Introducing Don Cole

Watch this short video for a simple introduction. I will bring a fresh perspective to the Cordele City Commission. Your vote belongs to you and I humbly ask for your vote so that I may serve you. May God bless you.

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Happy 94th Bob Bright

Bob Bright celebrates his 94th birthday today. He is not only a veteran of WWII but also has a Purple Heart and a POW. 

Picture of Bob Bright
Bob Bright of Cordele, GA

Bob graduated from Crisp County High school and shortly after that received his draft notice. He went through basic training in Fort Bliss, Texas and one day saw a notice on the bulletin board to apply for Army Air Corp. Bob said that he wasn’t particularly crazy about being in the infantry so he took the test and was accepted. 

Teenage Turret Gunner

Bob Bright outside his turret gun position
Bob Bright Turret Gunner

He trained to be a gunner on the B-17 Flying Fortress. After his training he was assigned to the European theater.

By this time in the war, the Americans had landed at Normandy and were moving across Germany.

Flight crew in front of B-17 named Starduster
Bob Center Top Row Pilot and Navigator Circled in Red

Bob was in the Mighty 8th Bomber Command and part of a proud nine-man crew on the Starduster. The Americans were bombing every day.

In an effort to describe the intensity of the bombing, Bob said that if they were making bomb runs over Berlin, when the first plane got over the target and started to drop its payload, there were still planes in line on the runway back in England waiting to take off.

On his 23rd bombing mission, Bob was going to the plane and decided that he would go back and get another parachute because he didn’t like the way the pin looked. That may have been a providential decision. 

Miracle at 30,000 Feet

The B-17 was hit while flying at 30,000 feet. Bob recalled that one of the engines was on fire. He put on his oxygen mask and looked for one of the crew members but could not find him. Two of the crew members did not put on their oxygen masks and they collapsed.  Bob was in the process of dragging them to the door to jettison the door and get them out of the plane.

It was at that point that the plane exploded. M.F. Carter from Cordele, was on another plane and saw the B-17 explode in a ball of fire. Carter felt the pain of the loss of a friend, knowing that all on board perished.

Miraculously, Bob did not perish. The blast blew him out of the plane and blew off his boots and his jacket. He said that at that height the temperature was probably about 30 degrees below zero. Free falling through the air and nearly frozen, he was able to pull the rip cord and felt the parachute open.

He had escaped death from the lack of oxygen, the explosion, and the freezing temperatures at high altitudes. Now as he floated down through the sky, he was an easy target for anyone on the ground. 

When Bob hit the ground, he found himself surrounded and being beaten up by German youth armed with machine guns. “They were little kids, maybe 8 to 12 years old and they were mean as they could be,” he said. Ironically it was the German SS and Gestapo that rescued the dazed and weakened survivor from the vicious youth. 

They took him to the basement of a nearby church and he was reunited with the pilot and navigator who also miraculously escaped. The other men on the plane were never found. Their bodies likely disintegrated in the high altitude fiery explosion.

The navigator spoke some German and the Gestapo took him outside. Bob and the pilot sat in the basement for hours beginning to think that they lost another fellow crew member. The next morning, they were surprised to see the navigator return. 

Because he could speak German, the navigator was taken to the local Mayor’s home where he was treated with a home cooked meal. Bob laughed that they were sitting there starving, thinking he had been taken out and shot, while he was eating high on the hog.  

They left and walked for about 4 days to a POW camp. On the journey the worst thing he experienced was being led through the little towns where the Germans lined up the bodies of those killed in the bombings. The people in town saw the three US soldiers and wanted to take vengeance. 

The two SS troopers escorting the three Americans were given orders to shoot the first one who laid a hand on the men. Bob said that they did their job and protected their prisoners.

Prisoner of War

When they arrived at the camp, Bob was in solitary confinement for about ten days. He said that it was the worst thing he had ever been through. 

German Prisoner of War Record
Bob Bright’s POW Record

Some of the men in the camp tried to escape. Bob’s observation was that the Germans knew what they were doing and let them try to “give them something to do.” One man got beyond three barriers before being shot by the guards. The Germans lined the men in the yard and dragged the body of the escapee by so that all could see the consequences. 

Bob also remembered the German Shepherds. “They hated Americans. If you just looked at them, they would snarl and show their teeth.” 

Bob said that he never took a shower there. He had heard stories of the Germans putting cyanide in the water and he wasn’t taking any chances. 

After six months in the camp, General Patton and the Americans arrived to liberate the men. The POW’s had to take off all their clothes and burn them. 

Bob finally got his shower and for the first few days they were on a strict liquid diet of eggnog. There were 50 gallon tanks all around the camp and the men could drink all they wanted. After their bodies stabilized, they could eat solid food and were fed royally. 

He got home, went to the University of Georgia, then to graduate school at Purdue University. When the Korean war broke out, Bob was recalled and he served in Tokyo making maps. 

Bob has lived a blessed life and is still blessing others every day. He still drives and is actively involved at Christ Episcopal Church in Cordele. Happy 94th Birthday, Bob Bright. Thank you for your service to our nation.  


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Persistence

Three Ladies persistent in prayer

Shannon Penny Nipper, Joyce Williams Mitchell, Lavater Hall-Bass

What does it mean to be persistent? In the book of Luke, chapter 18, Jesus tells a parable of a woman who sought justice before a judge who “did not fear God”. The judge did not want to waste time with her. She kept coming back.

Over and over and over she brought her case before him. Finally,the judge came to the realization that he would spend less time dealing with her if he just heard her case and gave her justice.

The purpose of the parable was to encourage His followers to pray and not lose heart. In other words, persist in prayer.

Last January, I attended a prayer service at the Cordele Community Center. The letter that I received called for the community to come together.

I did not know what to expect as I went. I wrote about the positive and powerful time together. The event organizers said that they wanted to do it again.

Last Saturday morning at 10:00 am, a small group gathered again at the Cordele Community Club House. Under cloudy skies with impending rain, the group shared Scripture, words of encouragement, and they prayed.

As it was last January, the prayers were not focused on a race of people or a part of town. The prayers were for the community. The prayers were for the schools, teachers, law enforcement officers, social workers, pastors, Sunday school teachers, mothers, fathers, grandparents, and children.

Some came who no longer live in Cordele but made it clear that Cordele was home. Joyce Mitchell recalled how in her younger days if she walked down the street and there was someone sitting out on the porch as she passed, she had better greet that person. If not, when she got home, her mother would have already received a call. It was a matter of common courtesy and respect to greet each other.

The group that gathered that day was a little smaller than the first gathering six months earlier. Perhaps it was the impending rain. Perhaps it was the beginning of summer.

What struck me was that there was no grumbling, fault-finding, or finger-pointing. There was just a time of positive, uplifting, prayer for the community.

Persistence -Woman performing interpretive dance to praise music

Alisha Appling

One participant, Alisha Appling, performed a praise dance to a song asking God to fill this place. Praise dance is not part of a normal worship service for me.

As I watched her, it was evident by the smile on her face as she looked to the heavens that she was pouring out her creativity before God. I thought of King David writing in Psalm 103:1, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name.”

Joyce Mitchell, Lavater Hall-Bass, and Shannon Penny Nipper organized and promoted the event. They did not let anything stop them. They will be doing it again. They are not weary in well-doing. They are persisting and it will pay off.

When you hear about the next one, come and join. You will be glad that you invested the time and our community will be better off because you joined others who are persisting in prayer.

Read my editorial about the first gathering. 

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A Community in Prayer

I recently received a letter inviting me to attend a community prayer vigil in my community of Cordele, Georgia.Community praying in Cordele, GA I was familiar with the name of one of the three organizers but not the other two.

It was scheduled for 3:00 pm on Sunday, January 14, 2018 at the Cordele community club house. The letter said that it was a prayer for the community and, in particular, the problem of crime in the city.

I will be transparent.  I did not know what to expect and a few unfounded thoughts ran through my mind. Was this going to be another one of those “unity” gatherings with prayer tacked on to be sure that something religious was included?

I did not want to promote something just because it was framed as a time for prayer.  I decided to go and see for myself. At the very least, I could bow my head and pray silently.

The unfounded thoughts that ran through my mind proved to be just that – unfounded. Not just unfounded, totally false.

The crowd was not very large but it looked to be a fairly good turnout to me. There were maybe three dozen people gathered. There were men and women, boys and girls, black and white.  The racial makeup of the crowd was probably 80% black and 20% white.

The prayers were about the community of Cordele, Georgia.  There was no focus on the West side or East side of town.

The prayers were that crime would be stopped; that families would be strengthened; that there would be jobs for the unemployed; that children would learn and be safe in schools; and that public servants would have wisdom and strength to serve.

What was not talked and prayed about was as significant as what was mentioned. There was no mention of political parties. There was barely a reference to race and that was only in the context of praying for everyone in the community no matter what race. There was no distinction of economic class.

In short, the prayers were about the people of our community. They were prayers that one would hear in churches anywhere in our region. They were heartfelt and humble.

When it was over and I was getting in my car, it dawned on me that something else was never mentioned in that gathering. There would have been nothing wrong had it been mentioned.

On the weekend of Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, his name was never mentioned.  It was because the focus was not on Dr. King, but on The King of Kings. For one hour on a chilly afternoon in the small Southwest Georgia town of Cordele, three dozen citizens of the community humbly gathered and bowed to pray.

Thank you, Joyce Williams Mitchell, Shannon Penny Nipper, Lavater Hall Bass, and the others who responded to a leading. We need to do this again, soon.

Signature-Donald E. Cole

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