Jane Montgomery July 30, 2004

So glad that you are enjoying all the little bits of history that we can think up. As we were sitting on the front porch this afternoon, I commented that I didn't know what I would tell tonight when I write. Malcolm said he would come up with something, but he isn't here right now, so will have to wait on him.

Emmett, one of the things we were talking about as we sat on the front porch was the Chicken House, and setting hens. That was the way we got "frying sized" chickens, which were delicious, and so much better than the ones we get now. We don't know how long it took the hen to hatch a batch of chickens, do you? When the chickens would get a certain size, Mother would pen them up and feed them and "clean" them out and they were so good. To get to our "outhouse" we had to go through the chicken yard. We had a fighting rooster and it would jump on the children, so someone would have to go with us to protect us.

Malcolm came in and he said for me to ask Jeri to ask Gerald who gave him a pair of Bantam chickens, and the little rooster would fight the big rooster.

Jeri, to address the part of your letter involving Guam, Malcolm had this to say. They arrived at Guam in December 1944 or January 1945. The island had been secured for about a year, but there were still some Japs hiding in the jungle that they had to deal with. He was in the Fleet Marine Force, 5th Amphibious Corp, and they were fully prepared to invade Kyushu, the southern island of Japan when the war ended. Thank the Lord.

Question: What is a Bantam Chicken?

Answer: A very small breed of chicken. Very tiny and would fight.