Jesse (Jack) H Vardaman Jr. - US Navy
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Jack Vardaman, Jr.

Content:

Age:

Occupation:
US Navy, Federal Government - IRS

State: Ohio, Florida, Georgia, Alabama

# of Children: 3

See narrative below:


Links::

Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio (4 Nov 1924-1926)

"I was born in the Bell home (Maternal Grandparents) in Millersburg, Ohio  although that was not my parent's home at the time (1924). My mother had this penchant, as did her only sister, for returning to her Mother's home to give birth to her babies. As a result, I was the third of seven first cousins to be born in the same bed, in the same house, in the same town (Millersbug, Holmes County, Ohio). Three of those seven were all but one of my mother's four, while the remaining three were all of the children of her sister, Esther (Bell) Sniff.

Although I may have been born in Ohio in 1924, the balance of my young life from 1926 on was spent in the south.


Cleveland, Ohio (1924-Sept 1926)

The first 2 years of my life were spent in Cleveland, OH, which is where my parent's lived at that time. You will recall that I mentioned my Mother's habit of returning to her parent's home in Millersburg to give birth to her children which is why I was not born in Cleveland although that is where my parent's lived at that time. In September of 1926 we moved to Miami, Florida.


Miami, West Palm Beach and
Tampa, Florida (1926-1927)


Douglas, Coffee County, in south Georgia (1928)


Birmingham, Alabama (1929-1932)

Millersburg, Ohio (December 1931 - May 1932 )

This was during the height of the great depression. My Dad quit his job in Birmingham in late 1931 when he would not accept a drastic pay cut at the automobile dealership where he was working as a service manager. When he was unable to locate another job in that area, he packed us up and moved us, lock, stock and barrel, back to Ohio, to my mother's parent's home thinking he would be able to find a better paying job up there. He was mistaken, of course, as Ohio was worse off even than Alabama with regard to job opportunities. As a result, in January he returned to Alabama and was able to resecure his old job at the same place that he had previously worked. However, he left my mother and me and my sister, in Millersburg with her parents. My mother, at that time, was pregnant with my soon to arrive brother who was born in April. As soon as school was out in May of 1932 (I was finishing the first grade which I had started in the fall of 1931 back in B'ham, there in Millersburg) he moved us back to Alabama.


Bessemer, Jefferson County, Alabama (1933-Jan 1943)

I graduated from Bessemer High School in Bessemer, AL, in January 1943. The Bessemer school system was on a semester system with two semesters to a term. As a result, we had mid-term graduations which consisted of all the activities, rites and rituals of a regular June graduation. Then, about a week after graduating, six of my class mates and I joined the U.S. Navy on January 26, 1943 and was promptly shipped out to the US Naval Training Center at San Diego.

Seven Bessemer (AL) High School Classmates who joined the U.S. Navy together, January 26, 1943 at Birmingham, Alabama.

 

Jack Vardaman, Jr.

USS David W Taylor (DD551)

USS David W Taylor (DD551)

US NAVY - WWII  (Jan 1943-Feb 1946)

Incident at Chichi Jima

I remained in the Navy until February 6, 1946, when I was discharged at the US Navy Base on Treasure Island at San Pedro, a part of Los Angeles, CA.


Atlanta, Georgia  (Feb 1946-1949)

During the War (WW II) my parent's had moved from Bessemer, AL, first to Gadsden, AL, for a short period and then on to Atlanta, GA. So, when I was discharged from the Navy at Los Angeles, where was I to go to call "home", except to Atlanta -- a place that I had never lived before. However, to Atlanta I went in February 1946. I married in Atlanta later in 1946 and began both a job with the Veteran's Administration and College at the then Atlanta Division of the University of Georgia (at night, of course). In the spring if 1949 the VA closed its installation in Marietta, GA, where I was working and transferred it to Philadelphia, PA. I could have gone there with it but chose not to, accepting a transfer to the VA's office in Miami instead and promptly moving there (spring 1949).


Miami, Florida  (1949-1950)

However, my wife didn't like Miami and during the summer of 1950 she returned to Atlanta (her home prior to our marriage) taking our one child at that time, my oldest daughter, with her."


Atlanta, Georgia  (1950-May 1952)

"As a result, I, too, soon returned to Atlanta transferring from the VA to the Office of the Collector of Internal Revenue there. In 1952, this office, together with certain other Treasury Dept. offices, would become part of a new Treasury Department organization named the "Internal Revenue Service".

"During this period, having joined the US Naval Reserve in 1947, I was recalled to active duty in October of 1951 as a result of the Korean War. I was first sent to Key West, FL, for "refresher" training in my rating (Sonarman) and subsequently assigned to a ship based out of Newport, Rhode Island in February 1952. I greatly enjoyed my "winter vacation" from October of '51 to February of '52 in Key West, FL. One of my lasting memories of that period was watching our then President, Harry S. Truman, taking his morning "constitutional" walk, flanked by his Secret Service cadre, on one of his sojourns to the Key West Naval Base.

"Although it was common knowledge at that time, you may not know that Harry Truman used the Key West Naval Base as his "Little White House" for getting away from Washington for a vacation or rest period from Washington -- just as Franklin Roosevelt had used Warm Springs, GA, as his "getaway spot"; Eisenhower used Camp David, MD, as his and John F. Kennedy used Hyannisport, MA."


Jamestown, Rhode Island  (May 1952-Oct 1952)

I then (May 1952) moved my family (wife and now two daughters) to Jamestown, RI, which was located on Conanicut Island in Narragansett Bay where we lived until October of 1952 when I was again discharged from active duty as the Korean War came to a close. I say that "we" lived there in Jamestown but actually I spent most of my time at sea aboard my ship.


Atlanta, Georgia (Oct 1952+)  Cherokee County, Georgia

Upon discharge from the Navy in October 1952, we returned to Atlanta and I to my old job which, of course, was now with the brand new IRS. I have lived in three different areas of the Atlanta Metropolitan area during the time from 1952 until now but do not like Atlanta or claim the Atlanta area as home. I actually live in Cherokee County, GA, which is north of Atlanta and claim North Georgia as home.

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