Customer Reviews

Carolina Roots: From Whence I Came

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The year 1932 was an important one. Hitler's star was rising in Germany, and the great depression peaked as America struggled to regain its footing. Average annual income in the U.S. was 1,900 dollars per year, but in the poor counties of western North Carolina, many farm families survived on annual incomes as low as 100 dollars. Tom Shytle was born to a poor family in the cotton mill town of Kings Mountain, NC. His parents worked in the local cotton mill, Park Yarn, lived in company housing, and bought their necessities at the company store. Together, his mother and father made twenty-five dollars per week when the mill was at peak production. In 1932, the mill operated three days per week and they earned a maximum of seven dollars and twenty cents each. A year after Tom was born, the Shytle family moved back to the heart of the Western North Carolina mountains near Bryson City. His farther worked for the WPA at a dollar a day and farmed. Six years later they returned to Kings Mountain and worked for Park Yarn until they retired. Tom and his two sisters grew to up in Kings Mountain.

The first part of Tom's memoirs is the story of life in a western Carolina mill town. A slice of American history. A history that is not being taught to our children, thus depriving them of understanding their roots. While Carolina Roots is the journal of Tom Shytle and his family, it is also a page of America's journal. My wife's farther was born in a Carolina mill town in 1913 and lived through the depression much as Tom's father did. When our grandchildren are old enough to understand, I want them to read Carolina Roots, and other similar books in order to understand where they came from--where today's America came from.

Tom enlisted in the Army in 1949 at the age of seventeen, and was assigned to the Army Signal Corps. The next chapters are devoted to his experiences as a young enlisted man in the Army assigned to posts in the continental U.S. His descriptions of his travels and off duty activities provide interesting pictures of various parts of America and what life was like in the early 1950s. Tom returned to Kings Hill in December 1951 on leave before being assigned to Japan and then Korea. Tom continues his enjoyable observations and descriptions of these countries, as seen through the eyes of a young sergeant.

His enlistment up, Tom returned to Kings Mountain in February, 1953, and married Mildred, whom he refers to as "Mil" throughout the book. By July, Tom and Mil decided to make a career in the Air Force. He reenlisted in July, 1953 and retired in 1974. The last half of Carolina Roots is devoted to Tom's and Mil's various postings and their growing family. A great American story, and an easy read.

Sergeant Tom Shytle served as radio operator in many interesting locations and ended his career in Management Engineering. Carolina Roots is the story of an Air Force family, its joys, sorrows, trials, tribulations, and triumphs. An inspiring story of how to make the best of any situation, enjoy life as it comes at you, and most of all, a story of family, family values, and devotion to country. There are many enjoyable anecdotes, my favorite is "the biggest rabbit in Tennessee."

Carolina Roots is more than a memoir, it is an insightful peek into American history. Another excellent, similar book, written by a sailor, is BROTHERHOOD OF DOOM: Memoirs of a Navy Nuclear Weaponsman. I am saving both books for my grandsons.

A tremendous book on growing up during America's great depression (what's so great about it?), of particular interest today. Tom Shytle went on from humble beginnings to spend 25 years flying for the Air Force. His writing style is lucid and to the point, with some deft touches of humor. The best recommendation I can give this military biography is to quote an entire paragraph from his youth. Growing up in the company-provided shacks surrounding the Park Yarn factory, he wrote:

"Growing up on a cotton mill village was a unique experience, probably unlike any other anywhere in the country. I read somewhere that 'you can take a boy out of the cotton mill village, but you can't keep lint from returning to his navel.' Growing up in that environment teaches you early on that the world owes you nothing."

What an amazing message for today's generation, where too many have come to expect everything be given to them. This man started with nothing, at the bottom, and never believed that he was destined to stay there. This is an American work ethic our country needs to find again, because the hard times today are nothing like those faced, and overcome, during the 1930s.

What an inspiration, we are honored as a country to have had warriors like this fighting for our freedom. And people like this are needed, once again. If not from this generation, then perhaps the next one. Read this, and believe in an America worth cherishing and protecting.