Not everyone made it overseas or even into the Army, but that doesn’t mean they were not involved in war efforts.
Louis Judson, now 91, was 17 years old when Pearl Harbor was attacked. When this happened, all deferrals were negated – meaning that an employer could no longer stop men from signing up to go off to war.
So, Louis, a head faller by trade, journeyed to Vancouver to join the Armed Forces with a view to travel across the Atlantic – only to find out that his left wrist was badly broken and had been for quite some time due to a fall at work. He received a cast, which he wore for 11 months, and was sent home.
He ended up working at a sawmill, which supplied railway ties for the war effort overseas. Louis was responsible for grading the lumber he received and cutting it to size (five inches by 10 inches by eight and a half feet).
Then he loaded the wood into railroad cars to transport it across Canada, where it was shipped abroad.
There was a great shortage of timber in Great Britain at the time due to bombings. German submarines also managed to destroy many ships both in the English Channel and the Atlantic Ocean, thus the need for ever more railway ties was great.
Thankfully, Canada’s vast forests could easily handle the demand.
In 1947, Louis opened his own sawmill and was very successful in his trade, while building himself a home and raising four children with his wife, Sheila. However, tragedy struck that same year by way of a common accident in those days, which cost Louis his foot.
His father Marion Smith Judson, grandfather Chief Joseph of the Nez Perces, and uncle Matney Lewis Judson, first settled in the Bradley Creek area after the First World War. They had initially moved to Bridge Lake in 1910 where Judson Road still exists today.
In 2007, Louis was presented with the Homecoming Award for longest living (person) in Forest Grove, making him the best resource on stories of people and the area.
Doris E. Rufli is the Forest Grove correspondent.
