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Heath Goad (right) visits with Alton Weddle at the barber shop in Willis.

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WWII veterans swap stories

by Roger Mannon
Staff Writer

Two old-timers are in the barber shop in Willis, swapping war stories. It’s a scene that was common in small-town America in the middle of the 20th Century.
Heath Goad, age 89, is getting his monthly haircut. Alton Weddle, 85, is the barber.
Both men fought in World War II, in the ETO (European Theatre of Operations). They fought in some of the same places, but did not meet until after the war.
“We were both sergeants. We both fought at Normandy,” Weddle said. “At the end of the war, they offered me a promotion but I decided to get out.”
Goad’s unit saw heavy fighting. At one battle, “we had 155 men that went in, and only 29 left alive,” he said.
Once, his outfit captured 80 Germans, who were disguised in American uniforms. “They liked to try that a lot,” Goad said. “One of our snipers shot one, and then they raised the white flag and surrendered.”
Another time, he was sent on a mission in two feet of snow. “It was to a place I had been one time.”
After the war, Goad went into the timber business, cutting walnut trees across the eastern United States. He still lives by himself and fixes his own meals.
Goad has 124 grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-grandchildren. “And there’s one more on the way,” he said.
After the war, in 1947, Weddle opened a barber shop in Floyd. He was there for almost 40 years (“39 years and ten months,” he said.)
After closing up shop in Floyd, he moved the business nearer home in Willis. He has been barbering in the new location for 20 years.
He has sharp memories of mid-20th century Floyd. “We started out charging 40 cents a head for a hair cut.
“It took two or three years to get it to 50 cents, then 75 cents and then a dollar. There were two barbershops in Floyd and we got along good.”
Court day was important for barbers, Weddle said. “The lawyers would come in before court and get a shave and a haircut for 80 cents.
“Waitman Slaughter had his grocery store under the Brame Hotel,” Weddle said. The hotel was torn down and replaced by the real estate building at the stop light.
“It was a small store, and the girls that worked at the factory would give him a shopping list and he’d fill it and put it in their cars. When he built the new store, people said he wouldn’t do any good because it was so far out of town.”
Floyd also had a Piggly Wiggly grocery store. The building is now occupied by Floyd Pharmacy.
“The Williams boys ran that, and they were nice people. If I bought $12 worth of groceries, I felt like I had splurged.”
Weddle said his father had been a part time barber. “When I was a boy, he’d cut hair for 10 or 15 cents a head.
“While he was cutting hair, I’d shine their shoes. Sometimes I’d make more than he did.”
Goad visits Weddle’s shop once a month, usually on a Wednesday morning. James Linkous, married to one of Goad’s granddaughters, drives him, usually in one of his vintage autos.
At the end of one recent visit, Goad pulled out a ten dollar bill to pay for his seven dollar hair cut. Weddle handed him three ones for change.
Goad gave one of the singles back. “My daddy told me to always thank a customer that gives you a tip,” Weddle said.