XII
Introduction
Let us suppose, for an instant, that such things as radios, motion
pictures, and newspapers had not yet been invented when the Second
World War was raging on its hundreds of distant battlefronts. Had
this been so, the people of the United States would have known
nothing about the greatest conflict in all history save what their sons,
brothers, or husbands were able to tell them.
How complete would be a chronicle in which the experiences of
each Charlottesville and Albemarle serviceman were recorded? It is
certain that most of the campaigns and battles would be included,
for more than five thousand men and women from this community
went into the armed forces and were scattered over the entire earth.
High school boys and university students, farm hands and mill workers,
doctors and professors, merchants and bankers, white and colored,
rich and poor, all served their country. Such a story as they
together could tell would provide the community with a panorama
of the great common action, each scene of which would depict the
vital part played by a soldier, a sailor, or a flyer from this section of
Virginia.
Unfortunately a complete history of Charlottesville and Albemarle
servicemen can never be written. All knowledge of the deeds
of many brave men died with them on the field of battle, and most
veterans are reluctant to discuss their experiences. In the following
pages are told fragments of their story. The limitations of space and
the lack of accurate and complete information have made it necessary
to exclude accounts of many brave deeds and important accomplishments
from this book, but the experiences of a representative few are
set down, as being typical of many others. They are permitted, so
far as has been found practicable, to tell their story in their own
words. Thus one is enabled to view in miniature the melodrama of
life at the battlefronts as it appeared to those who knew its hazards,
drudgery, and achievements.
