Chapter 13 Beginning of World War II
The next day on December 8, 1941 Angela Mims Taylor along with many others set in the store around the radio just as many others in other cities and towns listened to the now famous speech given by President Roosevelt where he asked Congress to declare war on Japan and just like that America was now formally drawn into the war that was across the sea but would change the world and the country forever.
Up until this time, Grandma Taylor had seen very few Negro soldiers. She really did not know nor cared to know exactly what Negroes did in the army. She knew that they were not treated like the White soldiers and that they remained as segregated as they were in Riverside. This was about to change. Almost every Negro and White young man in the town wanted to sign up and go fight in this war. This war somewhere across the sea against people that she had never seen but she knew that they had bombed Pearl Harbor and that many men had died for apparently no reason as America was not at war against Japan. At least not before December 8, 1941.
Everyone wanted to do their part to fight the war. Therefore Grandma Taylor decided to do what she did best. She made dinner for everyone that enlisted into the war. They all came by on the day before they left and got a real dinner- as much as they could eat. She also gave them a whole sweet potato pie to take with them.
World War II brought much change to the State of Mississippi. While Grandma Taylor had seen very few soldiers prior to 1941, she began to see many more. Several military camps were housed in Mississippi to include Camp Shelby in Hattiesburg and Keesler Air Field in Biloxi. Camp Shelby trained around 50,000 men at one time while Keesler was the largest airbase in the world with 69,000 air personnel and more than half million air personnel trained at that air base. Most of these, if not all, came through Riverside. As the train came right through Riverside, the town’s people saw train loads of military folks both Negro and Whites. This brought a unexpected boom to the store and restaurant for Grandma Taylor. While the Negro soldiers were not welcomed in downtown Riverside, they were most certainly welcomed at the Taylor restaurant. Even many of the White soldiers came to her place to eat with their new found friends.
Grandma Taylor listened to the radio as did others to learn of the many developments during the war. She especially listened for tales of the Negro soldier for she had come to realize that the Negro soldier had earned the right to die in the war but had not earned the right to fight as the Whites. Most of the Negro soldiers were cooks and served in units behind the lines even thought they wanted to fight for a country that still did not see them as equal. She knew of the many Negro soldiers who could not leave their bases in Mississippi because of the color of their skin. She had even heard tales where a Negro private was killed outside Camp Van Dorn after an altercation with town folks from Centreville. This almost resulted in a riot by members of the 364th Infantry unit. This unit was subsequently transferred to the Aleutian Islands.
Of most interest was the story that she heard about a group of Negro airmen who were based at nearby Tuskegee Alabama. They were the first Negroes who would train to fly single engine fighters. Included in the first cadet class was Benjamin O Davis, who would rise to become a four star general in the air force. He had graduated from West Point Academy in 1936 as only the fourth Negro to graduate from West Point. This group of airmen has since become known as the Tuskegee Airmen. Their valor has become folk lore as they battled both racism and enemy fighters.
During this time, Grandma Taylor continued to serve food and sold goods out of her store. Whites in the town were too busy concerned about the war to worry about her restaurant and Mr. Jones, the banker was happy to get his loan payment each month along with a sweet potato pie.