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Senoia woman survived Nagasaki bombing
By SARAH FAY CAMPBELL sarah@newnan.com
On Aug. 9, 1945, 1 2-year-old Shirley Chappell was playing in her yard in the Japanese port city of Nagasaki. For a year-and-a-half prior to that, Chappell and her family had dealt with bombings nearly every day. “They dropped bombs every d a y, e ve r y n i g h t ,” s h e s a i d Wednesday from her home in Senoia. “I had to run and run w it h Mom ma a nd Daddy. My fat her sa id, ‘ We ca n’t live i n our house, we don’t know when they’ll drop bombs. We have to move out.’” So they, and many ot her s , wou ld h ide i n c ave s dug into the hillsides around Nagasaki. “It was horrible times in the caves. There was no food, no not h i n g . I ju st fol lowe d my mommy and daddy,” she said. Everything was dirty. They had no shoes and no chance to take baths. But on t hat Aug ust day, 70 yea rs ago, her fa m i ly wa s at home. “I was just like any other kid, playing in the yard. All of a sudden, there was just a powerful light – more powerful than lightning – just ‘pow!’ I almost died there,” Chappell said in her heavily accented English. The next thing she remembered, her mother was there, and had covered her with a blanket or quilt. “She told me – hurry up,
After surviving the atomic attack on Nagasaki, Shirley Chappell met American GI John Chappell at a party. They were married a year later.
hurry up and get in the house. So I ran to the house.” When young Shirley got into her house, the roof appeared to be caving in. Furniture was knocked over. “I heard people screaming, all I could hear was somebody kept hollering and I knew something happened that day.” She went and looked out the window. There was no glass in it anymore. But there was no broken glass, either. “All the glass had melted,” she said. It was only later that she found out how powerful the bomb had been . She sta r ted feeli ng i l l, and was sick for a long time. “I
couldn’t move. I think everybody was sick. My mother couldn’t help, my daddy couldn’t help. Nobody could help me, because everybody was sick.” That was the radiation sickness. Her brother died from it. She doesn’t remember very much from those days. When she was starting to feel a little better, her parents told her to go up on the hill and look over the city. It was still smoking. And it was still smoking about three months later. Chappell suffered from radiation sickness, her mother and older sister went to look for rela-
SURVIVOR, page 4
By MAGGIE BOWERS maggie@newnan.com
for Recipesta salad pa 4 PAGE
Blend late summer produce for sips & soups (Family Features) Want to get the most out of late summer’s fresh fruits and vegetables? Look to your blender and spice rack to puree seasonal produce into refreshing sips, chilled soups and savory sauces. “We’re in peak farmer’s market season with an abundance of juicy red tomatoes and leafy greens,” says Chef Kevan Vet-
it’s about time I go get a job. So I went to the city looking for a job.” One evening, she went to a party. And that’s where she met her “angel.” John Chappell, a GI from Coweta, stationed in Japan. “I call him my angel because he is so good to me,” she said. “He came to Japan and rescued me.” A year later, they were married. John was stationed in New York, and then Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. Then, in 1956, the Army sent them back to Japan. Before they left the U.S., Shirley Chappell became a U.S. citizen. And her name became Shirley. John said that when he introduced his new wife to his family, they wouldn’t pronounce her name, Shizue Mori. “They said you’ve got to get another,” she said. They suggested Shirley. “I thought of Shirley Temple movies. I said OK. Ever since, I have been Shirley,” she said. The Chappells had six children, five boys and a girl, and after John retired from the Army in 1968, they moved to Newnan. T hey b oug ht t hei r home on Bridge Street in 1970. Shirley Chappell loves America. She loves Georgia, and loves Senoia. Her husba nd jokes that she wou ld m a ke a g reat spokeswom a n for G eorg ia tou r i sm .
Welcome to Bliss Creek Farm
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tives. Chappell’s sister told her about it. “She said, ‘I try to forget what I see,’” Chappell said. “I asked, ‘W hat did you see?’ She said, ‘Dead people everywhere.’” “She said, ‘You can’t imagine. Their faces were melted.’ Her eyes saw horrible things.” Chappell said a friend had told her that Japan had surrendered. She remembered her pa rents being sad. Then, “all of a sudden, a GI came into the house.” She distinctly remembers his big boots. A merica ns were going from house to house, looking for Japanese soldiers. W hen the soldiers came in, “mommy and daddy said don’t m ove . We d i d n ’ t h a ve a n ything in the house so they didn’t bother us… they just walked in and looked around. I remember the brown uniform and the big boots.” It took about a year for things to get back to normal, she said. There was a critical food shortage in Japan. But her mother had a sweet potato farm outside of the city. The family ate sweet potatoes every day. Chappell still loves them. “Every time we go to a restaurant, she wants to know if they’ve got sweet potatoes,” said John, Shirley’s husband of 61 years. After she finished school, Shirley spent a few years farming with her mother. But there was no money “so I tell my mother
ter of the McCormick Kitchens. “The same old veggie sides and salads can get boring as the summer rolls on, and blending allows you to enjoy produce in tasty new ways - from using kale and avocado in a pasta sauce to a Greek yogurt dressing featuring pureed fresh cucumber.” Try putting a flavorful spin on a classic summer side with this
Greek pasta salad. Blend fresh cucumbers with Greek yogurt, lemon juice and herbs like dill weed and Mediterranean oregano to create a creamy dressing. Toss with cooked pasta, veggies and feta. For more recipes - like spicy tomato gazpacho or roasted corn puree - visit McCormick. com.
Linda Schmidt of Bliss Creek Farm began making soaps several years ago, but it wasn’t until goats joined the family that Linda and husband George decided to turn the hobby into a business. Like many, Linda Schmidt was interested in the benefits of organic foods and healthy eating. Linda and George own a scenic piece of land on Happy Valley Circle in Newnan, and Linda decided it would be beneficial – and fun – to create a small farm right in their backyard. “I was actually raised in the city, but I think I’ve always been a country girl at heart,” Schmidt said. “I wanted a small farm, possibly a dairy farm, and I thought of goats. Goats are much more manageable than cows.” Making soap has been Schmidt’s hobby for nearly 20 years. It started with a trip to Canada and a visit to a popular store. “George and I went into a Lush store and there were bins and bins of soap bars, all handmade,” Schmidt said. “I was enthralled with all of it and I thought to myself, ‘I can do that.’” Upon returning home from that trip, Schmidt immediately began researching the soap-making process. She purchased a few books and supplies and started experimenting. She started with simple recipes for water soaps, but soon learned more about the various ingredients that can be added.
“I started to learn what each oil does and how to create a product I wanted,” Schmidt said. “Some oils make the soap more bubbly, some add more moisture … I now have a book of my own recipes.” Schmidt worked for several years in the Clayton County School System and took soap-making supplies for craftmaking opportunities to school. She offered them as gifts and continues to use her own soaps at home. More recently, the Schmidts have added m i n i nubi a n d a i r y goat s , which are sweet-tempered and full of
FARM, page 4
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