—MUSKOGEE COUNTY, OKLAHOMA—
FEBRUARY 1943
On a cold, blustery morning, Catherine Adams carries her infant son, a brand-new fountain pen, and a small black Bible, and boards a Greyhound bus in Columbia, South Carolina. She settles into a backseat and heads west to Muskogee County, Oklahoma. She wants to surprise her husband, Curtis, who is currently undergoing basic training at Camp Gruber, introducing him to his son, Jesse.
Catherine and Curtis married eight months before Curtis enlisted in the army in October 1942. He was first sent to nearby Fort Jackson. Catherine worried when he was reassigned to Camp Gruber, almost a thousand miles away. She hoped he’d still be at Fort Jackson when the baby came.
She wraps another blanket around Jesse. “Little guy, you’re gonna meet your daddy tomorrow. You’re gonna love him. He’s got a real tender heart.”
Catherine touches her son’s chubby milk-chocolate face. “Jesse, you look just like your daddy! He’ll be so proud of you. And so surprised to see you!”
The journey proves long and difficult for the young mother, who has never traveled far from home. The bus stops at every major city: Augusta, Atlanta, Tuscaloosa, Tupelo, Memphis, Conway, Fort Smith, and finally Muskogee County. At each stop, Catherine finds the “Coloreds” toilet and sink, changes Jesse’s diaper, washes and feeds him, and then returns to the back of the bus. She quickly averts her gaze when some white men wink at her.
“Here I am, holding this baby, and those old flirty men think—Lord have mercy!” she mutters.
The Dust Bowl of the southern Great Plains greets her with hills and rolling plains. Oklahoma has been a state for only thirty-five years. Before that it was “Indian Territory,” the new home of the displaced “Five Civilized Tribes” of Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks, and Seminoles, who were marched to the federal reservations two or three decades before the Civil War. During the 1870s, the government moved an additional twenty-five tribes to Oklahoma.1
Stepping off the bus in the small town of Braggs, Catherine thinks she has landed on another planet. When she asks a white woman where Camp Gruber is located, the woman points her finger northeast, frowns, and mumbles something Catherine can’t understand.
“Thank you,” Catherine says, dropping her gaze to the ground in an effort to protect herself from the woman’s hateful glare.
“We’d probably gotten a warmer welcome from wild Injuns,” Catherine whispers to Jesse when out of the woman’s hearing.
A guard at the front gate escorts Catherine and Jesse through the wide stone entrance pillars and into Camp Gruber. She is taken aback by the enormous size of the base, its vast parade grounds stretching for two miles, rows and rows of white barracks trimmed in green, the impressive headquarters building topped with an American flag. As she walks down the gravel sidewalks, all she sees are soldiers, tents, trucks, tanks, jeeps, planes, and barracks. In the background, she hears the loud, strong voices of men marching and singing: “Over hill, over dale, we have hit the dusty trail, and those caissons go rolling along. . . .”
Private Adams’s mouth drops open when he first spots his wife holding the small bundle in her arms. He bounds toward her, gasping her name, and takes her in his arms.
“Curtis,” she says, tears streaming down her face, “this is Jesse, your son.”
Curtis takes the baby in his arms and for a long time hugs the boy to his chest, whispering over and over, “He’s beautiful, Catherine. My very own son! And he looks just like you!”
“I knew you’d be proud,” Catherine says. “I just couldn’t wait for you to meet him.”
Catherine follows the proud new father as he carries his son around the camp, introducing the child to some of the 333rd troopers.
“A fine boy, Private Adams,” Sergeant Stewart says, holding out his hands to take the baby. “Mind if I hold him?”
“Of course not,” Adams says, handing him the baby.
“I hope to have a child one day,” Stewart says, grinning and turning to Catherine. “Mrs. Adams, I sure am glad this boy looks like you, and not like his daddy.”
Sergeant Stewart gently takes Jesse’s tiny right hand in his own, staring at it for a long time.
“Your boy’s got a pitcher’s hand,” Stewart says. “Bet it won’t be long till he’s throwing a baseball!”
Adams refuses to let Georgie hold his baby.
“No, Lil’ Georgie,” Adams says. “You’ll drop him.”
When Colonel Kelsey meets Catherine and Jesse, he is polite but tells Private Adams that Camp Gruber is no place to bring a baby. Captain McLeod, however, takes the child in his arms and smiles at Adams.
“You must be proud, Private,” McLeod says. “You’ve got one strong, fine son here. Why, there’s no telling how Jesse might one day change the world.”
When Catherine and Curtis have a few hours alone, Catherine opens her purse and pulls out two small wrapped gifts.
“I brought you my Bible, Curtis,” she says. “It’s the one I’ve had since I was a little girl.”
Curtis takes the small black Bible in his hand, kissing his loving wife. “I’ll treasure it, Catherine.”
She hands him the second gift, smiling as he unwraps it.
“You always wanted a real fountain pen,” she says. “I saved up my money and bought you a Sheaffer.”
“It’s beautiful, Catherine. Never thought I’d ever have a Sheaffer pen! I promise to write you every day with it.”
Catherine finds everything she needs at Camp Gruber during her stay: guesthouse, beauty shop, laundry, sports arena, lodge, and lake. She has a pocket-sized picture of herself and Jesse made at the photo studio on base and gives it to Curtis.
Two days later, Catherine and Jesse board the bus, walk to the backseats, and begin the long trip home.
Looking out the window, she watches the southern Great Plains disappear from view and thanks God her man is serving under the nice Captain McLeod.
Looking down at her sleeping baby, she whispers, “Won’t be long till this war’s over, Jesse, and your daddy’ll come back home to us.”