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Mr L.A. Oakes Story:
(as told by Jimmy Parks)
Luther Avery Oakes, Jr. who goes by L.A., was an American POW of the Japanese during W.W.II. I'm certain we cannot imagine all the things he went through unless you were a POW yourself. He was born January 15, 1916, at Irwinville, GA. He had 5 other brothers and sisters total. He helped build the house he was raised in. In his boo (Trials and Tribulations of an American Prisoner of the Japanese in W.W.II), he mentioned that in building his house, it helped him develop into a man. He learned the value of hard work, value of common sense and value of ingenuity. I kind of feel this helped him during the time he was a POW. He and his family loved music. They had a family band and sang on the radio often. They sang for 8 years until W.W.II ended the band. Those had to be good times playing. Well, along came the war, and here went Mr. Oakes. On June 14, 1841, Mr. Oakes told many good-byes and the next morning his father took him to Ashburn, GA to meet the bus. Then to Ft. McPherson in Atlanta, GA and many places after that. In Manilla, Mr. Oakes heard someone strumming on the guitar one evening. He found a man Hoss Malloy whom he played fiddle with back in Cordele, on radio station WMJM. Mr. Oakes had a fiddle, so he and Hoss began to do some picking and grinning. Mr. Oakes was there when Pearl Harbor was bombed, he was there when his own area was being bombed just past their tents, he has been at Manila and Bataan to mention some of the areas. Then came the time that he was captured by the Japanese. I don't think I will say a lot about this time as we don't want to bring up bad memories today. I imagine that being a POW especially during that time in history speaks for itself. For over 4 years he was a prisoner of war.
Well, finally the day came that he was released, got back to US personnel, received medical care, and later was able to come home. One of his brothers told Mr. Oakes that he found him a girl he might like. Well, it ended up that L.A. married that girl, and that young lady is sitting beside him now, and he and Miss Joyce have been married for almost 60 years. One thing I want to mention about his homecoming is that his dad had sold his Model A car with a 1938 Chevy- Buddy Hollomon would say his dad had great taste. I do want to quote something from his book. "I feel like the Lord has blessed me. He brought me safely home from my prisoner of war experience and gave me a wife who has devoted herself to my well being and happiness." As best as we can, Mr. Oakes, we sincerely thank you for your service to our country. We feel that your part has helped us to enable us, our children, our grandchildren to be free. We thank you and we appreciate you, Miss Joyce. May God Bless you both.
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