AUGUST 2020 | Your Community. Your Neighbors. Your Story.
SCHOOL SYSTEM
NAMES NEW LEADER COVID moves
Mule Days to 2021
Four Oaks
native earns honor
Arts Council spreads cheer for
health care workers
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ON THE COVER AUGUST 2020 | Your Community. Your Neighbors. Your Story.
SCHOOL SYSTEM
NAMES NEW LEADER COVID moves
Mule Days to 2021
Four Oaks
native earns honor
Arts Council spreads cheer for
Dr. Eric Bracy, the new superintendent for Johnston County Public Schools, poses for a photo.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
health care workers
TEAM YOUR JNOW
Volume 4, Number 9
A Shandy Communications, LLC publication
Publisher Randy Capps
randy@johnstonnow.com
12-13
General Manager
Shanna Capps shanna@johnstonnow.com
Creative Consultant Ethan Capps
PAGE 6
Advertising Manager
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Office Manager Katie Crowder
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919-980-5522 www.johnstonnow.com Facebook.com/JohnstonNow 1300 W. Market Street, Smithfield, N.C. 27577 Johnston Now Magazine is a monthly publication of Shandy Communications, LLC for our Johnston County neighbors. No part of this magazine may be reproduced without written consent by the publisher. Advertisers take sole responsibility for the validity of their advertisement. ©2020 Johnston Now. All rights reserved.
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COVID-19 PUSHES MULE DAYS TO 2021 FOUR OAKS NATIVE NAMED TRANSPORTATION REVIEW BOARD MINORITY STUDENT FELLOW
PAGE 10
JOHNSTON COUNTY ARTS COUNCIL CREATES INSPIRATIONAL SIGNS FOR HEALTH CARE WORKERS
16
Johnstonians do their part in Italian campaign
FROM THE PUBLISHER
I’m not throwing away my shot I’ve got to admit, it’s tough to find creative inspiration in 2020. COVID-19 is heaping challenges on everyone, and I am no exception. Still, I did manage to find a spark recently. My family and I, after a few half-hearted attempts to see it in person, finally got to see “Hamilton” on TV recently. I hope I live long enough to write something in the same zip code of being that powerful. We had the music in our heads for weeks, and as a history buff, I took a deep dive into Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and some of the
other lesser known Founding Fathers. There isn’t a bad song in the nearly-threehour show, but “My Shot” hit me the hardest. The short backstory is that Hamilton, an immigrant and orphan, arrived in New York City just before the Revolutionary War. He started with nothing but his brains and a blind ambition to become something greater than he was. Hey yo, I’m just like my country / I’m young, scrappy and hungry / And I’m not throwing away my shot!
It’s a story of a man who came from nothing to getting his face on the $10 bill. His is the ultimate RANDY CAPPS American success randy@johnstonnow.com story, and the words of a young Hamilton were the same words that burned in me when I was young. The show was just the jump start I needed. I don’t care if there is a pandemic, I am not throwing away my shot.
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An aerial look at a previous Mule Days celebration in Benson.
COVID-19 pushes Mule Days to 2021 Submitted by Benson Area Chamber of Commerce | Photo by Johnston County Visitors Bureau
BENSON — Mule Days is such a wonderful time in Benson. It’s one of the things that makes that small town so
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Johnston County that has a mule festival” every year in September and there are plenty of folks around that remember the first time they saw a horse in the drive-thru at McDonald’s! With all these good times in mind, and with heavy hearts, the chamber has decided to postpone the 71st annual Benson Mule Days. This wasn’t an easy decision. The safety of citizens, visitors, staff and participants remains the top
priority at all times — for any event. Amid elevated concerns of the spread of COVID-19 in North Carolina, after speaking with organizers, vendors, officials and consulting the chamber board, the decision was made to postpone this year’s event. Mule Days is scheduled to return to Benson during the fourth week of September 2021. For more information, call the Benson Area Chamber of Commerce at 919-894-3825.
AUGUST 2020 | 7
Four Oaks native named Transportation Review Board Minority Student Fellow Submitted by North Carolina A&T University
GREENSBORO — North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University graduate student Patrick Stanley has been accepted as a Transportation Review Board (TRB) Minority Student Fellow for 2021. Stanley, of Four Oaks, is pursuing an MBA with a supply chain management concentration in N.C. A&T’s Willie A. Deese College of Business and Economics. As a fellowship recipient, Stanley will write and submit a research paper on the trucking industry and changes in the hours of service (HOS) standards during the COVID-19 pandemic. He intends to analyze commercial vehicle accident data from trucking capacity statistics recorded on government sites and in articles written during the COVID-19 pandemic and compare the information with data from periods of standard operations. Stanley will present his paper
at the annual TRB meeting Jan. 23-26 in Washington, D.C. “Trucking capacity, delivery times and hours driven are important factors influencing supply chain efficiency,” he said. “These areas interest me because HOS standards directly impact supply chain design, distribution and transportation decision making.” Stanley interned as a research assistant with the Center for Advanced Transportation Mobility (CATM) at A&T as an undergraduate. He received his B.S. in supply chain management in 2019. In 2017, he worked under Xiuli Qu, Ph.D., and Sachin Mhatre, a Ph.D. candidate in the industrial and systems engineering department, to summarize and organize Hurricane Matthew data to be used to evaluate emergency management responses and activities. During the summer of 2018, he participated in the U.S. Department of Transportation Summer
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“Patrick has taken advantage of practically every occasion the Transportation Institute at A&T has offered to learn more ...” — Maranda McBride, Ph.D., director of Transportation Institute and CATM
Transportation Internship Program for Diverse Groups with the Federal Railroad Administration. Stanley was selected as a 2018-19 Dwight David Eisenhower HBCU Transportation Fellowship Award recipient, attended the 2019 TRB meeting and is an active member of Beta Gamma Sigma honor society. “Patrick has taken advantage of practically every occasion the Transportation Institute at A&T has offered to learn more about the transportation industry, including professional development, scholarships and fellowships, internships and networking opportunities,” said Maranda McBride, Ph.D., director of Transportation Institute and CATM. “Patrick expressed to me his desire to become a transportation professional several years ago and I can truly say I am pleased to see he is receiving this high honor. His hard work and dedication are definitely paying off.” The TRB partners with the U.S. Federal Highway Administration to fund TRB’s Minority Student Fellows
Program through the Dwight David Eisenhower Fellowship Program. The programs promote participation of minorities in transportation careers and in TRB by providing funds for qualified students to attend the TRB annual meeting. TRB Minority Student Fellowships are for juniors, seniors and graduate students who are pursuing transportation-related degrees and who plan to enter the transportation profession upon completing their education. Each university uses its own selection process in deciding which students to send as TRB Minority Student Fellows.
AUGUST 2020 | 9
Johnston County Arts Council creates inspirational signs for health care workers Submitted by the Johnston County Arts Council
T
he Johnston County Arts Council, in partnership with Johnston Health, have created colorful inspirational signs to show the staff that we care. Hospital administrators Kyle McDermott and April Culver, along with Johnston County Arts Council executive director Darlene Williford and Judy Boyette, placed signs around the hospitals and the Hospice House. Thank you to artists Loretta Langdon, Barbara Tucker, Michelle Fields Laughinghouse, Gerry Morgan, Chris Carney Boyette, Mandy McNulty, Martha Henshaw, Peggy Wickham and Judy Boyette for painting these signs of appreciation.
The JCAC created inspirational signs for county health care workers recently.
10 | JOHNSTON NOW
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JOHNSTON COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS HIRES
DR. ERIC BRACY
AS NEW SUPERINTENDENT
By RANDY CAPPS
S
MITHFIELD — When a visitor walked into the Johnston County Public Schools Evander Simpson Building recently, there were plenty of new things around.
A table, with the reminder of the governor’s face covering order and several containers of hand sanitizer, was front and center. On the wall to the right was another new decoration — a banner welcoming Dr. Eric Bracy as the system’s new superintendent. On this summer morning, he was still in the process of familiarizing himself with his surroundings. “I’m getting to know everybody and meeting people,” he said. “I love meeting people. I hate the COVID restrictions because I like to get out and get amongst people, shake hands, hug people and get to know them. I’m not happy about those restrictions, but we’ve got to be safe.” Bracy, 47, is the first minority to hold the system’s top administrative job. He arrives in Johnston County after six years in the same role for Sampson County Schools. During that time, he was named 2017 N.C. Association of Educators’ Superintendent
12 | JOHNSTON NOW
of the Year and oversaw a rise in student performance while helping the district build a $4 million fund balance. He hopes to repeat those feats here in Johnston County. “What I envision my role being is helping this school district become the best that it can be,” he said. “I see my role as being to restore public confidence in the school system. You can’t do that alone. You do it with the support of the board. You do it with a great staff, and you do it with wonderful community partners and parents as well. “Academically, financially, getting our financial house in order and keeping it in order, those are the key roles I think I play. ... I think it’s a great school system. Historically, great things have happened here. It’s clearly a great place to live, because everywhere I go there’s construction on new housing developments. It’s in a wonderful location. ... I think the district has great potential. I really do. I think everything’s in place for it to be one of the best school districts in the state. Without question.” Stephen Britt was Bracy’s chief financial officer in Sampson County, and JCPS hired him to
Dr. Eric Bracy speaks after being sworn in as JCPS Superintendent.
fill that role here as well. Like Bracy, his first day on the job was July 1.
talking to teachers, just curious about the teaching and learning process. Those are my happiest days.”
“It was good on day one to know somebody,” Bracy said. “He and I have worked very well together. We sort of think alike when it comes to fiscal responsibilities and spending. We have the same sort of playbook. I think that this community will learn to love the work that Stephen does each day.”
His push toward a career in education came from his parents while growing up in Weldon.
Bracy began his career as a fourth grade teacher in Northampton County after getting his bachelor’s degree in elementary education from N.C. Central University. Even after earning a master’s degree in education administration from Virginia State and a doctorate in education leadership from Nova Southeastern, he’s still a teacher at heart. “There’s nothing like being in the classroom,” he said. “And even though I’ve been an administrator for several years, what people will find about me — when all the restrictions are lifted — is that I love being in schools. I love going into schools, sitting in classrooms, talking to students,
“My mom was a kindergarten teacher,” he said. “My dad was a high school principal, and they were such pillars of their community and it really influenced my brother and me to want to become educators as well. This is what I’ve always wanted to do.” His brother, Dr. Elie Bracy III, is the superintendent for Portsmouth Public Schools in Virginia. He was one of the many family members on hand for July’s swearing in ceremony. Dr. Eric Bracy’s wife, Janelle, held the Bible while he took the oath of office. In addition to being a pre-kindergarten teacher, she and Bracy are raising three daughters, two of whom could be attending Johnston County Public Schools in the coming school year. “We’re just looking all over,” he said, when asked about choosing a place to settle. “People ask me where I’m
going to live. My answer is clear and consistent. ‘Wherever Janelle tells me.’” So, in addition to his professional interests, he also has a personal stake in making Johnston County’s schools as safe as possible in the midst of the country’s current health crisis. “We’re going to do everything in our power to make sure our students are safe,” he said. “We’re going to follow all of the protocols that are set forth by the governor, the state and the Department of Public Instruction to make sure we’re keeping our students safe each day. Of course, there will be protocols about social distancing in classrooms and on school buses. Temperature checks — we’re going to follow those protocols.” The coming school year is going to bring plenty of changes for everyone involved with Johnston County Public Schools. And its new leader seems eager for the challenges those changes may bring. “I’m excited to be here and excited to get started,” he said. “I can’t wait to interact with everybody.”
AUGUST 2020 | 13
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B E F A S T AUGUST 2020 | 15
Johnstonians do their part in Italian campaign By Benjamin Sanderford | Photo by Johnston County Heritage Center
I
t was the summer of 1944, and U.S. troops had just liberated Rome. Edward E. Ryan of Wilson’s Mills was among the men who passed through the Eternal City. In a letter to his brother, Hubert, written in August, Ryan described the Italian capital as “a beautiful place” that he had spent “many months of hard fighting” to reach. He had indeed. The Italian campaign of World War II had already lasted a year and would continue for another. Although overshadowed by the fighting on other fronts, the soldiers deployed to Italy from Johnston County and their partners from all over the world would play a key role in the defeat of Nazi Germany. It began on July 10, 1943, when Allied landing craft sped towards the beaches of southern Sicily. Allied leaders hoped that a successful invasion of Italian territory would destabilize the regime of Benito Mussolini, thereby robbing the Germans of their chief Axis partner. They had reason to be optimistic.
Sgt. Norwood Dorman, of Benson, poses in front of a World War I memorial in Sicily.
through Sicily, overpowering the poorly equipped Italian troops and outnumbered German forces. Sgt. Norwood Dorman of Benson was caught resting next to a World War I memorial in Brolo, west of Messina, by an Army photographer who snapped a picture that would make headlines back home. Meanwhile, pressure mounted on Italian officials to find a way out. Finally, on July 25, the Fascist Grand Council voted to remove Mussolini from office.
With his dream of a restored Roman Empire in tatters, Mussolini’s popularity, and that of his Fascist Party, had plummeted.
The Germans quickly evacuated Sicily and prepared to defend the mainland unaided. After secret negotiations with the Allies, the new Italian government agreed to switch sides and officially declared war on Germany on Sept. 8.
The Allies advanced steadily
The Germans reacted before
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the Italian army was ready, confronting individual units with demands to disarm. Those who resisted were treated with all the brutality reserved for enemies of the Third Reich. The Allies landed in southern Italy that same month. Wharton reckoned that the main landings at Salerno, south of Naples, encountered more resistance than any other operation in which he took part. The German divisions were stubborn, but, they fell back when secondary Allied forces threatened their flank. Most Italians had long resented the Germans’ arrogant disdain for them and, therefore, welcomed the Allies. In fact, the people of Naples revolted in late September, forcing the occupiers to hasten their retreat. Many Italian soldiers who escaped captivity joined the fight against the Nazis.
Led by General Field Marshal Albert Kesselring, the Germans built a series of fortified lines across the peninsula. Many Allied soldiers died fighting through them, including Lieutenant Ralph S. Stevens, a former member of the Smithfield Board of Commissioners. He died on Dec. 22 and was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart. By Jan. 1944, the survivors had reached the Gustav Line. Allied commanders decided to outflank it with an amphibious operation at Anzio, 30 miles south of Rome. The U.S. VI Corps made landfall on Jan. 22. Unfortunately, its commander, Major Gen. John P. Lucas, was too timid to exploit his success. While he hesitated, Kesselring rushed reinforcements to pin down the Americans. Soldiers
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such as Army engineer Cpl. Thurman Peedin of Princeton and ordnance inspector Delmar V. West of Benson spent the next few months struggling to stop the Germans from sweeping them into the sea. Nevertheless, the German army was weakening. Polish troops finally seized the ruins of Monte Cassino on May 18, triggering a collapse of the German position. Led by Major General Lucian K. Truscott, Jr., who had replaced Lucas, the VI Corps then linked up with the Allied main body. Many Germans had been killed, wounded or captured, but Lt. Gen. Mark Clark, commander of the U.S. Fifth Army, unwisely broke off the pursuit so that he could have the honor of liberating Rome.
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The need to prepare for landings in Provence, on France’s Mediterranean coast, to support the Allied forces in Normandy further complicated the situation. Both the U.S. VI Corps and the French Expeditionary Corps, veterans of many difficult battles, were withdrawn from Italy. The landings themselves, on Aug. 15, were successful. The Franco-American force sped northwards, forcing German troops in western France to scramble for the German border before their line of retreat was cut off. Technician 4-G Robert G. Watson of Princeton’s unit, the 561st Engineer Boat Maintenance Company, was awarded the Meritorious Service Unit Plaque for the “outstanding and
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superior manner in which this company maintained, salvaged and repaired assault landing craft” in Provence and at Anzio. While Watson and others were hastening the end of the French campaign, their comrades in Italy were trudging slowly up the peninsula. The men of the U.S. 349th Infantry Regiment, including Dewey R. Braswell of Smithfield, faced stiff enemy resistance as they advanced to the Arno River near Florence. By the winter, the Allies were forced to halt at the Gothic Line, the last German defensive barrier south of the Po Valley. However, they continued to attack from the air. Second Lt. Leo V. Upchurch of Four Oaks arrived at the 15th Army Air Force’s base as a B-24 Liberator co-pilot in December 1944. Seven combat missions later, he was awarded the Air Medal. In June 1945, after 21 missions, Upchurch became a first lieutenant. Not all American airmen lived to tell the tale. Lt. Hardy D. Narron of Kenly fell
into enemy hands after being shot down over German-occupied Italy. In violation of the rules of war, Narron and four other POWs were tortured and murdered by their captors.
On April 29, Col. Gen. Heinrich von Vietinghoff surrendered all Axis forces in Italy to British Field Marshal Harold Alexander, the Supreme Allied Commander.
Harassed by a growing resistance movement, German soldiers and collaborators slaughtered thousands of Italian civilians to terrorize them into submission. Predictably, as had happened elsewhere in Europe, these atrocities provoked the opposite reaction.
With Kesselring’s reluctant permission, one million Nazi German and Fascist Italian soldiers laid down their arms on May 2, 1945. The Italian campaign was over.
When spring arrived, the Allies were ready. After a massive artillery bombardment on April 9, the final push began. Bologna was liberated on April 21. The U.S. 10th Mountain Division and the 8th Indian Infantry Division reached the Po River on the following days. To the west, the Brazilian Expeditionary Force advanced towards Turin while Ernest Atkinson of Smithfield and the 92nd “Buffalo Soldiers” Division marched on Genoa. He was wounded near the end of the month, but the Germans were crumbling.
The survivors had done their duty, but they would never be the same. In his letter to his brother, Ryan described the human misery he witnessed: ragged civilians begging for food and eating out of trash cans. “I just hope and pray that our American people back home will never know just what war really is,” he wrote. “I think that after seeing so much death and destruction whenever I do get back home I will make a lot better citizen.” Benjamin Sanderford, a resident of Clayton, studied social science at UNC Greensboro. He can be reached at benwsanderford@gmail.com.
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