Pete's Picture Goes to War
When I was small there was an old black leather hand bag that Momma kept in her chest of drawers. It was there where she kept all of dads military records, their marriage certificate, any important papers and her few family pictures. One picture in the old bag was especially strange. I thought that its condition was the result of my small brothers marking on any piece of paper within their grasp (as was almost always the case, brother Cary the most prolific). But not this time, it was many years later that .I learned what really happened to this strange picture. It was a picture of my older brother Pete when he was around 1&1/2 years old. Stenciled across his face in black ink was our last name "TEAGUE". The original picture is long gone, but I recreated what it sort of looked like using Grandson Robert Austin Teague's 2 year old picture. I'm hoping someone in the family might know what happened to the original. In any event an amazing WW2 story follows.
The following details came from our family Bible. Mom and Dad were married Dec. 23 1940 at the court house in Spartanburg. Being young with little money, they lived with family in the Switzer area near the "Old Brick House" (Price House now). Sometime after December 7, 1941, angry like many others, he went to the local Army recruiter and "signed up". The few military records I found
showed him being sworn in at Fort Jackson on Feb. 9, 1942 and basic training thereafter. Mamma said she was pregnant at the time but didn't know. I believe basic training back then was only about 6 weeks and after that a short furlough to visit family. So she probably waited and told him the good news then. I'm sure he was walking on "Cloud Nine" all the way back to Fort Jackson. But more lightly he just took the bus.
Fast forward two years. Dad is now in England and receives an 8 x11 picture of Pete. I'm sure he proudly shows it to his friends Peter Macadlo and Dallas Cucumber. He always talked about these two very fondly. I think Peter was from the Midwest somewhere and Dallas was from Cherokee NC. Members of the 330th Harbor Craft Company, they were the crew of a small utility boat. During the Normandy Invasion that boat became their home as they did their part towing, assembling, and maintaining the huge artificial harbor called "Mulberry A". Although they did other things, their morning task was ferrying navy gun crews to and from the huge concrete Phoenix sections that made up the artificial harbor. Each Phoenix section had a twin mount Bofors gun on top and was manned by navy seamen.
By June 18, 1944 "Mulberry A" was operational but the very next day on June 19 the worst storm in over 40 years swept across the English Channel. During the first day of the storm, efforts were made to minimize the damage but on the second day this was called off and everyone was ordered "all hands to save themselves". Dad remembered that they had been rescuing the gun crews and others on that day when their captain came out and ordered it stopped saying, "it was getting to dangerous to continue the rescue". Dad had become friends with those men in the gun crews and didn't like the order at all. After the Caption removed himself, Dad mulled over the order for a little longer, then said to Peter and Dallas, "those are friends out there and I'm going to get them". They agreed and off they went disobeying a direct order and stealing a boat to boot.
I remember him saying they got the navy men into the boat and were returning when a big wave washed over the boat and it began to sink. Dad always laughed at this part of the story because Peter Macadlo started yelling, "get a line Teague, get a line" but out there in the ocean where could you tie up? Anyway, the boat sank and everyone began swimming toward the beach. Seems like it was dark when he got to shore. Exhausted, he slept there on the beach. Next morning he walked inland until he spotted and army field kitchen and chow line. That moment was when he remembered; his mess kit and everything else he owned was at the bottom of the sea. Fortunately for him, a fight broke out in the chow line. Two soldiers threw down their mess kits and started slugging
it out. While they were occupied, Dad walked over, picked up one of the discarded mess kits, and got in line. After a sleep on the beach and a hot meal what could be better? Maybe a job?
Now on the beach, with no boat, he like many others were organized with salvaging anything they could from the wrecked harbor. There were also special efforts made to sort through any personal items that was washed up onto the shore. If they could be identified they would be returned to the men or their relatives.
About 2 weeks later, one of Dad's friends, while working in the salvage/reclaim effort recognized the picture of Pete in a pile of debris he was sorting. A stencil was made and the picture was stamped "TEAGUE" across the face. Somehow it got hand delivered to Dad (or maybe mailed home to Mom); nothing else of his stuff was ever found. He did say that the boat finally did wash up onto the beach. But that's another story.
Contributor: Ben Teague
When I was small there was an old black leather hand bag that Momma kept in her chest of drawers. It was there where she kept all of dads military records, their marriage certificate, any important papers and her few family pictures. One picture in the old bag was especially strange. I thought that its condition was the result of my small brothers marking on any piece of paper within their grasp (as was almost always the case, brother Cary the most prolific). But not this time, it was many years later that .I learned what really happened to this strange picture. It was a picture of my older brother Pete when he was around 1&1/2 years old. Stenciled across his face in black ink was our last name "TEAGUE". The original picture is long gone, but I recreated what it sort of looked like using Grandson Robert Austin Teague's 2 year old picture. I'm hoping someone in the family might know what happened to the original. In any event an amazing WW2 story follows.
The following details came from our family Bible. Mom and Dad were married Dec. 23 1940 at the court house in Spartanburg. Being young with little money, they lived with family in the Switzer area near the "Old Brick House" (Price House now). Sometime after December 7, 1941, angry like many others, he went to the local Army recruiter and "signed up". The few military records I found
showed him being sworn in at Fort Jackson on Feb. 9, 1942 and basic training thereafter. Mamma said she was pregnant at the time but didn't know. I believe basic training back then was only about 6 weeks and after that a short furlough to visit family. So she probably waited and told him the good news then. I'm sure he was walking on "Cloud Nine" all the way back to Fort Jackson. But more lightly he just took the bus.
Fast forward two years. Dad is now in England and receives an 8 x11 picture of Pete. I'm sure he proudly shows it to his friends Peter Macadlo and Dallas Cucumber. He always talked about these two very fondly. I think Peter was from the Midwest somewhere and Dallas was from Cherokee NC. Members of the 330th Harbor Craft Company, they were the crew of a small utility boat. During the Normandy Invasion that boat became their home as they did their part towing, assembling, and maintaining the huge artificial harbor called "Mulberry A". Although they did other things, their morning task was ferrying navy gun crews to and from the huge concrete Phoenix sections that made up the artificial harbor. Each Phoenix section had a twin mount Bofors gun on top and was manned by navy seamen.
By June 18, 1944 "Mulberry A" was operational but the very next day on June 19 the worst storm in over 40 years swept across the English Channel. During the first day of the storm, efforts were made to minimize the damage but on the second day this was called off and everyone was ordered "all hands to save themselves". Dad remembered that they had been rescuing the gun crews and others on that day when their captain came out and ordered it stopped saying, "it was getting to dangerous to continue the rescue". Dad had become friends with those men in the gun crews and didn't like the order at all. After the Caption removed himself, Dad mulled over the order for a little longer, then said to Peter and Dallas, "those are friends out there and I'm going to get them". They agreed and off they went disobeying a direct order and stealing a boat to boot.
I remember him saying they got the navy men into the boat and were returning when a big wave washed over the boat and it began to sink. Dad always laughed at this part of the story because Peter Macadlo started yelling, "get a line Teague, get a line" but out there in the ocean where could you tie up? Anyway, the boat sank and everyone began swimming toward the beach. Seems like it was dark when he got to shore. Exhausted, he slept there on the beach. Next morning he walked inland until he spotted and army field kitchen and chow line. That moment was when he remembered; his mess kit and everything else he owned was at the bottom of the sea. Fortunately for him, a fight broke out in the chow line. Two soldiers threw down their mess kits and started slugging
it out. While they were occupied, Dad walked over, picked up one of the discarded mess kits, and got in line. After a sleep on the beach and a hot meal what could be better? Maybe a job?
Now on the beach, with no boat, he like many others were organized with salvaging anything they could from the wrecked harbor. There were also special efforts made to sort through any personal items that was washed up onto the shore. If they could be identified they would be returned to the men or their relatives.
About 2 weeks later, one of Dad's friends, while working in the salvage/reclaim effort recognized the picture of Pete in a pile of debris he was sorting. A stencil was made and the picture was stamped "TEAGUE" across the face. Somehow it got hand delivered to Dad (or maybe mailed home to Mom); nothing else of his stuff was ever found. He did say that the boat finally did wash up onto the beach. But that's another story.
Contributor: Ben Teague
Pete's Picture Goes to War
When I was small there was an old black leather hand bag that Momma kept in her chest of drawers. It was there where she kept all of dads military records, their marriage certificate, any important papers and her few family pictures. One picture in the old bag was especially strange. I thought that its condition was the result of my small brothers marking on any piece of paper within their grasp (as was almost always the case, brother Cary the most prolific). But not this time, it was many years later that .I learned what really happened to this strange picture. It was a picture of my older brother Pete when he was around 1&1/2 years old. Stenciled across his face in black ink was our last name "TEAGUE". The original picture is long gone, but I recreated what it sort of looked like using Grandson Robert Austin Teague's 2 year old picture. I'm hoping someone in the family might know what happened to the original. In any event an amazing WW2 story follows.
The following details came from our family Bible. Mom and Dad were married Dec. 23 1940 at the court house in Spartanburg. Being young with little money, they lived with family in the Switzer area near the "Old Brick House" (Price House now). Sometime after December 7, 1941, angry like many others, he went to the local Army recruiter and "signed up". The few military records I found
showed him being sworn in at Fort Jackson on Feb. 9, 1942 and basic training thereafter. Mamma said she was pregnant at the time but didn't know. I believe basic training back then was only about 6 weeks and after that a short furlough to visit family. So she probably waited and told him the good news then. I'm sure he was walking on "Cloud Nine" all the way back to Fort Jackson. But more lightly he just took the bus.
Fast forward two years. Dad is now in England and receives an 8 x11 picture of Pete. I'm sure he proudly shows it to his friends Peter Macadlo and Dallas Cucumber. He always talked about these two very fondly. I think Peter was from the Midwest somewhere and Dallas was from Cherokee NC. Members of the 330th Harbor Craft Company, they were the crew of a small utility boat. During the Normandy Invasion that boat became their home as they did their part towing, assembling, and maintaining the huge artificial harbor called "Mulberry A". Although they did other things, their morning task was ferrying navy gun crews to and from the huge concrete Phoenix sections that made up the artificial harbor. Each Phoenix section had a twin mount Bofors gun on top and was manned by navy seamen.
By June 18, 1944 "Mulberry A" was operational but the very next day on June 19 the worst storm in over 40 years swept across the English Channel. During the first day of the storm, efforts were made to minimize the damage but on the second day this was called off and everyone was ordered "all hands to save themselves". Dad remembered that they had been rescuing the gun crews and others on that day when their captain came out and ordered it stopped saying, "it was getting to dangerous to continue the rescue". Dad had become friends with those men in the gun crews and didn't like the order at all. After the Caption removed himself, Dad mulled over the order for a little longer, then said to Peter and Dallas, "those are friends out there and I'm going to get them". They agreed and off they went disobeying a direct order and stealing a boat to boot.
I remember him saying they got the navy men into the boat and were returning when a big wave washed over the boat and it began to sink. Dad always laughed at this part of the story because Peter Macadlo started yelling, "get a line Teague, get a line" but out there in the ocean where could you tie up? Anyway, the boat sank and everyone began swimming toward the beach. Seems like it was dark when he got to shore. Exhausted, he slept there on the beach. Next morning he walked inland until he spotted and army field kitchen and chow line. That moment was when he remembered; his mess kit and everything else he owned was at the bottom of the sea. Fortunately for him, a fight broke out in the chow line. Two soldiers threw down their mess kits and started slugging
it out. While they were occupied, Dad walked over, picked up one of the discarded mess kits, and got in line. After a sleep on the beach and a hot meal what could be better? Maybe a job?
Now on the beach, with no boat, he like many others were organized with salvaging anything they could from the wrecked harbor. There were also special efforts made to sort through any personal items that was washed up onto the shore. If they could be identified they would be returned to the men or their relatives.
About 2 weeks later, one of Dad's friends, while working in the salvage/reclaim effort recognized the picture of Pete in a pile of debris he was sorting. A stencil was made and the picture was stamped "TEAGUE" across the face. Somehow it got hand delivered to Dad (or maybe mailed home to Mom); nothing else of his stuff was ever found. He did say that the boat finally did wash up onto the beach. But that's another story.
Contributor: Ben Teague
When I was small there was an old black leather hand bag that Momma kept in her chest of drawers. It was there where she kept all of dads military records, their marriage certificate, any important papers and her few family pictures. One picture in the old bag was especially strange. I thought that its condition was the result of my small brothers marking on any piece of paper within their grasp (as was almost always the case, brother Cary the most prolific). But not this time, it was many years later that .I learned what really happened to this strange picture. It was a picture of my older brother Pete when he was around 1&1/2 years old. Stenciled across his face in black ink was our last name "TEAGUE". The original picture is long gone, but I recreated what it sort of looked like using Grandson Robert Austin Teague's 2 year old picture. I'm hoping someone in the family might know what happened to the original. In any event an amazing WW2 story follows.
The following details came from our family Bible. Mom and Dad were married Dec. 23 1940 at the court house in Spartanburg. Being young with little money, they lived with family in the Switzer area near the "Old Brick House" (Price House now). Sometime after December 7, 1941, angry like many others, he went to the local Army recruiter and "signed up". The few military records I found
showed him being sworn in at Fort Jackson on Feb. 9, 1942 and basic training thereafter. Mamma said she was pregnant at the time but didn't know. I believe basic training back then was only about 6 weeks and after that a short furlough to visit family. So she probably waited and told him the good news then. I'm sure he was walking on "Cloud Nine" all the way back to Fort Jackson. But more lightly he just took the bus.
Fast forward two years. Dad is now in England and receives an 8 x11 picture of Pete. I'm sure he proudly shows it to his friends Peter Macadlo and Dallas Cucumber. He always talked about these two very fondly. I think Peter was from the Midwest somewhere and Dallas was from Cherokee NC. Members of the 330th Harbor Craft Company, they were the crew of a small utility boat. During the Normandy Invasion that boat became their home as they did their part towing, assembling, and maintaining the huge artificial harbor called "Mulberry A". Although they did other things, their morning task was ferrying navy gun crews to and from the huge concrete Phoenix sections that made up the artificial harbor. Each Phoenix section had a twin mount Bofors gun on top and was manned by navy seamen.
By June 18, 1944 "Mulberry A" was operational but the very next day on June 19 the worst storm in over 40 years swept across the English Channel. During the first day of the storm, efforts were made to minimize the damage but on the second day this was called off and everyone was ordered "all hands to save themselves". Dad remembered that they had been rescuing the gun crews and others on that day when their captain came out and ordered it stopped saying, "it was getting to dangerous to continue the rescue". Dad had become friends with those men in the gun crews and didn't like the order at all. After the Caption removed himself, Dad mulled over the order for a little longer, then said to Peter and Dallas, "those are friends out there and I'm going to get them". They agreed and off they went disobeying a direct order and stealing a boat to boot.
I remember him saying they got the navy men into the boat and were returning when a big wave washed over the boat and it began to sink. Dad always laughed at this part of the story because Peter Macadlo started yelling, "get a line Teague, get a line" but out there in the ocean where could you tie up? Anyway, the boat sank and everyone began swimming toward the beach. Seems like it was dark when he got to shore. Exhausted, he slept there on the beach. Next morning he walked inland until he spotted and army field kitchen and chow line. That moment was when he remembered; his mess kit and everything else he owned was at the bottom of the sea. Fortunately for him, a fight broke out in the chow line. Two soldiers threw down their mess kits and started slugging
it out. While they were occupied, Dad walked over, picked up one of the discarded mess kits, and got in line. After a sleep on the beach and a hot meal what could be better? Maybe a job?
Now on the beach, with no boat, he like many others were organized with salvaging anything they could from the wrecked harbor. There were also special efforts made to sort through any personal items that was washed up onto the shore. If they could be identified they would be returned to the men or their relatives.
About 2 weeks later, one of Dad's friends, while working in the salvage/reclaim effort recognized the picture of Pete in a pile of debris he was sorting. A stencil was made and the picture was stamped "TEAGUE" across the face. Somehow it got hand delivered to Dad (or maybe mailed home to Mom); nothing else of his stuff was ever found. He did say that the boat finally did wash up onto the beach. But that's another story.
Contributor: Ben Teague
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