Phillip and Kancy

    Each year, in honor of Camp Gordon Johnston (CGJ) Days, to be held this weekend, Friday and Saturday, in Carrabelle, the Times recounts a story of one of the soldiers who trained there. This tale is special because it concerns both a CGJ veteran and a Carrabelle girl who stole his heart. In my research writing historical features over the past three years, I have heard many accounts of how the young visitors who came to train at CGJ carried off Franklin County girls as brides. This is one such story, provided courtesy of Melonia Anderson, Kancy Brannan’s daughter.

Kansas “Kancy” Belle Brannan was born in Carrabelle on Sept. 24, 1927 to James William and Mary (Molly) Brannan. She grew to be an exceptionally bright and lovely girl. After high school, she took a job with a local photographer in 1944 to help support her family.

It was at the studio that she met Thomas William Phillips, born Feb. 22, 1923 to Glen and Mary Phillips in Oval, NC, on the site of what is now West Jefferson.

Around 1942, Phillips went to Portsmouth, Va. to apprentice in the Navy yard building wooden boats.

He was called up for World War II about 1944 and went through the intake process, expecting to go into the Navy. He flunked the vision test because he was color-blind to red/green and would not be able to read Navy signal flags.

He was sent to Camp Gordon Johnston in the summer of 1944 to train as a harbor craft worker. He was always amused by this because the job still required him to read signal flags.

In the fall of 1944, he was in Carrabelle during free time. Looking around for something to do, he noticed a photographer’s shop next door to Burda’s Drugs and decided to have his picture taken to send to his mama in North Carolina. He walked in and saw an astonishingly pretty girl behind the counter.

“Wow, I had to go back outside to put my eyeballs back in,” he said.

After the photo was taken, he asked Kancy, the photographer, if he could walk her home. Because she noticed he had had a couple of beers, she declined.

“Come back another time without that,” she told him. “And I’ll think about it.”

He returned a few days later when the pictures were ready and was allowed to walk her home. That was the beginning.

Because her father, brother and several uncles were all named William, Kancy called her new friend Phillip and later Shugie. Phillip came to see Kancy whenever he could, and got to know her family.

Lillian Smith, of Carrabelle, was a friend of Kancy’s. She remembers CGJ well and said, “It was different in those days. All those boys were sent here. They could be sent overseas any time and you just didn’t know if they’d ever come back.”

In Dec. 1944, Kancy and Phillip learned that he might be on the list to ship out. His sergeant said if anyone “fell out of the boat,” he was next to go.

At 11 p.m. on Dec. 8, 1944, Phillip asked Kancy if she would marry him. She replied “Let’s go ask Mama.” They woke up Molly Brannan and asked if they could marry.

“Okay, but if you can’t be good to her like you should, bring her on back home,” Mama said.

Kancy’s brother-in-law, Wade Corley, came in about then and they asked him to go with them to the judge’s house to be a witness.

They woke up Judge R.M. Witherspoon and were married. By this time, it was after midnight, so their wedding date was Dec. 9, 1944.

Phillip reported to Camp Gordon Johnston that morning, but no one fell out, so he did not have to leave. He was able to stay for about a year.

Ten months in the Philippines

After going through the harbor craft training, there was no assignment for Phillip. He and others went through the training again. Still having no assignment, he acted as sergeant for a group of new recruits during their training.

Eventually, he completed the harbor craft training three times.

Finally, he was sent to San Francisco and put on a ship to the South Pacific. Ten days out to sea, the Japanese surrendered. Phillip was left in limbo. He and his crewmates floated around the Pacific for 30 days before being sent to the Philippines.

His first night in Manila, he was sent to bed down in a building with part of the roof missing. Being a North Carolina mountain boy, he didn’t know much about mosquitoes. He soon found out about them.

After a couple of weeks with still no official assignment, he became a clerk for the medic’s office in Manila because he had taken typing in high school.

Later, when personnel who had been deployed longer were sent home, he was reassigned as medical assistant to the doctor, handing him supplies and helping with whatever was asked.

Once when the doctor was not in, a group of GIs brought in a soldier with a cut on his head. They had braked suddenly in their truck and he had been thrown out. Phillip cleaned the wound and stitched it up himself. He had watched how the doctor had done it, noting how he pulled the edges of skin together to make a neat, straight line. He told the patient to come back in about 10 days to get the stitches out. When he returned, the doctor asked him, “Did you do that?”

Phillip admitted he had and the doctor praised his good work.

He was in the Philippines for 10 months. When his tour was over, Phillip returned to Statesville, NC where his parents had moved while he was in the service.

Kancy was waiting for him there. The family didn’t know exactly when he would arrive. When he came in the front door, Kancy, who was ironing, tossed aside her work and flew into his arms.

“If you knew my Mom,” said daughter Melonia Anderson, “you would know that was amazing. She was very neat. I used to say we did spring cleaning every Saturday morning.”

The couple spent some time in Statesville, and then moved to Louisville, Ky. so Phillip could attend a radio and television repair training program.

He worked days in a cabinet shop and went to school at night. Their first child, Debbie, was born there. Later, they returned to Carrabelle where Phillip worked with Kancy’s father as a boat builder. Business was good, but collecting payment was difficult.

On a visit to Statesville, Phillip was offered a job with a woodworking business, Blanton and Moore. He worked there for over 30 years, rising to be general manager.

Kancy was a homemaker and very talented seamstress. She made all of her “church clothes” and most of her daughters’ clothing, including Melonia’s wedding dress. She worked in sewing mills and fabric shops to earn extra money. For two years, she co-owned a fabric shop with a friend. In the 1980’s, she taught sewing classes as part of the continuing education program of Mitchell Community College.

Phillip still lives in the house he built and moved the family into in 1963. Kancy moved to assisted living in February. Her sweetheart visits her everyday.

The couple had three children, Deborah, Victor, who was killed in an accident in 1976 while serving in the Navy, and Melonia. They also have three grandchildren and one great-grandchild, Phillip, who is now 1-year-old.