Today’s first picture shows Josephine “Jo” Strickland who was living in Oakboro during the Carolina Maneuvers of 1941. According to Jo, a group of soldiers were camped at the Methodist Church across the street from her childhood home in Oakboro. Every day, she would visit with them and would often take a favorite comic book to share. She remembers a redheaded soldier would sit with her on the steps and he would read the comic books to her. Jo received today’s first picture of her, from a soldier named Captain White, who mailed it to her at some point after the troops had left Stanly County. Jo is wearing Captain White’s hat and is holding his gun. Jo and her family lost touch with the soldiers and assumed many of them were killed as they were likely among the first troops to go into battle after the United States entered the war. Jo is best known today as Jo Allen. She taught math in Albemarle and later at West Stanly. Today’s second picture of Jo is from 1957. {Lewis Bramlett – Stanly County Historical Society}