Page 34 - Amarillo Senior Link Magazine Summer 2020- Online Magazine
P. 34
HONORING SENIORS
t was early 1918, and America was mired in children loved
IWorld War I. these tales
and would
When he was 29 years old and had been married for often say that
one week, James “Guy” Houston received his draft they wished
notice. A week later, he and his new bride, Alice, Guy was their
loaded their few belongings and left their home in daddy!
the small community of Poetry, Texas and headed
to San Antonio where Guy was assigned to receive What Guy
basic training. On her own, in a tiny apartment in a didn’t talk
busy city, Alice came down with the measles! about were
the effects the
Guy was being trained as a machine gunner. war had on his
Whenever he could slip away, he visited Alice for health. Life in
a few short hours before returning to the barracks. the trenches was brutal, and when he was on the
After just four weeks, Guy’s training was complete, front lines, he was under constant fire from artillery
and he found himself herded onto a troop ship and snipers. It was “kill or be killed”. Machine
headed for France. Alice returned to Guy’s parents’ gunning was a difficult existence for a young man
home in Poetry for the duration.
brought up on a small farm in a Christian home.
After what seemed an eternity, the war ended on When he and his brave comrades fought in the
November 9, 1918. The troops came home. Guy’s Argonne Forest and along the Meuse, they were
mother, father and Alice rode to the train station attacked with mustard gas multiple times. He
in a horse-drawn wagon to pick him up. Alice suffered the lingering effects of these gassings for
recalled Guy’s mother whipping the horse team to the rest of his life.
hurry them along. Much to his mother’s chagrin, James Guy Houston wasn’t only a soldier. He was
Guy was the last man to step off the train. my father; he was my hero.
Although Guy never spoke to anyone other than After the war, he was never able to find
Alice about his dismal time in the trenches, he often permanent employment because of the repeated
regaled the neighborhood children with funny hospitalizations he required for his lung treatments.
stories about old French women chasing soldiers With five children to support, my mother took in
from their cherry trees and other shenanigans. The
laundry, and my father found whatever work he
34 Amarillo Senior Link
