The Unsung Hero of Birdsong, USA

On Saturday, the Haberlins drive to Charleston for a parade honoring World War II veterans, one of whom is Jake’s brother, Earl. Patrick planned to go with them, but he remains in Birdsong because his mother will give birth soon. When the family arrives at Cousin Polly’s house, Gabriel is struck by the beauty of Helene, their neighbor and Tink’s close friend. Tink teases Gabriel about his interest in Helene and tells him that Helene will be attending the party for Earl after the parade. Polly is irritated because the Haberlins have arrived late, and she snaps at her Black employees, saying, “Don’t y’all gals eat none of that food, you hear?” (104).

At the parade, Gabriel sees a group of circus performers, and crowds of people are waving flags. An orange butterfly lands on Auntie Rita, who declares this to be a good omen because butterflies carry people’s prayers to heaven. Gabriel is filled with pride when he sees his uncle, “a true-blue American war hero” (107), in the first car of the parade. Tink takes a photograph of Lieutenant Haberlin saluting and promises to give Gabriel a copy.

After the parade, the Haberlins return to Cousin Polly’s house. Tink shows Gabriel her photography portfolio, and he sneaks a picture of Helene into his pocket. The week before, Helene drank from a water fountain for Black people as an act of protest. An elderly white woman swore at her and told her to go back to New York City “if she didn’t like the ways of South Carolina” (112), but Helene just laughed at her. Gabriel marvels at the story and admires Helene’s courage.

A photographer from the Charleston Evening Post comes to the Waldrops’ home and takes pictures of the partygoers. Cousin Polly is thrilled at this unexpected development, and Tink is curious about the photographer’s equipment. Gabriel becomes hungry and goes into the kitchen, where one of the Waldrops’ Black employees offers to make him a sandwich. He asks the woman her name. At first, she tells him to call her “auntie,” but when he explains that he genuinely wants to know, she introduces herself as Johnnie Dove Victory. She tells Gabriel about her only child, Homer Lee Bartholomew Victory, explaining that Homer was offered a scholarship to Claflin but chose to enlist instead. He earned a Good Conduct Medal for his service in the Navy during World War II and planned to relocate his family to San Francisco, California, but he was killed in action in New Guinea while he was “helpin’ carry wounded American soldiers to safety” (117). Mrs. Victory grieves the fact that Homer’s body was never recovered, and she thanks Gabriel for “list’nin to an old woman go on and on” (118).

When Uncle Earl arrives, his uniform jacket is adorned with several medals, “some silver and others gold” (121). He scoops Gabriel up in a hug and tells the rapt partygoers about the Nazi fighter planes he shot down, the Battle of the Bulge, and the time when he nearly crashed after his plane was shot. He admits that he was scared during one particularly close brush with death but explains that he took strength from the knowledge that he “woulda died doin’ what [he] could to make this world better instead of worse” (122). Helene arrives at the party, poses for some photographs with Earl, and leaves after Tink introduces her to Gabriel. The boy wishes in vain that she would return or at least look in his direction.

The narrative moves forward to the Monday after the parade. Meriwether arrives for his shift on foot because someone stole his bicycle on Saturday. He and Gabriel suspect that the culprit is Lucas, but Jake urges them not to voice their suspicions to anyone. Phoebe is out of town, and Jake gives Abigail permission to be at the garage with her father.

Meriwether asks to buy a black 1936 Chevy that has been sitting in the garage’s lot because no one can get it to start. Jake is taken aback because he doesn’t think the vehicle is good for anything but scrap metal, and he promises to give Meriwether the car for free if Meriwether can fix it. When Gabriel questions if the repairs are possible, Meriwether reminds the boy that he’s “mighty good at fixin’ things” (127).

Abigail loves books and is currently reading Johnny Gruelle’s The Magical Land of Noom. The Birdsong library, which is segregated, has very few books for Black children, so Phoebe and the pastor started a library at their church. Abigail and Gabriel have both read Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings’s novel The Yearling, but the boy is too embarrassed to admit that the book moved him to tears. Abigail tells Gabriel that she is going to be a writer when she grows up. Gabriel reflects on the career aspirations of his friends and peers, wondering how they can be so certain of their plans for the future when his ideas of becoming a pilot or a detective seem “like questions instead of answers” (130). He remembers Auntie Rita’s certainty that he has a special destiny and wonders if she is right.

When Meriwether takes his lunch break, Gabriel tells him about the parade and Uncle Earl’s war stories about the Battle of the Bulge. Meriwether comments on the snow on the battlefield in a way that accidentally indicates that he was there as well. Abigail reminds her father that he “promised Mama not to talk about it ’round white folks…ever” (134).

Meriwether swears Gabriel to secrecy and then admits that he fought in the Battle of the Bulge as a member of the United States Army’s all-Black 761st Tank Battalion. The members of the battalion called themselves “the Black Panthers,” and their motto was “Come Out Fighting” (135). Meriwether is tired of seeing the service of Black people ignored entirely while white veterans are honored in parades. Gabriel tells Meriwether that he is a hero. The man begins to tell Gabriel about what life has been like for him since he received his honorable discharge, but their conversation is interrupted by Matthew, who needs help with customers. Before Gabriel leaves, Meriwether makes him repeat the promise not to tell anyone that he fought in World War II. Gabriel wonders why Meriwether doesn’t want white people to know about his service and about what happened to him after he returned home from the war.

The next day, Gabriel sees Lucas talking to Abigail. She tells him that her name means “a father’s delight.” After Lucas leaves, Gabriel warns Abigail not to talk to the mechanic again because he is racist. He asks her why Meriwether doesn’t tell white people about his service, and she explains that Black men have been lynched or maimed because “some white men don’t take to the idea of a colored man bein’ a war soldier equal to them” (139). She tells him about a man in Batesburg whose eyes were gouged out.

Later that afternoon, Gabriel hears Meriwether shouting and fears that Lucas has caused trouble. However, when the boy rushes to the garage, he sees that Meriwether has gotten the Chevy’s engine to start. The boy agrees with Abigail that her father is “truly amazin’” (140).