A look back

By Staff
Researched by Dr. Bill Stewart
Sixty years ago in 1943–America and her allies were involved in total war-with the end nowhere in sight.
April 17-Plants in the "Victory Gardens" begun by almost every farm family are shooting up out of the ground, with promise of bountiful harvests later in the spring and summer.
April 18-Mr. and Mrs. Grant Thrasher are currently enjoying a visit from their son, Sgt. Paul Thrasher. Sgt. Thrasher has recently been stationed in the Alaska territory but is now headed for Fort Belvoir, Virginia, to attend OCS.
April 18-The windshield stickers that substituted this year for new metal auto tags due to steel rationing are proving to be difficult for law enforcement officers as well as motorists generally to read. It is not known when metal tags will again be available.
April 19-Midshipman George Duncan McCall, son of Mrs. Nora McCall, is on sea duty with the U.S. Merchant Marines. He was able to visit family and friends here last month.
April 20-Hartselle's draft board has a new head. Herman Puckett succeeds Steve Nelson in the position of board chairman. Troy Nunn has been newly added to the board.
April 20-Everyone in Hartselle who can possibly afford to is being urged as strongly as possible to buy war bonds and stamps. Banker M. H. Broom is leading the war bond victory campaign which has a sales goal is $80,000. One patriotic citizen has already bought $3,600 worth of bonds.
April 21-Mississippi State College in Starkville is the site of an Army Signal Corps training school. Pvt. Charles Polytinsky, son of Mr. and Mrs. Sam Polytinsky of Hartselle, is currently enrolled in the school.
April 22-Malcolm Stephenson and James Ferguson, both residents of Danville 2, will be leaving for military basic training in the near future.
April 23-First Lt. Fred M. Speake, Jr., son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred M. Speake, Jr., is missing in action following an overwater flight. Lamar, another son of the Speakes, is also serving his country in the Army Air Force.