THE SEBEWA RECOLLECTOR Newsletter from Sebewa,
APRIL 2005, Volume 40, Number 5. Sebewa Township, Ionia County, MI.
Submitted with written permission of Editor Grayden D. SLOWINS:


SURNAMES: LAKIN, SHERWOOD, MEADE, CLARK, HITCHCOCK, MERRILL, SMITH, BALDOCK, GREEN, HASKINS, WATTS, PATTERSON, BADGER, KILBORN, TISDALE, HYNES, TAYLOR, MAXSON, AYLESWORTH, COGGESHALL, BEGGERLY, MILLS, SCHRAUBEN, GROSS, TRIERWEILER, ALLEN, LANE, KENYON, JACKSON, WILLARD, GIBBS

RECENT DEATHS:

BARBARA JEAN LAKIN SHERWOOD, 77, wife of Wayne H. SHERWOOD, mother of Yolanda BLISSETT, Brian, Bradford and Thomas SHERWOOD, sister of James, Roger, Kenneth and the late Douglas LAKIN, daughter of Mabel MEADE & Harold Donald LAKIN, son of Norah Elizabeth CLARK & Claude Dwight LAKIN, son of Elizabeth Aurelia HITCHCOCK & William Dwight LAKIN, son of Hulda ELLIS MERRILL & John F. LAKIN, son of Elizabeth Ann SMITH & William M. LAKIN, son of Ann BALDOCK & Thomas LAKIN.

Nora was a daughter of John CLARK & Harriet (Hattie) GREEN, daughter of Samuel GREEN & Melinda HASKINS, daughter of Lucy PATTERSON & Jesse HASKINS, son of Lois WATTS & Abraham HASKINS, son of Lois KILBORN & Elkanah HASKINS, son of Mehitable BADGER & Daniel HASKINS, son of Mary TISDALE & Richard HASKINS, son of ANN HYNES & William HASKINS, son of Henry GENT HOSKINS. Samuel GREEN was the son of Sarah (Sally) BEADLE TAYLOR & John GREENE, son of Mary MAXSON & Joshua GREEN, son of Mary AYLESWORTH & John GREEN, son of Humility COGGESHALL & Benjamin GREENE, son of Joan BEGGERLY & John GREENE, son of Robert GREENE, son of Henry GREENE, son of John GREENE, son of Robert GREENE, son of Robert GREENE, son John DeGREENE, son of Thomas DeGREENE, son of Henry DeGREENE, son of Justice DeGREENE, son of Thomas DeGREENE, son of T. DeGREENE DeBOKENTON.

Humility COGGESHALL was the daughter of Joshua COGGESHALL, second son of John COGGESHALL, one of the founders of Rhode Island.

Elizabeth Aurelia HITCHCOCK was the daughter of Delinda Jane MILLS & Rufus HITCHCOCK, son of Evelina M. WALLACE & Russell HITCHCOCK, son of Elizabeth HITCHCOCK & Oliver HITCHCOCK, son of Ruth STEBBINS & Samuel HITCHCOCK, son of Mary BALL & John HITCHCOCK, son of Hannah CHAPIN & John HITCHCOCK, son of Elizabeth GIBBONS & Luke HITCHCOCK, son of Luke HISCOCK. Elizabeth HITCHCOCK HITCHCOCK was a daughter of Elizabeth STEBBINS & Phineas HITCHCOCK, son of Mary SHELDEN & Ebenezer HITCHCOCK, son of Sarah BURT DORCHESTER & Luke HITCHCOCK, son of Elizabeth GIBBONS & Luke HITCHCOCK, son of Luke HISCOCK.  Delinda Jane MILLS was the daughter of Elizabeth DICKENSON & Stephen MILLS.

Hulda ELLIS MERRILL was a daughter of Nancy PHELPS & Daniel MERRILL, son of Hulda ELLIS & Daniel MERRILL, son of Mary SKINNER & Gad MERRIELS, son of Esther STRICKLAND & John MERRILL, son of Sarah MARSH & John MERRILL, son of Sarah WATSON & John MERRILL, son of Susanna WALTERTON & Nathaniel MERRILL, son of Mary BLACKWELL & Nathaniel MERRILL.

Lois KILBORN was a daughter of Rebecca DICKINSON & Abraham KILBORN, son of Sarah GOODRICH & Abraham KILBOURNE, son of Sarah BROWNSON & John KILBOURNE, son of Frances MOODY & Thomas KILBORNE, son of John KILBOURNE, son of John KILBOURNE.Barbara J. LAKIN SHERWOOD was a farmer on AINSWORTH Road in Berlin Township, Home Economics teacher at Saranac High School, Dietician at Butterworth Hospital in Grand Rapids, at Howell State Hospital, and at Ionia State Hospital, an Ionia County Commissioner and member of Ionia County Mental Health Board. She is buried in Saranac Cemetery.

WILLIAM N. SCHRAUBEN, 72, husband of Marie GROSS SCHRAUBEN, father of William, Ted, Dave and Steve SCHRAUBEN, Sharon HENGESBACH, Louise PUNG, Kaye SANDBORN, and Jan SIMON, brother of Donald and Dennis SCHRAUBEN, Arlene McCRUMB, Gertrude DILLY, Betty DINKEL, and the late Elda PIERCE, Marie BEARD, James, Mathias, LaVern and Thomas SCHRAUBEN, son of Mamie TRIERWEILER & MATHIAS SCHRAUBEN.  Bill was a farmer on Lookingglass Avenue in Portland Township and a carpet installer, and is buried in Portland Cemetery.

PAUL WILLIAM ALLEN, 78, husband of Alberta WEEKS ALLEN, father of Kellie, Tim and Curt ALLEN, Paula DeYOUNG, and the late Karen ALLEN, brother of Roger ALLEN, Bernice HAMP and the late Barbara ALLEN, son of Laura LANE & William ALLEN, son of Clare ALLEN, son of George ALLEN. Laura LANE was a daughter of Roy LANE. Paul was a farmer on Clarksville Road in Odessa Township and operated Lakewood Grain and Storage in Woodbury. They spent retirement winters in LaBelle, FL., and summers at Morrison Lake. Paul is buried at Lakeside Cemetery.

WILLARD E. KENYON, 86, husband of Grace JACKSON KENYON, father of Gene, Phillip and James KENYON, Karen RHYARD and Marcie GINDER, brother of Loraine KENYON and the late Madonna BLAKELY, son of Crystal WILLARD & Marvin KENYON. Willard was a farmer on Clinton Trail in Odessa Township and operated KENYON Television Company in Lake Odessa.

They spent retirement winters at Lake Como, FL, and summers in Lake Odessa. Willard was an avid fisherman and they were active in the United Methodist Church in both places. He was no known relation to the KENYONS of East Sebewa. There is some thought that he may be related to the M. E. KENYON family, who once lived at the southeast corner of Clarksville & SHILTON Roads, where Ron THELEN lives now, and have family burials in West Sebewa Cemetery. Willard is buried at Lakeside Cemetery.

PHOTOS ON FRONT PAGE OF THIS ISSUE OF SEBEWA CENTER SCHOOL BUILDING

TEACHERS OF SEBEWA CENTER SCHOOL DISTRICT NUMBER FOUR 1854-1965:
 

  
Luryette BROWN taught school in a log house at first, then in a wood framed schoolhouse built on the northwest corner of Sunfield & BIPPLEY Roads in 1856. The brick school at the northwest corner of SHILTON & BIPPLEY Roads was completed December 15, 1882. Some years a man taught winter term for more money than a woman got for spring term – because the big boys came – up to 21 years of age! END

BRYRON GIBBS’ WORLD WAR II MEMOIRS CONTINUED:

I had to stay at the hospital but still had the Camp KOHLER address and I could get out on a pass to get some clothes. On September 27, I was scheduled for a disposition board.

At the hospital I had nothing to do but wait. On Sept. 30, 1944, I obtained a damaged, regular army foot locker from salvage. The only damage was a broken lock. So I took a good lock from a smashed locker and bought some key blanks from a locksmith in Auburn and in the time I had to set around, I made some keys and got the good lock on it.

On Oct. 5, 1944, I was given a new address, Cas. Det. 2, 3158 Sig. Sv. Bn. Camp KOHLER. By Oct. 7, 1944, I had all my belongings from Camp KOHLER packed in the car as I heard the camp was closing.

About this time I got a letter from Lt. Dick KEMPER in Camp
CROWDER. He had picked up my dry cleaning I had to leave Camp
CROWDER without getting and would mail it to mother.
By Oct. 14, 1944, I had a new address, ward 117-B, Dewitt
General Hospital, Auburn, California. Camp KOHLER was closing
and the 3168 Sig. Sv. Bn. Was moving to Camp BEAL near
Marysville. By Oct. 19, 1944, I had taken my car into Auburn for
an oil change and tune up also for a check on the wheel
alignment.

By November 2, I was assigned to the Detachment of Patients since the stay was indefinite. There was not much to do other than play cards so I started building a model air plane.On Nov. 7, 1944, I think Burr ABRAHAMSON and his wife who had lived at Gillie’s in Mt. Pleasant and knew Gertie stopped to see me on their way to Ft. ORD, California.

Since there was little to do in the hospital, I worked in occupational therapy making leather picture frames. The surroundings around Dewitt General Hospital, were pleasant. It was a new hospital less a year old and some things like the theater had not been completed. From outside our ward we could see the snow-covered peaks of the Sierra Nevada Mountains about 50 miles away.

On Nov. 22, 1944, the day before Thanksgiving, I went before the retirement Board. This is a board much like the composition of a court-martial board with testimony to see if I should be retained in the service on permanent limited service without territorial restrictions. This had to be reviewed in Washington and it would take some time.

The officers in my ward were all about like I was, just waiting. Lt. FORNELIUS had been in the regular army long before the war in the Philippine Islands then was stationed in Panama where he got an inner ear infection. To walk down the hall he had to walk close to the wall as his sense of balance was gone. Another patient was a brain surgeon who had phlebitis and had to stay in bed with his legs up much of the time. He did however do brain surgery and put in metal plates for soldiers with head injuries. He said he would sit on an elevated chair and have a nurse talk to the patient as he worked. He would chisel out the bone and hammer in the plate. He said there was no pain but it was necessary for the patient to remain still. That is why the nurse was in front of the patient talking to him.

In the Auburn area was where the first gold strike of 1849 occurred and there were many small one man mines that were worked part time. I remember one local man telling me that gold could not be sold during the war but he sometimes mined a small quantity to save until he could sell it. He gave me a piece of rock with a small piece of gold in it. In my daily walks in the area I often picked up almonds laying on the ground. They were easy to shell and good to eat.

By Dec. 6, the theater at the hospital was completed. It seated about 250. I was not very interested in movies but I did see “For Whom The Bell Tolls”. The price was a reasonable 15 cents. Movies in Auburn at that time were 50 cents.

In early December, I was working in occupational therapy repairing donated radios to be used in the wards. Many wards were without radios. I was also busy installing the gasoline motor in the model plane and doing Christmas shopping and wrapping presents to mail.

I received a Christmas package from Gertie that I remember had a nice bill-fold in it. There were also packages from mother, the THORPS and the Clare Methodist Church.

On December 5, 1944, we had a big Christmas dinner with many guests in the mess hall. That day I took pictures of the Chapel and of the Christmas tree on the sun porch on our ward with the nurse, Myfanwy BOUDEN, who was the nurse on duty that day.

Eventually, I expected to be assigned to some unit but as the year ended I was still waiting for orders.

JANUARY 1, 1945 – MARCH 24, 1946:
On New Year’s Eve, there was a party in the Officers Club. Officer patients were not members, but we did go to the party.

I had a lot of respect for the army nurses. Our ward had one nurse that worked a 12-hour day and the other nurse worked 12 hours on the night shift. Nurses although commissioned officers only received $90 per month compared to a male 2nd Lt. pay of $150 per month. These nurses worked 7 days a week with only an occasional half day off. On Jan. 6, 1945 the night nurse had her mother and father come to visit. She had worked all night then went with them all day. By the time she was to go on duty that night she had been without sleep for 24 hours and she was dead tired. I told her to go sleep in one of the private rooms and I would sit at her desk and answer the phone or do any routine work not requiring a nurse. Only if necessary would I call her. I sat in her office until early morning writing letters. The Ward was quiet all night, no action was necessary just being there was all that was required.

On Jan. 12, 1945, I was still repairing donated radios and I had the model plane about finished to test. By the end of January I had received a letter from Lt. Ellsworth FLETCHER who was now in the Dutch East Indies. I had sent him a small leather picture holder for Christmas.

Early in February, I was working full time repairing radios for the wards. Then on Feb. 10, 1945, I finally got orders assigned me to Ft. MASON SFPE, APO #4294-K. Ft. MASON was about 130 miles from Dewitt General Hospital. At Ft. MASON, I was staying in the Guest House.

On February 11, 1945, I still had my car and drove across the Golden Gate Bridge and about 10 miles up the coast where I could look down at the houses along the shore. I sent home a footlocker and arranged to store my car at the Biltmore Garage on 351 Valencia St., San Francisco for $5 per month with Mr. W. S. BROCKMAN, the owner. This was a day parking garage but there were some places way back in that Mr. BROCKMAN was glad to rent by the month. He wanted to know how long I would store it. I gave a guess of nine months and paid three months in advance and asked mother to pay them in three month increments well in advance.

I knew I would be going overseas as I was now assigned to 6509-G at Camp STONEMAN 40 miles from San Francisco and on TDY as advanced representative at Ft. MASON. As advanced representative I was very busy getting things arranged for the units arrival.

The letter I wrote mother on Feb. 22, was opened by the Base Censor also the one written Feb. 23 giving my address as Casual Detachment 6509-G, APO # 18638, c/o Postmaster San Francisco. I was still on shore however. I had been very busy and was glad to have my car to get around. On Feb. 26, 1945 I was issued a steel helmet again. I used to think it did not weigh this much but now it seemed to weigh more.

On Feb. 27, 1945 the car was parked at the Biltmore Garage and I got on the USAT Noordam. I remember going aboard with my class A uniform on, my musette bag and Val Pack. All the troops loading were in fatigues as well as the nurses loading. I am sure they wondered who this is coming aboard in a class A uniform. I knew at the time we were destined for Manila, P. I., perhaps this is why the mail was censored even though I was in the U.S. I also knew at the time there were still Japanese in Manila.

On Feb. 28, 1945, we left San Francisco sailing under the Golden Gate Bridge. We went close enough to the Hawaiian Island to see one of the islands in the distance. The first stop was a Fincharen, New Guinea. March 17, 1945 we stayed on the ship and left the harbor March 18, 1945. We then stopped at Hollandia, New Guinea, March 20, 1945, and stayed on board leaving the same day March 20, 1945. We then went to Taclobin Harbor, Leyte, P.I. arriving March 27, 1945 and remaining in the harbor leaving April 5, 1945. We arrived in Manila Harbor, Luzon, PI April 8, 1945 and disembarked that same day going down a landing net into landing craft.

My Val Pack missed and went in the bay and had to be fished out. It floated but things got a little damp. We were loaded on trucks and driven through the walled city after dark where there was still spasmodic firing. That first night we were at a golf course I think to the north of Manila. I believe I slept on the ground that night with the mosquito bar over me. During the night I woke up with some animal nibbling at the hair on my head. It was a large rat and I got that out in a hurry. I suppose it liked the oil on my hair.

At the golf course the Japanese had a radio station and everything was still in place. The First Cavalry unit was supposed to be in the lead coming to Manila but somehow a Signal unit got ahead on the road to the golf course and arrived while the Japanese were still operating the radio station. They had all taken off running leaving the equipment on and food on the stove in the kitchen of the club house.

That first morning we had corn fritters for breakfast. They were good and we were hungry. We now had a new address GHQ Sig. Operations Group, USASOS (P) APO #75 c/o Postmaster San Francisco, California. We moved into a house in Manila. It was built of mahogany, all the floor joists, 2x4s and all. The floor and walls were highly polished mahogany and the partitions were woven bamboo. The house had a modern bath but not a reliable water supply. We did have a Filipino House Boy to look after out things. He had quit High School when the Japanese came but he wanted eventually to go to the University of California to be a T.V. engineer.

The buildings in downtown Manila had been bombed and burned. In the basement of the National Bank Building there was printed Japanese invasion currency four feet deep. It was worthless now but good to send home as souvenirs. The regular Philippine currency was pesos, 10 pesos was worth $5.00. One centavo was worth ½ cent. This was an easy exchange rate figure.

The GHQ Signal Center where we worked was in the Waterworks Building. It was not badly damaged by shells but the reinforced concrete building had been burned out. We had to cross the Pasig River on the Jones Bridge to get to work each day. This bridge had been badly damaged but a Bailey Bridge had been laid over so the roadway was useable.

By April 15, we had moved closer to work. We still had an unreliable source of water so we kept the bathtub full and used our helmets for washing and bathing. We did have lights from a Signal Corps generator set in the front yard. I would sit on the front porch in the evening and see a cart go by pulled by a water buffalo. There would be several brightly decorated pony carts that served as taxis. We would also see women walk by with a big tray balanced on their heads carrying vegetables, fruits, or perhaps laundry. There was quite a contrast in transportation, a 1941 Ford was parked on the street along with a 1939 and 1940 Buick and Nash. Most of the two wheeled farm carts coming to the city were pulled by a carabao or water buffalo as they were called.

The house we lived in was constructed entirely of mahogany. The 2 x 4’s, floor joists, rafters and all else. The walls were beautiful highly polished mahogany. The floor was also highly polished mahogany with boards one foot to 18” wide. The windows had mahogany frames and instead of glass they used opaque sea shell in 3” squares. A sash had 84 of those opaque squares. All the wood was what we would consider for use in fine furniture. Here this mahogany was used for everything.

We had a phone line from the house to the Signal Center. We never discussed any work outside the Signal Center. There were very few times however when they had trouble at night and I was called. In these cases I asked for a Jeep to come and pick me up. It was ink black on the streets at night and not always safe. Some mornings we would see a dead Japanese on the sidewalk when we went to work. Everyone would just walk around him. There were still Japanese hiding in the ruins. They would come out at night to hunt for food and get shot by a Filipino scout.

One night I remember being on duty and we needed some part from the Signal Depot. It was within walking distance and I went with one of my Sargeants who knew how to get there. It was pitch dark, and you could see nothing. There is nothing darker than a bombed out city on a moonless night. All of a sudden we were stopped near the door of the signal depot by a Filipino Scout with a carbine. I asked him how he knew were Americans and not Japanese. He said he could tell by the sound of our stops. He also said he could smell Japanese. I expect they did smell different.

It was surprising to meet someone you worked with in the states. In our mess hall I met Lt. Gillentine and Lt. Clanton who I was with in Virginia. I also saw the nurse, Lt. Bouden and five other nurses from Dewitt General Hospital.

On Sunday, April 22, 1945, I walked by a Catholic Church in the morning where they were having mass. There was no roof, no doors, no windows, but the church was full of worshipers all dresses in their best, very clean, clothes. The Filipinos all seem to be neat and clean every day.

I remember visiting the San Sebastian Cathedral one day that was not Sunday. It was quiet when I walked in but I could hear this faint music. It was cool and……………TO BE CONTINUED