Thursday, May 31, 2012

New military monument includes list of county's war dead


Monday was Memorial Day, that is, the day that our country has set aside for citizens to pause and remember U.S. service members who died during military service.

All of us enjoy, and often take for granted, the freedoms that have been secured for us by members of the military, many of whom made the ultimate sacrifice on our behalves to protect our way of life.

A number of service members from Conecuh County have lost their lives during our nation’s wars, and local Navy retiree James Leon Windham has spent the past several years compiling a list of county residents who died during military service. His list was most recently used during the construction of the new war memorial in Evergreen, which includes the names of the county’s war dead.

Windham sent me this somber list a year or so ago, and I’m reprinting it here with his permission. Take a few minutes to read the names on this list and remember that these men were once living, breathing individuals, just like you, with a lot of life left in front of them. In the end, it was not to be because their lives were cut short in the service of our nation. Without further ado, here’s the list.

World War I:
Benjamin F. Arant of Belleville
Mack Autry of Brooklyn
James Atkins of Flat Rock
Newton Blackman of Evergreen
Jodie Booker of McKenzie
James W. Brown of Owassa
Robert A. Christopher of Flat Rock
Jim Crosby of Evergreen
Fletcher Darby of Castleberry
Dentley Daw of Evergreen
Will Dickson of Repton
George K. Ealum of McKenzie
Edward E. English of Evergreen
William H. Harris of Flat Rock
Jeff Holloway
Charlie Johnson of Repton
George Jones of Cohassett
George Lee of Evergreen
Joshua Lowe of Repton
Wily Marshall of Burnt Corn
Almer M. Martin of Castleberry
Archie D. McCrory of Repton
Bryant W. Price of McKenzie
Lazarus B. Rabb of Castleberry
Emmett N. Richburg of Castleberry
Raymond L. Seale of Repton
Carl B. Smith of Belleville
Roy I. Smith of Evergreen
Amos Weatherspoon of Evergreen

World War II:
Daniel W. Baggett
Edward C. Ballard
Ennis R. Bennett
William Dawson Booker
William Dawson Caro
Willie S. Cook
Elly H. Cowart
Neadie Crawford
Ben Crum Foshee of Cohassett
James E. Freeman
Earl M. Fussell
James Cecil Gaston
John W. Gibson
Fredrick Butler Heaton of Castleberry
Grady H. Johnson
Sommer S. Kelly
Walter S. Kelly
Laula M. Middleton
Judson C. Murphy
Carl Leroy Nall of Repton
Donald E. Oliver
Alex Pettis
James Reeford Reaves of McKenzie
Marvin M. Ross
Mason M. Singleton
A.C. Smith
Douglas Smith
Robert L. Snowden
William E. Stinson
John E. Stringer
Dempsey Stuckey
Fred L. Stuckey
Oscar Wilsey
Martin L. Young
Ralph Edwin Boggs of Repton

Korean War:
Robert L. Booker
Robert H. Hart
Elven J. Hobbs
Joel R. Martin
Leonard E. Worrell

Vietnam War:
William Michael “Mike” Fields of Evergreen
Armstead Johnson of Castleberry
Billy Wayne Pettis of Castleberry
James Robert “Bobby” Hammonds of Evergreen
Bruce Dale Jones of Evergreen
Dwayne Lamont Salter of Evergreen
Frank Demon Salter of Evergreen
Joel Kenton Brown of Evergreen
Grady Gantt Jr. of Belleville
James Thomas Likely of Evergreen
Thomas Charles Littles

War in Iraq:
Troy David Jenkins.

If you know of any other county war casualties that aren’t on this list, please contact Windham at 251-230-1507 or jandtwind@bellsouth.net, so that he can add that person to the list.

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