Henderson County TX

Military News

March 2, 1945

Eoff, Pct., Lewis Charles

Pvt. Lewis Charles Eoff, wounded in action in Germany, is convalescing satisfactorily in a hospital in Belgium, the War Department has advised his parents, Mr. and Mes. C.C. Eoff of Athens.  "I was not injured seriously, so don't worry, I have a good place to sleep and plenty to eat and we have picture shows.  I can walk around pretty good,"  he said in a letter.

Rogers, Ray T.

Ray T. Rogers, presently stationed in the Philippine Islands, has been promoted to staff sergeant.  He has been in overseas service for the last two years and was at Atut and in the Hawiian Islands for several months before going to the Philippines.  Sgt. Rogers, son of Mrs. Tom Rogers, of Malakoff, enlisted in September 1941 and went overseas in April 1943.

May 10, 1945

Robinson, Lt. Edward

First Lt. Edward Robinson, Jr. son of Mrs. Eddie Kesslar, Pomona, Calif., formerly of Malakoff, had been assigned to an infantry regiment of the Sixth Infantry Division, Luzon, holder of the continuous record in the Phillippines.  The officer served four years in Hawaii as an enlisted man in the regualr army and was stationed there when the Japs attacked Pearl Harbor.    He received his commission at GCS, Fort Benning, Georgia in February 1945

May 17, 1945

Hanks, Pfc. William F.

Pfc. William F. Hanks, Jr., brother of Mrs. Lou E. McGee, route 1, Montalba, killed in the Pacific theater.

King, T/5 Joe D. 

Army-Navy war casualties released for publication Friday by the Office of War Information include:  T/5 Joe D. King, brother of Mrs. Willer L. King, route 1, Trinidad, wounded in the European theater.

Price, Sgt. Barton

"Now that I am here in England in a hospital, I can give you a truer picture of what is happening at the front without fear of worrying you,"  says Sgt. Barton Price in a letter to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. J.H. Price of Athens, route 2.  :We must remember that front line troops rarely give the real picture of what is happening.  I think this is obvious for two reason, the first being a fear of causing anxiety to our loved ones.  It is based upon the sound principle that causing another to suffer your hardship does in no way aleviate them---rather increases them."  "The second reason why men fear to bring reality into their homes is, I think, the knowledge that a huge wall, an endless gulf exists between the commonplace of civilian life and front line war.  This is impossible to breach with mere words.   Hence the letters home filled with meaningles generalities and comforting platitudes."  "At the start of this letter I had planned to confide in you the horrors of war, as I lived it. Most of my friends died as a part of it.   My motive, perhaps, was vanity, but I like to think it was, so you could pass on these thoughts so that people willl never take for granted the sacrifices of these Americans."  "But I can seenow the task i set about is beyond me, and it is too close, much too close emotionally. to deal with in words.  I give up, and I must resort to the typical soldier's letter---I am feeling fine and hope you are well."  Sgt. Price was first hosiptalizated with a fractured leg, received in combat in France and now is in the hospital with malaria.  He is a former student of Athens High School and was engaged in farming with his father when he entered the service.  He went overseas in March of 1943, and participated in the fighting in North Africa and Sicily and in the invasion of Italy at Selerno.

Spencer,  Charles

Charles Spencer, employed in the post office at Lubbock, has notified his parents, Mr. and Mrs. C.A. Spencer of Athens that he has received orders to report immediately to El Paso for military service.  His brother Cpl. James C. Spencer was inducted into the service at El Paso, also.

Webb, Pvt. Herman

Pvt. Herman Webb of Brownsboro prisoner of war of the German government since December 21, has been liberated, his family was notified Thursday.  The news came from the soldier himself through the Red Cross.  He requested the field director overseas to handle the message, and it was received by the local Red Cross office from the American National Red Cross headquarters office.  Pvt. Webb was first reported to be missing in action in Belgium, but was later reported to be prisoner of war.  His wife, Mrs. Lena E. Webb, lives on route 1, Brownsboro.  Pvt. Webb went overseas last October 8.  He was engaged in farming at Brownsboro before he entered the service.

Williamson, Pfc. Reagan W.

Pfc. Reagan W. Willliamson, son of Mrs. W.H. Williamson of Dallas, formerly of Athens, is currently serving overseas in the Africa Middle East Theater (AMET) with the 370th Station Hospital located at Marrakech, French Morocco.  Reagan 'Tex' as he is known to his many buddies at the 370th Station Hospital, entered the service at Camp Walters on October 23, 1942.  He stayed there approximately four days before being transferred to Camp Barkeley, where he had eleven weeks of basic training.  After the completion of his "basic", he was assigned to the 79th Station Hospital at New Orleans.  In April 1943, "Tex" left for overseas and arrived at Oran, Algeria.  After a short while the 79th Station Hospital was set up near the city of Algiers, where he worked as a utilities man, a job he worked at for fourteen months.  In June, 1944, he was transferred to the 370th Station Hospital. at Marrakech.   Shortly after arriving there he was put in charge of utilities, the job which he is holding at the present time.  Anytime that there is something wrong with any of the equipment in the various departments of the hospital, or something has to be rebuilt or repaired, he has won the respect and admiration of his fellow men.  Before his induction into the service, Pfc. Williamson was working for the Henderson Nursery of Athens.  In April, Pfc. Williamson conpleted twenty-four months overseas service, during which time he received the following awards:  the European-African Middle East campaign ribbon, issued to him in May 1943 and the Good Conduct ribbon, issued in December, 1943.

Womack, Pvt. Clarence

Pvt. Clarence Womack of Fort McClellan, Alabama is expected to arrived tonight to visit his father W.R. Womack, who is reported to be seriously ill.

Worsham, Sgt. Cecil H.L.

It has been announced recently by Brig. Gen. Isaac W. Ott, commanding general of the Central Air Depot Area, somewhere in France, that Sgt. Cecil H.L. Worsham of Athens, route 4, is now serving as carpenter foreman with the Airborne Engineer Aviation Battalion on the Continent.  The organization ito which he is assigned, commanded by Lt. Col. Murrel Kiefer of Stroudsburg, Pa. is responsible for the construction and maintenance of landing strips throught out the United Kingdom, France, Belgium and Holland.  The work has been accomplished, at times, within 500 yards of the actual front line.  A samll compact unit, Sgt. Worsham's Battalion can be moved by glider on short notice.  The sone of Grady Worsham of Brownsboro, Sgt. Worsham was formely employed as a carpenter by the Hawn Lumber Company of Athens.  His wife, the former Miss Maurice Horton of Athens, route 4, is making her home at theat address for the duration.  Sgt. Worsham entered the service on January 7, 1943 and has been overseas twenty-two months.

September 20, 1945

Bass, Virgil Verner

Virgil Verner Bass, shipfitter second class, Dallas, whose wife lives on route 1 Chandler, is a member of the Naval Construction Battalion attached to Service Force, Pacific Fleet, which was engaged in building a huge staging area for U.S. military forces in the Phillippines when news of Japan's surrender was received.  The battalion landed with invasion forces and fought its way through Jap snipers and mortar fire for its share in the successful Phillippine conquest.  The unit was on its second Pacific tour of duty when hostilities ceased.   During the first twenty-one months overseas, the battalion personnel built a large supply and repair base on Midway Island and an airfield and base in Hawaii, which remains one of the world's largest and most widely used air terminals.  The second oldest organized construction battalion in the Navy, the unit is in the fourth year of service.

Campbell, Willie E.

Two Henderson County men are among Texas troops arriving at Boston last week from overseas.  The men are Staff Sergeant Willie E. Campbell of Athens and Pfc. Hughie N. Sherrin of Eustace.

Dillard, Jack D.

Staff Sergeant Jack D. Dillard, about 22, left Athens High School in November 1942 to enter the armed forces.  Now he is in high school again.  But he is no longer a lad.  He is a man, a man who has virtually looked down the throats of the Nazi "supermen" who sought to dominated the world.  He is a man of manly thinking.  He learned something of life during the thirteen months he spent in Italy and India as first engineer with an emergency rescue squad when his PBY Catalina flying boat landed within sight of towns occupied by the Germans and within easy range of their shore batteries to pick up Allied fliers who had bailed out over the water or were survivors of planes that hd been shot down.  He learned that the world doesn't figure it owns a man a living, too.  And that is why he is back in high school at 22 years of age.  And married.  Jack wants to go to college and he must finish high school so he willl have the required credits. He told the student body as much in assembly Thursday.  He told the students that an education is important--that no youth should think he can get out into the world and make a living with an education.

Draper, Pfc. Harold

Pfc. Harold Draper, prisoner of the Japanese since the fall of Corregidor, has been returned to military control, the War Department has informed his parents, Mr. and Mes. Harrison Draper of Muskogee, Okla.  He is due to be returned to the States soon.  Pfc. Draper, nephew of J.Frank Kendall of Athens, enlisted in the service in 1940 and landed in the Phillippines on November 29, 1941.  He was transferred fromthe Phillippines following his capture to the Osaka prison camp in Japan and it is presumed he was in that camp when he was liberated.  The news that he had been transferred to Japan was received last fall.  The family received two letters from Pfc. Draper before they  received the telegram announcing his liberation.  Delivery of the letters apparently had been delayed for several months by the Japanese.  In one of them, written last Janurary, he optimistically predicted that he would be home by Christmas and it appears as if his prediction will come true.

Greer, Capt. Sidney Robert

The Marvin Methodist Church of Tyler dedicated a page of its official bulletin ot the memry of Capt. Sidney Robert Greer, brother of State Hightway Engineer DeWitt C. Greer, formerly of Athens, who died in a Japanese prison camp February 10, 1945.  The message in the bulletin stated:  "The entire membership of Marvin Church extends deepest sympathy to the bereaved family who have carried on so bravely through the long months and years of anxious waiting--hoping and praying for his safety.  May the Heavenly Father comfort and keep them in this dark hour is our prayer."  Capt. Greer was a member of the Marvin Church, and his father, Sam R. Greer, is one of the stewards of the church.  Tribute also was paid to Capt. Greer, who was captured on Corregidor in May, 1942 by Associated Justice Gordon Simpson of the Supreme Court and Mrs. Simpson in the form of a check sent to the Red Cross in his memory.

Lewis, Lt. Joyce W.

First Lieutenant Joyce W. Lewis, who has been stationed at Love Field, Dallas, with the Fifth Ferrying Group of the Ferrying Division, ATC, has been honorably separated from the AAP and will return to civilian life after duty with the armed forces in World War II.  Lt. Lewis, son of Mr. and Mrs. Jack W. Lewis of Athens, entered the service in March of 1942.  He went overseas as pilot on a B-24 in March of 1944, and served for eight months in the European theater.  He was awarded the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, the Silver Star, the EAME theater ribbon with three battle stars and the Distinguished Unit Badge with one Oak Leaf Cluster.  Before his entry into the service he was a farmer-stockman in Athens, and worked with the L.R Barron pea processing plant in Athens and Lubbock.

Miller, Bobbie Yancy

Percy Andrews, chief recruiting specialist of the Tyler Navy Recruiting Station, has announced the enlistment of four East Texas men in the regular Navy.  Amoung them is one Henderson County man, Bobby Yancy Miller, of Murchison.

Shelton, Ernest

Staff Sergeant and Mrs. Ernest Shelton, the former a veteran of overseas service, have arrived in Athens for a thirty-day visit with Sgt. Shelton's parents, Mr. and Mrs. G.I. Shelton.  Sgt. Shelton with the Bureau Air Depot, saw service in England, Russia and France.  His wife resides in Dallas.

Sherrin, Pfc. Hughie N.

Two Hendersson County men are among Texas troops arriving at Boston last week from overseas.  The men are Staff Sergeant Willie E. Campbell of Athens and Pfc. Hughie N. Sherrin of Eustace.

Sims, Sgt. WillieV.

Sgt. Willie V.  Sims of Malakoff who has been stationed at Camp Rucker, Alabama for the last few months, has received a discharge from the service.  He entered the Army in 1940 with the National Guard Company from Athens and has been connected with the 144th Infantry Anit-tank Company.

Slider, Pfc. Joe W.

Pfc. Joe W. Slider, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Slider of Eustace, route 1, has returned to the United States by Air Transport Command plane via the Army Air Base at Miami, Florida, and has passed throught the "Green Project" Air Lift Disposition Center, Camp Blanding, Florida, on his way homeward in the Army's redeployment progress.  At Camp Blanding, the men are assembled in groups for travel to reception stations nearest their home.

Wynne, Toddie Lee

Toddie Lee Wynne, Jr., who at 19 was the third youngest infantry officer graduated with a commission at Fort Benning, Georgia, in 1943, is in Japan, he has written his parents, residents of Dallas and Athens.  He was stationed on Daya Shima, which he described in his letter as a little paradise, when he received orders to report for duty on the northern tip of Himshu Island.  He will remain thee for a short time, then will be transferred to Gkinawa, his letter said.  "I am going to catch the Yokohoma Choo-Choo at last,"  he wrote.  Wynne, now a first Lieutenant, is a graduate of Culver Military Academy, where he edited the school yearbook.  The Dallas News reported Saturday.

November 1, 1945

Allen, Lt. Nuel Howard

Nuel Howard Allen, a veteran of fighting in the Pacific who returned to the States to go to school, has recieved a commission as second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps at Quantico, Virginia.  Lt. Allen was aboard the Uss Pensacola en route to the Phillipines when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, and after two years of service aboard the Pensacola was transferred to the States for two years of schooling.   He attended Southwestern University for one year and from there went to Colorado College, Colorado.  He trained at Camp Lejuene, North Carolina and then went to Quantico.  He has 127 points and two more years to serve in the Marines.  Lt. Allen, following a leave with his mother, Mrs. B.N. Allen and family, route 1, left Dallas Saturday night by plane for Los Angeles, California, where he will receive a new assignment.

Buckner, Roy H.

Roy H. Buckner, seaman first class, son of Mr. and Mrs. L.R. Buckner, has been commended by his commanding officer for finding a man and a boat after the boat broke from its moorings in a heavy sea and became lost.  The citation stated:  "Commended by commanding officer at meritorious mast this date (September 23, 1945).  When an LCVP with one man broke from its moorings at night in a high wind and heavy sea, Buckner took a second LCVP of which he was a member of the crew to find and return the missing craft and man.  By excellent seamanshhip the LCVP and man were found and returned to the ship without damage or injury.  His actions were in the highest standards with the traditions of the Navel service."  Buckner, serving aboard the destroyer USS Gillespie, just recently went to Manila to Tokyo Bay.   The end of the war came none too soon for Buckner, for his destroyer was seventh on the list of vessels which would have entered Tokyo Bay in the invasion of the Jap homeland.  The seaman, a graduate of Athens High School, entered the service in October of 1944 and went overseas last March.  After brief service on Pacific islands, he was assigned to the Gillispie and has served aboard that destroyer since then.

Frazier, Pfc. James W.

Pfc. James W. Frazier of Eustace, route 1, has received a discharge from the Army Air Forces at the San Antonio Air Technical Service Command, Kelly Field, Texas and has returned to civilian life.  Pfc. Frazier last served at the huge AAF supply and maintenance installation of the San Antonio Air Technical Service Command.  During his army career, he served overseas for twenty-three months in the European Theatre of Operations, participating in the Rhineland and Northern France campaigns.   He wears the ETO ribbon with two battle stars, a meretorious unit award and the Good Conduct Medal.  Prior to entering the Army, he was a power lineman in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Maris, Gen. Ward H.

Brig. Gen. Ward H. Maris, who has assumed command of Camp Fannin, near Tyler, is a combat verteran of both World Wars.  His decorations and awards include the French Legion of Honor, Croix de Guerro with Palms, Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Silver Star and Bronze Star.  General Maris will also command the War Department Personnel Center at Camp Fannin, which is currently discharging some 600 men daily, most of those being separated having entered the service from East Texas.

Sanders, Julian

Julian Sanders, son of Mr. and Mrs. Lee Sanders of Murchison and a veteran of twenty months of service in the European theatre, arrived in Boston, Mass. last week and was due to leave therre the same day for Fort Sam Houston, Texas where he will receive a discharge.

Walker, Staff Sgt. Sidney B.

Verteran of thirty months overseas, Staff Sgt. Sidney B. Walker, son of W.B. Walker of Athens will soon be on his way home with the returning 37th "Buckeye" Infantry Division now on Luzon in the Phillippines.  Staff Sgt. Walker was also awarded the Bronze Star.

June 7, 1951

Tapley, Pfc. Billy Dean

Pfc. Billy Dean Tapley, Athens, was one of the three Texans reported missing in action this week on the Korean battlefield.  He is the son of Ellis Tapley, Athens, route 1.  Pfc. Tapley was previously wounded and had been returned to action.  One Texan was listed as killed in action, one injured, three wounded in action and three missing.

Transcribed by Peggy Allen dixie95@tvec.net

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