Episode 2727: MY DEAR MABEL: A GRANDSON'S LESSONS IN LOVE, FAITH, PATRIOTISM AND COURAGE IN LETTERS FROM WORLD WAR 1 by James M. Hawk - a podcast by Ric Bratton
from 2023-08-10T20:11:56
My Dear Mabel: A Grandson's Lessons in Love, Faith, Patriotism and Courage in Letters from World War I by James M. Hawk
When Roy Hawk of Cleveland, Tennessee, and Mabel Thornton of Knoxville, Tennessee, first met, a positive letter-writing campaign started as The Great War raged in another part of the world. Their relationship and eventual romance would be tested during a difficult time two months after the United States declared war on Germany. Roy and Mabel continued to correspond in a caring, sincere, and regular manner, jotting down everything from fleeting feelings to life commitments to journeys far from Eastern Tennessee. My Dear Mabel is a collection of their letters, stored undisturbed for over a century, from February 1917 to the end of June 1919. At 25, Roy Hawk joined the U.S. Army as a private after winning the heart of a farmer's daughter. A few months later, he was "Over There" in France, serving with the 6th Infantry Division. In contravention of her parents’ wishes, Mabel Thornton reported to work as a war worker and clerk in the Adjutant General's Office of the War Department in Washington, D.C. at the age of 23. After the passing of his father, a grandson came upon their letters. These letters are love letters. Their letters reveal a shared Christian faith, love for family and country, and manifest courage. The reader is invited to be the fourth person to read these pieces of history.
James M. Hawk is the son of James T. Hawk, the second son of Roy and Mabel Thornton Hawk of Cleveland, TN. James graduated from law school and practiced law in Washington State. As a Navy brat, James grew up near saltwater ports, including Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, San Francisco, and Seattle. Captain Hawk received orders to head to Naples, Italy, in the Bicentennial Year. James, a scholar of song lyrics from the 1970s, graduated from high school in Naples in 1979. When Lionel Richie worked for The Commodores, disco music peaked, and the Rumours album was released to a grateful world. James spent his first year of college in Munich, Germany (München mag dich!) and one more summer in Southern Italy (Dolce far niente!) before traveling to Washington State with a retired Captain Hawk in 1980. James self-published "Advice To Sons" in December 2022, A compilation of some of the wisdom and “Advice” in letters written by his father and grandfather. James is grateful for the wisdom of his grandparents and his father to save the letters Roy and Mabel wrote to each other more than a century ago. James, his wife, and their three sons reside in Washington State.
https://www.amazon.com/My-Dear-Mabel-Grandsons-Patriotism/dp/B09RL42WS9/
http://www.bluefunkbroadcasting.com/root/twia/81023rm1.mp3
Further episodes of This Week in America with Ric Bratton
Further podcasts by Ric Bratton
Website of Ric Bratton