Looking for something to do this holiday weekend? See our picks for some fun local events.
Josh Lough, class of 2001 Salem High School. Photo courtesy of Nancy Lough
Josh Lough, class of 2001 Salem High School. Photo courtesy of Nancy Lough
Nancy Lough shares these photos of Josh Lough ’01, drummer, performing at House of Blues, Orlando, Fla., with the band Lit Up.
Roanoke College Associate Professor Tom Carter with World War II photos of his dad. — Emily Paine Carter, special to So Salem
A topic saved for this Memorial Day:
“History books don’t usually show Landing Crafts.” So began Tom Carter’s (no relation) presentation to a rapt Roanoke College ElderScholar audience.
But thorough research and writing by the RC associate professor of communications and English gives due respect to a U.S. Navy craft and crew.
Rightfully, lovingly so: Because his dad served on an LCT vessel during THE big invasion: D-Day, 6 June 1944. Imagine: Hitting Omaha Beach at 16!
At 15 Luther (Luke) Carter had lied about his age to join the U. S. Navy. Upon finding out, his parents were upset: he was their only son (two others had died). But he cried and they relented.
“The LCT’s skipper was only 22, a ‘90-day-wonder’ from Iowa,” said Tom. The skipper’s previous nautical experience? A duck boat! The second officer was even younger: “Age 20, not even old enough to vote back then.”
Tom showed photos of the crew. They peaked at sixteen members during the invasion (two officers; fourteen enlisted men), then dropped back to twelve (two officers; ten enlisted). (As of this writing only two crewmen are alive, Tom wrote via email. Such statistics have lent urgency to the telling of their stories.)
Tom found many such photos — say, of his dad with the huge gun he manned — and a three-page diary in a little brown box at his grandmother’s home. He realized that he had the beginnings of a book.
Luke Carter in his WWII Navy days. — Courtesy of Tom Carter
He started his research in 1993. Thanks to finishing a Ph.D. in journalism and having served in the Navy himself, he thought he “should be able to sort this out.” (Tom was a gunner’s mate on a Navy destroyer, deployed to the Persian Gulf and the Indian Ocean.)
And sort he did, sharing his dad’s fascinating stories. Just getting the convoy from the U.S. to England (May 4, 1944) was a harrowing tale of storms, torpedoing by German U-boats and even quarantine for scarlet fever. The crew’s “intense thirty days” of preparation was followed by the horrific Omaha Beach landing, coming under heavy fire, rescuing the wounded … and continuing to work on the beaches on into November (“they seemingly fell through the cracks…. Dad turned 17 while still fighting there”).
All this with few supplies and very primitive conditions onboard. A photo of the ship “looks more like a shipwreck than an American fighting vessel,” Tom observed in a later interview. “Dad remembered rust!”
And young Luke wasn’t done yet: “he also went across the Pacific to Okinawa on the last few air raids of the war, just before the atomic bombs were dropped.”
Tom’s father died in 1984.
In 1994 Tom and his two brothers traveled to France for the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Normandy. (Their commemorative shirts and hats brought “much response.”) He has been to the D-Day Memorial in Bedford, and met with some of his dad’s shipmates. And he has attended crewmen’s funerals.
His talk was engaging — rich with stories, photos, a brother’s drawing of the LCT 614 and diagrams of what-ships-were-where-when. He awaits publication of his book on the topic (we’ll let you know the print date; the publishing company was recently sold). “Beachhead Normandy: An LCT’s Odyssey” promises to be a good read.
Here’s to a meaningful Memorial Day. Thank you, veterans and families, for your sacrifices.
Here is a photo of my daughter Zoe Smith, a Junior at Salem High School and her boyfriend Austin Terry, a Senior at Salem High School attending the Salem Prom.
Submitted by Sandi Smith
We have other photos from the Salem prom here and our paparazzi photos from the Salem prom here.
You can share yours at news@sosalem.com or use the “share” tool to upload 10 at a time.
Bowen and Daylen Smith feeding ducks that have been visiting us for the last week at our house (which is no where close to the river!)
Submitted by Sandi Smith
The following Salem students were among 1,273 students graduating from the University of Mary Washington. Dr. William “Bill” Cleveland Bosher Jr., public policy expert and former Virginia superintendent of education, delivered the commencement address for master’s candidates on Friday, May 10 and Steve Pemberton, business executive, motivational speaker and noted author, gave the undergraduate commencement address on Saturday, May 11.
The university awarded 85 Master of Business Administration degrees, 111 Master of Education degrees, 15 Master of Science in Management Information Systems, 34 Master of Science in Elementary Education Degrees, 418 Bachelor of Arts degrees, 61 Bachelor of Liberal Studies degrees, 63 Bachelor of Professional Studies degrees and 484 Bachelor of Science degrees. Two graduates received both the MBA and the MSMIS in a dual-degree program.
The University of Mary Washington is a premier, selective public liberal arts and sciences university in Virginia, highly respected for its commitment to academic excellence, strong undergraduate liberal arts and sciences program, and dedication to life-long learning. The university, with a total enrollment of more than 5,000, features colleges of business, education and arts and sciences, and three campuses, including a residential campus in Fredericksburg, Va., a second one in nearby Stafford and a third in Dahlgren, Va., which serves as a center of development of educational and research partnerships between the Navy, higher education institutions and the region’s employers. In recent years, the university has seen its academic reputation garner national recognition in numerous selective guidebooks, including Forbes, the Fiske Guide to Colleges and the Princeton Review’s 2012 edition of 150 “Best Value Colleges” and the 2013 edition of “The Best 377 Colleges.”
– Submitted by University of Mary Washington
Salem resident makes Catawba College dean’s list.
Emily Richardson just completed her Junior year at Catawba College majoring in Elementary Education, She graduated from SHS in 2010.
Submitted by Glen Richardson
The Annual Cultural Arts for Excellence Benefit 5K Walk/Run was held at Kennedy Park in Roanoke over the weekend. Our paparazzi photo crew was there and here are the Salem people who stepped onto the red carpet:
* Tiffany Paige and Lisa Clause
* Suzzette McCoy
* Victoria Prillaman
Click through to see the photos one at a time or click here to see them all at once as thumbnails.
Girl Scout Troop 4 teamed up with First United Methodist Church and Richfield Nursing Center to create a pumpkin patch for the residents on May 18, 2013. This was a part of FUMC Day of Missions titled “Operation InasMuch” and a Take Action Project for the Girl Scouts.
Contributing to project: Bailee Lintner, Cecilia Fraticelli, Sierrah Deel-Morris, Danielle Davis, Samea Brown, Mackenlee Simmons, Abigail Stinnette, Erin Helton, Mackenzie Brodrecht, Emma Painter, Madison Sowder, Serena Fick, Eleni Butzer, Angela Lee, Emma Hamilton, and Emily Harrell. Leaders Tracy Lintner, Judith Painter, Mitzi Simmons and Katrina Brodrecht.
– Submitted by Tracy Lintner
Girl Scout Troop 909 teamed up with First United Methodist Church and Richfield Nursing Center to create a Memorial Garden for the residents on May 18, 2013. This was a part of FUMC Day of Missions titled “Operation InasMuch” and a Take Action Project for the Girl Scout Breathe journey.
Alex Abbott, Amber Helton, Joy Postmus, Holly Thomas, Ashley Bulaski, Kayla Lintner, Sacha Brown, Azyah Burnett and Rebecca Burton (not pictured), lead by Tracy Lintner and Debra Abbott
– Submitted by Tracy Lintner
Haley and Heather Moore. Photo courtesy of Cynthia Calaway
Haley and Heather Moore, former Salem residents, graduated from The Christian Education Consortium in Louisville, Ky., on May 17.
They have both earned academic scholarships and have been accepted into the Western KY University Honors College. They will be pursuing a BFA in Performing Arts with a concentration in musical theater. They will be teaching drama camps this summer at the Arts Center that they currently take lessons at, as well as going to NYC to dance for a week at the Broadway Dance Center. They will be taking a dance workshop with some of the cast of the Broadway hit “Newsies” and seeing several other Broadway musicals.
Their parents are Richard and Cindi Moore. Grandparents are Mike and Cynthia Calaway and Rick and Sharon Moore, all of Salem.
– Submitted by Cynthia Calaway
