A LOOK BACK:

“Hope for a lasting peace. There’ll be bluebirds over the white cliffs of Dover, tomorrow, just you wait and see.”

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These are the starting words of the popular British song that captured the feelings and united the people on both sides of the Atlantic during World War II and would become a symbol that when the war was over, a new day would dawn.

This week we’ll be looking at four Huntington Beach sons who served in World War II and how they lived through that trying time.

Paratrooper Larry Moore of Wintersburg certainly saw many valleys as he flew over enemy lines — in a parachute.

Moore was one of those who landed on Luzon June 30, 1945, and July 2 he was among those who jumped at Aprio and from there he was sent in August to Mukden, Manchuria, where he and his fellow paratroopers jumped in a raid to rescue Gen. Jonathan Wainwright from the Japanese and he nearly lost an eye from a grenade.

I’m sure at the 1945 Thanksgiving table the Moore family was glad their son was home, safe and sound.

Jimmy Clark had lived with his parents at 518 11th St. until the bombing of Pearl Harbor galvanized the country into action.

Jimmy would receive his basic training at both camps Elliott and Pendleton. Once his training was completed, he was sent to the South Pacific.

It was on Nov. 1, 1943, that Jimmy hit the beaches of Bouganville in the Solomon Islands just east of Papua New Guinea. Later, he was transferred to the Pioneer Battalion that would fight and win back Guam by July 24, 1944. He would fight in several other engagements of the war before coming down with malaria fever.

He would recover with treatment at the Pearl Harbor Hospital and by December 1944, was flown to a convalescent hospital in Oregon. Jimmy was then sent to Terminal Island in San Pedro where he received his honorable discharge in October 1945. By November he was celebrating Thanksgiving at home.

In the household of Huntington Beach Mayor Thomas Talbert, Thanksgiving 1945 was especially joyous when son Thomas Van “Tim” Jr. was discharged from the Navy after serving in it for four years.

Barnett Medford of 311 Crest, who also served in the Navy, was glad to be back home for the holiday. Medford was attached to the first amphibious forces in the Atlantic and was one of the first to land at Casablanca in French Morocco.

After the invasion, Medford boarded a convoy for America only to have his ship sunk. He would see action July 4, 1943, at Gila, Sicily and at Salerno, Italy, in August 1943. Medford was there June 6, 1944, D-Day at Normandy, as were so many who stormed the beaches to liberate Europe. A shell fragment broke his jaw, and he would spend nearly three months at an English hospital before returning to the States. From there he was sent to Iwo Jima with the 3rd Marine division in February 1945. In April, he landed with the 1st Marine division on Okinawa, where he suffered from what the military called battle fatigue and was sent to Hawaii to recover.

By Thanksgiving, Medford was back home in Huntington Beach.

These are only four stories of Huntington Beach sons who fought and celebrated that Thanksgiving after the war with the same thought: tomorrow, when the world is free

JERRY PERSON is the city’s historian and longtime Huntington Beach resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box 7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.