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1944 - Dad, Mom and Kay in Gulfport, Mississippi

by Kay

While there is no mention of Dad in Mississippi in the old letters, in 1944 Dad spent some time in Gulfport, Mississippi.  While he was there Mom and I traveled by train to be with him.  Mom told me the story of our trip down there and why I was the child chosen to go with her.  I never knew why Dad was there except it had to do with the Navy.  I have researched the role of the Navy in Gulfport during the war and that is covered later.  

This starts out like the story of The Three Bears.  Duane was too young, Don was too old, and Kay was just right. (Don would have had to pay a fare).  





I remember the train ride but have no memory of Gulfport.   As we traveled through farmland I saw a farm. I said, look Mama, there's Grandma and Grandpa's (Luebeck) farm.  Mom said no that's not their farm.  I insisted that was too their farm and I stubbornly would not budge.  (Now does anyone remember railroad tracks running right by the farm house?!)

Mom told me a story about a tarantula in Gulfport.  Mom and I were outside hanging the laundry to dry and along came a spider.  Mom told me it was so big that she instinctively grabbed a four-legged chair that was nearby and placed it in front of us so that the spider would have to go around the chair.  But of course it could still go straight under the chair.  While I don't have a memory of that, it may have had something to do with my utter fear of spiders (as Don and Duane can attest to).  

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Mississippi Sales Tax Token



I found this token in the package of olden days items that were set aside for me.   This of course came to me because of my connection to Mississippi.  It is 7/8 of an inch in diameter and is plastic.   Curiosity made me look into the history of this token.   This is what I found when I did a search:

Sales tax tokens were fractional cent devices used to pay sales tax on very small purchases in many American states during the years of the Great Depression.  Tax tokens were created as a means for consumers to avoid being "overcharged" by having to pay a full penny tax on purchases of 5 or 10 cents.  Issued by private firms, by municipalities, and by twelve state governments, sales tax tokens were generally issued in multiples of 1 mill
(?1/10cent).[1]

Sales tax tokens were generally regarded as a nuisance by consumers and were replaced in fairly short order by the bracket system of sales tax collection, which averaged out the tax on small sales.[6] By the end of the 1930s token use was eliminated in most of the issuing states, with sales tax tokens lingering in Missouri until late in the 1940s.   (Apparently Mississippi still had them in 1944).   CollectibilityEdit

A number of states issued colorful plastic tax tokens made in quantities running into hundreds of millions.
The denominations on the token are numbers of "mills" (tenths of one cent).


In other words, my token has no value.  

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U.  S.  Naval Training Center

Gulfport, Mississippi

On June 2, 1942, an Advanced Base Depot was established in Gulfport and the first Seabees arrived.[4] Defense planning during the early years of World War II called for a deep-water port to serve the Caribbean region.  Gulfport had the necessary port facility, as well as a semi-tropical climate for year-round training and shipping.

The following information explains why Dad would have been there:

In 1944, the mission of the Center changed to a U.S. Naval Training Center for ratings in basic engineering, diesel engine, radio, quartermaster, and electrician.  The Training Center was decommissioned in 1946 and the complex became a storage facility for stockpiling bauxite, tin, copper, sisal and abacá.  In 1952, the Naval Storehouse was disestablished and the U.S.  Naval Construction Battalion Center was created.[4]

I wonder if this is where Dad did his notes and drawings of the engines.  




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