The et cetera chronicles – vol. 128: Adrian

ABOVE THE LAW –  It was a quiet day in the sleepy town of Adrian, Ga., when a fancy car rocketed through town on May 30, 1949.   Police Chief E.W. Avery saw the car and took off in hot pursuit.  Avery’s patrol car overcame the speeder within a mile.  Much to his surprise, the blazing car was the car of Georgia governor Herman Talmadge.

The governor wearing his trademark bright red suspenders, stepped out of the car and immediately told the officer that he had the right to drive as fast as he wanted and did not need to obey traffic signals.

After first offering to post a bond for the $11.25 ticket. Then Talmadge yelled, “Speed trap!” The ticket was issued to the governor’s driver, Haralson. Chief Avery issued a statement that the governor was most likely napping during the event. The matter quickly faded away in a few days, although the chief held on to the ticket.  Decatur, Alabama, June 17, 1949; The Spokesman Review, Spokane, Washington, June 18, 1949.

CAN’T YOU SEE MY NECK! – Lt. Thomas Frazier,  a favorite son of Adrian, Ga., knew that his back was hurt.  The pain was overbearing and unwaning. During World War II, Frazier served as a bomber pilot. His neck broken when his fighter plane crashed into the China Sea.

The Air Force denied that Frazier was injured enough to take him off the flight list.  Frazier continued to fly missions as scheduled by the brass. The lieutenant flew one after another for fifteen missions. To be able to sit in the cockpit, Frazier was strapped to the board and strapped into his seat.  You see, Frazier’s neck and upper spine were broken! Lt. Frazier was first diagnosed as having a strained back   A pinched nerve in his neck was so severe that the flier’s arm became useless.   

After the surrender in September 1945, Frazier remained in the care of doctors.  He entered Walter Reed Hospital in October 1947 after he had been discharged in April earlier that year.

Finally, Frazier had had enough of the red tape wrapped around him and other fellow servicemen.  In the winter of 1948, Frazier and three other men, one being Captain Carlos Ogden, a Congressional Medal of Honor awardee, appeared before a congressional panel in Washington, D.C. The men were there to ask for a disability pension based on their injuries.  Unfortunately, there was no follow up by the media. Bakersfield Californian, Feb. 27, 1948.

THE PHOENIX RISES – The town of Adrian and the entire Adrian community were stunned when the town depot burned to the ground on June 13, 1937.  For more than a third of a century, the depot, commercial center of town,  served the intersection of the Brewton and Pineora Railroad and the Wadley & Mt. Vernon Railroad. The people of Adrian quickly rebounded.  By the end of the first week.  E.A. Taylor, the railroad agent, led the crew that rebuilt a new depot in ten days.  Macon Telegraph, June 19, 1937.  

STAY AT THE GILWAM –   In the center of Adrian is the town’s only traffic light. It was there because U.S. Highway 80, an East Coast to West Coast highway, intersects Georgia Highway 15, a 346-mile Northeast to Southeast Georgia road.  Mrs. Carl L. Gillis, Sr. and Mrs. Kermit Wammock realized the need and profitability of a hotel for persons traveling through town.  It did not take long to find a location, probably owned by their husbands.  It was the long-closed Bank of Adrian building. The name was the contraction of their last names (Gillis and Wammock)  Mrs. Thurmon Cook opened a café in the completely remodeled bank. Macon Telegraph, May 9, 1939. 

ADRIAN FIGHTER PILOT – John R. Gillis grew up dreaming of flying high in the sky.  As a B-25 bomber pilot based out of Corsica, Lt. Gillis flew nearly 75 missions, earning a Distinguished Flying Cross and six air medals.  His unit took out many strategic targets in North Africa and along the Mediterranean Sea. Gillis and his fellow pilots scored the highest bombing accuracy score in the Army Air Forces.  Macon Telegraph, Jan. 23, 1945.