May

29

By Peg

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The Uncounted

Oliver Perrin Waldrop, Jr., was a principal and teacher in a tiny rural Alabama school — I seem to remember that it was a one-room schoolhouse, but my memory may be faulty on that detail. Then he went to serve his country in World War II.

After he came home to his wife and family, Uncle Junior sometimes wore a hook on his left arm; sometimes he didn’t wear the hook and I could see the stump just below his elbow. His arm was the least of what he lost fighting in World War II.

Junior never went back to teaching. I’m not sure he ever went back to work. After the war, he drank too much. In a family of men who were bad to drink, he was the worst. Then he started going away. Sometimes he went to the state mental hospital. Sometimes nobody knew exactly where he went. Eventually, he stopped coming home at all. He lived on the street in cities all over the Southeast.

Then one day, more than 20 years after World War II ended, the news — the news that every soldier’s family fears — came. Junior was dead. He drank himself to death, or died from exposure. It was never clear because, really, what was the difference, the police said.

Today, I understand more than I understood when I was a little girl. I understand that Uncle Junior was not just a no-account drunk. I understand that he made a sacrifice for this country that changed the direction of his life. Today I understand that Uncle Junior was a casualty of war, one of the uncounted who come home and die by inches.

Today, I want to thank Oliver P. Waldrop, Jr., and all the others who give their lives for us, sometimes long after we think they’re home with us, and safe.

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5 Responses

  1. Linda Lewis Skuta July 7, 2011 | 9:37 pm

    This is My Uncle Junior too. A man who I loved so dearly. He was a kind, gentle soul who sacrificed the ultimate, in the end, for his country. I remember when Grandma Waldrop passed away in 1959, he picked my family up at the airport….he was wearing a prosthetic hand, quite advanced for 1959! I was intrigued by this new hand because I had always remembered the hook, as well. I am not sure where he was living at the time I first got married in 1972….but he sent me 2 plates he had hand-painted, one with a woman and the other with a man. So very kind of him to take that time to make and send this to a niece he had not seen in years. It is highly unfortunate that he died in a manner the police thought not worthy of investigating.

    • Peg July 7, 2011 | 10:51 pm

      Oh, my goodness, Linda. What an honor to hear from you. It thrills me to know that someone else who knew Uncle Junior found this blog and read it. When I was writing it, I so much wanted to convey the poignancy of his story, the story of his whole family, really. Thank you so very much for posting this comment. You have made my day.

  2. Linda Lewis Skuta July 7, 2011 | 11:27 pm

    Dear Peg:
    I was looking up my grandfather (Sr) when I found this….I was just so touched to hear about my uncle. Thank you for the tribute. My mother who lives with us now is his older sister and she was recently sharing with my sister and I stories about Uncle Jr. I would love to hear from you anytime.

  3. Jane Lewis Gendreau July 8, 2011 | 10:49 am

    I am also a niece of Junior Waldrop. Linda Skuta is my sister, and she was kind enough to share your comments about my uncle with me. He was a kind soul, and we all loved him very much, found him to be a constant source of humor and unpredictability, which always fascinated us. As a young girl, I knew he was tortured and haunted by his past, and about the death of his beloved mother. I think he was a true “mama’s boy”, and that to me only means he dearly loved his mother, who was a saint in her own way, and was Junior’s greatest advocate and supporter. When she died, something of him died a little more too. It was clear to me my whole life that my mother loved her brother, Junior, so much, and worried about him, but we didn’t always hear much news from or about him. To this day my mother speaks of him with great love, and I know she misses him very much. Thank you Peg for your kind words about my uncle and your touching insights into his life. I too very much appreciate his great sacrifice for his country and his sacrifice for all of us. I will always think of him with much love and warmth. I pray that he is surrounded only by love, joy and peace where he now rests.

    Jane Lewis Gendreau

    • Peg July 8, 2011 | 12:12 pm

      This really fills me up to have heard from both of you. How wonderful to know that Junior is blessed to be remembered so sweetly.



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