Fries Memorial Moravian Church

Today, the Rev. Dr. Neil Routh will join you at Fries at 5:00. My little contribution I offer here, alone. It was inspired by my finding the picture which heads this article. The Pastor

Since the beginning of the pandemic, I have been going through papers and “memorabilia” left me by my mom when she died in September of 2018, just a few hours shy of her 95th birthday. One of the prizes she left is a tattered scrapbook that had to have been put together by my father’s mother, for some things in it predate dad’s association with my mom by half a decade or more. Though she died when I was a preschool child, I remember Grandmother Green, who is Dairl’s grandmother, too. One of the articles is from the “Winston-Salem Sentinel” and is dated December 31, 1940.  It features a picture of my dad and two other young men who had recently joined the Army. Each was allowed a quote.  My dad, Norwood Green, said, “Uncle Sam will give me a future, I believe.” It was a prescient statement. Dad was one of the fortunate young men who went off to war, served well, and returned home alive.  A member of the Army Medical Corps, Br. Norwood went into Utah Beach on D plus 1, then participated in a number of campaigns. He was with Patton’s 3rd Army when it relieved General McAuliffe’s troops in Bastogne where they were fighting the Battle of the Bulge, and from there, he went with the 3^rd Army into Germany. He assisted in the liberation of at least one of the Nazi death camps. Following the Allied Victory and German surrender on May 8^th, 1945, Dad stayed in Germany to help run a civilian hospital. His second in command was a German Colonel. He then returned home and attended Mars Hill College, Moravian College, and Moravian Theological Seminary. He took full advantage of The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944, commonly known as the G.I. Bill.  Without it, Dad might never have gone to college or seminary. Continue reading →