When Lamont Norwood’s letter reached his mother in Chatham County in November of 1942, she was undoubtedly relieved to hear from him. She must have held her breath, though, after reading his first few sentences…

Dear Mother,

I sort of hesitate to tell about my recent experience, because it may start you to worrying about me, but on the other hand I have to make some explanation for the change of address, and if I made up some story you might see that it didn’t look like the truth and become really worried. I am at a hospital now….

In the following three and a half pages, Lamont details the harrowing account of the sinking of the ship he was aboard and three days at sea on a raft before being rescued. You can read the letter on our website, thanks to its donation to the Chatham County Historical Association collection by Richard Whitfield.

https://chathamhistory.org/resources/Documents/PDFs/ResearchArticles/LamontNorwoodWWIIDearMother.pdf

Lamont was raised in Chatham County in the Mt. Pleasant community. He graduated from Pittsboro High School and enlisted in the Navy prior to WWII. Her served as a pharmacist's mate during the war. He received an honorable discharge from the Navy and returned to Chatham to own and operate a dairy farm. A life-long resident of Chatham, Lamont was an avid Chatham County historian and story teller. He was an enthusiastic member of the Chatham County Historical Association and frequent volunteer in the Chatham Historical Museum.

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