I, Patricia Swayze Larsen, moved with my parents, James Graham Urban Swayze and Rubie Lange Swayze, from Thorndale, TX to San Antonio during WWII. I was eight years old (1942)and on a return visit to my grandmother, Helen Urban Swayze, in Thorndale when I wrote the following to my parents which I think will be of some interest to the family of Allyne Miertschin Summerlin. Allyne was the daughter of Ernst Adolph Miertschin of Thorndale married to Harold Manning Summerlin of Thorndale, TX.

Dear Mother and Dad, How are you. Allyne Summerlin had a 8 lb. baby Boy. They named him Herald Manieg (Note: At eight the spelling was off but this would be the namesake son of Harold Manning Summerlin. The next line refers to the father, Harold Manning Summerlin): Herald came through on a train. He threw a note. It said he was going to God knows where. ( My childhood letter concludes with 6000 dozen xxxx to my parents.)

Allyne's husband, Harold Manning Summerlin, would have been on a troop train going through Thorndale. I recall, as a child, seeing these young men in uniform waving from the trains. The railroad line runs right through town so everyone was aware when a train was coming.