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On the front page of The Llano News on July 2, 1942, was a photo of the Army Air Force’s “wicked looking” AT-9 training plane from Ellington Field, near Houston, which reportedly “has all the flying characteristics of the giant bombers the graduating class at the Texas air drome will soon be piloting.”

Some of those flyers may have been from Llano, although none were named. Dan Hackworth had just closed his garage, stored his tools and equipment, and joined the army; bond sales were more than $10,000 over the monthly quota in June, and Valley Spring cancelled its rodeo “to save rubber,” apparently on the vehicles of those who would have attended. Llano County collected 147,000 pounds of scrap rubber for the war effort in June of 1942!

More than 600 soldiers from Camp Hood spent the July 4 weekend in Llano; the Army asked Llano merchants to stay open on the Fourth (a Saturday), so most local businesses observed the Independence Day holiday on Monday, July 6. The Lantex Theater featured the MGM picture, “Woman of the Year,” starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn. A column called “On the Home Front” mentioned that the “Office of Price Administration” had established price controls over “practically everything on Main Street.”

Thomas M. Spencer, who had been Llano’s school superintendent for the past year, announced that he would be taking a job as the deputy state superintendent for Denton, Cooke, Collin and Grayson Counties. Joe Young, of Marble Falls, was hired to take Spencer’s place. More than 70 ex-students of West Texas Normal and Business College, in Cherokee, gathered for their fourth annual re-union; Carl Garner was named to the War Ration Board, and former governor Dan Moody advertised his candidacy for the U.S. Senate.

Van Spinks was chosen to replace outgoing Lions Club president Wilburn Oatman Jr. Brigadier General Ira C. Eaker, who was born on a ranch near Field Creek, was appointed head of the U.S. Bomber Command in England. His family was living in Eden by 1942. Army recruiters came to Llano in a fancy RV. C.R. Rimes put an ad in the paper, saying “I am now vulcanizing tires and tubes.” Other advertisers were The Leader Store, Bruhl’s (milk shakes, 10 cents), Pat Marschall’s Feed Store, and Miss Augusta Weston’s Cake Shop, in the Hotel Llano. The temperature reached 105 degrees on July 21.

Roy Ellason and Tom Harrison were in a runoff for the job of sheriff; the 4-H boys took a camping trip to Lake Buchanan. Ginger Rogers and George Montgomery starred in “Roxie Hart” at the Lantex, and bond sales fell $2,000 short of the goal for July. Staff Sgt. Oliver J. Smith, son of Ollie Smith of Llano, was one of 134 Texas men to get his wings at Kelly Field. Lt. Johnnie Clawson also got his wings. O.C. Fisher of San Angelo won the Democratic nomination for the 21st Congressional district. The temperature was above 100 degrees every day the first week of August.

On August 13, the headlines announced that “two-inch rain breaks drouth in Llano County.” Football coach O.H. Newton left for a better job in Corpus Christi, and the high school band announced a concert to be held on the courthouse lawn that evening.

A Brownwood man died in Llano after an accidental shooting; Roy Ellason won the election for sheriff, 2nd Lt. E. Dalrymple flew cover for the ill-fated raid at Dieppe, France, where the Allies lost 60 percent of their attacking force and almost 100 aircraft. Sisters Eleanor and Cordelia Norton joined the WAAC together to help the war effort. A scrap metal drive was started in Llano.

Fifteen tons of scrap metal, much of it brought in by elementary school children, was collected on “Rally Day,” the first day of the drive. By the end of that week, Llano had collected more than 50 tons. A letter came from pfc Byron Summers, who had been involved in the Battle of the Solomons. By the end of September, 95 tons of scrap metal had been collected in Llano, but a full-page ad proclaimed “Steel mills running out of scrap — Whose boy will die because you failed?”

The Lions Club carnival was scheduled for October 24. Two brothers were promoted in the U.S. Army: Captain Harry K. Westerman and 1st Lieutenant Mark A. Westerman. Lt. G.C. Powell, son of Mr. and Mrs. George Powell, got his wings. A Curtis Field cadet was killed when his plane crashed five miles southwest of Valley Spring. Dr. H.J. Hoerster became a captain in the medical corps; R.E. Scott, of Scott’s Wrecking Yard, received a War Production Board merit award for processing and moving scrap iron. A cartoon in the paper that same week showed an all-metal robot entering the wrecking yard, while one employee says to the other, “He’s come to give himself up.”

Two more groups of Llano youths joined the army, so there were more than 300 Llano County men in the military by November 12. The Llano News celebrated its 55th anniversary (a little early by my reckoning; the sign on the old building says, “Founded in 1889”). Coffee was rationed on November 29. Lt. John Mitchell, brother of Mrs. Carlos Ashley, was killed in action. Brothers Glen and Edkar Cowan were serving together in England.

Llano staged its first air raid drill on Monday, November 30 (not quite a year after the attack on Pearl Harbor). an army officer was there to instruct the inexperienced “Air Craft Watchers.” Eight more Llano boys were called up on December 12. Bailey Ratliff, of the Hi-Way Service Station (“Your Firestone dealer”), advertised Firestone War Tires.

The year ended on a sad note; the home of W.W. Watkins was destroyed by fire, and the family of 19-year-old Alton Jackson Tumlinson learned that he had died from appendicitis while serving in the navy, and had been buried at sea. That was 1942.