January 25 '03
Volume 347
Indelible Mark
Joel Hale Remembers
For many of us,
history
was a boring high school subject to be endured, as opposed to
enjoyed and appreciated, but now that we've matured, we can better appreciate
the importance of history in our school curriculum. Few of us find that we've
been a part of history, at least in the grand sense, but many of us recognize
that we have experienced a great deal of history in our lifetime.
My parents did not play a major role in our national history, but they lived
to see changes that my children can only read about and will never fully
appreciate because they were not alive as those historical changes were being
made. I am able to appreciate indoor plumbing in a way my children never
will. I remember being told the moon was made of green cheese long before
astronauts set foot on the lunar surface and returned with moon rocks. I
didn’t soldier in any of the wars this nation has been involved in during
my lifetime, but I have known many who did and have benefited from their
sacrifice.
As he watched Ole Miss and Kentucky play football in Jackson, MS, on a late
September's Saturday afternoon in 1962, Joel Hale did not realize that within
twenty-four hours he would be in the middle of an event that would shape
the history of the state of Mississippi and open wide the gate of opportunity
for Blacks to attend historically White institutions of higher learning,
not only in Mississippi but other southern states as well. Because those
events were historically significant, Joel remembers his circumstances in
the hours just prior to his National Guard unit being called for active duty
almost as clearly as if it happened yesterday, not forty years ago. Joel
can recall details such as Billy and Charlie Ruth Montgomery accompanying
him and his wife, Shirley, to watch the ball game and remembers being introduced
to the newly adopted, official State Song, "Go Mississippi," that same day.
"We really got into singing that song," Joel remembered, "We sang it half-way
back home."
James Meredith was about to enroll as the first African American to attend
the University of Mississippi. A political showdown between Mississippi Gov.
Ross Barnett and U.S. President John F. Kennedy was in the works, with Barnett
representing the segregationist majority of the Mississippi electorate and
Kennedy determined to enforce the law of the land. Knowing the political
climate of the Deep South, Kennedy dispatched a large contingent of Federal
Marshals to accompany James Meredith and insure the segregationist governor
did not hinder Meredith's admission to the University of Mississippi.
On his way home from the football game, Joel heard on the radio that members
of the Mississippi National Guard were being called to report for duty, but
because of the lateness of his arrival in Pontotoc, he decided to get some
sleep and wait until early morning to report. However, shortly after retiring
for the evening his phone rang and he was ordered to report to the local
Armory in Pontotoc. Joel served as the clerk typist for Troop G,
2nd Reconnaissance Squad, 108th Armored Cavalry. He
reported in around 3:00 a.m. on Sunday, September 30th. After
spending much of the day changing the personnel records of members of Troop
G from Army National Guard to the federalized status of U.S. Army, he along
with the other members of Troop G were sent home in the late afternoon under
orders to keep near a telephone.
No sooner had he arrived home than he was called back to the Armory. There
he learned that rioting had broken out on the campus of the University and
two persons had been killed. Members of Troop G assembled and were issued
weapons but only one round of ammunition and told to keep the ammo in a pocket.
Additionally, they were given gas masks and told to inspect them to make
sure they were working properly and that both eyepieces were in place.
Troop G was soon assembled and on their way to Oxford. Joel remembers how
car after car with Alabama and Georgia license plates sped passed them toward
Oxford. Joel remembers his squad being the first of the "guard" vehicles
to move toward the campus, after stopping for orders at the National Guard
Armory in Oxford.
"Though we had our weapons and one round of ammunition, I had no idea of
any pending danger," Joel recalled. "As we entered University Avenue, you
just can't imagine the crowd that was from there all the way to the Lyceum."
It was not a friendly crowd either. Rocks, bricks, and bottles were hurled
toward the guardsmen. Their canvas covered trucks offered some protection
but occasionally a brick broke through the canvas.
"I was lucky," Joel stated, "I never received a blow of any kind."
Nearing the campus, someone attempted to blockade the road with a long white
Cadillac. Joel explained how first the Jeep in front of his truck and then
his vehicle were able to maneuver around the blockade by leaving the road
and driving on the sidewalk. All along the way, hundreds of people continued
to assault the convoy with rocks, bricks, bottles and whatever they could
get their hands on, which included a large piece of concrete a couple of
folks managed to hurl into the windshield of the Jeep, bruising but not greatly
injuring the occupants.
"We took up positions in front of the last building before you get to the
Lyceum," said Joel. "The Federal Marshals were in front of the Lyceum. There
was a large bulldozer in front of the Lyceum, too."
Believing James Meredith was inside the administration building which is
known as "the Lyceum," a person or persons had earlier attempted to assault
the Lyceum with the bulldozer. After it's occupants leaped off of it, the
'dozer either ran out of gas or stalled a few yards short of the entrance
to the Lyceum.
For the next few hours, Joel watched rioters repeatedly advance upon the
Federal Marshals only to be repelled by tear gas fired by the marshals. The
restraint of deadly force by both the marshals and the guard should be considered
remarkable, given the era and the circumstances.
"I don't know how anyone could stand the tear gas without a mask," Joel
explained. "It also has a burning sensation on any exposed skin."
Joel wore his mask the rest of the night and remembered how difficult it
was to see anything with it on, but, due to the tear gas, it was unbearable
to take it off. Whenever the crowd surged through the tree-filled grove toward
the Lyceum, more bricks and bottles bounced near Joel, but he was never struck.
Sporadic gunfire from small arms erupted occasionally from the ranks of rioters
and Joel remembers one individual had a .22 caliber automatic rifle.
"He'd load it, and he'd empty it just as fast as he could pull the trigger,"
Joel recalled. "He did that several times during the night."
Things didn't get better until the arrival of regular army troops, in the
early morning hours of Monday, October 1st.
"You could hear cadence being called, and as they got closer you could hear
them marching as their boots hit the pavement, Joel remembered. "I believe
it was the 101st Airborne, an MP (Military Police) division. They
came up as a platoon to the grove there, and the guy in charge of them gave
the order to march single file, and they went single file from one side of
the grove to the other. And, then I heard him give the order to lock and
load. Everybody that's ever had any experience with an M1, an M1 rifle, knows
you can hear the breech open and they'll slam a cartridge up in the barrel
and then they're ready to go. They stood there for a minute, and then I heard
them give the order to move forward, and they moved forward single file,
abreast of each other, right down through the grove, there. And, people just
began to run over themselves to get out of the area. They never fired a shot
that I'm aware of; I never heard a shot fired. They marched right down through
that grove; it emptied, and that was the end of it."
A number of Federal Marshals were injured in the melee, though Joel did not
see anyone injured. As morning came, Troop G was moved to the entrance of
Sorority Row along Highway 6. There, they dug foxholes in anticipation of
possible sniper fire from the woods across the road from the campus. Troop
G spent the next two nights in foxholes before being bivouacked near the
football field for a week and were later moved to a pasture a few miles south
of Oxford on Hwy. 7.
Automobiles and their occupants entering or exiting the campus via Sorority
Row were stopped and searched. There were no incidents save for the time
a carload of college girls came along. When the trunk was opened in order
to complete the search, two girls popped out, surprising the guards and
presenting them with homemade cookies.
In all, Joel and the members of Troop G spent twenty-three days of active
duty for the U.S. Army in Oxford, MS. They experienced no further contact
with the Ole Miss campus during their deployment south of Oxford; instead
the troops practiced riot control maneuvers until being ordered back to Pontotoc.
The one bright spot for Joel was the Sunday afternoon when wives were allowed
to visit their husbands bivouacked in the pasture.
In 1962, James Meredith left his indelible mark on the history of the State
of Mississippi. Joel Hale of Pontotoc was there to see it, and by his very
presence, he, too, has left his indelible mark on the history of the State
of Mississippi.
Note: Joel Hale still resides in Pontotoc and enjoys "life in the
country," with his wife, Shirley.
Retired from the Postal Service, Joel laughs, "I don't do nothing, and some
days I don't start that before nine in the morning."
Of course I know he's joking, because every once in a while he drives down
to his lake to measure the depth of the leaves in my fishing boat.
First In Line
Airline Adventures
I don’t remember the last time I had the opportunity to board an airplane
and was seated close enough to the gate in the waiting area to be the second
passenger to board the aircraft. It’s been several (six or more) years
since I have flown on a business trip, and usually I get to wait for handicapped
passengers or persons with small children to board first. Then, it’s
another wait while passengers in first class board.
Supervalu flies me in business class or below. I’m not yet physically
handicapped and my children are grown, so my only hope of boarding early
depends upon the whim of attendants who sometimes board passengers from the
rear of the aircraft first and sometimes choose to board first from the front.
One never knows.
I did fly a ValuJet airplane once and reservations did not determine the
seating order. They waited until check-in at the gate area to pass out seat
assignments. I think Southwest does something similar, but I’ve flown
mostly Northwest and Delta. My most recent trip (01/13/03) was with American
Airlines’ American Eagle.
Barbara was kind enough to drive me to Memphis to catch an early morning
flight to Chicago, IL, en route to Champaign, IL, where business meetings
were scheduled for the next several days. I don’t even like getting
up at 3:00 a.m. to go to the bathroom, let alone preparing to drive to an
airport, but I knew that even if I stayed in Memphis, I’d still need
to get up well before 5:00 a.m. to be at the airport by six o’clock.
Airport security is tighter now than prior to nine eleven, so I was prepared
to spend a longer time in line at the checkpoints. However, things went smoothly,
and I was soon doing what flyers do best, waiting!
The aircraft I was awaiting to board was a small jet, whose seating capacity
was roughly sixty. The gate attendant announced that passengers in Group
1 through Group 3 could board. One guy, dressed in black, sporting a black
felt hat stepped forward and into the chute leading to the airplane. Almost
immediately, the attendant announced Groups 4 through six could board the
plane, and being a Group 4 guy, I quickly presented my boarding pass to the
attendant, who ran it through a machine that validated I was on flight 4105,
before handing it back to me.
I could not believe it; I was the second person to board. My dream world
bubble of boarding early soon burst, as a steward halted us and asked us
to return to the waiting area. There was an electrical problem of some sort,
so the boarding would be delayed, he explained.
Twenty minutes later we were allowed to board, but by then, I had lost my
second-in-line position. Even so, I managed to board with the first ten or
so passengers. I suppose it doesn’t really matter, ones position in
line, because chances of flying anywhere and not having to wait at some point
during the adventure are nil.
My flight to Chicago was uneventful, and that’s saying a lot with two
small children directly in front of me, but then I think they slept all the
way. Even more remarkable was the fact that my flight out of Chicago to Champaign
departed from the same gate as my arrival flight. What are those odds?
With respect to leaving the Memphis airport, Barbara’s experience was
somewhat the opposite. After dropping me off at 6:00, Barbara made it back
to Pontotoc by 7:30 a.m. and would have arrived sooner except she had trouble
getting back to Hwy. 78.
I had driven the car to the airport and had taken a short cut requiring a
zigzag pattern. I explained to Barbara she could keep the return route simple
and stay on Winchester Ave. until she got to the highway. First she exited
the airport heading west instead of east. Realizing her mistake, she turned
around at her first opportunity but managed to end-up back at the airport.
Because it was still dark, she figured it simpler to just drive back to where
she had dropped me off and have another run at it. That’s when she found
herself in a cargo area. Finally, she backtracked and took Winchester East.
I imagine she was wide-awake by then, but forty-five minutes later she was
having trouble staying awake.
If there’s anything good about an early flight, perhaps it is that it
sometimes makes for a leisurely afternoon. My meetings were not until the
next day, so I had plenty of time to check email and voicemail and still
grab a couple of hours of sleep before going to dinner with members of my
group.
Barbara found time to dose for a few minutes, too. She has no memory of driving
for several miles on U.S. 78 between Holly Springs, MS, and Myrtle, MS.
Fortunately, she didn’t injure herself or someone else.
I talked to Barbara the night I arrived in Champaign and learned she did
not have the luxury of a nap that afternoon. I was impressed. It must be
all that walking and exercising she’s doing at the wellness center,
but that’s another story.
Note: This article was written while I was in Illinois. Wouldn't you know
it, I was the first passenger to board the plane leaving Champaign for Chicago
on my return?
Bodock Beau An
Age Thing
I often look at other people who are my age and wonder what happened to them
that aged them so terribly. I also have a mental picture of myself, that
is much slimmer and more youthful appearing than the actual me. The following
is a humorous illustration of the habit we have of deluding ourselves:
While waiting for my first appointment in the reception room of a new dentist,
I noticed his certificate, which bore his full name.
Suddenly, I remembered that a tall boy with the same name had been in my
high school class some 40 years ago. Upon seeing him, however, I quickly
discarded any such thought.
This balding, gray-haired man with the deeply lined face was too old to have
been my classmate. After he had examined my teeth, I asked him if he had
attended the local high school.
"Yes," he replied.
"When did you graduate?" I asked.
He answered, "In 1957."
"Why, you were in my class!" I exclaimed.
He looked at me closely and then asked, "What did you teach?"
Submitted by Linda B. Reeves
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