Worth a mention
Growing up in World War II
Dan Stiles, who does the popular "In The Wild" column for The Morgan Messenger, recently wrote his memories of growing up in the midst of World War II. Though he was living on a farm in New England, the types of things that happened to him and the life he led weren't so different from what it would have been like in our area.
As Stiles points out, even in the safety of rural America, people's lives were affected every day by the war in Europe and Asia. Everyone seemed to have a relative or friend in the military. Everyone had a ration book. Everyone bought war bonds and collected metal to be recycled for the war effort. Everyone devoured newspaper and radio news so they could keep up on what was happening overseas during those tough days.
To show today's younger people what it was like, and to remind older folks, we're starting a new, limited-run column this week. We divided Stiles' memoir – "Growing Up During World War II" — into ten weekly chapters that will run until August. It's good summer reading.
Look for "This Is Morgan County"
Readers will find this year's This Is Morgan County inserted in this week's Messenger. Once again, our tabloid includes an array of Morgan County material, with an emphasis on local activities this summer and things that area visitors should know.
There's a lot of history, including the most complete listing of local Civil War sites that we've seen as well as articles as how some of Morgan County's communities got their names. There's also a section about presidents who have visited Berkeley Springs and vicinity. And throughout the 24 pages are a number of the photos from our 2009 Morgan County Photo Contest.
Additional copies of This Is Morgan County will be available for free at The Morgan Messenger office and at various businesses throughout the county.
We hope that as you look through the tabloid, you will realize anew what a great part of the world we live in.
Yes, you can get your photos back
Anyone who wants their photo contest entries back can stop in The Messenger office and pick out their pictures from the hundreds submitted.
In addition to photos that have already been printed, we've copied dozens of others to use throughout the year in the newspaper. So, you'll be seeing more of the "near winners" in the months ahead.
The top pictures were shown in last week's issue and are also in This Is Morgan County. Congratulations to the winners and thanks to all those who took part.
