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World War Two Archives Exhibit

When you’re in the Sudent Center at Paris Junior College, check out the Archives exhibit by the north doors into the ballroom. Derald Bulls, our new director of institutional advancement and alumnae affairs, has given the archives 48 World War II photos, which soldiers who had rented rooms from his mother and father, Jo and Derald Bulls, left behind during the war.

Bulls told the story of the photos:

Mom and Dad moved to Paris from Commerce in 1943,” Bulls said. “Dad went to work with Ayres Department Store (north plaza), and Mom secured employment at Camp Maxey working for one of the commanding officers.

During this time, Mom befriended many a soldier and his family. I say family because many sent their rations (flour, sugar, etc.) to their soldiers stationed here. Mom and Dad’s home on North Main Street became somewhat of a weekend headquarters for many soldiers and families who came to visit them. Mom would take their rations and make pies, cakes, etc. for the young men.

As a result of these friendships, some soldiers would leave personal items at their home for safe keeping. This is how the 40-50 World War II photographs came into our possession. The photos were in the top of my dad’s closet for years and years. During my Paris High School days, I carried them to history class, but back into the closet they went when I got home, and there they stayed until we broke up housekeeping on 19th Street SE in the late 80s. Because the photos were detailed with descriptions of where they were taken, i.e. Iwo Jima, Normandy, etc., I couldn’t let them go. For the past 20-plus years I’ve kept them and shared them with my children during school times, but WWII didn’t have the same attraction to them as it did to me!

I wish I knew the names of the soldiers, sailors, marines, etc. who came through our home and left the photos, but I don’t. Maybe this feature on the archives website will create a greater interest.

To this day, even though both parents are deceased, I still maintain communications with the daughters of the late Jim Peel, who referred to my parents as Uncle Derald and Aunt Jo, and a special soldier, Pat Carbone, still trades Christmas cards with me each year. In fact, my parents so liked Pat and his late wife, Jean, that after leaving the clothing field for a few years and beginning a 13-year career in a full-service Humble Oil station, Dad sponsored Pat through the Humble Oil training program. Pat ended up with one of the top producing full-service stations in Dallas for over 40 years! Mom and Dad cared for members of the military services from the four corners of the U.S.

The photographs are very moving. Studying them quietly, I begin feeling something of the significance and impact of these action scenes and of the fates of the men who were involved in them. In the middle of the case are pictures of Derald and Jo, depicting the Home Front, which was so meaningful to the young soldiers who resided for a time in their loving home in Paris, Texas. The photographs are all being mounted for display and will be rotated periodically.

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