Pssst...I Have A Secret...

I have decided at this time to release confidential information pertaining to the W.B. and the J.T., both of which were undercover operations of the P.S.G. during the 1940s.

Allow me to remind you that “P.S.G.” was the Pipkin Street Gang which I have mentioned numerous times in past columns. This organization was composed of twelve kids. All of us lived in the 1300 block of Pipkin Street located in the South Park area of Beaumont. Additionally, we inducted two guys from Church Street and one guy from Edwin Street.

You may recall that the guy from Edwin Street was David Matthews. His house was behind my house and down a few lots east toward Chaison Street. David had a vacant lot next to his house and that area made a good playground. Also he owned a football. Thus David was a shoo-in for membership in the P.S.G.

Anyway, the P.S.G. primarily was a group of playmates. We played hide and go seek, baseball, football, basketball, played with modeling clay (we called it “molding clay,”) and when the girl members were around, we played Jacks and Jump Rope. The girls loved for Jackie Garretson and me to swing a 12-foot rope in what they called “hot pepper.” Margaret Ann Burch was the “hot pepper” champion. I hate to admit it but those girls always beat the boys at Jacks and Jump Roping. But I digress.

Within the P.S.G. were smaller groups with special missions. One mentioned earlier was the W.B. This was the Wasp Brigade and we were proud. Only the fearless could be in this group. There were five guys in the Brigade. None of the girls wanted any part of it. This elite group was composed of Jackie Garretson, Sonny Collier, Malcolm Ward, Donald Ray Kidd and me.

Our self-appointed mission was to carry out house patrols in the 1300 block of Pipkin Street. When we found wasp nests, we would attack. Wasp nests on the eaves of houses or in vegetation such as hedges did not have a chance. We used mop handles with globs of mud on one end to “clop” over the nests. The nests would end up embedded in the mud along with any wasps that happened to be home at the time. We developed great expertise in keeping wasps out of our block. And the thing that amazes me to this day is that no one ever got stung.

I was proud of the W.B. Why? Because it was my idea. Do you think that someday the history books and encyclopedias will discuss how that Winston Hamby, when just 10-years-old, conceived and developed the Wasp Brigade of Pipkin Street?

Another interesting side note is that if we could find no wasp nests while on a mission, we would end up in a mud war. When the mud wars began then all of the P.S.G. would join in. Great fun.

Then we had the J.T. This was a small group of us who were Jump Troopers. Influenced by daily news of WW2 that was in progress at that time, we decided to practice for the day we might be paratroopers. So we climbed on the roofs of our houses and jumped off. That was quite a jump but not so bad when you consider we always made sure we were jumping into a patch of soft saint augustine grass. Again, no one ever got hurt jumping off of houses. But then the war ended in 1945, so we never were called to duty.

I’m proud that I was in the P.S.G. and the W.B and the J.T. Do you know why I kept this information to myself all these years?

Nobody ever asked.

Winston Hamby
WinHamby@comcast.net