American Victory over Japan 
     V-J Day
14 August 1945

Japan had been at war with China since 1937 and at war with the United States, British Commonwealth, and the Netherlands since December 1941. (Resistance groups in Japanese-occupied territories also fought against their occupiers, and Mexico sent a fighter squadron that was attached to the 58th Fighter Group, US Army Air Forces.)

The Second World War in the Pacific and Asia was particularly brutal, often take-no-prisoners affair on both sides. Combat intensity only increased in the final months of the war as Allied forces, primarily American, came closer and closer to the Japanese home islands.

On Peleliu (September 15–November 27, 1944) only 33 of approximately 6,000 Japanese on the island were taken alive; American casualties were nearly 10,000, over 1,600 of them killed in action. On Luzon in The Philippines (October 20, 1944—August 15, 1945) some 205,000 Japanese were killed; US fatalities were over 8,300; an estimated 100,000 civilians died in the battle for the city of Manila.

The Battle of Iwo Jima (February 19–March 26, 1945) cost 6,500 American dead and another 20,000 wounded. (Twenty-two Medals of Honor were awarded to Marines, four to Navy corpsmen and one to a Navy officer for actions on Iwo Jima, one-third of all Medals of Honor awarded to the Marine Corps during WWII.) Between 95,000 and 100,000 Japanese died; only 300 were taken prisoner.

Then came Okinawa (March–June 1945). Some 107,000 Japanese and Okinawans, military and civilian, died in the struggle; women threw their babies off cliffs into the sea and then jumped themselves because they had been led to believe, falsely, that the Americans would torture them. The US Army suffered approximately 50,000 killed and wounded. The Marine Corps accounted for about 17,000 more. In the waters offshore, nearly 10,000 Navy personnel were killed or wounded, most of them victims of a new Japanese tactic—kamikazes, suicide pilots following orders to dive their bomb-laden planes into US and British ships.

These intense, costly struggles led an American journalist to predict an invasion of the Japanese home islands would cost 1,000,000 Allied casualties. American military planners anticipated about one-third that amount, still a very high cost. All Allied service personnel and the people back home feared how bloody the campaign would be. Combat veterans from the war in Europe awaited orders to transfer to the Pacific.

The invasion became unnecessary after American B-29s dropped an atom bomb on Hiroshima on August 6 and another on Nagasaki on August 9, largely obliterating those cities. The same day the bomb fell on Nagasaki the Soviet Union declared war on Japan, keeping with its promise to enter the Asian war three months after the defeat of Germany. Faced with these deadly new weapons and insurmountable odds, Japan’s emperor, Hirohito, announced on August 14 that he would accept the Allies’ demand for unconditional surrender.

V-J Day celebrations, August 15, 1945

Rumors of Japan’s surrender had been circulating among the Home Front in the Allied nations, and some premature spontaneous celebrations had taken place over the previous days. On August 14, crowds anxiously awaited some official word that the latest rumor of Japanese surrender was true. In New York City the scrolling news feed on the outside of the Times Tower announced at 7:03 p.m., OFFICIAL – TRUMAN ANNOUNCES JAPANESE SURRENDER, setting off a roar from a crowd estimated at two million.

In the nation’s capital, crowds danced on the lawn of the White House and chanted, “We want Harry.” Finally, President Harry S Truman stepped out and proclaimed, “This is the day we have been waiting for since Pearl Harbor. This is the day when Fascism finally dies, as we always knew it would.” In Leyte Gulf, off the Philippines, and at naval bases across the Pacific pyrotechnic flares were fired in celebration. In Toronto’s Chinatown, as in Chinatowns in the US and elsewhere, joyous celebrations broke out amid the smoke from fireworks.

In Great Britain, Prime Minister Clement Atlee broadcast news of the surrender at midnight, saying, “The last of our enemies is laid low.” He expressed gratitude to Britain’s Commonwealth allies, as well as those from all countries occupied by Japan who had fought against the imperial aggressor, and to the USSR. The prime minister reserved special thanks for the United States, “without whose prodigious efforts the war in the East would still have many years to run.”

In Australia, on the other side of the International Date Line, it was mid-morning of August 15 when Prime Minister Ben Chifley announced over the radio that Japan had surrendered. Australians danced in the streets; traffic came to a halt; piles of shredded paper tossed from windows were so deep in places that they looked like snow. A narrator of a newsreel shot during the revelries summed up the crowded streets with a joke: “As one sardine said to the other, ‘How would you like to be people?'” The spontaneous celebrations of the 15th gave way on the 16th to formal events that had been planned in advance and were only awaited the hoped-for word: Peace. Among the Chinese immigrants and their descendants in Australia, the day was called VC Day (Victory in China).

Australian soldiers helped them parade a ceremonial dragon through the streets.
On New Zealand, sirens sounded immediately when the glorious news was announced around 11 a.m. Soon, bands played and people danced in the streets although it was a wet and windy day, but public regulations kept the spontaneous outpourings to a manageable level. Over 11, 600 New Zealanders had given their lives fighting in the war. Given the island nation’s small population, this represented the highest per capita casualties in the British Commonwealth.

In China, where the war had been going on the longest, celebrations were often more subdued. One Chinese who had been a schoolchild on August 15 recalled that students were called out of their classrooms for an emergency assembly on the playground by the flagpole. Their principal raised China’s “White Sun and Blue Sky” flag and sang the national anthem. The students were informed Japan had surrendered and China was now one of the “Four Great Powers” of the world.

In Korea, the Korean National Anthem was played and sung in the streets, and reportedly Japanese “Rising Sun” flags were repainted to resemble the Taegeukgi, the Korean flag. In many communities the Bonganjeon, the shine containing the Japanese emperor’s picture, was destroyed. Arrangements were made to free Korean independence activists from prison.

In the USSR, the war against Germany, “the Great Patriotic War,” had been the great moment of the war, and observations of the end of the war against Japan were minor compared to the celebrations the previous May.

Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller (18

98–1971)

Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller, whose barrel chest and blunt manner inspired his nickname, was a thirty-seven-year veteran of the United States Marine Corps who rose to the rank of lieutenant general. The most-decorated Marine in history, he earned five Navy Crosses, the U.S. Navy's second-highest decoration, for fighting in Nicaragua, at Guadalcanal and in New Guinea during World War II (1939–1945), and at the Chosin Reservoir during the Korean War (1950–1953). MORE...
Lewis Burwell Puller was born in West Point,Virginia, on June 26, 1898. A second cousin of General George S. Patton and the grandson of a Confederate veteran, Puller came from a military family and idolized the likes of Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson and Robert E. Lee while growing up. He enrolled at the Virginia Military Institute in 1917 but left after a year with hopes of fighting in World War I (1914–1918). He was assigned, instead, to train recruits in South Carolina. In 1919, he graduated from Officer Training School as a second lieutenant but was immediately placed on the inactive list because of postwar troop reductions. Puller reenlisted as a corporal and was deployed to Haiti for five years to train the newly formed Gendarmerie d'Haiti, a constabulary force of Haitian enlisted personnel and Marine officers. He returned to the United States in 1924 and received his commission again as a second lieutenant.
After a two-year tour at Marine Barracks, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, Puller was assigned to Nicaragua, where he earned the first of his five Navy Crosses while fighting rebels led by Augusto Sandino. On his second tour in Nicaragua, Puller earned another Navy Cross for his gallantry in fighting local rebel forces during a daring ten-day march. He then traveled to China to take command of the famous "Horse Marines" guarding American settlements around Beijing, but was recalled to the United States to teach at the Marine Officers Basic School at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in 1936. In 1940, he returned to China as the executive officer of the 2nd Battalion of the 4th Marine Regiment in Shanghai.

When World War II began, Puller was commanding the 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment at New River (later renamed Camp Lejeune), North Carolina, and was sent with his unit to Guadalcanal in the summer of 1942. He won his third Navy Cross leading his battalion in defense of the island's Henderson Airfield against an overwhelming force of seasoned Japanese troops. Promoted to executive officer of the 7th Marine Regiment, Puller earned his fourth Navy Cross in January 1944 at Cape Gloucester in New Britain, when he braved enemy fire to inspire his men during a Japanese counterattack. He was then given command of the 1st Marine Regiment, which he led at the Battle of Peleliu in the Palau Islands in September and October 1944. He returned to the United States the following month to train recruits at Camp Lejeune, where he remained for the rest of the war. At the outbreak of the Korean War, Puller received command of his old unit, the 1st Marine Regiment, and led them during the landing at Inchon in September 1950. He then earned his fifth Navy Cross at the Chosin Reservoir later that year by "attacking in a different direction" against ten Chinese divisions. The action also earned him a promotion to brigadier general in 1951 and major general in 1953. In 1954, he assumed command of the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune but was forced to retire a year later because of ill health. He requested a return to service in 1966 to fight in Vietnam but was refused because of his age. His son, Lewis Burwell Puller Jr., also served as a Marine officer, losing both legs and parts of his hands in action in South Vietnam in 1968. His autobiography, Fortunate Son, won a Pulitzer Prize in 1992. The younger Puller killed himself two years later.
Lewis B. "Chesty" Puller died on October 11, 1971, at the age of seventy-three. He was buried in Saluda, in Middlesex County, where he spent his retirement. A Virginia Historical Highway Marker honoring him is located nearby on State Route 33, the "General Puller Highway."

History of the Marine Corps Hymn
The music to the hymn is believed to have originated in the comic opera Geneviéve de Brabant composed by the French composer Jacques Offenbach. ... The unknown author of the first verse of the hymn reversed this order to read “From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli.”

The Island of P

u

eleli

We should not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many. But having war-type nightmares every single night for 74 years, sometime I wonder if it would have been better without God’s help. Next was the following Japanese held island Okinawa with 100,000 defending it. 

On Sept. 15, 1944, U.S. Marines fighting in World War II landed on Peleliu, one of the Palau Islands of the western Pacific. Over the next several weeks, ferocious Japanese resistance inflicted heavy casualties on U.S. troops before the Americans were finally able to he invasion of the Philippines and the Japanese home islands.

Peleliu's network of rocky ca

secure the island. Thcontroversial attack on Peleliu resulted in a higher death toll than any other amphibious assault in U.S. military history, Allied commanders troops learned important lessons that would benefit them during t

ves, which the Japanese connected with tunnels, effectively acted as a fortress. The Japanese used Peleliu's unique terrain to their advantage, stationing troops in caves just above invading U.S. forces so as to inflict the maximum amount of damage on the troops below.

Peleliu–a volcanic island just six miles long and two miles wide–was held by a garrison of more than 10,000 Japanese troops. The island’s airfield would allow Japanese planes to threaten any Allied operation in the Philippines, and General Douglas MacArthur pushed for an amphibious attack in order to neutralize this threat. Admiral William Halsey reported that enemy resistance in the region was far less than expected; he recommended that the landings in the Palaus be canceled entirely and MacArthur’s invasion of Leyte Gulf (in the Philippines) be moved up to October. MacArthur and Admiral Chester Nimitz followed Halsey’s advice about Leyte, but chose to go ahead with the attack on Peleliu.

On the morning of Sept. 15, the 1st Marine Division landed on the southwest corner of Peleliu. U.S. forces had refined their amphibious strategy over a year of hard fighting, and by this time had it down to a science: Massive naval bombardment of land-based targets preceded troop landings, which were supported by strafing and bombing runs by carrier-based aircraft. The troops arrived on shore in waves, gathering on an island’s beaches until they had sufficient numbers to push inland. These methods had worked in earlier landings and were expected to work again on Peleliu.

The Japanese still held out, and would only be dislodged after much bloodshed throughout October. More U.S. reinforcements arrived, and the ridge was finally neutralized on November 25. Characteristically, the Japanese defenders refused to surrender, and virtually all of them were killed.

The battle of Peleliu resulted in the highest casualty rate of any amphibious assault in American military history: Of the approximately 28,000 Marines and infantry troops involved, a full 40 percent of the Marines that fought for the island died or were wounded, for a total of some 9,800 men (1,800 killed in action and 8,000 wounded). The high cost of the battle was later attributed to several factors, including typical Allied overconfidence in the efficacy of the pre-landing naval bombardment, a poor understanding of Peleliu’s unique terrain, and overconfidence on the part of Marine commanders, who refused to admit their need for support earlier on at Bloody Nose Ridge.

On the other hand, the capture of Peleliu served as a means to MacArthur’s much-desired end: the recapture of the Philippines, and the drive towards Japan’s home islands. The lessons learned at Peleliu also gave U.S. commanders and forces insight into the new Japanese strategy of attrition, which they would use to their advantage in later struggles at Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

This information can be found on page 94 in the book - The Heritage of Lawrence County, Tennessee. The below was written by Noah H. Belew

THE BELEW/BELUE CLAN

   There he stood, age unknown. The date was 1735. The location was the Carolina Territory. From whence did this man come? That is not known. Many of us have theories. Some believe he emigrated from France. I also believe he came to America from France because he was considered a French Huguenot. At that time, if you had a different religion than Catholic, you were an outcast in France. Renny Bleue was his name.

   Renny found a wife and became parents of several children. The oldest was named Zachariah, who was born on April 21, 1758. Between the years of 1775 and 1783, Zachariah and his father Renny, fought in The America Revolutionary War aka America War of Independence. Renny must have had an education as he was promoted to Lieutenant. Zachariah's rank was Private. Someway and somehow, Zachariah's last name got changed from Belue to Belew. My theory is that it was changed by mistake since I believe Zack was unable to read or write.

   Rennie died in Union County, South Carolina of old age in 1797, however, his burial site has never been found. I looked in all the cemeteries in that area, and was unable to find it. Many times during those years, a field rock was left by the grave as a marker in place of a tombstone.

   Where am I going with this story? It's leading up to my life, beginning in 1926. After the war, the Carolina Territory had no money to offer soldiers as a bonus for their war effort, but they offered free land, which they had plenty. After Renny died, Zachariah packed up his family and headed to Lawrence County, Tennessee, to accept the bonus free land. It's difficult to imagine the hardship of traveling from South Carolina to Middle Tennessee, hundreds of miles through the uncharted trail by wagon, mules, horses, or walking and avoiding the American Indians.

   Zachariah Belew and his family arrived in the Leoma area, Lawrence County, in early 1800s. The free land was located east of Leoma. Farm life was about the only way of surviving in those days. A son, William, was born in 1816. Zachariah's name is listed on a DAR plaque on the outside wall of the Lawrence County, Tennessee Courthouse (near the flagpole) for his war effort. I, Noah H. Belew, was accepted as a member of SAR through Zachariah's name. Zachariah died on February 9, 1845. He is buried at the Second Creek Cemetery in Lawrence County, Tennessee.

   William Belew, born in Lawrence County on July 13, 1816, was the son of Zachariah. He lived and farmed his land east of Leoma. William got married and had a family. They named one of their sons, Jonathan. William died on September 8, 1884, and is buried in a cemetery east of Leoma.

   Jonathan Belew was born on June 14, 1841 in Lawrence County, Tennessee. He became a farmer on land east of Leoma. He and his wife had a son in 1867 named Robert H. Belew. This was my grandfather. Robert and his wife (my grandmother Matilda Cottrell Belew) lived and farmed on land east of Leoma. They had a family and one of their sons was named George Lonnie (Lon) Belew. This was my father.

   George Lonnie (Lon) Belew, born on June 22, 1892, married Rettie Mae Hickman Belew (my mother), born December 30, 1996. They had six children - four males and two females. I, Noah H. Belew, was born on August 11, 1926. Lon and his family lived on a rocky hilly farm in the village of Barnesville, Lawrence County. During the Great Depression it was touch and go in order to survive. This was before tractors. Farming was accomplished with a strong back, mules and hoes.   

   Rettie Mae Hickman Belew was born in Lawrence County, Tennessee. She was a mother and housewife, and did a lot of farm work, including milking the cows. She lived to be 90 and died from a stroke on Flag Day, June 14, 1987.

   Alonzo Junior Belew was the oldest son. He was born to Lon and Rettie on April 18, 1917. Alonzo left home for greener pasture around 1935. He found work in Detroit, Michigan, with an automobile manufacture. He joined the US Army when World War II started. Alonzo died and was buried in Benton, Kentucky on April 7, 1974.

   Loyd Virgil Belew, second son of Lon and Rettie was born on September 21, 1918. Loyd was a farmhand on his daddy's farm until 1938, when he joined the US Army. After the war, Loyd became a farmer and pursued other jobs until he died in Hohenwald, Tennessee, in December, 1995. He is buried in Napier, Tennessee.

   Freda Mae Belew was the first daughter of Lon and Rettie. She was born on May 7, 1921 and died on September 8, 1928. Her death was caused by an appendix that burst. Freda is buried at the Barnesville Cemetery, Lawrence County.

   Claude Monroe Belew, third son of Lon and Rettie, was born on February 20, 1923. He was a helper on the farm until he went to Michigan in 1940 to find better work. He joined the US Navy when World War II started. He retired from the Navy in 1962. Claude was successful as a self employee until he died on June 10, 2003. Claude is buried in the Barnesville Cemetery, Lawrence County.

   Opal Belew Scott, second and last daughter of Lon and Rettie was born on August 3, 1929 and died on June 11, 1991. She is buried in the Barnesville Cemetery, Lawrence County.

   Noah Harold Belew (that's me) is the fourth and last son of Lon and Rettie. He was born on August11, 1926 in Lawrence County. My working life: Served 20 years in the USMC and 20 years as a motion picture filmmaker. I am still living at age 80.

(Update: I will celebrate my 85^th birthday on 11 August 2011)

Submitted by: Noah H. Belew, 1396 Autumn Breeze Circle, Gulf Breeze, Florida 32563 

<><><><> 

FOR THE LAWRENCE COUNTY HERITAGE BOOK

The Belew/Belue Family

By Noah H. Belew

1396 Autumn Breeze Circle

Gulf Breeze, FL 32563

Email: noahbelew@earthlink.net

Web site: www.SemperFidelisNoah.com

Web site: http://wwii-Medal-of-Honor.com

My Grandfather and Great Grandfathers

Great Grandfather Renny Belue

Born in 1738 (place unknown)

Died in December 1797 in South Carolina

Soldier (Lt.) in the American Revolution War

Buried in S.C. - Cemetery unknown

Great Grandfather Zachariah Belew

Oldest son of Renny Belue

Name was changed for unknown reason

Solider in the Revolution War

His name is on a plaque on the wall of Lawrence County, Courthouse

Noah H. Belew was accepted as a member of SAR through Zachariah war record

Born in North Carolina on April 21, 1758

Died in a cemetery in Leoma, Lawrence County, Tenn.

Great Grandfather William Belew

Born in Lawrence County, Tenn. on July 13, 1816

Died on September 8, 1884

Buried in a cemetery in Leoma, Lawrence County.

Great Grandfather Jonathan Belew

Son of William

Born on June 14, 1841 in Lawrence County, Tenn.

Died on June 29, 1928

Buried in a cemetery in Leoma, Lawrence County, Tenn.  

Grandfather Robert H. Belew

Born in 1867

Died in 1944

Son of Jonathan

Buried in a cemetery in Leoma, Lawrence County, Tenn.

FATHER: George Lonnie (Lon) Belew

Son of Robert H. and Matilda 'Cottrell Belew

Born on June 22, 1892

Died on January 27, 1943

Buried at Barnesville Cemetery

MOTHER: Rettie Mae Belew

Born on December 30, 1896

Died on June 14, 1987

Buried at Barnesville Cemetery

DAUGHTER: Freda Mae Belew

Born on May 7, 1921

Died on September 8, 1928

Buried at Barnesville Cemetery

DAUGHTER: Opal Belew Scott

Born on August 3, 1929

Died on June 11, 1991

Buried at Barnesville Cemetery

SON: Noah Harold Belew

Born August 11, 1926

Still living

SON: Claude Monroe Belew

Born on February 20, 1923

Died on June 10, 2003

Buried at Barnesville Cemetery

SON: Loyd Vergil Belew

Born on September 21, 1918

Died in December 1995

Buried at Napier Cemetery

SON: Alonzo Junior Belew

Born on April 18, 1917

Died on April, 7, 1974

Buried in a cemetery in Benton, Kentucky

This information can be found on page 94 in the book - The Heritage of Lawrence County, Tennessee.

THE BELEW/BELUE CLAN

   There he stood, age unknown. The date was 1735. The location was the Carolina Territory. From whence did this man come? That is not known. Many of us have theories. Some believe he emigrated from France. I also believe he came to America from France because he was considered a French Huguenot. At that time, if you had a different religion than Catholic, you were an outcast in France. Renny Bleue was his name.

   Renny found a wife and became parents of several children. The oldest was named Zachariah, who was born on April 21, 1758. Between the years of 1775 and 1783, Zachariah and his father Renny, fought in The America Revolutionary War aka America War of Independence. Renny must have had an education as he was promoted to Lieutenant. Zachariah's rank was Private. Someway and somehow, Zachariah's last name got changed from Belue to Belew. My theory is that it was changed by mistake since I believe Zack was unable to read or write.

   Rennie died in Union County, South Carolina of old age in 1797, however, his burial site has never been found. I looked in all the cemeteries in that area, and was unable to find it. Many times during those years, a field rock was left by the grave as a marker in place of a tombstone.

   Where am I going with this story? It's leading up to my life, beginning in 1926. After the war, the Carolina Territory had no money to offer soldiers as a bonus for their war effort, but they offered free land, which they had plenty. After Renny died, Zachariah packed up his family and headed to Lawrence County, Tennessee, to accept the bonus free land. It's difficult to imagine the hardship of traveling from South Carolina to Middle Tennessee, hundreds of miles through the uncharted trail by wagon, mules, horses, or walking and avoiding the American Indians.

   Zachariah Belew and his family arrived in the Leoma area, Lawrence County, in early 1800s. The free land was located east of Leoma. Farm life was about the only way of surviving in those days. A son, William, was born in 1816. Zachariah's name is listed on a DAR plaque on the outside wall of the Lawrence County, Tennessee Courthouse (near the flagpole) for his war effort. I, Noah H. Belew, was accepted as a member of SAR through Zachariah's name. Zachariah died on February 9, 1845. He is buried at the Second Creek Cemetery in Lawrence County, Tennessee.

   William Belew, born in Lawrence County on July 13, 1816, was the son of Zachariah. He lived and farmed his land east of Leoma. William got married and had a family. They named one of their sons, Jonathan. William died on September 8, 1884, and is buried in a cemetery east of Leoma.

   Jonathan Belew was born on June 14, 1841 in Lawrence County, Tennessee. He became a farmer on land east of Leoma. He and his wife had a son in 1867 named Robert H. Belew. This was my grandfather. Robert and his wife (my grandmother Matilda Cottrell Belew) lived and farmed on land east of Leoma. They had a family and one of their sons was named George Lonnie (Lon) Belew. This was my father.

   George Lonnie (Lon) Belew, born on June 22, 1892, married Rettie Mae Hickman Belew (my mother), born December 30, 1996. They had six children - four males and two females. I, Noah H. Belew, was born on August 11, 1926. Lon and his family lived on a rocky hilly farm in the village of Barnesville, Lawrence County. During the Great Depression it was touch and go in order to survive. This was before tractors. Farming was accomplished with a strong back, mules and hoes.   

   Rettie Mae Hickman Belew was born in Lawrence County, Tennessee. She was a mother and housewife, and did a lot of farm work, including milking the cows. She lived to be 90 and died from a stroke on Flag Day, June 14, 1987.

   Alonzo Junior Belew was the oldest son. He was born to Lon and Rettie on April 18, 1917. Alonzo left home for greener pasture around 1935. He found work in Detroit, Michigan, with an automobile manufacture. He joined the US Army when World War II started. Alonzo died and was buried in Benton, Kentucky on April 7, 1974.

   Loyd Virgil Belew, second son of Lon and Rettie was born on September 21, 1918. Loyd was a farmhand on his daddy's farm until 1938, when he joined the US Army. After the war, Loyd became a farmer and pursued other jobs until he died in Hohenwald, Tennessee, in December, 1995. He is buried in Napier, Tennessee.

   Freda Mae Belew was the first daughter of Lon and Rettie. She was born on May 7, 1921 and died on September 8, 1928. Her death was caused by an appendix that burst. Freda is buried at the Barnesville Cemetery, Lawrence County.

   Claude Monroe Belew, third son of Lon and Rettie, was born on February 20, 1923. He was a helper on the farm until he went to Michigan in 1940 to find better work. He joined the US Navy when World War II started. He retired from the Navy in 1962. Claude was successful as a self employee until he died on June 10, 2003. Claude is buried in the Barnesville Cemetery, Lawrence County.

   Opal Belew Scott, second and last daughter of Lon and Rettie was born on August 3, 1929 and died on June 11, 1991. She is buried in the Barnesville Cemetery, Lawrence County.

   Noah Harold Belew (that's me) is the fourth and last son of Lon and Rettie. He was born on August11, 1926 in Lawrence County. My working life: Served 20 years in the USMC and 20 years as a motion picture filmmaker. I am still living at age 80.

(Update: I will celebrate my 85^th birthday on 11 August 2011)

Submitted by: Noah H. Belew, 1396 Autumn Breeze Circle, Gulf Breeze, Florida 32563 

<><><><> 

FOR THE LAWRENCE COUNTY HERITAGE BOOK

The Belew/Belue Family

By Noah H. Belew

1396 Autumn Breeze Circle

Gulf Breeze, FL 32563

Email: noahbelew@earthlink.net

Web site: www.SemperFidelisNoah.com

Web site: http://wwii-Medal-of-Honor.com

My Grandfather and Great Grandfathers

Great Grandfather Renny Belue

Born in 1738 (place unknown)

Died in December 1797 in South Carolina

Soldier (Lt.) in the American Revolution War

Buried in S.C. - Cemetery unknown

Great Grandfather Zachariah Belew

Oldest son of Renny Belue

Name was changed for unknown reason

Solider in the Revolution War

His name is on a plaque on the wall of Lawrence County, Courthouse

Noah H. Belew was accepted as a member of SAR through Zachariah war record

Born in North Carolina on April 21, 1758

Died in a cemetery in Leoma, Lawrence County, Tenn.

Great Grandfather William Belew

Born in Lawrence County, Tenn. on July 13, 1816

Died on September 8, 1884

Buried in a cemetery in Leoma, Lawrence County.

Great Grandfather Jonathan Belew

Son of William

Born on June 14, 1841 in Lawrence County, Tenn.

Died on June 29, 1928

Buried in a cemetery in Leoma, Lawrence County, Tenn.  

Grandfather Robert H. Belew

Born in 1867

Died in 1944

Son of Jonathan

Buried in a cemetery in Leoma, Lawrence County, Tenn.

FATHER: George Lonnie (Lon) Belew

Son of Robert H. and Matilda 'Cottrell Belew

Born on June 22, 1892

Died on January 27, 1943

Buried at Barnesville Cemetery

MOTHER: Rettie Mae Belew

Born on December 30, 1896

Died on June 14, 1987

Buried at Barnesville Cemetery

DAUGHTER: Freda Mae Belew

Born on May 7, 1921

Died on September 8, 1928

Buried at Barnesville Cemetery

DAUGHTER: Opal Belew Scott

Born on August 3, 1929

Died on June 11, 1991

Buried at Barnesville Cemetery

SON: Noah Harold Belew

Born August 11, 1926

Still living

SON: Claude Monroe Belew

Born on February 20, 1923

Died on June 10, 2003

Buried at Barnesville Cemetery

SON: Loyd Vergil Belew

Born on September 21, 1918

Died in December 1995

Buried at Napier Cemetery

SON: Alonzo Junior Belew

Born on April 18, 1917

Died on April, 7, 1974

Buried in a cemetery in Benton, Kentucky

History of Memorial Day

The custom of honoring ancestors by cleaning cemeteries and decorating graves is an ancient and worldwide tradition, but the specific origin of Memorial Day, or Decoration Day as it was first known, are unclear.

In early rural America, this duty was usually performed in late summer and was an occasion for family reunions and picnics. After the Civil War, America’s need for a secular, patriotic ceremony to honor its military dead became prominent, as monuments to fallen soldiers were erected and dedicated, and ceremonies centering on the decoration of soldiers’ graves were held in towns and cities throughout the nation.

After World War I, the day expanded to honor those who have died in all American wars.
No less than 25 places have been named in connection with the origin of Memorial Day, and states observed the holiday on different dates. In 1971, Memorial Day became a national holiday by an act of Congress; it is now celebrated on the last Monday in May.

Since it all started with the Civil War, you might want to brush up on your knowledge of this event by visiting the Library of Congress Civil War collection, which includes more than a thousand photographs.

IT SHOULD BE A HOLIDAY

My lovely daughter Linda Gail ‘Belew’ LaZar was born in the year of 1959. On April 17, 2018, she will celebrate her 59th birthday at her home in Eugene, Oregon. Born in ’59 – age 59.

Happy Birthday Linda!

We LOVE you

Dad

EASTER and APRIL FOOL'S DAY
April 1, 2018

For the first time since 1956, Easter Sunday falls on April 1 - or April Fool's Day. Since 1900, Easter has fallen on April Fool's Day only four times - 1923, 1934, 1945 and 1956. It won't happen again until 2029.

April 1, 1945, we celebrated Easter by invading the island of Okinawa. That was the last island my First Marine Division invaded while fighting the Japanese. I also celebrated my 20th birthday after almost 3 years in World War II.
 
The time when Christians around the world celebrate the resurrection of Christ, Easter falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon occurring on or after the spring equinox. The spring equinox occurs on March 20 this year.
Easter generally falls between March 22 and April 25 each year.

In addition to religious services, Easter is also celebrated with egg hunts, family gatherings and visits from the Easter Bunny, who leaves treats in children's Easter baskets.

The Easter/April Fool's combo isn't the only joint commemoration this year. In February, Valentine's Day fell on Ash Wednesday.

Origins of Easter

While the Bible does not mention "Easter," it's believed the name comes from early celebrations of the pre-Christian goddess Eostre, who was typically celebrated at the beginning of Spring. Eostre's name remained as early Christians marked the time of Jesus' resurrection and the title survived through history, though it was changed to "Easter" by English speakers.

The Easter season coincides with Passover, one of the most important festivals on the Jewish calendar. In 2018, Passover will begin on the evening of Friday, March 30 and ends in the evening of Saturday, April 7. Passover commemorates the liberation of the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt.

St. Patrick's Day on March 17, 2018

(This was written by a friend)

St. Patrick’s Day will arrive, and once again many of my friends in the United States are getting ready for the day’s celebrations. One friend is currently in Savannah, home of the second largest St. Patrick’s Day event in the country. Friends are getting their green shirts ready for the day – for people growing up in certain parts of the United States, a failure to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day may result in you getting pinched!

While living in Dublin I was pretty surprised to find out that St. Patrick’s Day is nowhere near as big in Ireland as it tends to be in the United States, especially since the holiday originated in Ireland. This got me wondering why, so I did a little research.

In Ireland, St. Patrick’s Day is a celebration of St. Patrick, and therefore a religious holiday. St. Patrick was the patron saint of Ireland, who lived in Ireland in the late 4th and early 5th centuries. He wasn’t Irish; in fact, he was a Romano-Briton who was captured by Irish raiders and taken to Ireland as a slave. In Ireland, St. Patrick was traditionally celebrated for the missionary work he performed in Ireland and is credited with bringing Christianity to the country; the holiday is therefore a religious holiday, similar to Christmas and Easter – it’s not a celebration of Ireland like it is in the United States. These days you can find St. Patrick’s Day parades, shamrocks, and free-flowing Guinness in Ireland, but it’s mostly there because the tourists wanted it there. If not for them, it would likely have remained a day of solemnity; in fact, up until 1970 Irish laws mandated that pubs be closed on St. Patrick’s Day.

So why did St. Patrick’s Day come to be such a huge deal in the United States? To Americans, especially those 36.5 million with Irish heritage, it represents something quite different than it does to the Irish living in Ireland. When close to a million poor Irish Catholics immigrated to the United States during the Great Potato Famine in the mid-1800s, they were despised for their religious beliefs and had a hard time finding even menial jobs. The first St. Patrick’s Day celebrations in the United States were met with contempt. When the Irish began to realize that their great numbers gave them political power, they started to organize themselves into a force. Annual St. Patrick’s Day parades, that started not in Ireland but in New York City in March of 1762, were a demonstration of strength and solidarity among a people who, at that time, were for the most part unwelcome in protestant America.

So to Irish Americans and those claiming Irish American descent, a population that currently stands at about nine times the population of Ireland itself, St. Patrick’s Day means much more than the celebration of a religious figure – it’s a day that came to represent the strength and pride of the Irish people in a foreign land. And as such it has a very important meaning here – tens of millions of Americans are both proud to be American, and proud to be of Irish ancestry. On March 17th comes their chance to celebrate as such.

The Real Reason Why We Have Daylight Time

Turn your clocks back an hour at 2:00 a.m. Eastern Time on March 11, Saving Time wasn't always such a routine idea.

 

The first Daylight Saving Time policy began in Germany on May 1, 1916, in the hopes that it would save energy during World War I, according to Michael Downing, author of Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time. But, though Germans were first to mess with their clocks, they likely got the idea from Britain—and from someone whose ideas about Daylight Saving had little to do with conserving fuel.

William Willett had in 1907 published The Waste of Daylight. Willett was inspired by an early-morning epiphany that “the sun shines upon the land for several hours each day while we are asleep” and yet there “remains only a brief spell of declining daylight in which to spend the short period of leisure at our disposal.” Though he did mention that it would save money to reduce the use of artificial lighting, his main purpose was the increase enjoyment of sunlight. He lobbied Parliament for such legislation until his death in 1915—not living to see the law passed in England shortly after it was in Germany. (Frankfurt’s daily newspaper Zeitung published this dig: “It is characteristic of England that she could not rouse herself to a decision.”)

Across the pond, the first U.S. law on Daylight Saving Time went into effect on March 19, 1918, for the same fuel saving reasons, about a year after the country entered the war. But again, though the official reason was fuel saving, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce was the major backer for the policy, Downing argues, because Americans getting off work while it was still light out meant they would be more likely to go out shopping in the evening.

Sports and recreation industries saw the light, too. “Golf ball sales skyrocketed during Daylight Saving Time,” according to Downing. “Baseball is a huge early supporter, too, because there’s no artificial illumination of parks, so to get school kids and workers to ball games with the extended daylight, they have a later start time.” Some even considered Daylight Saving Time a good health policy, given the extra time people had to be outdoors.

But the policy also had its opponents—”the movie industry hated Daylight Saving Time because people were much less likely to go into dark theaters when it was bright outside,” Downing says—and none more powerful than the farm lobby. That farmers advocated for Daylight Saving is a common myth. In fact, Daylight Saving Time meant they had less time in the morning to get their milk and harvested crops to market. Some warned it was “taking us off God’s time.”

“It’s so unpopular when we experiment with Daylight Saving Time during World War I that before the Versailles Treaty is signed [at the end of the war], Congress is forced to sign a repeal to quell the revolt from the farm lobby, it’s that potent a lobby,” says Downing.

There wouldn’t be another national Daylight Saving Time policy until 1942, for the duration of World War II, but New York City, however, continued to observe a metropolitan Daylight Saving Time all along. Because of the city’s position as a financial capital, other places followed. The result, Downing says, was “cities observing Daylight Saving Time surrounded by rural areas that are not, and no one can tell what time it is anywhere.” In fact, TIME’s letters department received a poem from an Ohio man about just that topic: “To miss a train or business deal, / Because our clocks are without keel / Can cause a nation loss of gold / E’en worse than all the misers hold.”

By 1966, the confusion was bad enough to prompt the Uniform Time Act. Signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, the first peacetime Daylight Saving Time law said that the United States policy would be to observe six months of Daylight Saving Time and six months of Standard Time. It required states to either adopt Daylight Saving Time entirely or opt out, avoiding the patchwork of cities and counties that had been so problematic, according to Downing. For example, Arizona opted out because an extra hour of daylight in the summer doesn’t make sense when it’s over 100 degrees already, as a March 1969 Arizona Republic editorial explained.

In 1973, shortly after the oil embargo went into effect, President Richard Nixon called for year-round Daylight Saving Time. A brief trial ended—partly because of fears that children would get hit by cars in the dark—but Daylight Saving Time has nevertheless grown. In 1986, the U.S. started observing seven months of it—an extra month that the golf industry and manufacturers of barbecue equipment claimed was worth between $200 million and $400 million. And since 2005, the U.S. has been observing eight months of Daylight Saving Time.

By now, the original stated purpose of the idea—saving energy—has been called into question.
While a 2008 U.S. Department of Energy report found a 0.5% decrease in total electricity use per day since the 2005 extension, other studies have found that Daylight Saving may actually fuel energy usage. For example, a 2011 study by economists Matthew J. Kotchen and Laura E. Grant found that, after some Indiana counties began observing Daylight Saving, overall residential electricity consumption increased as much as 4%.

But Willett’s original point holds true: an extra hour of daylight is, generally, enjoyable—and as Daylight Saving ends and darkness begins earlier, the U.S. will once again look forward to spring to see all that sunlight in person.

Correction: The original version of this story misstated the President who signed the Uniform Time Act of 1966. It was Lyndon B. Johnson.