Washita County, Oklahoma

A Backward Glance
By: Fred Grant

For more information or to order, contact Fred Grant fredgrant42@comcast.net

About "A Backward Glance"

In writing A Backward Glance, the author gives a brief account of his ancestors´ migrations and journeys that resulted in the Grant family being in Washita County, Oklahoma. His parents both came at the age of ten in covered wagons to Oklahoma the same year to homesteads near Cloud Chief in the Cheyenne-Arapaho Strip.

The Grant and Haynes families were among the first settlers. They lived in half-dugout sod houses, learned primitive farming techniques, experienced the difficulties of survival on the unsettled prairie, and raised large families. The Grant farm was five miles northeast of the town of Rocky, population 200, and seven miles from the author's grandparents´ claims.

Life on the farm with its primitive household and basic methods of farming was but little removed from pioneer days. The author and his siblings grew up knowing hard work and deprivation. But they also experience the joys of a large, and fun loving family that never knew they were poor.

The book covers the author's experiences in the Army Air Corps during World War II, and describes the thoughts and feelings of one young man in "this man's army." Mr. Grant offers reflections from today's perspective about our country's part in the "war to end all wars."

A Backward Glance gives colorful and frequently humorous descriptions of the difficulties and the richness of farm life during the 1920s and 1930s. It provides insight to the hearts and minds of young men who came of age during the Depression years, then left homes and families at a tender age to defend their country.