Borrowed Bibles

As World War II expanded so did the growth of federal government facilities in Arkansas. Five major ordnance plants were constructed at diverse locations near the cities of Camden, El Dorado, Marche, Pine Bluff, and Hope. A sixth plant was built near the city of Jacksonville and only a few miles from our farm, Steel Bridge.  It was named the Arkansas Ordnance Plant (AOP) and produced fuses and detonators for bombs. From the time production started in March 1942 to the time the plant closed in August 1945 it had produced over one billion detonators and over 175 million fuses. Most of the workers lived within a 50-mile radius of the plant but some lived much further away. Transportation to and from the AOP was accomplished by a patchwork of buses, railroad shuttles and private vehicles. Until we could afford to buy a car, Dad, Mom and my oldest sister, Marie, were three of the passengers that were transported by buses that served the country roads surrounding Jacksonville. When they arrived at the plant, they found a self-contained and largely self-sufficient facility that had its own fire department, cafeteria, recreation areas, hospital, maintenance department and newsletter. The plant was fenced, security was tight and plant guards thoroughly patrolled the area. Dad was one of the guards.

When the AOP announced that it would be hiring, Dad and Mom became very excited about the potential benefits but Mom in particular had some concerns about working there. It would mean many changes in our life style.

“How’ll we raise this cotton crop we started and how’ll we get money for it?” Mom asked.

Dad replied, “We won’t tend to it like we normally would. No need to.  But we’ll still get some money cause it won’t all be ruined just a bit smaller that’s all. Besides, the money I’ll be makin there will be lots more than we can make from this crop.  It won’t be as hard either. It gets mighty hot out there in the fields and the mosquitoes don’t help. Now, if you work too? Well, we’d really be well off and can save some money and buy lot’s of stuff we can’t afford now. And remember that Marie is gonna move back in here in a few days. She’s 20 now and a good age to work there in Jacksonville and she said she wants to. I figure we’ll charge her some of what she makes to help with upkeep. So if you take my money, and yours and Marie’s, then we’ll be so well off we can buy most anything. We’ll even be able to buy a car some day and wouldn’t that be something?”

“That’d be something all right and we can get some store-bought clothes too and some real shoes for Joan and Junior and a piece of furniture or two. I don’t know though that they’ll even hire us cause we don’t know nothing about makin bombs.”

“They said they’ll teach us how to make bomb parts and anyway I don’t think it’ll be hard to learn how to build something that just blows up. They’ll hire all three of us real quick and they’ll be glad to do it.”

Dad was right.  He and Mom easily got jobs and so did Marie who had returned from wherever she had been. With J.C. and Bill in the armed forces, five members of our family were dedicated to the war effort and we were proud of that. It was unusual to have so many members of one family dedicated to the effort, a fact noted by the local newspaper, Lonoke Democrat, which served Lonoke Arkansas and the surrounding area. On October 30, 1942 the paper published an article, “Members of Good Family Fight To Win War, Peace.”  This article states that, “While James L. Good stands guard at AOP, his hip pocket usually carries the pictures of his two handsome sons who are volunteers in the armed forces. J.C, has won his wings in the air corps and Billy J. is a radio operator in the U.S. Coast Guard. Marie, the oldest daughter, is working on Area 11 while his wife, Isabella, is on Area 12.” The article also quotes Dad’s wish for the war to end, “We are eager to get back to our farm and peace. That gives me and the whole family a job to do in the war, and we want to get our part of it done as soon as possible.”

Dad, Mom and Marie were able to work on different shifts at AOP while Joan and I took on additional farming chores after school. By making these adjustments, we were able to keep the farming going much better than Mom had feared and we raised a pretty good cotton crop after all.  We also raised a few small crops for our own consumption including peanuts, feed corn, popcorn, watermelons and a variety of vegetables grown in a small back yard garden.

Thanks to the paychecks earned at the AOP, our financial situation improved significantly and we bought new clothes, a better radio (battery operated because we still didn’t have electricity) and new kinds of food. Joan and I also went to a doctor for the first time in our lives for a general check up. The doctor told Mom and Dad that we were generally healthy but advised us to eat more vegetables and not so much fatty food.  And we were all excited about the purchase of a car, a 1934 Chevrolet. Now we had our own transportation and were not dependent on buses for a ride to the AOP or anywhere else. Gas was rationed because of the war, however, so we, like everyone else, had to be careful how we used it. But since we had three family members working at the AOP, our gas allotment was adjusted upward to accommodate commuting to and from the plant considered vital to the war effort.  We were given a B sticker and that entitled us up to eight gallons of gasoline per week whereas the more common A sticker entitled the car owner to only four gallons per week. There were also C (for doctors), T (for truckers) and X stickers. The latter entitled essential holders to an unlimited supply; “essential holders” included police, firemen and civil defense workers. (A scandal erupted when 200 Congressmen received X stickers that they had approved for themselves.)

Sometimes on Saturday evening Dad would use our new car to drive us into Lonoke to see the sights. He always did the driving since Mom could never figure out to handle the shifting on cars newer than the Model T Ford that she had mastered. So Mom sat in the front passenger seat while Joan and I sat in the back seat with Joan sitting directly behind Dad. Marie never came on these trips because she felt she was too old and she preferred staying behind and reading one of her romance novels that she bought on a regular basis. I was glad that she stayed home because the car was crowded enough as it was. Anyway, Dad would park the car on as busy a street as he could find in the early evening, somewhere around 6 p.m., and we would sit in the car for about two hours and just watch the people go by on the sidewalk. Dad and Mom enjoyed guessing how much money the people made, how old they were and what religion they were. “That person must be 90 if he’s a day,” Mom once said about a man all bent over and wrinkly. “Not only that,” said Dad, “I bet he’s pretty lonesome. And I feel sorry for him—in a few years we’ll be like that.”