Traveling
Tuesday: Tennessee’s Wartime Service
Tennessee is a beautiful state, long and narrow, and
referred to in three segments: East, Middle, and West. Eight states border the
state which features six physiographic regions: the Blue Ridge, the Appalachian
Ridge and Valley, the Cumberland Plateau, the Highland Rim, the Nashville
Basin, and the Gulf Coastal Plain. In addition, Tennessee is home to over
10,000 documented caves, the most in the United States.
It is this varied geography that allowed Tennessee to
serve in various ways during WWII. Over 300,000 men from the state served in
the armed forces (six of whom received the highest award for valor, the
Congressional Medal of Honor).
Interestingly, Governor Prentice Cooper visited Europe
in 1937 and became convinced that if hostilities broke out, the US would ultimate
be involved. As a result, he came home and developed the infrastructure for
military bases, training, and war-related industries. In 1940, Tennessee
established the Advisory Committee on Preparedness, the first defense organization
in the country.
More than 280,000 residents worked in war
manufacturing around the state. Oak Ridge grew out of the Manhattan Project and
produced vital components of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. There were
several prisoner of war camps that housed approximately 68,000 Germans,
Austrians, and Italians.
Because of its highly rural nature and terrain similar
to that of Western Europe, Middle Tennessee was chosen as the location of the
first of a series of military maneuvers that featured the combined forces of
tanks and infantry. In these maneuvers, General George Patton refined his
tactics for the use of tanks as “red” and “blue” armies faced each other in
complex and realistic training exercises. It is estimated that over 850,000 men
and women participated. Based at Cumberland University in Lebanon, the “Tennessee
Maneuvers” officially took place “somewhere in Tennessee.”
___________________________
Love’s
Allegiance: With most U.S. boys fighting for Uncle Sam
in far off countries, Rochelle Addams has given up hope for a wedding in her
future. Then she receives an intriguing offer from a distant relative to
consider a marriage of convenience.
Conscientious objector Irwin Terrell is looking
forward to his assignment at Shady Hills Mental hospital to minister to the
less fortunate in lieu of bearing arms. At the arrival of the potential bride
his father has selected for him, Irwin’s well-ordered life is turned upside
down. And after being left at the altar two years ago, he has no interest in
risking romance again.
Despite his best efforts to remain aloof to Rochelle,
Irwin is drawn to the enigmatic and beautiful young woman, but will time run
out before his wounded heart can find room for her?
Inspired by the biblical love story of Rebekkah and
Isaac, Love’s Allegiance explores the
struggles and sacrifices of those whose beliefs were at odds with a world at
war.
Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/2LgKkrc
No comments:
Post a Comment