News Articles taken from the GRAND SALINE SUN Newspaper for the years of 1982 to 1984 which the VZC Genealogical & Local History library does not have on microfilm and we thought might be of interest to some of our members. This Edition published the 10th Salt Festival in 1984 and old history of city. Transcribed by: Patsy Finley Vinson

On June 6, 1944, exactly 40 years ago Wednesday, thousands of Allied troops stormed French Normandy's beaches in one of World War II's most massive onslaughts against German forces.
For all the soldiers involved in the D-Day operation, it was an undertaking of extremely high risk.
For some soldiers, it was more than that. A suicide mission.
"Everytime we would go into battle, the chaplain would come around . . . then you could count on something to happen the next morning," recalled D-Day veteran Gene Thompson of Grand Saline.
"We were fed ice cream, then found out we were in trouble, " he said.
Twenty-two year old James Eugene Thompson, Sr. PFC, left England's shores on an LCT – tank-landing craft as a member of the 746th tank battalion in the fourth infantry division.
Specifically, he was one of 125 men in Company C – the "spearhead of the battalion" as he calls it.
"There were four line companies that fought on the front . . my company always went first," he said.
Thompson claimed that during the fighting, his company replaced itself seven times. "We lost five company commanders . . . the other companies left with the same commanders they came with."
"We were supposed to land June 5, but there was a storm in the English Channel, " Thompson remembered.
The famed Normandy Invasion began early in the morning on June 6.
The first wave occurred around 7 a.m. recalled Thompson, and his company joined the fighting in the second wave around 9 a.m.
"We landed on Utah beach along with the 101st Airborne Division . . . the really bloody stuff happened on Omaha beach. . . . three German Divisions were waiting for them, looking down their throats, " he said.
Even so, after detaching his Jeep from the Sherman tank that pulled him from the ship to the shore, the young Texan has to fight his way through a mass of dead bodies in a dewaterproofing area 30 minutes away.
"We couldn't dig in, there were too many bodies," he recalled.
It was Thompson's job to be part of a suicide mission.
"I was a recon (reconnaissance) man . . . we would drive ahead of the tanks to draw fire so that the tanks cold see where to shoot."
German guns were very much in evidence on the Utah beach, (continued on page 12...page 12 missing).

THE GRAND SALINE SUN, Thursday, November 17, 1983

Allen recalls Armistice Day, 1918 - experiences as WWI prison of war
by Nelda Jones
(This article was found in an old newspaper.)

Armistice Day - November 11, 1918 - was a mighty happy day for James I. Allen, of Fruitvale, who spent Armistice Day this year working on his farm where he has lived for almost 50 years. However, on the first Armistice Day in 1918, he was working on a farm in Germany - as a prisoner of war.

Allen, one of the few surviving World War I veterans in Van Zandt County, has spent most of his life in the Edgewood and Fruitvale area. But, in September, 1917, he was living in the Riverside Community north of Grand Saline with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Joe C. Allen, when he answered the call to defend his country.

He was first attached to Battery F. 345th Regiment but was soon chosen along with 40 others from his company to embark for action to the front.
Arriving in France a month later he was sent to the Toule sector with the 102nd Infantry of the 26th Division.

Since this was a quiet sector most of his early days at the front were fairly quiet and uneventful. However, things were not to remain that way long. On July 4th his regiment was sent to Chatieu Thierry where they remained in support at the rear until July 21 when they were given orders to advance.
On the first day's drive his regiment advanced about 30 miles with the resistance until sundown, when they dropped back about half a mile, taking refuge in some buildings in an abandoned town.

About sunrise on July 22 the first battalion of hiis regiment again started to advance. They fought all day and before dark their whole group of approximately 200 men had been either killed or captured.

Allen was one of about 20 men remaining alive, and they were completely surrounded by Germans. Some of this group wanted to surrender but Allen told them he intended to try to escape if possible.

Crawling through a nearby wheat field he narrowly escaped injury from a three-way cross-fire, with bullets glancing from his shoe and his helmet. He soon saw that his way of escape had been completely cut off.

Even his last hope of hiding in the wheat field until dark and then slipping through the lines was dashed when the Germans came by picking up the dead and wounded discovered him. He had no choice then but to surrender.
Even then, the danger was not for the prisoners. For that night they had a hazardous journey as they were marched by their captors through a barrage of American artillery.

During the next few days, with very little to eat, the group of prisoners was marched to the French town of Laon, where they were held by the Germans until they were put on a train to Rastatt, a German town a few miles from the Rhine River near the Switzerland border.

Shortly afterward Jim Allen was sent to a German farm where he spent the next two and a half months working for a German family whose menfolk were also fighting in the war.

On Nov. 11 the day the Armistice was signed, Allen was sent back to the prison camp at Rastatt, where he remained until Dec. 8, when a Swiss train took the prisoners back to France.

There he rejoined his old company and regiment, but it was not a happy reunion for almost all the faces were new ones. The majority of the former soldiers had been killed or wounded.

Allen, discharged from the service on April 1, 1919, returned to Van Zandt County to his parents and the young woman who had never ceased to pray and believe for his safe return.

He and the young woman, Effie Garrett, soon married and settled down to the task of making a living and raising a family. A family which consisted of 12 children - all of whom are still living.

They are Bennie Allen of Van, Archie Allen of Mineola, Troy H. Allen of Fruitvale, Audrey Winn of Mesquite, Reva Spears of Garland, Lloyd Allen of Grand Prairie, Lillian Butler of Grand Saline, Joe Dean Allen of Arvada, Colo., Nelda Jones of Edgewood, John Allen of Dallas, Elvis Allen of Fruitvale and Charles Allen of Longview.

Even though Allen, who will be 88 next March, no longer does much actual farming he remains active, working on his farm every day, caring for his dog, three goats and two mules. He also helps care for his wife, who is now partially paralyized from a stroke.

He keeps his lawn and pastures mowed. His latest project, in spite of protests from his family, has been cleaning out and enlarging one of his ponds, by hand, after it went dry this fall.

Even though the war is over Allen is still patriotic and is still fighting for his country in the only way he can - by voting and by supporting various causes to fight injustice and by urging others to do so.

For years Allen was an active member of the American Legion and V. F. W. as well as serving on the Fruitvale School Board for almost 25 years. He is a member of the President's Task Force, as well as other organizations. He is proud of the gold commemorative medal sent to him by the president and a picture of President Reagon and Vice President Bush. The picture was sent by Bush, along with a personally signed letter.

Allen recalls vividly the time when General Pershing visited their camp and inspected the troops. He also recalls the time when a doctor commented on his posture and appearance as a soldier.

If the doctor could see him today he probably would still comment on his appearance , for he still stands like a soldier - tall, straight and proud.

It's been almost 70 years since Odell Young walked barefoot to the old schoolhouse in Grand Saline, but he has no trouble remembering how the cinder-covered roads made his feet "dirty as the devil." "By the time I'd get home from school, I'd have cinders up to my knees." Young said, laughing.
Since everyone walked barefooted to school, Young probably wasn't the only youngster to come home dirty.

However, he may be the only one of those youngsters still living in Grand Saline and able to recall growing up on those cinder-covered roads. The 77-year-old said Grand Saline residents of that era considered themselves lucky to have such roads. ‘Of course we didn't have concrete streets back then, so the salt company gave the city the cinders from their smokestacks," Young explained. "And those cinders made fine roads."

Growing up with any cars meant children had to walk anywhere they wanted to go, Young said.

All the boys in the gang were dressed in short pants, Young recalled.
"Boys didn't get to wear long pants until they were at least 16 or 17 so that's when we felt we were grown," he said.

Although Young believes school academics haven't changed much since his school days, he feels discipline is much different."Back then," he said, "they (the teachers) would beat the hell out of you if you did something wrong."
Some of the strictest discipline came from Grand Saline's superintendent in the early 1900's who had a tough reputation among Young's classmates. Young remembers him as a "big old red-haired Irishman.""And he was mean, " Young remembered. "If the teacher sent you out in the hall, you didn't want him to find you. He would get you and the teachers knew it. "But on Saturdays, the youngsters could forget about the red-haired Irishman. That's the day everyone in the Grand Saline area got their chores done in the morning and spent the rest of the day downtown.

"You didn't have a good Saturday if you didn't see a fight or two and at least one horse and buggy runaway," Young recalled. "The runaways were exciting, especially if women and children were in the buggy. It would scare them to death."

Young admitted it is sad today to see downtown Grand Saline so empty on Saturdays. I've seen times a person could hardly walk down the street because of so many people," he said. "All the men would be standing around visiting while the women got the shopping done." And the visiting and shopping continued until the night when the men, women and children crowded around a bandstand, located in the center of town.

"It looked like a gazebo, except bigger," Young remembered, "the bandstand was screened in to keep the mosquitoes away from the musicians." Young said most of the people sat and listened to the ragtime melodies. "There were a few that danced, but not many," he added.
Most of the children had to stay with their mothers, rather than run around playing. Young remembered.
"It just depended on how strict your mama was," he said, laughing. "And most of the mamas were stricter than they are now." No matter how late the band played on Saturday nights, most of the local residents were in church the next morning, he recalled.

"One reason people went to church more than they do now is they were always looking for some place to go, " he said. "Without any television or radio, people just had to find their own entertainment."

Young said it wasn't unusual for young couples to spend their Sunday afternoon dates walking down the railroad tracks. "We'd just walk down to where the baseball park is now, turn around and walk back to town," he said. "There would be lots of older couples walking down the tracks too." But, occasionally, Grand Saline residents would board the train and ride into Dallas.

"Most everybody would leave in the morning and come back on the No. 4 because it got back into Grand Saline about 10 p.m.," Young said. ‘Lots of times you'd board the No. 4 in Dallas and see other folks from Grand Saline headed home, too."

Some Grand Saline residents took a yearly trip into Dallas for the Fair, Young said. "During the fair," he said, "the train company would have a special that would pick up folks in all the little towns and take them directly to the fair. The special would stay parked inside the fairgrounds all day and pull out at night to take all the folks home."

But most weekends weren't that exciting. Young said people usually spent their Sunday afternoons just visiting each other. "It was customary for the young boys to take care of the company's horse and buggy," he said. "While everyone else was in the house eating, we were out watering and feeding the horses." "So, by the time we got around to eat, there was usually nothing left but chicken wings."

The pictures below were old pictures before they were put in the 1984 Grand Saline Sun and they were not in the best condition when printed.

GRAND SALINE CITY COUNCIL IN 1936-37 was composed of, front from left, Sebe Land, Verdie Lawrence, George Bell, Bryant Joslin, Dr. V. B. Cozby, mayor; back from left, Ed Guinn, Enoch Fletcher, and Floyd V. Stewart. Dr. Cozby served the city as mayor approximately 27 years.

THE INDIAN FOOTBALL team of 1924 is pictured with Superintendent Ferrell and choaches Rhodes and Darnell. Pictured are Jones, end; Freeman, end; Foster, tackle; Hargrove, tackle; Hendly, guard; Land, guard; Hill, center; Mayfield, left halfback; Stringer, fullback; Dorough quarterback; Banks, right halfback and substitutes Roumbelo, Davidson, Carter and Callaway.

Right side of Picture

EMPLOYEES PHOTOGRAPHED At Morton Salt evaporating plant in 1931 Include, front from left Tom West, Murphy Boyd, Kermit Smith, Joe Sellers, Wellie Givens, Oscar Rogers, Sid Adkins, Clarence Robison, Lee Freeman, Miller Gray, Allen Pinkerton, Vernon Moore, E. P. Fredline, Jack Bradbury, Mary Maxwell, Nanie Freeman, Julie Williford, Addie Furr, Johnnie Sowell, Rose Green, Lillie Knight, Annie King, Ollie Atkins, Emmar Brown; second row Ross Smith, Sibe Land, Melton Youngblood, Allen Clinkscale, Henre Meese, Forest Mosley, Jim Thompson, Harwell, Ed Boyles, Carl King, Shorty Dickinson, Lige Furr, Vernon McClough, Joe Waddell, Kelly Moore, Shorty Hughes, Dee Rogers, Ed Miller, Henry Knight , Gordon Knight, Claude Pitts; third row Bert Herd Lawrence, John Balls, Howard Betty, Will Hayes, Jim Atkins, Quill Greer, Dempsey White, Dad Givens, Ward Bradberry, Bill Rhodes, Dick Bell, Cliff Samson, Walter Gray, Dick Trego, Ozel Jenkins, Darell Kuykendall, Phillips, Shelby White, Ula Waymire, Dallas Tulter, Sampson - Dad, George Knight.

GRAND SALINE, Texas March 11.– To gain first ahnd knowledge of the salt industry of Grand Saline, thirteen members of the State Legislature, most of them members of the labor committee, were taken through a sal company's huge plant here Saturday. Charles Gilpin, Dallas Representative, was in charge of the party. The legislators soon will be called upon to pass upon proposed legislation affecting the salt industry.

J. E. Hanes, plant official, is shown in the picture explaining mysteries of salt mining in one of the chambers 700 feet below the ground surface. Also in the picture are Harvey Riviere, Port Arthur; H. A. Hull, Fort Worth; Roy G. Baker, Sherman; Clinton Kersey, Bridgeport; Abe Mayes, Atlanta; P. L. Crossley, Eastland; L. C. McDaniel, Dallas; W. J. Bailey, Winnsboro; Edgar Loggins, Goodrich; W. M. Bridges, El Paso; James R. Boyd, Austin; Odis Weldon, Canton, and Arnold Vale, Rio Grande City.

Reading from left to right, top row; Willis Attaway, Gay Davis, Edward Reaves, Louie White, Farris Gibson, Harold Land, Henry Edwards, C. A. Mayfield, Truman Williams, Sidney Terry, George Sinclair, Hardy McBride, Arthur L. Farrell, Supt.: Bottom Row, Gladys Houston, Wilma Davis, Lucille Allen, Maurine White, Billie Casey, Maree Jordan, Marjorie Crozby, Ruth May, Pauline Palmer, Lady Davidson, Olma Lee Tunnell, Bernese Everett.
Officers of the graduating class of 1928 are, Hardy McBride, president; Lady Davidson, vice-president; C. A. Mayfield, secretary-treasurer.

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