Local man remembers wartime in Traverse City

Related Photos

December 6, 2008

Area native Tom Ghering was 7 on Dec. 7, 1941

By LORAINE ANDERSON The Record Eagle Sun Dec 07, 2008, 09:41 AM EST

Tom Ghering, the great-grandson of Old Mission Peninsula pioneers, was 7 years old on Dec. 7, 1941, but he clearly remembers that day.

He was at a family reunion at the Bowers Harbor Grange Hall. Someone came in and announced that Pearl Harbor had been bombed.

"This caused a lot of upset,"

Ghering, now 74, said. "I had three cousins near draft age and my own father. The three cousins went in first and then my dad."

World War II was not a happy time for his family.

"Telegrams were not welcome," he said.

His cousin, Bill, was killed in Europe in 1944. His dad, Eugene L. Ghering, was missing in action for a couple of weeks and returned to the United States shell-shocked and with injuries that required hospitalization, first in Florida and later at the Percy Jones Army Hospital in Battle Creek.

There, he ended up working, processing incoming and outgoing patients, until the war was over. Others hospitalized there during the war: future U.S. Sens. Philip Hart of Michigan, Bob Dole of Kansas, and Daniel Inouye of Hawaii.

Ghering and his brother, Eugene, were part of the war effort, too. They were "sky watchers," and he chuckled when asked for details.

"Our job was to identify all the aircraft that flew over our area by date, time and direction," he did. "I think now it was something that adults thought up just to keep us kids busy."

Ghering recalls rumors about someone seeing a German submarine in West Bay. He also remembers talk about spies near Norwood. In fact, no submarines came anywhere near Michigan, nor were there any Nazi spies. Not that history knows about, anyway.

Today, he thinks the "submarine" probably was a Navy "flat-top," -- a ship that had been retrofitted for airplane takeoff-and-landing training, he said. The Navy operated a training base in Traverse City during World War II and also tested twin-engine Navy assault drones, or pilot-less planes.

Ghering and his wife of 44 years, Marion, are retired and live several miles south of Traverse City. Both are descended from the area's early residents and enjoy genealogy. Ghering's scrapbooks and albums are a mix of past and present -- ancestors and descendants, times of war and peace, events of joy and sadness, great-grandparents and their own great grandchildren.

Marion, an American Indian born in Traverse City and raised in Elk Rapids, can trace her father's family back to 1581 in France. Her ancestors include an early French settler to Canada who married an Odawa women and whose descendants at some point moved to what is now Michigan.

Ghering's great-grandfather came to Old Mission Peninsula in 1868. He can date his family back to 1626 in Germany. His grandfather, Tompkins Ghering, was born on Old Mission in 1869 and married Mary Swaney, the daughter of other early settlers on the peninsula.

Among his photos is a snapshot taken in 1944 of three children. He and brother Eugene are standing on either side of their little sister, Nancy Ann, in front of their aunt's house on Madison Street in Traverse City. Three stars are posted on the door behind them to signify that three people in the house are serving in the military. They were blue, he explained.

Back then, a gold star was not a good sign. It meant somebody had been lost.

"One became gold when my cousin, Willard Scott Geary, was killed," Ghering said.

The losses of that war are still with those who were alive at that time.

Text Only

Record-Eagle 150th Anniversary

After looking back, we look to the future

In this last installment of the Record-Eagle's year-long 150th Anniversary History Project series, native son Bill Milliken ponders the future, including the question: What will the Traverse City area be like in 2159?
Continued ...
Nov 8, 2009 7:14 am 9 Photos
Derek Bailey: Cooperation is key

I am excited and optimistic in thinking about my predictions for the area and Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians for the next 150 years. Clearly, we live in one of the most beautiful areas of Mother Earth. The GTB Tribal Nation has grown exponentially as an area and tribe over the last 29 years. We must now sustain and channel that growth.
Continued ...
Nov 8, 2009 7:12 am 1 Photo
George McManus: Manage resources

The Grand Traverse Region is blessed with abundant renewable natural resources, which properly managed, will remain for the next 150 years and beyond. The community of the future depends on what direction the citizenry and leadership decide to take and external influences over which they have no control.
Continued ...
Nov 8, 2009 7:11 am 1 Photo
Marsha Smith: Listen to each other

The Grand Vision has shown me that the people of this region love it here and have a commitment to building a better future. We care about what happens here and we care about the future. My main concern is that we sometimes forget about all things we hold in common and focus more on what keeps us apart.
Continued ...
Nov 8, 2009 7:11 am 1 Photo
Joe VanderMeulen: Plan for six generations

We need to look forward across six or more generations of people to see 150 years into the future. What wonderful changes there may be, if we choose wisely, just get lucky, or some of both. Of course, we face many threats to our security and survival. The risks of deadly pandemics, global climate change and unimaginable wars are real.
Continued ...
Nov 8, 2009 7:10 am 1 Photo
November 2, 2009
Women helped build Traverse City

Women helped build Traverse City's library system, schools and hospital. They lobbied for clean water and clean streets. They were concerned about the needy, child labor, reforestation, international peace and the right of women to vote. They did this largely through two local women's clubs -- the Ladies Library Association and the Traverse City Woman's Club.
Continued ...
Nov 2, 2009 6:17 am 4 Photos
TC's early women leaders

Thirteen women who influenced early Traverse City are profiled.
Continued ...
Nov 2, 2009 6:15 am
October 31, 2009
TC history exhibit visits TADL

The Record-Eagle's traveling exhibit of Traverse City and newspaper history will be on display throughout November at the Traverse Area District Library on Woodmere.
Continued ...
Oct 31, 2009 9:30 pm
October 19, 2009
Loraine Anderson: TC's 1925 earthquake

Earthquakes are rare in Michigan, but Traverse City residents definitely felt the earth move beneath their feet and watched electric ceiling lights sway overhead on Feb. 28, 1925. "EARTHQUAKE HERE FIRST EVER FELT: Dishes Rattle, Chairs Rock, Smokers 'Swear Off' and People in High Places Come Down," Record-Eagle headlines shouted after tremors rattled the city at 8:27 p.m. that Saturday night.
Continued ...
Oct 19, 2009 7:00 am 1 Photo
October 5, 2009
Water Wars: Advocating for 'public trust'

It was a busy summer on the water front for Great Lakes advocates in what environmentalists and others are calling "The Water Wars."
Continued ...
Oct 5, 2009 6:18 am 3 Photos
October 3, 2009
R-E editorial decries water diversion

Record-Eagle concern about Great Lakes water diversion dates to the early 1900s, including a Jan. 14, 1925, editorial about the U.S. governments challenge of Chicagos right to divert Lake Michigan water without consulting its neighbors.
Continued ...
Oct 3, 2009 9:55 pm
Summary of summer Great Lakes water issues

Great Lakes water issues this summer included the following.
Continued ...
Oct 3, 2009 9:55 pm
September 28, 2009
150 Years: Bay served as sewer, water supply

The Boardman River in Traverse City wasn't a pretty sight at the turn of the last century. It was a city sewer, and it flowed into West Bay, the source of the city's water supply.
Continued ...
Sep 28, 2009 7:18 am 7 Photos
August 10, 2009
150 Years: Cartographer maps settlements

Helen Hornbeck Tanner, a Beulah summer resident and historian of Great Lakes American Indians and cartography, created a new historical map of the Grand Traverse region that traces early American Indian and white settlement.
Continued ...
Aug 10, 2009 6:39 am 2 Photos
July 27, 2009
Loraine Anderson: Tracking Titus

Harold Titus has been one of my favorite Traverse City historical characters since I read "Timber," his 1922 novel, last year. He intrigues me for many reasons. Part of his mystery is that he is virtually unknown today. He is "new" local history.
Continued ...
Jul 27, 2009 8:06 am 1 Photo