I Remember Dad: Ne’er Be Forgotten, The Haunting Barracks of Fort McClellan

By Richard Mabey Jr.

Prior to enlisting in the United States Army, Lincoln Park was the entire world to my beloved father. Even to travel to Boonton was a big deal. At the age of 17, my dad saw his mother cry as she got the telegram that her son, Edward, was lost at sea. His ship had been sunk by a German ship off the coast of England. Dad saw his father quietly walk to the forest at the end of Mabey Lane, to walk to the old Mabey Ice House, to be alone with his thoughts and to cry alone.

Something stirred within the heart of my father, that very afternoon. Dad seldomly talked about it. But it was beyond patriotism. The news that his brother Edward was lost at sea, fanned a flame of magnificent depth and height, within the heart and inner fiber of my father. My father once told me that it was at that very moment that he decided to enlist in the United States Army.

My grandmother and grandfather were dead set against Dad enlisting at the age of 17. Grandpa’s brother, Earl, was killed in action in France during the First World War. Benjamin Mabey, one of Grandpa’s great uncles was seriously wounded in the Civil War. And William Storms, Grandma’s grandfather, was killed in the Battle of the Wilderness during the Civil War. For Grandma and Grandpa, there was no glory in war.

I don’t know how my father did it, but he convinced his mom and dad to allow him to sign up for the United States Army at the age of 17. And after signing on the dotted line, Dad was soon sent to Fort McClellan in Alabama. My father very seldom spoke about what basic training was like. It was terribly hot during the Summer of 1943. The barracks were overcrowded. And, my father once told me that he had a Drill Sergeant who made Sergeant Carter look like a nice guy.

Dad was at Fort McClellan for eight weeks of basic training. He was then given a few days leave. He returned to his home, at the end of Mabey Lane, in Lincoln Park. From there, he was assigned to the Seventh Army Air Corps and was flown to Hickam Air Field in Hawaii.

During World War II, nearly 500,000 soldiers received their basic training at Fort McClellan. It was one of the major sites for basic training during that time. Sadly, in 2010 the old army barracks, from World War II at Fort McClellan, were torn down. Basically, for safety reasons as the old barracks had become a safety hazard.

I think it was during Dad’s two months of basic training, that my father developed a greater, heart-felt love for his home and for his hometown of Lincoln Park. Often times, Dad admitted that he was terribly homesick during his stay at Fort McClellan.

In 1943, there were only two homes on Mabey Lane. The first house was the old Francisco Canal House, which no longer stands. Further down Mabey Lane, was the very home that my Grandpa Mabey built in the early 1920’s. It proudly stood at the end of Mabey Lane, surrounded by forest.

The beauty and grandeur and majesty of that little hamlet was something near and dear to my father’s heart. And, no doubt he missed all of the calm serenity that filled the forest surrounding the home he had grown up in. Now my beloved father was faced with the hustle and bustle of basic training, in what probably seemed to him to be a foreign land.

I regret not listening more closely to my dad when he talked of his days and weeks and months of enduring basic training at Fort McClellan. I deeply regret that I didn’t ask him more questions. But I was engulfed in studying algebra, collecting comic books, building new platforms on my multi-tier tree fort, and wondering how Batman was going to get out of the trap that the Riddler drew him into. Sadly, the clock only ticks forward in time.

Richard Mabey Jr. is a freelance writer. He can be reached at [email protected]. Please put on the subject line: My Life Publications.