>> My name is Adina Langer,
and I'm the curator of the Museum of History and
Holocaust Education at Kennesaw State University.
Today is September 25, 2018,
and I am here at the Sturgis Library
with Mike Cox for a legacy series interview,
during which we will remember
his uncle, George Mac Hamlet,
who served in General Patton's
Third Army during World War II,
and his uncle, Alvi Lorwell Hamlet,
who served in the US Navy.
Do you agree to this interview?
>> Yes.
>> Could you please state your full name?
>> My full name is Gere G-E-R-E Michael Cox.
>> And can you please tell me
when and where you were born?
>> I was born in Molena,
Georgia on April 12, 1944.
>> Before we talk more about your childhood,
I'd like to go back a bit
further and talk about your uncles.
Can you please explain how you
are related to the Hamlet brothers?
>> Well, they were my mother's brothers.
She was the oldest sister.
>> And could you please tell me where
and when your uncle George Mac Hamlet was born?
>> I don't know the date he was born,
but he was born also in Molena, Georgia.
Rural Route.
>> And what about his brother, Alvi Lowell?
>> Again, I don't know the date,
but he was also
born on the outskirts of Molena, Georgia.
>> And how far per inch are they or were they?
>> They're very close, maybe two years.
>> And what was the town like Molena, Georgia?
And you talk about the outskirts.
So can you talk a little bit about that area?
>> Well, obviously,
it's a rural farming community.
When they were born, it might have had
a population of 300,
400, something like that.
It would downhill for a few years,
but it is now trying to revive itself antiques shops,
restaurants, and so forth.
>> And what county is Molena in?
>> Molena is in Pike County.
They were born just
across the county line in Upson County.
>> And what did their parents do?
>> They were farmers.
>> What kind of farmers, where did they grow?
>> I guess the cash crop would have been cotton.
Otherwise, they had the vegetable garden, and of course,
a few cattle and chickens, things like that.
>> Did they own their land?
>> Yes.
>> And how big was their family?
>> They had 12 children.
>> And so you said it was your mother's brothers.
So where did your mother fit into this family?
>> She was the third child.
She was their oldest sister.
She was born in 1910, I think.
>> Did your mother and or your uncles tell you
any stories about how
the Great Depression might have affected their lives?
>> Not really.
>> You can speak
for your mother or your uncles
talking about their childhood,
what life was like for them?
>> Well, it was frugal.
For instance, at Christmastime,
they would recall having
a shoe box that they would get
fruit and things like that in
the big argument would be over who would get the bottom
of the shoe box instead of the lid
because more would obviously fit into the bottom.
The toys and things like that were hard to come by.
>> Did they ever make things to play with?
>> I'm sure they did,
for instance, became quite adept with a sling shot.
Not the sling, but
the one you used with a rub and a frame.
>> And did they spend a lot of time out of doors?
>> Yes.
>> So what was their schooling like?
>> Well, they went to school in Molena,
which had, I guess,
the last grade would
have been the 11th grade then instead of the 12th.
But they all went as far as I know we completed,
there was those through high school anyway.
>> Your mother as well?
>> Oh, yes.
>> And was this a close family?
Were they close?
>> Yeah. They remained close throughout their lives.
>> So you mentioned the sling shop.
Did they talk about
other things that they like to do for fun?
>> No, not really.
>> Did they work on a farm as well? Did they help that?
>> Yes. They worked very hard on the farm.
>> And so one question I had.
So George Mac Hamlet
becomes pretty adapted to photography.
Did he ever tell you about how that started in his life?
>> No. He had a little I
guess it's call a Brownie camera and took it with him.
>> Did George I guess I should call them Mac and Low.
>> Low.
>> So did Mac or Low or your mother.
And what's your mother's name again?
>> Ruby.
>> Ruby. Did they tell
you about the start of World War II?
>> The start, I don't recall
any specifics about how it began except, of course,
the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and all that,
which was in most history books.
>> And you would have been.
>> Not born.
>> Not born at that point.
Maybe war was almost over when you were born.
Now, did the family have access
to a radio or anything like that?
>> Yeah.
They had a big [inaudible] or some sort of radio.
>> Inside the house?
>> Right.
>> And so typical day in the house,
did they gather around
the radio in the evening or anything?
>> No, they never discussed that with me.
>> So when the war started did Mac and or Low,
did they join the service right away?
>> When I started to know Mac,
they were still in high school.
>> So were they registered for the draft?
>> Yes. I'm sure they were.
>> And is that how they ended
up in the service they were drafted?
>> I think so, yes.
>> So I know at some point,
you ended up having a conversation
with your uncle about his experience.
Did he talk about his training at all?
>> No.
>> I know at least one of his letters home was from
Camp San Luis Obispo,
I'm not sure I'm pronouncing,
that correctly in California.
But would that have been his first time away from home?
>> Maybe a few trips to Atlanta,
but as far as any distance, yes.
>> And do you know where he
departed for overseas duty from?
Would that have been California?
>> Well, he was in Europe, so I doubt.
>> Make any sense.
So did he talk about what his trip to Europe was like?
>> No. He did have pictures taken aboard ship,
which I have always assumed to be Queen Mary.
>> And where did he first serve?
When he got to Europe, where did you go?
>> The England.
>> England.
And what was that experience like for him?
>> Well, it was from all the letters and so forth.
It was a unique experience.
I do recall I believe in one of the letters,
he said, they talk different than us,
but you can still understand them, and he discussed
their money and nominations of the money and whatnot.
>> And from England, where did he go?
>> He went to France several days
after they landed at Normandy.
>> And did he tell you about
what that experience was like?
>> He just said he got there in time for
the breakout at St. Louis and then
went on into Germany, and the only occasion that
we really discussed it was on
December 24, 2005, for that one night.
>> And did he tell you at that time about how he
would have received any news about
the world while he was serving.
Was it all through letters or through other means?
>> Well, I would assume letters or something like that.
>> And he maintained
a pretty regular correspondence with his family.
So you mentioned the letter
from England where he talked about that.
Do you remember some
of the other letters, what he talked about?
>> Well, I haven't read them in a long, long time.
Some were talking about the French, for instance,
they welcomed everybody when they
finally liberated the cities and whatnot.
And others were descriptive of what he had seen as they
went on into Germany and their disaster,
and we call them barns of
the people who had been executed.
>> And did he
take pictures of everything that he had seen?
>> Well, he took a lot of
pictures that night in December.
My mother was gravely
ill and she would pass away the next day,
but he told me about the pictures and I said,
Gee, you should save
these historical record and all that.
He said, no, I don't want to see them again.
I said there in a box,
you can have them when I'm gone.
>> So can we
talk just a little bit more about that letter?
So he sent a letter on
July 7 of 1945 from Rein Beck Germany.
And in the letter,
he talks about encountering
a massacre, the aftermath of a massacre.
And he included some related photos.
Did he tell you more about that experience?
>> Well, he just said
and I assume we're talking about the same thing
that his unit had been
there was a German unit ahead of them who had prisoners.
And they could have let the prisoners go.
And then his group would have
had to take care of them.
But instead of that, they executed the prisoners they had
and went on but they finally caught up with them,
and that was the end of that story.
>> Did he tell you about the role that
the US soldiers took
in getting the local German populace to bury the bodies?
>> Yeah.
He said that they compelled people from
the cities to come out some 40,
50 years old old men to see and to bury the bodies, yes.
>> And he when he talked to you about this,
it seems that he didn't want to talk about it more.
Did he seem upset about those memories?
>> Yeah, I would say he was upset.
He did not I don't know,
willingly recall them, but I said,
Gee, what did this happen?
For instance, the battle of the bulge.
Was it really that cold
they sleep in two to a fox hole and whatnot?
He said, Oh yeah, the people were
freezing to death, you know, there.
And he went on to tell
another story about that particular circumstance,
if you want to go into it now or later.
Anyway, he was part of the field artillery unit,
and they were all set up to fire,
they heard firing behind them.
They realized it was Patton's tanks.
And they were supposed to be behind the tanks.
So he said all of them looked around and
went very quickly and quietly,
took everything down and went
away as quickly as they could.
>> Yeah. We tend to think it's so well
organized but when you're on the ground.
>> All right.
>> So how did this night
come about that he told you these stories?
>> Well, I said my mother,
his older sister was gravely ill,
and he was in the hospital room
with my wife, Judy and me.
And I asked him,
I said, Gee, you know, where were
you in December of 1944?
And so that's how he started to recall.
>> Did he tell you any other stories
that you remember from that night?
Well, he said that they
had a really good Christmas dinner with real Turkey.
And all the while they could hear the guns
and firing and knew
exactly where they would be in the next day.
But he appreciated the Bill.
And can we backtrack just to tell you
a bit to Lowell's experience.
Where did he serve?
>> He apparently was in
Key West in Florida. He was in the Navy.
And my recollection is he was a tail gunner
on I guess it was a PB submarine Hunter.
So many people don't realize that German U boats
all up and down the eastern coast of the United States.
And anyway, that's where he was and what he did.
>> And what was it like to be a tail gunner
on one of those planes?
>> Well, he told one story about the
plane dropping from gee,
I've forgotten how many thousand feet it
was to just a few hundred feet over the water.
And of course, he got
a really close view of
the ocean there. But it was out of.
And that was one of the stories.
The only about the only story I can recall
he was specific about.
But I don't know if they
ever located in submarines or not.
>> And how did you get a sense for how he
ended up in the Navy or was
that just the luck of the draft?
>> I assume the luck of the draft.
>> So he took some photographs, too?
Well, he took some and some were taken of him,
you know, asleep on
an airplane wing and things like that.
>> So when were the brothers reunited after the war?
>> After the war. I assume about 46, something like that.
>> Did either of them share stories about how they
experienced the end of the war where
they were when the war was over?
>> Not really, no.
>> What about your mother?
Did she tell you what it was like at the end of the war?
>> No. They was glad that was done.
>> Okay. Did they have a sense that
the war was over only so there's sort of two moments.
There's VE Day, you know,
the end of the war in Europe, and VJ,
the specific for Mac,
since he was in Europe.
Do you know if he would have celebrated or had some,
you know, happy moments, I'm sure.
>> I'm sure he did. And like I said,
I haven't read any of those letters
on a long long time, so.
He might have referred to it there.
>> Did both Mac and Low settle back in Georgia?
>> Yes. They both went back to where they were
reared and bought a car together.
And I recall one story
that they've go a dirt road
and unimproved road in today's terminology.
And there was a stream they had to cross.
I had no bridge on it before they hit the paved road.
So they would stop and wash the car in
the stream before they went on,
you know, onto the date of whether they had.
>> So tell me a little bit more about these cars.
This was something that you had, you know,
we have some photographs of them
with their favorite cars.
How did they come to have this kind of love of cars?
>> I really don't know.
They had just, Low
was always into speed and racing and all that,
as a matter of fact, he even drove
his own family vehicle in some races in the 50s.
But they would go,
you know, to the battle to races and whatnot,
when they racetrack and Hampton opened.
>> And do you know if either of
them took advantage of the GI bill?
>> I don't know.
>> Did they buy homes or anything
like that after the war?
>> I don't recall they're buying a home
before they were married,
so I don't know how the financing
might have been arranged for it.
>> So you were born in 1944,
what were your earliest memories of your uncles?
>> Well, my mother
was ill and I went to save my grandparents,
and they were both still single.
And I was treated like royalty almost,
matter of fact, I didn't want to come home.
But one of them had a watch that glowed in the dark.
Oh, gee, that was great,
just to see that,
let me wear it once in a while, things like that.
>> It's fun.
And can you tell me more about your family?
Did your mother meet your father locally?
Was your father in the picture?
>> Well, my father met her when
he was about 12 years old
and she was about a year or a half,
two years older, and
had decided that was a girl he was going to marry.
But he was he had been born
in what was called the Indian territory ban in
Oklahoma and had relatives
who lived in Atlanta and one who
lived in Molena he got there,
I don't know, but so he come
down to visit and that's how they initially met.
And so it turned out he was right and she was wrong.
They got married and lived
very happily until he passed away.
>> So he passed away when you were still young?
>> Well, I was 22.
>> And was your father Native American?
>> The rumor is that
his grandmother had been Creek Cherokee.
His grandfather had opened
a trading post in what's now Griffin,
Georgia and had married a Creek Cherokee woman.
>> And the community that you grew up in,
was it very segregated.
Was it clear that white people lived
over here and African American
people lived somewhere else.
>> Real. One of our best neighbors when I was older,
it was a black couple.
And I would hunt and sell rabbits to her.
But back then, you could buy shotgun shells
by four or five at a time,
instead of the whole box, and so I sell them to her for
a quarter and shotgun shells cost a dime.
So it was great.
And [inaudible].
>> So what was your childhood like?
>> Well, to me, it was great.
I lived out in the country, which I appreciated.
I had to go 13 miles to high school.
But I really enjoyed the woods and nature and all that.
>> And whhat was your father's name?
>> His name is Granvill Grant Cox.
>> Granvill Grant Cox.
And we were your parents engaged in farming as well?
>> Well, they worked in the textile industry,
but then they wanted to be a farmer too.
But somehow we never got around
to clearing all the land
that needed to be cleared and this left it wooded.
>> So you had a reasonable amount of space,
but not a lot of cultivated, anything?
>> Right. Well, we had about 100 of soil we owned and
then from there to,
let's say, I guess Manchester,
Warm Springs and all that was just woods.
There was nothing there except
a couple of roads, and that was it.
>> Did anyone in your family
ever meet President Roosevelt?
>> I didn't meet him. Of course, you know,
he died on my birthday when I was a year old
and people still say you didn't remember that.
Then I described the flag drape casket
and all that stuff that went through
Molena carrying him back home. I remembered it.
>> And the folks in your town,
were they generally fans of President Roosevelt?
>> I can't really say for sure.
I assume they were.
Most everybody in the area
seemed to really appreciate the man.
>> How you mentioned you
live 13 miles from your school. How'd you get there?
>> My boss. And then
when I was lucky catch with somebody,
they had their own vehicle.
>> When you got a little bit older?
>> Right.
>> Did you have new siblings?
>> Yeah. I have an older brother and an older sister.
>> So most of your life,
nobody talked about World War II?
>> No.
>> It was just this happened and then they all.
>> This happened and if I went learned about it,
I learned in history books.
>> So it was just this chance encounter in
2005 that made you the keeper of the legacy?
>> Right. I mean,
I knew that he had Mac had served in the Third Army,
and I knew that he had a great respect for Patton.
He didn't want to say anything
derogatory about General Patton.
He would correct you.
I asked him that night,
Was he always out front?
He said, yeah, he was and he didn't know how he
could could be here,
and then all of a sudden show up 10 miles down
the road telling everybody
that and giving him encouragement.
>> What do you think are the most important aspects
of your uncle's service experiences?
>> The important aspect.
Gee, I never thought about that.
He had a duty and he did his duty,
and as he described it was we had a job to
do and he expected to kill German enemy soldiers.
But he saw so many civilians and so forth.
Suffer, and die.
We had a job to do? We did the job,
and we were glad to get back home.
>> What do you think that
future generations should know
and remember about World War II?
>> How it happened and how
the political system led up
to Hitler's being able to do what he did.
When people said, Gee, we could have stopped him,
we could have stopped him, but they didn't.
As far as Japan's goes.
I think that the Emperor, you know,
the general was there so far as I
could ever tell what's his name
Tojo Moto, of course,
planned attack on Pearl Harbor,
but they they were
more responsible for the attack on there.
And I'm going to go in to be trade problems and all that.
But primarily, I guess,
the rise of Hitler and how hate that came about.
>> Did your family ever talk about
the impact of the atomic bomb?
>> No.
>> And you grew up probably more in the Cold War era.
Was that ever something that you did people talk about
communism or did they
have concerns about that kind of thing?
>> Well, they had some concerns, but,
of course, the United States.
I do recall the drills
duck and get on your desk and all that sort of stuff,
and And it was a situation that I was a kid,
third degree, maybe if I grew up, what I want to do?
That type of thing. That was the atmosphere back then.
>> So there was this sense of possible danger?
>> Yeah.
>> What do you think has changed the
most since your childhood?
>> The Internet. And the rapidly people
can communicate information right or wrong.
>> And what trajectory did your career take?
What did you do after school?
>> No after school I went to work
for local Municipal Atlanta County and first of all,
design roads and then worked
for the land acquisition and all that sort of stuff.
>> Are you an engineer?
>> No. I just gravitated
toward that and people accepted it and roads were built.
And so it seemed to work out.
>> Sure. Is there
anything that you'd like to
talk about that I haven't asked you about yet?
>> Not really.
>> Well, thank you very much for sharing
your story and your family story
with us today. I really appreciate it.
>> Well, you're welcome.
Glad to do it and glad to be here.