1952 - 1953 Meadowbrook Elementary Directory

This directory contains names and addresses of many of those I consider "originals," those of us who attended all 12-years of their public schooling together.  In these pages are future members of EHHS classes 1960 - 1964, as well as Poly class of 1959. 

Didn't count the names beyond one page; estimate about 500 - 550 kids listed.  Six grades would suggest about 40, or so per class, with each grade divided into 2 separate classes.  MJH would open the next year, in 1953.  Until this year, MJH classes were held on the second floor of this c.1936 building.

These are the second grade classes of the 1963 Highlanders who are listed in this directory.  

More Texas Burning - Big Tex Flames Out

News flash for you out of towners....Big Tex went up in flames a couple of days ago.  We are distraught.

Adios, Big Tex

Operation Crossroads - 1946

We've seen this picture published in magazines, books, and elsewhere all our lives.  Bet you've never seen one this large and clear.  I haven't .... good Lord !  And they got bigger after this one !

These bombs have been sitting in our cupboard over 66-years...wonder if those desperadoes in north Africa have a clue?  Pretty sure Saddam didn't.

Take a close look, it's a big file.  There are 2 large ships in the foreground; both of them, I think are Battleships, perhaps 800' long.  Four obsolete battlewaggons were assigned to this duty that day.

Our national concern over the nuclear threat probably originated shortly after WWII when the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs were detonated.  Almost immediately after WWII ended, we were engaged in the Cold War with Russia that first manifested itself with the Berlin Blockade.  Russia detonated its first bomb in August 1949.  Not sure when all the schools in the USA started their air raid drills, but I recall jumping under my desk in the 1st grade near Wright Patterson AFB, 1951-52.  Don't recall we did it after that when I started school in Texas.  It looked about like this...not sure it would have done much good:

Adios

All The Fine Young Men

Elsewhere in the blog I’ve shared some words describing the nature of AAF service in the Eighth Air Force based in England. The video clips that follow are a program broadcast by NBC in 1983. It is one of the finest descriptions of the aerial war over Europe I’ve seen.

One of the best features is the interspersing of veterans’ first person recollections throughout the program. In part 4, Bob Shoens, a pilot in the 100th Bomb Group tells of being one of the few planes in his Group to make it back home from a 6 March 1944 mission to Berlin. Several books were written about this particular mission and a blurb from one of the follows the video links at the end of this piece.

My father and his crew was scheduled for this mission but missed it due to having made a forced landing at an English coastal base on the 4th.

Part 1 of 4

Part 2 of 4

Part 3 of 4

Part 4 of 4

"Lets go Lieutenant; your crew is scheduled to fly." That is how pilot Robert Shoens was awaken on a cold March morning in 1944. Little did he know that by the days end, many of the bunks in his hut would be empty and this mission would forever be synonymous with his Crew. The date was March 6, 1944, and the Eighth Air Force would launch a full scale assault on the German capital of Berlin. "High Noon over Haseluenne" is a microcosm look at one bomb group that flew the mission and the catastrophic results that ensued. The book deals with the 100th Bomb Group, "The Bloody Hundredth" and the mission that solidified that moniker. The concentrated attacks by the Luftwaffe would destroy 69 American Bombers that day, the single highest loss for any mission by the 8th Air Force and 15 of those losses would come from the 100th Bomb Group. Lt Robert Shoens is our guide. His story, and that of many other 100th BG crewmen, puts you in the melee that followed the head-on attacks by over 100 German Me109s & FW190s. We take you inside the men and machines that had to brave one of the deadliest air battles of World War II and let them tell the story. "High Noon over Haseluenne" is filled with firsthand accounts, personal diaries, letters home, news clippings and illustrated with over 200 photos. This is real history "as it happened" on the March 3-8, 1944 missions to Berlin by the 100th Bomb Group. The book is capped off by a one hundred page historical appendices compiled by noted 8th AF researcher Paul M. Andrews ("Project Bits and Pieces").

Nairobi Trio

Always loved this Ernie Kovaks bit when I was a kid...still do!

Ernie Kovaks and his wife, Edie Adams.

She's banging him on the head in the Nairobi Trio bit above.

Adios

1962 EHHS Highlander 50th Reunion

The EH Class of 1962 has announced the details of their 50th reunion which can be found at their website.  Edited details are posted above and below is a visual inventory of elementary school class pictures gathered from several adjacent classes to you ‘62s.

If you are a ’62 and have some of your old elementary class pictures long closed away in a box or scrapbook you might be able to reach, Gus would appreciate having a scan of what you have, regardless of which elementary school you attended.  Use the 200dpi setting on your scanner for a nice, clear scan.

Gus was always a little puzzled about the makeup of early EHHS and has been using this amazing Internet technology as a means to bring together information that has not heretofore been combined in such a manner…at least not to Gus’ knowledge.

Why do this?  Because it’s possible is one quick answer; but, another aspect of the study has been slowly revealing much of the variety of influences we experienced nearly 50-years ago and may not have understood.

Those of you from Handley brought your own long-established sub-culture; those from Meadowbrook came with a combination of the newer Middle-Meadowbrook area, the older Tandy area, and another older area from around Sagamore Hill and brought a sub-culture that had been established at least as long as Handley.  But we were also feeling the substantial influences of newcomers to the area as it built out after WWII.  All of this played out during the 1950s…the period covered by the elementary school class pictures.

In the pictures you can find several future Homecoming Queens, several favorites, several football heroes, and childhood friends of all sorts.

Look forward to hearing from you--similar input from the 1960 class is welcome here, too.

First posted:   July 2, 2012

Today is        Nov. 7, 2012                     STILL  0

Adios

R.O.T.C. Sponsors

 1961-62

I didn't participate in the R.O.T.C. classes, but did notice that the boys in those classes had a good eye for the attractive girls.  Sports precluded my participation and to tell the truth, my father's influence had tilted me against things military.  These were the last few years before Vietnam blew way up and engulfed so many of us.

One of the adult Army commanders assigned to EHHS had been assigned to Vietnam about 1961 and had suffered some obvious effects of the experience.  Any readers having some anecdotal stories about your experience in these early EHHS companies, please consider sharing your stories in the comments section.  I believe you may able to shed some light on what is for me, a murky pre-Vietnam period.

 

1962-63

 1963-64

1964-65