This newspaper clipping was among a collection of documents from my grandfather Chuck Lowry’s time in the Army. He is shown taking a typing class at Billings General Hospital in Indianapolis, Indiana. Billings was an Army hospital where he spent nearly a year recovering from wounds sustained near Brest, France in August 1944.

Although I had the clipping, I didn’t know the newspaper or date of publication. I popped over to Newspapers.com and searched “Cleo Frazier” to see if I could get a hit. I got about 1,500. I narrowed it down to 1945 and only had to scan about 50 before I located the article in the Indianapolis News from September 5, 1945. Even with the war now over, Pfc. Charles J. Lowry is still in the Army recovering. Not only that, but I learned what he was doing on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9:30 a.m. during what I can imagine was a mundane routine at the hospital.

Of interest was Miss Cleo Frazier. Through the same search, I discovered she was a teacher at a local high school volunteering her time in the hospital. In 1937, she was in China when they were invaded by Japan. She left Shanghai three days before it was bombed, speaking of her experience before a meeting of the Business and Professional Womens Club in Indianapolis.

Sources:

“G.I.’s at Billings Get Typing Course,” The Indianapolis News, 5 September 1945, pg 12, col 1; digital images, (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 21 Aug 2023), Newspapers.com.

“Miss Frazier to Speak,” The Indianapolis News, 30 September 1945, pg 10, col 1; digital images, (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 21 Aug 2023), Newspapers.com.

“Manual Teacher Kept Busy,” newspaper clipping, unknown date and newspaper; personal collection of Joe Lowry, address for personal use.