C.B.'s-Construction Batttalion

Papa was 35 years old when WW II broke out. At that age he would not have be drafted by the military. However, he wanted to serve, so he volunteered for the C.B.'s.

According to Papa they gave the C.B.'s a one week boot camp and them sent them to the docks to load up and ship out. I only remember him talking about four things that happened at the camp.

1. They had to crawl under a field full of barbed wire with live machine gun fire going over their heads.
2. They were marched to a muddy, soupy field. Once they were there and spread out a little a drill sergeant yelled, "Hit the dirt!." Papa said he immediately did just that flopping down in the muddy goo. Most of the rest of the other men slowly sank down trying not to get too muddy. Next, Papa and a few others who immediately obeyed the order got to stand to the side while everyone else got to practice "hitting the dirt" for some time.
3. They were taught how to put on a gas mask properly and were marched into a large building pumped full of tear gas. While inside they were required to remove the mask and take a breath before they were allowed to run outside.
4. And, there was the drilling and marching carrying a rifle. And, these rifles were cut out from pieces of one by four because the real ones were being sent overseas to be used int the war. But, my father did get a real rile as part of his equipment when he was over seas. He said the unit he was in never used then, but they had to be inspected every week. There was one problem though. Mud dabbers were getting inside the barrels of the unused rifle and building nests! So Papa and the others got some cork and stopped up both ends of their riffle barrel.
   

More to come aboaut the Sea Bees.

Wilma Christeena Smilth-Gustafson

As read at her funeral.

Wilma Christeena Smith was born in a farmhouse between Crawford and Ogles by, Texas on October 10, 1916. Within a short time her parents, James Burton Smith and Florence Jane Burleson moved her and her sisters and one brother to Waco, Texas. After the move to Waco another brother was born. Marion, Wyman, Zelma, Wilma and James Burton Jr.-J.B.-lived in various locations in Waco until they moved to a plot of land near the traffic circle on what is now Old Robinson Road.

Wilma had a childhood riddled with difficulties. At the age of seven she suffered an extremely painful bone infection [ left tibia I think.] which almost caused her to loose a leg. Then, when Wilma was thirteen her mother passed away. And, during the Depression she had to quit school to go to work after completing ten of the then eleven grades in public school.

Her first job was that of a waitress at The Open Air Cafe on on the traffic circle. Not having the oportunity to travel, she enjoyed this job because the world traveled to her. Many different types of people who were from many different places stopped to get a bite to eat. There were rich Indians (Native Americans) from Oklahoma down to humble law enforcement personnel who stopped to have a hamburger with their handcuffed companions.

Next, she took a waitress job with Steve's Cafe on the Circle. Here she met an interesting gentleman by the name of Carl Emil Gustafson. They were married March 21, 1936 (in Waco possibly at a church on Columbus Ave.).

They spent the first years of their marriage traveling to where ever Carl could get a construction job. And, where ever they ended up they always found a reason to enjoy their new home. (They lived on the Gulf coast in Texas, California and Arkansas.)

During WW II Carl moved Wilma from Arkansas back to Waco before he enlisted. There, in a house Carl build on Smith land near the the Circle on Old Robinson Rd., Wilma lived and took care of Carl's elderly mother. She also began working at the newly built Owens-Illinois Glaass Plant.

After Carl returned from the war they settled down and were then blessed wit two sons. This was another job Wilma enjoyed.

Then, with one son in the Navy and the other in high school she once again began working as a waitress. This time it was for Jack and Jill Donuts on New Road. She worked the 3-11 shift.

After her retirement she cared for her ailing husband, Carl, until her health failed. Even though others had to take care of Carl she always had her two sons take her to see him at the VA hospital in Waco every Sunday until he passed away.

Wilma was always a worker. Whether she worked at a job or worked a t home she put everything she had into her work. And, in spite of the work she did her family always came first. In fact, she felt her family was the most valuable possession she had.

Wilma Christeena Gustafson continued to serve her family until she peacefully passed through the veil in her sleep in the early morning hours of May 27, 1994. She will be missed by all.

(Written by Benny R. Gustafson and rad at her funeral by Wayne Christian Schoenleber.L)

The House

The house on Newland Dr. was mostly built by my father with some help from friends. I don't know the square footage, but it was a comfortable house for a family of four.

It consisted of a Living room, a very small formal dinning room, (originally) a very small kitchen, two bedrooms connected by a long hall with the bathroom off the center of the hall. In addition, there was a long breezeway down the right side of the house extending halfway around the back portion of the house. This breezeway was enclosed with several windows on the outside walls.

As mentioned the kitchen was originally very small when I was the same. Papa took out the backwall and extended it into the back breezeway spaxe behind the kitchen. Therefore there was room to sit at a decent sized table in one portion with food preparation taking place in the other part. I'll note here that the renovation of the kitchen was a major event. First of all somehow a mouse got killed in the construction area and stunk so bad work had to be stopped until it was located and disposed of-most likely it was taken into the back yard and thrown over the fence. The second event dealt with the time of year this was happening. It was early summer I think and the flies were very bad that year. Since that part of the house was open to the outside for two or three days the kitchen was flooded with so many flies we couldn't eat there, so during that time we had an extended picnic outside where there were fewer flies.

There was a long concrete front porch with a couple of rose bushes in front of it. Of course the front door was located here. It had a skeleton key lock that was rusted and inoperative by the time I knew what was going on. Thus, our house remained unlock for a few years. Then, for reasons unknown to me Papa got out the penetrating oil and got the lock working again after buying a skeleton key from the five and dime store. A little later Papa bought a deadbolt lock. The odd thing is no one ever tried to break into our house while we lived in it. As soon as we sold it and someone else moved in they were burglarized almost immediately. I guess everyone knew we were too poor to have anything valuable enough to steal.

504 E. Newland Dr

I grew up a mile off of Hwy 77 on East Newland Drive in Robinson, TX. The house number was 504. Our home consisted of a house and fifty one acres of land. My father bought the land after World War II with a loan granted from the GI Bill.

The house was located in in the front center of the property on the top of a hill. Our yard was about one and a half acres bordered by a barbed wire fence. There were two large Cottonwood trees to the left of the house with another one just behind the house on the left corner-right in front of the back bedroom my brother and I occupied. Also on the left side of the house were four or five pear trees. And, a single Mulberry tree stood guard over my parents bedroom in front of the house. In spite of my father's efforts to plant more trees that was it. Every time he planted a new tree some farmers cow got out , came to our yard and ate the tree down to the ground.

About a hundred feet or so behind our back fence was a small tin barn where my father kept a few cows and calves at various times when I was young. Mostly all I remember of cattle was an old milk cow and a couple of calves.

Further back on the property was a stock tank-a hole bulldozed out of the ground on a side of the hill with the dirt pushed up to form a rim to hold the water on the lower side of the tank. I had lots of adventures there as a kid. And, there was always fishing.

The rest of the land was covered with weed mostly. However there were lots of Indian Paint Brushes, Blanket Flowers, Black Eyed Susans and so forth in the spring. And, there was a system of gulleys where much fun could be had as a child.

The Truth

When I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints I wanted to believe it was the true church. As I began to experiment with the gospel I began to believe it was. Then, a few years ago as I sat reading the Book of Mormon some strange ideas crept into my head.

Is the Book of Mormon really true? Have I wanted to believe so badly that I have fooled myself into thinking it true.? Was Joseph Smith really called by God to restore the gospel? How could all these things be known anyway?

These ideas and thoughts hit me hard so I pushed back form my CCTV, leaned back in my chair and pondered all this.

I thought about five miracles that happened in my life after I joined the church. These were things that had never happened, should not have happened, but they did happen with no explanation. I thought about trying and testing the gospel for twenty or so years. I thought about how my life was and how different it would have been had I not become a Mormon.

Then, it became obvious. The Church of Jesus Christ is true! The Book of Mormon is true! Joseph Smith was a prophet chosen by God to restore the His church!

While I don't know everything I know these things. And, I know you can know them, too. You can know the truth by experimenting withe the gospel and seeing it does work. Your can know by reading and studying the scriptures faithfully. You can know thorough prayer and the Holy Ghost.

In the name of Jesus Chlrist, Amen