With the family coming together this weekend to memorialize uncle Danny. There has been a lot of swapping of tales and family lore. So I figured that I would save some of these tidbits before they are lost in the passage of time, so here they are in no particular order:
Uncle Rusty remembers that the 3 boys had bedrooms upstairs in West Alexandria and that it had some vents cut in the floor to allow the heat to rise. It got cold up there and so sometimes wind would blow snow around the edges of the window and there would be a thin layer of snow on the floor close to the window. They ended up stuffing socks around the edges as best they could to keep the wind and snow out.
Another time they had raised a pig. So having no truck they put the pig in the trunk of their car and took it to the butcher in West Alexandria. They backed it up to the chute and as soon as they popped the hood, the pig took off like a shot. Grandma Garret and the boys chased it around the cemetery in West Alex. Finally they got the idea of going back to their place and getting a bucket to lure it back to the butcher shop. That finally worked and they got it back to the butcher shop - probably a few pounds lighter than it would have been without the workout.
Grandpa Jack remembers the time that me and Matt decided to help Dad by filling up his truck. Only with a garden hose... He was suspicious when the truck would not start and there was a garden hose laying nearby. He had to drain the tank and refill it with gas to get it running again. We were only like 6-7 years old, it was hard for him to get angry at us.
Another time he ran into a parent at the store and asked him how the first week of contact at football practice was going. He had been working and hadn't had a chance to swing by and see how things were going. He said, "The only ones hitting are your boys - and they are hitting each other!" I was playing center and they put Matt at nose tackle when we practiced plays. Neither one of us was going to let the other show up the other. So we went to the whistle on every play. They only did that for a practice or two and then split us up. If they hadn't we surely would have killed each other.
Both Uncle Rusty and Dad had memories of their grandfather (John Henry) who had a business in Drexel. Coal in the winter and ice in the summer. Sometimes the grandkids would ride with him on his stops and ride on top of the ice in back of the truck. That came to an end when the tail gate became unlatched one day and they all spilled out of the back!
In a backroom, there was a bootleg slot machine. Customers would come in and try the machine for a nickel a play. If they left and hadn't hit, they would beg nickels because they knew it was due for a win. More often than not, they would get a winner and pay him back - then have money to spend.
Uncle Rusty's father - Dale Sr. was in world war 2. He spent some time in North Africa and was in Normandy. He was part of a crew on a half track. They saw a lot of action. They used molotov cocktails against tanks because they didn't have much firepower to knock them out. They would throw the molotov cocktail on the tank and catch it on fire, then shoot the crew when they tried to escape.
They caught a bunch of germans in a staff car and took them out. Another time a sniper was shooting from a brick building. Their bullets weren't having much effect and so they just rammed the building to eliminate him.
His tour came to an end when they were engaged by a 88 cannon in France during the breakout from Normandy. They had seen them in North Africa and knew that they were very accurate. They would first fire 2 shots. One to get the range, another to get the angle ( left/right ). The third shot would be dead on. So they saw the first two shots and knew that they would not make cover before the 3rd. So they stopped the halftrack. 4 of the guys took cover under the halftrack, he dove into the ditch. The 4 guys under the halftrack died. He woke up a week later, naked, in a hospital in England.
Dad told of the time that us kids were playing hide and seek in the house. I hid Misty in the deep freeze! he was not happy about it - but Misty explained that I showed how not to let it shut all the way. It was summer and she said actually it wasn't bad in there. And the important thing - she won!
Dad played football for a spell for the West Alexandria Bulldogs. He was a safety - about 5'9" and 145 pounds dripping wet. There was a fullback from Dixie that over 200 pounds. He busted through the line and Dad filled the hole and tackled him. Right away he knew something was wrong. He went to the sideline and told the coach "I think I broke my collarbone." And sure enough the bone was actually sticking through the skin. That ended his career for good. He also mentioned that most helmets at that time did not have facemasks. Only players with glasses would wear one.
Uncle Rusty had a close call coming home after a night on the town when he was young. He was speeding and lost control of his car in Dayton. He slid through a gas station and took out a couple of gas pumps. Totalled the car - and this was before seat belts were as big a thing as they are now. He was able to walk away from the wreck - although he was dinged up. Another time he was fooling around with his motorcycle in his yard. It had a little hill and he went airborne. He went up in the air and landed on his butt - hurt his back for quite a while from that little escapade.
