A post by Darin71 (and thanks Darin for sharing it. You just made my day.kg )
A true story,a long one-
1946 South Mississippi,USA a young black man returned from war in Europe.The Army as well as Mississippi weren’t the most racially integrated places in the world,but he didn’t care,he was going to make something of himself.He applied for a GI bill loan,but didn’t get it.
That didn’t stop him though,he was determined.He borrowed some money and put it together with some he had saved and bought a second hand single axle Mack truck and four bolster log trailer.The following day he began hauling logs under contract from the woods to the local plywood veneer mill.
He continued at that for several years,got married to his girlfriend and started a family.11 weeks after his first child was born he was in an accident.He was unloading logs off the trailer by tripping the outside bolsters something he had done a hundred times when one bolster gave way and snapped.Before he could clear the now falling load he was caught up in it crushing both legs below the knees.
Laying on his back in pain and bleeding all he could think of was his son and his drive to succeed.The men at the woodyard scrambled both White and Black to get him from under the load and into the ambulance,they knew the man and knew what he was made of.
His wife met the ambulance at the hospital only to find that her husband was being rushed to the Charity hospital in New Orleans as the local hospital was only a glorified clinic at the time and wasn’t equiped to treat his injuries.His wife stayed behind knowing she could do nothing to help him but pray and work.That same afternoon she entered the employment office at the mill looking to get a job,any job because she knew that even if her husband survived he would not be able to walk let alone work for sometime.
W.A.Johnson was the mill foreman,he did all the hiring and firing for the mill.He had a reputation for being a hard man,but a fair man seeing a person’s worth rather than color or social standing had earned the respect of his crew.He sat down and hired the young mother on the spot knowing her husband’s work ethic.
She went to work the following morning after recieving word that her husband was alive and well,but had lost his right leg below the knee and his left leg was broken in two places.She had never worked in a factory before and didn’t know what awaited her,but was determined to give it her all.The plant made plywood sheets and veneer produce boxes,she was going to work in the box plant.Her job she found out was stapling boxes together and stacking them on a pallet for shipping.Each box had sixteem slats,eight runners and four lengths of galvanized steel wire.The wood pieces had to be assembled and stapled together and then the wire stapled to them forming a box and lid to stack flat on the pallet.The work was piece meal,$.10 per box and 15 boxes per hour was the quota.It was hot,hard dusty work,but she was a fast leaner and a hard worker and had surpased her quota by days end.
Her husband got out of the hospital six weeks later and was shipped off the VA hospital for fitting with an artificial leg.Ten weeks later he returned home able to walk on crutches for brief periods.
Though his wife had been working at the mill she wasn’t able to earn enough money to pay all they’re bills,keep food on the table and the mortage current.So she sold her husband’s truck and used the money to pay off the mortage,she knew it’s what he would do.
When he returned home he began working around the house steadily regaining his strength until finally he was able to take on part time work at a local garage.He had been a mechanic in the Army and now that experience was paying off.A year passed and after saving every spare dime he was able to buy another truck,but not like the one he had.
His previous truck was a single axle semi-truck and trailer,it was setup to haul 16′ logs destined to the veneer mill and plywood production.With one leg missing and the other still weak he wouldn’t have the stamina to climb and load that big truck.So he bought a short wood or pulp wood truck.For those of you who don’t know a pulpwood truck is a ton or ton and a half truck fitted with a rack and a PTO driven winch and typically loads and hauls 8′ logs crosswise the trucks frame.
Unlike the semi the operator on a pulp wood truck cuts,limbs,skids and loads his own wood before hauling it to the mill.It’s hot,nasty,dangerous work and takes the piss out of young able bodied men let alone 35 y/o amputees.
But never the less he was determined,his son was getting older fast and it would soon be time for school and his child was going to school.He worked slow at first,barely made a load every otherday but soon he was making a load a day everyday except Sunday and rainouts.He and his wife both stayed working until two years later she became pregnant with they’re second child and had to quit the mill.Her father passed away that same year and her mother sold her home and moved in with them.As soon as she was able his wife returned to the mill and after awhile earned herself a promotion to shift supervisor.
They worked and stayed together through thick and thin,had a total of four children two boys and two girls.They worked hard side by side until her mother passed on some years later at which point she retired from the mill and started her own income tax filing business.Four years later her husband was able to give up working in the woods everyday for a job as a clerk at the local autoparts dealer.
During they’re time together they raised four children into adults,sent one to medical school,one to career military in the Army,they’re youngest daughter is today a registered nurse and they’re oldest is a CPA.They worked together and put four kids through school working minimum wage jobs for the most part,her on a fourth grade education and him on a wooden leg.
In 1990,middle of summer a young man 19 years old was starting his first real job welding in the local machine shop.A pulp wood truck pulled up in the back and an old blackman with grey hair climbed out.He walked with a heavy limp over to him and asked if he could have some welding done.The two talked over what needed to be done and the welder set to work.
They talked as the work went on and became friends,they agreed on a lot and disagreed on some but respected each other for each other’s worth.They hunted and fished together on occasion until the older couldn’t make his tired body go anymore.
George Anderson Smith died in his sleep Aug 20,2002 and I was proud he called me his friend.
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So what do we have today?People who have to use race and gender to jump ahead in life because they don’t have what George had-work ethic!
Even worse we now live in a world where work ethic is no longer rewarded with promotion because race,gender and social cowardice count for more.Until this is corrected we are royally and truly doomed as a society.
I miss George
