By PAULINE HOOVER, guest columnist
Today, I’m thinking about Family Heritage Day and how quickly it is approaching. Last Heritage Day we featured the one-room schools of Brown County. This year the theme is Brown County veterans. We will be celebrating veterans of all wars.
When my husband, Ronald L. Hoover, was in the service, 1958 and 1959, he came home from the base one evening talking about making a short-timer stick. At that time Ron had about 15 days left to serve; however, his stick was longer than 15 inches. He would rotate back stateside, then, in a few days, would be discharged. The length of the stick represented, in inches, the number of days left to serve in the military. Each day, Ron would cut off one inch of the stick. By the time he rotated, his stick would be to the end.
When I looked to the internet for the short-timer stick, I was amazed at how much I never knew. It seems the Vietnam era had the “better known” short-timer sticks. It is said, most of the guys in Vietnam carried short-timer sticks that lasted 60 days before they came back stateside. The one they describe has seven sections each for the last seven days left in a one-year tour. You would cut one section or day off until the last day when you finally went home. When you carried this stick, you were telling everyone you were a short-timer and “don’t mess with me” — same idea as Ron’s short-timer stick.
There was another reference to a swagger stick. The swagger stick is a short stick or riding crop usually carried by a uniformed person as a symbol of authority. A swagger stick is shorter than a staff or cane, and is usually made from rattan. The swagger stick was once in vogue in the United States Marine Corps, starting as an informal accessory carried by officers in the late 19th century. In 1915, it gained official approval as recruiters were encouraged to carry them to improve public image. This tradition grew when Marines deployed for World War I encountered European officers carrying swagger sticks, leading to an entry in the uniform regulations in 1922 authorizing enlisted Marines to carry them as well. The usage died down in the 1930s and 1940s, excepting China Marines, and returned in vogue when a 1952 regulation encouraged them, reaching a peak from 1956 to 1960. The swagger stick is not generally carried by military officers, having long ago gone out of style. One of the articles describes an elaborate hand-carved cane with a special decoration for the handle.
Family Heritage Day will be Saturday, April 27 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Brown County History Center in Nashville. The History Center and the Brown County Genealogical Society are teaming up to sponsor this event. We are seeking exhibitors who want to display their family information, military information or other historical/genealogical information, either from Brown County or from other locations. A table and chair(s) will be provided for each exhibitor. Family, military and local interest photos can be scanned before, during and after the event. Each resulting digital image will be cataloged and stored in the History Center archives, making it available for others who may be interested in seeing it. There is no charge for scanning.
Please contact Rhonda Dunn at 812-320-6237 (email [email protected]) or Julia Ottenweller at 812-597-5636 (email [email protected]) to request exhibit space and/or photo scanning.
