The Everyday Patriot Project

  Private Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie was born on July 14, 1912, in Okemah Oklahoma. He was raised in a musically talented family and learned to play the guitar and harmonica while very young and, after his mother's hospitalization and his father's move to Texas, he would use his guitar to busk on the streets of Okemah to earn money for food.  He would eventually join his father in Pampas Texas in 1929.  Private Woody Guthrie spent a few years in Texas, doing odd jobs and busking, but, in 1935, unable to support his wife and children, he would (like many others) make his way to California, where he would begin performing on KFVD Los Angeles with Maxine "Lefty Lou" Crissman. His songs would ultimately become the "voice" of the migrant worker.  In 1940, Private Guthrie crossed the country to New York, playing small shows with Alan Lomax,  Huddie Ledbetter (Lead Belly), and Pete Seeger. Then, in 1941, he accepted a job with the Bonneville Power Adm...

  Sergeant French Vineyard was born on November 6, 1914, in Walton, West Virginia.  He worked as a bricklayer until entering the US Army in 1940. He was assigned first to the 12th infantry before being reassigned to the Military Police Corps and remained stationed in the Washington, DC, area throughout World War II. His military career was short-lived.  Sergeant French Vineyard contracted Tuberculosis during his service and would be honorably discharged in 1943.  He suffered a period of disability before dying on May 18, 1949.  He rests at the Glasgow Cemetery in Roanoke, Virginia.  * Read about a.d. elliott's Everyday Patriot Project here* ****** ********************************* a.d. elliott is a wanderer, photographer, and storyteller living in Salem, Virginia.  In addition to her travel writings at  www.takethebackroads.com , you can also read her book reviews at  www.riteoffancy.com  and US military biographies at  www.everyda...