thanks for the American Victory, and for the end of a tragic world war.