WWI-Grandad's War
Seeds of History
Honey, this is picture of my father, your grandfather...
Pulling me into her lap, she turned the wooden frame towards me, revealing the image of a man.
Honey,
She said, starring lovingly at the picture. This is my father, your grandfather-Samuel Howard Hindman. He was in the Army during WWI and served in France.
Being only five years old, I had no concept of the information she had just presented me. I had never met my grandfather let alone, never knew I had one! I had no concept of a thing called the Army, of France or of World War One.
As we looked over the picture, I spotted tears running down her cheek. I asked her why she wascrying. Oh...it's nothing honey,
She said, wiping the tears away with her apron.
The picture itself was old and worn. It was obviously a picture of Samuel, dressed in his military uniform. The only problem, was that the uniform and the background were almost identical, making both merge into one. With that said, distinguishing features stood out. A handsome face with chiseled jaw. Piercing eyes stared straight out at mine, under a head of silvery colored hair. I can't explain it, but from that moment on, a connection was made between me and a grandfather I never knew.
Mother started to reminisce about her father-my grandfather, as we stared at the picture.From a very young age, his hair had been light colored-his friends nick naming him Whitey. He was one of the first telegraph lineman in Los Angeles, prior to his military service. After he was drafted into the Army, he was assigned to the Army Signal Corps, as a Telegraph Operator.
I also learned that he had been a great mathematician, and that after his discharge from the Army had become a Supervisor for L.A. Power and Light. He loved the boys whom worked under him and apprenticed many of them into the Lineman trade. He had also invented a contraption, to keep power lines from coming together in high winds. Before he could patent the idea, he fell ill. (I am told by family, that the invention was probably stolenby a fellow worker who he had confided in. One of his son's who was also a lineman, says that his idea is still used in some format, to this very day).
Only a year or two after his discharge from the Army, Sam fell ill, and spent the rest of his life in the W. Los Angeles Veteran's home.