Pam Dudding-Burch
Contributing writer
It’s been said that “All is fair in love and war.” For some, however, life just doesn’t seem fair. In fact, sometimes life can bring about events that are truly heart-wrenching such as war.
Mary Katherine Williams, a resident of Paint Bank, Virginia, became captivated by stories of people from her area who fought in a war and sacrificed their lives as well as those who were left behind to pick up the pieces.
Her recently released book “The Ballad of Maggie Tingler and other poems” has been selling off the shelves since her book signing in November at the Paint Bank General Store. It was published by PaintBank Press LLC and printed by Southern Graphics in Roanoke.
Through ballads, sonnets and other verse forms, the poems tell many stories of people, places, nature and events in Craig, Alleghany and Monroe counties and especially Paint Bank, where the author lives.
Maggie Tingler caught the heart of Williams. She was a courageous woman from Paint Bank who prevailed over the hardship of raising her children alone in the early 1900s. Other poems include the story of The Lone Star who was captured by the Indians in the early 1800s.
“Standing Tall” is a poem written in memory of Linwood L. Crawford, Garnett G. Hill, David Humphries, John W. Linton, James L. McCoy and Calvin V. Mann, all employees at the Industrial Rayon Corporation in Covington, Virginia. They all died in WWII. Six maple trees were planted on the company grounds in their memory.
Here is a tidbit of the poem in the book; “Standing tall in military uniforms, they left to fight the war, left jobs and Alleghany homes, for posts on foreign shores. On fronts in Italy and France, they sacrificed their lives. The South Pacific claimed them too amidst the battle cries….War failed to take away the love that lives in memories. War failed to take away the faith that planted maple trees.”
One of the major sets of poems is about Johnny Linton, an American patriot from Paint Bank, and it’s titled “The Death of a Soldier.” John W. (“Johnny”) Linton (1907-1944) died in World War II leaving behind his wife, Virginia, their son, Robert B. and a large extended family in Paint Bank and beyond. “It is a remarkable story of family love and loyalty,” Williams shared.
Here is another excerpt:
“Because he’d rather fight them there than here,
Johnny Linton signed up for the war,
Left mountains where his family lived for years,
And left his loving wife and baby boy.
He suffered battle wounds within the year,
In Italy and earned the Purple Heart,
Then showing gratitude instead of fear,
He praised the healing work of the Red Cross.
A second telegram informed his wife,
He had returned to duty on the front.
Somewhere in France, the soldier lost his life
While taking on the awful battle’s brunt.
His widow sent a telegram this time
To Paint Bank to his brother living here,
“Johnny killed in action,”- the dreaded line
That two hearts broken would forever share.”
When O.M. (“Otto”) Linton received the telegram in Paint Bank in 1944 from Johnny’s wife, both his brother, Johnny, and his son Glen, were on the front lines in France. Glen was in the tank destroyer division that arrived on Omaha Beach three months after the Normandy Invasion. Otto’s other brother, Gilmer, and his nephew Olen served in the Pacific and Germany.
The Poem reads;
“The postman handed him a telegram in 1944.
His son, brothers, nephew all were in the war.
In Europe and Pacific, each had battles to be won,
And did he wonder at the time, which one?”
“Everybody recognized the telegrams and knew it was bad news,” said Anita Hinson, who recalled hearing the story about her grandfather Otto getting the telegram. The post office was in the little white house at the bottom of the hill in Waiteville.
She added that the postmaster said that her grandfather didn’t have any immediate reaction at all when the telegram was handed to him. He turned, walked out of post office and then laid down on the hill and started crying.
“My grandfather was a strong man and the three he loved the most was in the war,” she said.
Johnny’s son, Robert (Bob) Linton, was only 18-months-old when his father was killed in battle. “I think he saw me about three or four times after I was born,” Linton shared. “My dad was born in Paint Bank, and my mom was born in Covington. They married in 1936, and I was born in 1943.”
Bob now lives in Portsmouth, Virginia, with his daughter nearby while his son, John Linton, still lives in New Castle. Both still have a home place above the Fish Hatchery in Paint Bank with many extended family members still living there.
“I remember dad sent me things even though he was in the war,” Linton said. “I still have the little brown dog that I think came from Italy.” Still, Linton admitted that growing up in his younger years that, “I wish I could have had mine in a picture.”
Linton shared that when they auctioned off the farm stuff, they found the telegram which Otto had received in one of the dresser bureaus underneath the paper which lined the drawer. “I have the telegram up on my dresser in Paint Bank along with a picture of my dad on horseback at age 15,” Bob said.
“My dad would write me and my mom letters,” he continued. “She kept many memories of dad which included countless letters.” When Linton got older, he shared that he wondered why his mother never remarried. She told him, “I never seen anyone any better.”
While eating pizza with a friend, Linton discovered the story about the Rayon plant setting out the maple trees in honor of the six that died.” The Boy Scouts later uncovered the stones and their names and later more information about his dad.
“They did a book on my dad with pictures of the funeral when they brought the body back along with much history of the census,” he said. “This is when Mary Kay used the book to write the poems. She likes history and is a very thoughtful lady.”
His dad was buried in France until after the war and then was brought back home and buried in his mother’s lot in Covington. They brought him in on the train and had an honorary military burial with the servicemen, buglers and gun salute,” according to Linton. “I am very much supportive of our Veterans and feel we should honor them more,” he said.
Linton is grateful that he has had so many years with his own son and daughter. He looks forward to being in similar pictures one day.
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