Montgomery Historical Society - A World War II Christmas in Montgomery

The Montgomery County Historical SA
World War II Christmas in Montgomery

By Dr. Wesley Phillips Newton

In 1943 a sign of the approaching Christmas in Montgomery came earlier than usual. Many Montgomerians, members of the armed forces and merchant marine, were now serving on the various war fronts, including the sea and sky. Postmaster Roy Nolen told Montgomerians on the home front that, if they expected friends and loved ones overseas to receive presents and food parcels by Christmas Eve, they must mail them no later than October 15.

As Christmas neared, the effects of wartime restrictions surfaced. Recent city ordinances prohibited the sale and setting off of fireworks. John Matthews, clerk of the circuit court, stated that he would not "issue a permit for the sale of fireworks in county areas." County and municipal officials agreed that it would not be right to celebrate with fireworks "with Uncle Sam and his allies at grips with the Axis to preserve freedom."

The rationing of alcoholic beverages had begun in August 1943, thus they would not flow freely to celebrate the Yuletide. However, the State ABC Board announced early in December that private retail stores would receive an increased allotment before Christmas, although the weekly ration of one pint of liquor a week per person would stand. With any purchase at an ABC store, a customer could also buy two bottles of wine.

The board charged that the widespread transfer of individual alcoholic beverage ration cards had become a racket. Consequently, any card presented for a weekly ration by other than the owner, including a family member, would be confiscated. The rationing of hard drink was one of the most resented of all such war-related measures.

Not far behind was the shortage of candy, especially at Christmas time, caused by sugar rationing. There had been little hard candy for sale during Christmas season 1942 and the price had soared for the small amount available. For the coming Christmas, reported the Advertiser, "Christmas stockings will be filled with the traditional hard candy." The Office of Price Administration (OPA) had also fixed reasonable ceilings for prices at the manufacturing, wholesale, and retail levels. The public gave one of its rare cheers for the OPA.

There was no rationing of live Christmas music. One source that had been unavailable in 1942 was forthcoming in 1943. Scheduled to be resumed was a community carol sing in Court Square.

This Yule tradition had begun in 1940 when a crowd estimated at 3,000 gathered at the Square to sing familiar carols. In 1941, two weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the crowd numbered 4,000. These community sings were among the rare public gatherings that were not segregated. Besides blacks in the crowd, a choir from Alabama State Normal College sang spirituals in 1941 as part of the program. Slated to end at 11 P.M., the caroling went on until well after midnight. Motivated by lingering reaction to Pearl Harbor, the climax of the evening came when a Maxwell soldier mounted the temporary podium and coaxed the crowd to sing Yankee Doodle. Then, someone shouted for Dixie, and the singing was accompanied by cheers. The program concluded, stressed the Advertiser, "with the Star Spangled Banner which found the audience uncovered and respectful."

At the time of the 1942 Christmas season, the Axis enemy had yet to be dislodged in much of the world. It was a time when gas and other rationing had begun to create shortages with consequent changes in life styles. Little enthusiasm existed for singing in the Square, so the event was suspended.

By Christmas season 1943, the Allies were on the offensive in many places. Preparations for a cross-the-English Channel invasion of Normandy were underway. The majority of the population had begun to adjust somewhat to the privations caused by war. On December 19, people gathered in the Square, traffic from Dexter Avenue and Court, Commerce, and Montgomery Streets deterred by barriers manned by Boy Scouts. The crowd's number matched the pre-Pearl Harbor figure of 3,000. In a preliminary to the singing, a Maxwell Field military band played martial and Christmas music. A Gunter Field military band accompanied the massed voices of the crowd in carols that included Joy to the World and Adeste Fidelis. Both the Lanier High School Glee Club and a group of public school children sang Christmas songs, followed by the mass caroling of such favorites as O Little Town of Bethlehem and Hark the Herald Angels Sing. The singing, projected by loud speakers, swelled into the night well beyond the Square. It continued until around midnight.

Union Station was a hustle-bustle of the various uniforms of the armed forces as Christmas approached, its crowds augmented by service people home on holiday leave. On December 22, as people entered the terminal building from the trains beneath the long shed, they were greeted by an unusual sight and sound. The Advertiser described the scene inside the waiting room: "From the balcony of the Union Station came the strains of familiar Christmas carols . . . when Girl Scouts in red-hooded capes gathered there shortly before dusk." On Christmas Eve Brownie Scouts caroled in their own neighborhoods, an older tradition than in the Square.

Cantatas that were regular features of peacetime Christmases were still presented in both black and white churches, with service persons sometimes singing in the choirs. Lieutenant E. J. Capella from Gunter, who had received his voice training in New York City, sang baritone in the First Presbyterian's presentation of The Messiah. At Huntingdon College a "White Christmas" program had a tolerant note. A pageant depicted several homes at Christmas time: in an American home, the carol sung was O Little Town of Bethlehem; in a German home, the carol was Stille Nacht (Silent Night sung in German as originally composed). Some of the more ardent patriots labeled the latter scene pacifistic.

Because it was both Christmas and wartime, military personnel stationed at Gunter and Maxwell received special attention. On December 17 half the aviation cadets from the training wings at the air fields were given passes to shop at night downtown, where merchants prolonged store hours to accommodate them. They swarmed downtown from taxis, the yellow city buses, or private cars. The other half came on the 18th. The Advertiser reported that "cosmetics, done up in Christmas wrappings" were the cadets' "favorite merchandise" with stocks "rapidly depleted."

On Christmas Day the downtown USOs had plentiful food donated by local folk for service people. It included ham, which entailed sacrifice on the donor's part, for ham was a scarce rationed meat. Civilians also responded well to an appeal by the USOs to "Share-Your-Home" with a soldier from one of the air fields. A local woman who invited two G. I.s explained her motive: "I have two boys in the service, one in a combat zone and the other in this country." "They," she said, "would appreciate the opportunity of putting their feet under a family table and participating in all the delicacies that go with a Christmas dinner."

Those stationed at the air fields who lacked a family dinner were not neglected. As reported by the Advertiser, the menu at Maxwell for Christmas dinner listed "One-half Florida grapefruit, green celery soup with croutons, Michigan celery with mixed olives, roast tom Turkey with sage dressing, giblet gravy, cranberry-orange relish, snowflake potatoes, Delmonico asparagus tips, creamed corn, iceberg lettuce with Russian dressing, hot Parker House rolls, mince pie, fruit cake, assorted fruits, candy and nuts, and coffee." Undoubtedly some civilians reading the menu were envious. (Gunter Field cooks provided a similar meal.) Members of the Maxwell Women's Army Corps unit (called air WACS) had a Christmas Eve party with a WAC Santa Claus bringing presents to their barracks. That night the WAC choir sang carols outside men's barracks and Officers' and NCO quarters. Christmas Day religious services were not confined to civilian churches in the city. The WAC choir sang at the Catholic masses at Chapel No. 2. Episcopal and Protestant services took place at Chapel No. 1. On Christmas Day, workers at the Red Cross/Junior Chamber of Commerce canteen, located on Water Street across from the train shed of Union Station, handed out bags with fruit, chewing gum, games, "funny books," hard candy, and other items to each serviceman or woman who visited the canteen. Other canteen workers, all volunteers, gave the bags to transient service people passing in and out of the waiting room of the station. The canteen was unique, serving all persons in uniform regardless of race.

Spending by service people in the city and purchase of many supplies locally were part of the air fields' prime contribution to the ending of the long depression in Montgomery. The Advertiser noted that both military and civilians were engaged in "the heaviest Christmas buying experienced here in years."

Even the most affluent citizens confronted a limited availability of many products. New cars and trucks had vanished from dealers' showrooms by the spring of 1942. Except for shoes, clothing was not rationed, but the amount and kinds of cloth were limited. On women's clothes, sleeves no longer had cuffs, hems and belts were limited in width, and skirts were shorter. Women's blouses, dresses, and coats were plainer. Men's clothes became plain and cuffs and pleats disappeared from trousers. White dress shirts were scarce. An ad for Fannin's, an upscale men's clothing store on Montgomery Street, tried to put a bright face on the situation: Although "gifts will not be as plentiful this year, there will be something for everyone."

Persons of means could purchase some relatively expensive items. Montgomery Fair, the city's largest department store, with its main entrance on the Square, advertised "Radios? Record Players? The Fair has them all." A Motorola Cabinet Radio was priced at $120, a walnut cabinet record player at $69. Another Fair ad urged buyers to "Give Her Furs." They ranged from $98 to $238. The two leading jewelers, Klein and Ruth on Dexter Avenue, had diamonds in various settings. None of these various things was rationed. A growing Black Market offered other luxuries. It had what many considered a necessity--hard liquor.

Toys were available in more or less adequate numbers. Bicycles, an increasingly in-demand means of transportation, were on the rationed list. Sears on Dexter advertised 22 inch-tall "Baby Dolls" for $3. 98; "Large Wagons" for $5. 98; "Stuffed Animals" ranging from $3.28 to $8.95. Electric trains were in short supply, but Sears advertised "Lionel Train" for 79 cents: "Not a real electric train but . . . a real good toy . . . Made of cardboard."

Food for Christmas dinner on civilian tables reflected a mixed situation. The annual custom by groups such as the Salvation Army of giving baskets of groceries to the poor was suspended; the rationing system had no special provision for the purchase of groceries for charity. Instead, these organizations sent orders that would allow a single person or a family to buy groceries of their own choice. The orders ranged from $2 for a single person to $8 for a large family. Even with the dying of the Depression, the Salvation Army alone sent orders to 200 families. Rationing and price controls played a large part in the offerings at the A & P or Hill "Super Markets" or at the myriad small corner groceries. Rationing and needs of the armed forces created inevitable shortages, although the OPA had announced that there would be a moderate increase in foodstuff for Christmas. The Black Market, catering to the greedy, added to shortages. Turkeys and other poultry and fresh non-processed vegetables and fruit were not rationed and their prices were fixed by the OPA. The supply of turkeys in 1943 was adequate. Though stocks were limited, fresh homogenized milk and loaf bread were not rationed and their prices were fixed. Spiced peaches were not rationed, but jellied cranberries were. All steaks, roasts, hams, stew meat, spareribs, hamburger, fish, veal, lamb, pork, bacon, cheese, butter, margarine, and fats were rationed and subject to price controls, as were sugar and all processed foods and frozen foods. For most people, the 1943 Christmas dinner did not include liberal amounts of the familiar delicacies.

Certain loved ones would never return to family tables. Army Air Forces (AAF) First Lieutenant Sherman White, Jr., who received his flight training at Tuskegee, had been shot down in combat with German fighters over the Mediterranean in the summer of 1943. First classified as missing-in-action, he was by Christmas time reclassified as killed-in-action. In a front window of his family's home on West Jeff Davis hung a Christmas wreath. In an adjacent window hung a small white banner with red borders. For most homes these banners had a stitched-on blue star for each family member in the service. The Whites' banner had a single stitched-on gold star, the symbol for a family member who had died serving with the armed forces.

In the suburb of Cottage Hill, the Sanders family in 1943 observed a second Christmas in which a small banner with a gold star hung in a front window. Private First Class Verbon C. Sanders had landed with the First Marine Division on Guadalcanal in August 1942. The citation for a postumously awarded Silver Star medal for extraordinary bravery described how, manning an outpost at the shallows of a small river, he was badly wounded by Japanese swarming to ford the shallows and retake the vital air field on the island. Sanders continued firing his weapon until his position was overrun and he was killed. Such Marine resistance denied the air field to the Japanese. At least there was hope when the Nettles family in Cloverdale sat

down to Christmas dinner. After bombing the key German ball bearing factory at Schweinfurt, the plane of Silas "Brook" Nettles, AAF first lieutenant and pilot of the B-17 heavy bomber, had gone down in October 1943 from the attacks by an enemy air defense fighter. It was one of 60 AAF bombers lost on the mission. Nettles and his crew had bailed out; he parachuted into a field but broke his leg in the impact with the ground. A German home guard unit took him prisoner, and he eventually was brought to the notorious camp for Allied airmen, Stalag Luft III.

An Advertiser editorial on Christmas Day 1943 wished "all of you a merry, merry Christmas. Not that we expect it to be a merry one for all of you . . . Those households which have been torn by sudden separations will miss those who are away, and those which have had sad tidings from the front will be far from merry as Christmas dawns. Others will manage to put on a merry front to hide the doubts and fears within." The writer acknowledged that "this year the peace is deferred, but it seems less distant than on last Christmas. . . So, Merry Christmas, and a hopeful one."

[Dr. Newton is the author of the recently published book, Montgomery in the Good War, Portrait of a Southern City, 1939-1946, University of Alabama Press.]

Society's newsletter, The Herald, is published quarterly in January, April, July, and October. There follows a list of selected articles from the first eight years of publication.

A World War II Christmas in Montgomery

From Volume 8 Number 4, October, 2000



	The Montgomery County Historical SA World War II Christmas in Montgomery By Dr. Wesley Phillips Newton In 1943 a sign of the approaching Christmas in Montgomery came earlier than usual. Many Montgomerians, members of the armed forces and merchant marine, were now serving on the various war fronts, including the sea and sky. Postmaster Roy Nolen told Montgomerians on the home front that, if they expected friends and loved ones overseas to receive presents and food parcels by Christmas Eve, they must mail them no later than October 15. As Christmas neared, the effects of wartime restrictions surfaced. Recent city ordinances prohibited the sale and setting off of fireworks. John Matthews, clerk of the circuit court, stated that he would not "issue a permit for the sale of fireworks in county areas." County and municipal officials agreed that it would not be right to celebrate with fireworks "with Uncle Sam and his allies at grips with the Axis to preserve freedom." The rationing of alcoholic beverages had begun in August 1943, thus they would not flow freely to celebrate the Yuletide. However, the State ABC Board announced early in December that private retail stores would receive an increased allotment before Christmas, although the weekly ration of one pint of liquor a week per person would stand. With any purchase at an ABC store, a customer could also buy two bottles of wine. The board charged that the widespread transfer of individual alcoholic beverage ration cards had become a racket. Consequently, any card presented for a weekly ration by other than the owner, including a family member, would be confiscated. The rationing of hard drink was one of the most resented of all such war-related measures. Not far behind was the shortage of candy, especially at Christmas time, caused by sugar rationing. There had been little hard candy for sale during Christmas season 1942 and the price had soared for the small amount available. For the coming Christmas, reported the Advertiser, "Christmas stockings will be filled with the traditional hard candy." The Office of Price Administration (OPA) had also fixed reasonable ceilings for prices at the manufacturing, wholesale, and retail levels. The public gave one of its rare cheers for the OPA. There was no rationing of live Christmas music. One source that had been unavailable in 1942 was forthcoming in 1943. Scheduled to be resumed was a community carol sing in Court Square. This Yule tradition had begun in 1940 when a crowd estimated at 3,000 gathered at the Square to sing familiar carols. In 1941, two weeks after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the crowd numbered 4,000. These community sings were among the rare public gatherings that were not segregated. Besides blacks in the crowd, a choir from Alabama State Normal College sang spirituals in 1941 as part of the program. Slated to end at 11 P.M., the caroling went on until well after midnight. Motivated by lingering reaction to Pearl Harbor, the climax of the evening came when a Maxwell soldier mounted the temporary podium and coaxed the crowd to sing Yankee Doodle. Then, someone shouted for Dixie, and the singing was accompanied by cheers. The program concluded, stressed the Advertiser, "with the Star Spangled Banner which found the audience uncovered and respectful." At the time of the 1942 Christmas season, the Axis enemy had yet to be dislodged in much of the world. It was a time when gas and other rationing had begun to create shortages with consequent changes in life styles. Little enthusiasm existed for singing in the Square, so the event was suspended. By Christmas season 1943, the Allies were on the offensive in many places. Preparations for a cross-the-English Channel invasion of Normandy were underway. The majority of the population had begun to adjust somewhat to the privations caused by war. On December 19, people gathered in the Square, traffic from Dexter Avenue and Court, Commerce, and Montgomery Streets deterred by barriers manned by Boy Scouts. The crowd's number matched the pre-Pearl Harbor figure of 3,000. In a preliminary to the singing, a Maxwell Field military band played martial and Christmas music. A Gunter Field military band accompanied the massed voices of the crowd in carols that included Joy to the World and Adeste Fidelis. Both the Lanier High School Glee Club and a group of public school children sang Christmas songs, followed by the mass caroling of such favorites as O Little Town of Bethlehem and Hark the Herald Angels Sing. The singing, projected by loud speakers, swelled into the night well beyond the Square. It continued until around midnight. Union Station was a hustle-bustle of the various uniforms of the armed forces as Christmas approached, its crowds augmented by service people home on holiday leave. On December 22, as people entered the terminal building from the trains beneath the long shed, they were greeted by an unusual sight and sound. The Advertiser described the scene inside the waiting room: "From the balcony of the Union Station came the strains of familiar Christmas carols . . . when Girl Scouts in red-hooded capes gathered there shortly before dusk." On Christmas Eve Brownie Scouts caroled in their own neighborhoods, an older tradition than in the Square. Cantatas that were regular features of peacetime Christmases were still presented in both black and white churches, with service persons sometimes singing in the choirs. Lieutenant E. J. Capella from Gunter, who had received his voice training in New York City, sang baritone in the First Presbyterian's presentation of The Messiah. At Huntingdon College a "White Christmas" program had a tolerant note. A pageant depicted several homes at Christmas time: in an American home, the carol sung was O Little Town of Bethlehem; in a German home, the carol was Stille Nacht (Silent Night sung in German as originally composed). Some of the more ardent patriots labeled the latter scene pacifistic. Because it was both Christmas and wartime, military personnel stationed at Gunter and Maxwell received special attention. On December 17 half the aviation cadets from the training wings at the air fields were given passes to shop at night downtown, where merchants prolonged store hours to accommodate them. They swarmed downtown from taxis, the yellow city buses, or private cars. The other half came on the 18th. The Advertiser reported that "cosmetics, done up in Christmas wrappings" were the cadets' "favorite merchandise" with stocks "rapidly depleted." On Christmas Day the downtown USOs had plentiful food donated by local folk for service people. It included ham, which entailed sacrifice on the donor's part, for ham was a scarce rationed meat. Civilians also responded well to an appeal by the USOs to "Share-Your-Home" with a soldier from one of the air fields. A local woman who invited two G. I.s explained her motive: "I have two boys in the service, one in a combat zone and the other in this country." "They," she said, "would appreciate the opportunity of putting their feet under a family table and participating in all the delicacies that go with a Christmas dinner." Those stationed at the air fields who lacked a family dinner were not neglected. As reported by the Advertiser, the menu at Maxwell for Christmas dinner listed "One-half Florida grapefruit, green celery soup with croutons, Michigan celery with mixed olives, roast tom Turkey with sage dressing, giblet gravy, cranberry-orange relish, snowflake potatoes, Delmonico asparagus tips, creamed corn, iceberg lettuce with Russian dressing, hot Parker House rolls, mince pie, fruit cake, assorted fruits, candy and nuts, and coffee." Undoubtedly some civilians reading the menu were envious. (Gunter Field cooks provided a similar meal.) Members of the Maxwell Women's Army Corps unit (called air WACS) had a Christmas Eve party with a WAC Santa Claus bringing presents to their barracks. That night the WAC choir sang carols outside men's barracks and Officers' and NCO quarters. Christmas Day religious services were not confined to civilian churches in the city. The WAC choir sang at the Catholic masses at Chapel No. 2. Episcopal and Protestant services took place at Chapel No. 1. On Christmas Day, workers at the Red Cross/Junior Chamber of Commerce canteen, located on Water Street across from the train shed of Union Station, handed out bags with fruit, chewing gum, games, "funny books," hard candy, and other items to each serviceman or woman who visited the canteen. Other canteen workers, all volunteers, gave the bags to transient service people passing in and out of the waiting room of the station. The canteen was unique, serving all persons in uniform regardless of race. Spending by service people in the city and purchase of many supplies locally were part of the air fields' prime contribution to the ending of the long depression in Montgomery. The Advertiser noted that both military and civilians were engaged in "the heaviest Christmas buying experienced here in years." Even the most affluent citizens confronted a limited availability of many products. New cars and trucks had vanished from dealers' showrooms by the spring of 1942. Except for shoes, clothing was not rationed, but the amount and kinds of cloth were limited. On women's clothes, sleeves no longer had cuffs, hems and belts were limited in width, and skirts were shorter. Women's blouses, dresses, and coats were plainer. Men's clothes became plain and cuffs and pleats disappeared from trousers. White dress shirts were scarce. An ad for Fannin's, an upscale men's clothing store on Montgomery Street, tried to put a bright face on the situation: Although "gifts will not be as plentiful this year, there will be something for everyone." Persons of means could purchase some relatively expensive items. Montgomery Fair, the city's largest department store, with its main entrance on the Square, advertised "Radios? Record Players? The Fair has them all." A Motorola Cabinet Radio was priced at $120, a walnut cabinet record player at $69. Another Fair ad urged buyers to "Give Her Furs." They ranged from $98 to $238. The two leading jewelers, Klein and Ruth on Dexter Avenue, had diamonds in various settings. None of these various things was rationed. A growing Black Market offered other luxuries. It had what many considered a necessity--hard liquor. Toys were available in more or less adequate numbers. Bicycles, an increasingly in-demand means of transportation, were on the rationed list. Sears on Dexter advertised 22 inch-tall "Baby Dolls" for $3. 98; "Large Wagons" for $5. 98; "Stuffed Animals" ranging from $3.28 to $8.95. Electric trains were in short supply, but Sears advertised "Lionel Train" for 79 cents: "Not a real electric train but . . . a real good toy . . . Made of cardboard." Food for Christmas dinner on civilian tables reflected a mixed situation. The annual custom by groups such as the Salvation Army of giving baskets of groceries to the poor was suspended; the rationing system had no special provision for the purchase of groceries for charity. Instead, these organizations sent orders that would allow a single person or a family to buy groceries of their own choice. The orders ranged from $2 for a single person to $8 for a large family. Even with the dying of the Depression, the Salvation Army alone sent orders to 200 families. Rationing and price controls played a large part in the offerings at the A & P or Hill "Super Markets" or at the myriad small corner groceries. Rationing and needs of the armed forces created inevitable shortages, although the OPA had announced that there would be a moderate increase in foodstuff for Christmas. The Black Market, catering to the greedy, added to shortages. Turkeys and other poultry and fresh non-processed vegetables and fruit were not rationed and their prices were fixed by the OPA. The supply of turkeys in 1943 was adequate. Though stocks were limited, fresh homogenized milk and loaf bread were not rationed and their prices were fixed. Spiced peaches were not rationed, but jellied cranberries were. All steaks, roasts, hams, stew meat, spareribs, hamburger, fish, veal, lamb, pork, bacon, cheese, butter, margarine, and fats were rationed and subject to price controls, as were sugar and all processed foods and frozen foods. For most people, the 1943 Christmas dinner did not include liberal amounts of the familiar delicacies. Certain loved ones would never return to family tables. Army Air Forces (AAF) First Lieutenant Sherman White, Jr., who received his flight training at Tuskegee, had been shot down in combat with German fighters over the Mediterranean in the summer of 1943. First classified as missing-in-action, he was by Christmas time reclassified as killed-in-action. In a front window of his family's home on West Jeff Davis hung a Christmas wreath. In an adjacent window hung a small white banner with red borders. For most homes these banners had a stitched-on blue star for each family member in the service. The Whites' banner had a single stitched-on gold star, the symbol for a family member who had died serving with the armed forces. In the suburb of Cottage Hill, the Sanders family in 1943 observed a second Christmas in which a small banner with a gold star hung in a front window. Private First Class Verbon C. Sanders had landed with the First Marine Division on Guadalcanal in August 1942. The citation for a postumously awarded Silver Star medal for extraordinary bravery described how, manning an outpost at the shallows of a small river, he was badly wounded by Japanese swarming to ford the shallows and retake the vital air field on the island. Sanders continued firing his weapon until his position was overrun and he was killed. Such Marine resistance denied the air field to the Japanese. At least there was hope when the Nettles family in Cloverdale sat down to Christmas dinner. After bombing the key German ball bearing factory at Schweinfurt, the plane of Silas "Brook" Nettles, AAF first lieutenant and pilot of the B-17 heavy bomber, had gone down in October 1943 from the attacks by an enemy air defense fighter. It was one of 60 AAF bombers lost on the mission. Nettles and his crew had bailed out; he parachuted into a field but broke his leg in the impact with the ground. A German home guard unit took him prisoner, and he eventually was brought to the notorious camp for Allied airmen, Stalag Luft III. An Advertiser editorial on Christmas Day 1943 wished "all of you a merry, merry Christmas. Not that we expect it to be a merry one for all of you . . . Those households which have been torn by sudden separations will miss those who are away, and those which have had sad tidings from the front will be far from merry as Christmas dawns. Others will manage to put on a merry front to hide the doubts and fears within." The writer acknowledged that "this year the peace is deferred, but it seems less distant than on last Christmas. . . So, Merry Christmas, and a hopeful one." [Dr. Newton is the author of the recently published book, Montgomery in the Good War, Portrait of a Southern City, 1939-1946, University of Alabama Press.] Society's newsletter, The Herald, is published quarterly in January, April, July, and October. There follows a list of selected articles from the first eight years of publication. A World War II Christmas in Montgomery From Volume 8 Number 4, October, 2000
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