Georgia Magazine - July 2018 - 5

FROM THE EDITOR
We love our pets. According to
the American Pet Products Association's 2017 survey of pet owners,
68 percent of U.S. households include a companion animal.
Researchers believe that pets
are important sources of social and
emotional support for their owners,
and there's no doubt that they are
a powerful, positive influence for
many people. In this pet-themed issue, we celebrate the human-animal
bond and the meaning that pets
bring to our lives.
Dogs may be touted as man's
best friend, but cats hold pride of
place as the most popular pet. And
nowhere is that popularity more
evident than at cat cafes, where
feline aficionados gather to enjoy a
beverage-or even a meal-in the
company of kitties.
Turn to page 30 to find out
how these cafes are the purr-fect
solution to finding forever homes
for adoptable cats while allowing
cat lovers to get a dose of feline
companionship.
In recent years, the pantheon
of popular pets has added a new
member: the backyard chicken.
These friendly fowl bring more to a
household than just eggs; they are
very sociable creatures and have
their own quirks and personalities.
See "Peep, peep!" on page 20 to
learn why chickens are moving up
in the pet pecking order.
To paraphrase the old adage,
you can lead a horse to an easel,
but you can't make him paint.
Unless, of course, that horse is
Thor, the multitalented equine from
Lizella. Read "Strokes of genius,"
starting on page 16, to see the
results of his unbridled creativity
and find out why Thor is a horse
of many different colors.
Enjoy!

Laurel George
Editor
July 2018

In search of the uncle I never knew

Spotted the magazine!
I love your magazine. I am not a
co-op member, but I have been in
the past. I get to see the magazine my
mother receives from Little Ocmulgee Electric Membership Corp. and
also ones that people at the Dublin
VA [Medical Center] leave in the waiting room. Some of them are from different co-ops. The one I saw today is
from Washington County.
I enjoy the pictures, recipes,
events and identifying the pictures-
just all of it.
-Pat Poole, McRae
34

More online at www.georg
iamagazine.org

GEORGIA MAGAZINE

n, page 40

iendly in your garde
Easy ways to be eco-fr

April 2018

Major fun in the minor
(and wood-bat) leagues
page 22

A legacy of life
page 28

re
Secretary of Agricultu

rdue
SonnyerPe
governor recalls

Form
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first year as USDA lead 16
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3/12/18 11:37 PM

Promoting rural prosperity
Thank you for your kind words
in the April 2018 issue of GEORGIA
Magazine. [See "Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue: First Georgian to
lead the USDA," page 16; bit.ly/
sasp418.] I very much enjoyed looking at the past and current editions
and especially seeing some of those
early family photos.
I appreciate the work you and
the Georgia Electric Membership
Corp. team do to promote rural prosperity. Thank you for your continued
support.
-Sonny Perdue, USDA secretary of
agriculture, Washington, D.C.

More World War II memories
I'm a volunteer with the Liberty
Foundation. I was at the Chattanooga, Tenn., stop last October when
Laura Raines took her flight aboard
the B-17 "Madras Maiden." [See "In
search of the uncle I never knew,"
More online at www.georgiamagazine.org

BY LAURA RAINES

never knew Uncle
James, but as a uncle
Laura Raines flew in
and the bonds of
child, I felt his absence.
a B-17
the Mighty
There were Eighth.
Flying Fortress in October.
the sad, hushed tones
in grown-up
Reading books about
voices and the high
the "bombschool pennant still flying in
er boys" and soaking
May 28 is Memorial
his childDay. Please take
up desome time to honor
hood bedroom.
tails from the National
those who made
the ultimate sacrifice
My mom told me her
for their country.
Museum of the Mighty
older brother died
Eighth Air Force
in
in navigator's desk
World War II. Growing
from the
Pooler, I learned
could imagine the terror outside. I
up, I wasn't that interabout the impossiof suddenly
seeing a fighter plane
ested, but when I
ble flying condicoming straight
inat you or flak explodin
herited the locket he'd
tions, the dangerou
g all around.
s
I did feel a strong
given her from trainobjectives, the many
connection
when
the
ing camp, I wanted
wheels touched
losses and their into
landing. That thunk-thu down on
know more. I
valuable contribunk sound
went
must have meant safety,
searching for details.
tion during World
another mission notched and
James V. Goss (1921War II. Without their
rest-for a night,
James V. Goss
anyway. It was a sound
44) learned to fly
taking
out
my
the
uncle's
close to
German crew never
home at the Rome
heard on their 33rd
air force, or Luftwaffe
airport before
flight.
,
Statistics tell me that
enlisting in the Army
forehand, D-Day would be12,677 B-17
Air
became a first lieutenan Corps. He been a very different operation have Flying Fortresses were made
during
t and naviga.
the war. Only about
On Oct. 1 last year,
tor with the U.S. Eighth
10 are still flying,
my husband according
Air Force and made
flew with the 100th
to the Liberty Foundati
it possible for me
to fly in a so my
Bomb Group, B-17
on,
flight was a rare and
known as the "Bloody
Flying Fortress, like
vanishing
my
Hundredth" for Only,
uncle. experience.
its heavy losses. In
flying in the Liberty
I'm grateful to have
a letter, he fondly
had a
Founda- glimpse
tion's B-17G "Madras
of my uncle's flying
called my mom "old
Maiden" over even
life, but
gal."
Chattanooga, Tenn.,
more grateful and
She wasn't. She was
on a sunny day
proud that
17 when her wasn't
he, like so many others,
family received the
all that similar. We
answered his
telegram that he
flew at country's
1,500 feet, not the
call.
was missing in action
20,000 or more
as of Nov. 10, they
Laura Raines lives
1944. In his last letter
flew. The unpressu
in Mableton
rized, un- and
home, he wrote heated
is a member of GreySton
that he'd completed
cabin wasn't minus
e Power
32 of his required
10 to mi- Corp.
nus 70 degrees, as
She frequently writes
35 missions.
it often was for
freelance
articles for GEORGI
them. They had heated
News of James'
A Magazine.
suits,
death came but
they didn't always work.
through a letter written
by co-pilot
It was too loud to
Clark Dickerman to
talk,
his mother from a
but the pilot wasn't
German prisoner of
revving
war camp and the
engines with a squadron
forwarded to the Goss
family. The co- or
loaded with thousand
pilot had bailed out
s of
with
near Wiesbaden, Germany the crew gallons of fuel and heavy
, but James bombs
had been killed by
for an eight- to 10flak that also had
hour mission. The
taken out three engines.
interior
Their mission was
cramped and dim,
to bomb the railroad
the
marshalling furnishin
yards had been considere
gs military-grade.
d relatively But when
easy-a "milk run,"
I crawled through
in flying lingo.
the opening and
The crew made it home
stepped
after the down into
war. Three came to
the nose, the
my uncle's funeral
world opened up
in 1949. Whenever any
on three
of them passed sides.
through Rome, he
Only a thin sheet
visited my grandof
Plexiglas
parents. That tells me
a lot about my bombard separated the
ier's
seat and the This
May 2018
is the view
More online at www.georg
iamagazine.org

35_mg_SW_0518_AS.indd

from a B-17 navigator's

seat.

35
35

4/11/18 12:53 PM

May 2018, page 35; bit.ly/myga518.]
I wasn't aware at the time that
her uncle had been a part of the
100th Bomb Group. I just wanted to
get in touch with her and make her
aware of the 100th Bomb Group
Foundation, 100thbg.com. This group
is extremely active and welcomes all
people who have a connection to the
original 100th as well as those of us
who are very interested in the history
of the group, even though we may
not have a direct family connection.
I've had the privilege of being
part of this group for the last year or
so and have been able to meet many
World War II veterans who flew these
missions as well as dozens and dozens of descendants of these veterans.
I even got to go to England last spring
and tour a number of World War II
bases, including Thorpe Abbotts, the
home of the 100th.
-Rodney Schneider, via email

Beautiful garden story
I love the article you did about
the gardens [and the North Georgia
Gardens Trail]! [See "Along the garden
trail," May 2018, page 38; bit.ly/
ngt518.] It is beautiful, and we in
Clarkesville are so honored that you
included our Mauldin House [and]
Garden. Thank you so much!
-Sarah Samsel, city of Clarkesville
gardens and grounds coordinator,
Clarkesville
Share your thoughts. Email us at magazine@
georgiaemc.com. Please include your name,
address and phone number. Letters may be
edited for clarity and space.
5

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Georgia Magazine - July 2018