The room in the Commonwealth Journal office which stores old bound editions of our local newspaper has always been a bit of a sacred space. For as long as I’ve been connected with the newspaper, the general public has not been allowed to have access to the books, and even employees have always been cautioned to handle them with much care. These may seem like strict rules, but I learned quickly why they are in place.
Aside from the fact that the oldest editions of the newspaper have gotten very brittle with time, at some point in the newspaper’s history, a person (or people) took the liberty of cutting out portions of the bound editions. I’m not sure who did this or why, but it happened – to several books spanning several different decades. Maybe it was a former newspaper employee, maybe not.
Whoever it was certainly was not very forward-thinking, and so now these irreplaceable pages are forever destroyed. The front page of the Sept. 20, 1944, Commonwealth newspaper is one of those that fell victim to this misfortune.
Therefore, this week’s Pulaski’s Past doesn’t contain some of the major headlines for the week. There is still plenty of news to be seen, however, and once again, much of it is news about local men who were serving in the military in the thick of World War II. Here’s what was newsworthy in Pulaski County this week in 1944.
Pfc. Estes Weddle, son of Mr. and Mrs.
Finley Weddle of Ingle, was killed in action in France July 25. He enlisted in the Army.