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Baby Boomers recall Independence Days from years past(Chattanooga Times (Free Press, TN) (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Jul. 4--DALTON, Ga. -- The melange of July Fourth memories -- crackling fireworks, fast-melting ice cream, a blessed day off work -- may blur in the minds of baby boomers. But there's usually an Independence Day that stands out. Whether it's a Fourth of July from the 1950s or the Bicentennial celebration in 1976, many baby boomers in Dalton recalled at least one unforgettable Independence Day memory. In July 1956, Dr. James Burran, now president of Dalton State College, stole away with what he believed to be a Roman candle firework while his family was celebrating Independence Day on Alamogordo Lake in New Mexico. The then-6-year-old lit what turned out to be a firecracker. "It blew up in my face," Dr. Burran recalled. "What a surprise." He had only minor burns, he said, so his parents were more angry with him than concerned for his well-being. "My parents took exception to the stupidity that I displayed," Dr. Burran said. Still, Dr. Burran said he learned an important lesson that Fourth of July. "I have not had a fondness for firecrackers ever since," he said. While Dr. Burran's recollection was one of humiliation, another baby boomer, Dalton resident Evan Wolf, said he recalls doing a good deed on July 4, 1965. It was a chilly 45 degrees that day in Warren, Pa., in the foothills of the Allegheny Mountains, Mr. Wolf said. Frigid for a summer morning. "It was just bizarre," Mr. Wolf said about the weather. His Boy Scout troop had a float in the town's Fourth of July parade, he said. The troop posted merit badges on the float, and some of the boys were dressed in outfits to reflect merit-badge activities. That cold morning, one Boy Scout donned trunks to represent the swimming badge. Mr. Wolf, then 10, stood on the side of the street, waiting for his troop to pass. He laughed remembering how cold the half-naked Scout looked. "This guy was turning blue," he said. As the float passed, he said, he removed his own jacket and tossed it to his freezing fellow troop member. For another boomer, Beverly Bryson, 59, the Fourth of July brings to mind the mischief of a couple of neighborhood boys. Ms. Bryson grew up a on farm in Crandall, Ga. She said one particular crop tempted the neighborhood boys around on the Fourth of July. "They would always get into my daddy's watermelon patch," she said. Around July 4 one year, late at night under a bright moon, the boys got into those watermelons, Ms. Bryson said. But they had a surprise waiting for them -- from Ms. Bryson's father. "He put electrical wire all around the watermelon patch," Ms. Bryson said. She added, "You ought to have heard all the noise. When they started hollering, Daddy turned the electricity off." The Fourth of July also can evoke more solemn memories. Butch Sanders, Dalton's city administrator, was 21 during the nation's Bicentennial celebration of 1976. He was home from the University of Georgia for the summer in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and on July 4, he went on a friend's boat on the Intracoastal Waterway. Mr. Sanders and about five friends docked near a fully decorated military battleship, and also near the Hyatt Regency Hotel on Pier 66. Fireworks exploded into the air from the battleship and from the top of the hotel. He had just decided that he was going to enter graduate school to pursue a master's degree in public administration at the University of Georgia, so that particular Fourth "had a little extra meaning," he said. "We had the greatest view of all this color and pageantry," Mr. Sanders added. "It inspired a great sense of awe ... (and) a great sense of respect and pleasure in being in America. It was a perfect day." E-mail Erin Fuchs at [email protected] To see more of the Chattanooga Times/Free Press, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.timesfreepress.com. Copyright (c) 2007, Chattanooga Times/Free Press, Tenn. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. |