They're In the Army Now

Week 11 of the Book of Me, Written by You blog prompt series.

     This article, and others like it, appeared in The Hartwell Sun newspaper, of Hart County, Georgia.  Published on 3 Aug 1945, this article lists 57 men, "the largest group of men to leave Hart County in months," who had just been drafted into the army.  Included in this list is my Grandfather, Thomas Craft.  He served in Germany as a truck driver and, thankfully, return home a year later.

The largest group of men to leave Hart County in months went to Ft. McPherson, Atlanta, Monday, where they are being inducted into the armed services.      Names of the 57 white men are reported by the Local Draft Board as follows: William C. Stowe, Cleo Harris Sanders, Dorsey Partain, Pelzer H. Herring, George Harper, Charlie H. Sanders, Inman E. Reed, Lucius B. Alewine, Thomas S. Craft, James H. Estes, Bernice T. McCurley, Fay H. Cleveland, Charles S. White, George E. Hilley, Charlie T. Pilgrim, Joe G. Hailey, Fred Y. Norton, D. C. Phillips, Jr., Artis D. Ertzberger, Frank H. Thrasher, James M. Wicker, Jack Cordell, James V. Cantrell, Thomas J. Bailey, Jr., Charles M. Cobb, Robert A. Floyd, Billy J. Floyd, Howard W. Earwood, Fletcher Dove, Billy E. Clark, Clifton Floyd, Jr., Herbert W. Maret, Luther Thompson, Jr., J. B. Weaver, Jr., Beverly J. Bailey, Charles L. Whitaker, Jr., Frank D. Pulliam, Asa L. Childs, Dwain E. Gurley, Owen M. Teasley, Dewey H. Beggs, Kyle J. Crook, James M. Brown, Jr., Early B. Sanders, Edward D. Kesler, Edgar W. Kay, C. B. Alewine, C. L. Brown, Jr., Hansel D. Cole, Prue M. Banister, Jr., T. J. Carnes, Leonard M. Seymour, John E. Kelly, Larry E. Senkbeil, Herschel B. Sayer, Harold R. Bailey, Thomas H. Bowers.

John Cash: Private in the Virginia Militia

signature of John Cash

     I have a few ancestors who were known to have fought in the Revolutionary War, but I probably know the most about the service of John Cash.  Thanks to Fold3, I have a copy of his pension application, in which he details his service.  It seems fitting today to write about him and honor his service in helping to found this country.

     Based on his pension application, John Cash was born on 5 April 1757 in Amherst County, Virginia.  In September of 1776 he joined up under Captain Sale (Sayle) of the Virginia Militia as part of a mission called the Cherokee Expedition.  The Cherokee had joined forces with the British and were waging war on settlers on the Tennessee frontier.  John Cash and his fellow militiamen marched in a scouting party, mostly following the path of a larger army that had gone before them.  They did experience a "small skirmish" at Fort Chiswell in Virginia, but John was home a short three months later.

     John served two more times: for one month in Charlottesville, VA, guarding the barracks, and again as a minuteman under Captain Lawson, in which he saw battle near Jamestown, VA at the Battle of Green Springs Plantation in 1781.

     Finally, John was called up for an extra three months of service, during which he was involved in "driving hogs, Cattle & sheep" and "gathering and storing grain for the army."  Hey, whatever you can do for your country, right?  Armies have to eat too!

     John Cash was rewarded for his service when he received extra draws in the 1832 Land Lottery and won land in Henry County, Georgia.  He applied for a pension after his house burned down in 1831 when he was 75 years old.

After They Served

     Tomorrow is Veterans' Day, a day in which we remember and give thanks to the men and women who served in our nation's armed forces. But their military career wasn't the extent of their lives, though it often impacted it dramatically.

     My Pawpaw, Thomas Craft, left his family behind when he was drafted into World War II.  His leaving was a hardship for his wife and two young daughters. They were a family of farmers, either working as sharecroppers or tenant farmers. The cotton crop, the family's main source of income, came in while Thomas was in Europe. Without Thomas there to lead the family harvest, the crop was stollen.

     Thomas came back home and worked until he could buy the land the family farmed. However, he gave up farming only a few years later. He moved the family from Elbert County, Georgia to DeKalb County, Georgia. He soon began to work at Atlantic Steel, a mill in Atlanta. He would work there for more than 30 years before he retired

     But one job wasn't enough to support himself, his wife and seven children. Thomas always had another job or two on top of his full time work.  My dad recalls that his father worked at a convenience store, a gas station, driving a taxi, and finally started his own sanitation company in 1968.

     My dad often worked along side his father and remembers how hard he worked. When I remember him on Veterans day, I don't just give thanks for his military service, but also for the sacrifices he made to give his family a better life.

Uncles at War

Great-Great Uncle Claude Craft, World War I

Great-Great Uncles LC, Jack and Milton Waters, World War II



Great-Uncle Evoid Britt, Korea

 

Uncle T Wayne Craft, Vietnam                              Uncle Roy Albea, Vietnam

Waters Men in the Navy

With a name like 'Waters,' when it's time to join the military, you'd go with the obvious: the Navy. And that's what my Great-Uncles did. Milton, Lewis (LC), and Jack Waters all enlisted in the Navy and, I believe, served throughout World War II.

I don't have much to go on aside from family stories, photographs, and grave markers. Unlike army records, which seem to abound on sites such as Footnote and Ancestry, Navy records are relatively scarce. Ancestry has been working to expand its collection of Navy Cruise Books, but so far I haven't found my Great-Uncles. Also, information seems a little hard to request without information on the sailor's service details. Because of this, and because these men aren't on my direct line, I haven't been able to find much information on them.

Here's what I do know:

Milton Waters (1916, GA -1966, FL) served in both the Marines and the Navy (this based on photos). I believe that he enlisted before the war. His grave lists his rank as AOM3 in the Navy for WWII (I don't know what that means and I'm having trouble finding information on Navy Ranks and Rates).

Lewis Cranford (LC) Waters (1920 - 1978, GA) served in the Navy. I can't find his tombstone and don't have any information on his rate. I do have photos of him from his ship. It seems that he served on the USS Barney, which at one time was docked in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. There, the crew took a bunch of photos. An arm patch in one photo, indicates that he was a Petty Officer 3rd Class.

Jack Franklin Waters (1924 - 1961, GA) also served in the Navy for WWII. According to his gravestone, he was a S2 in the Navy Reserves for South Carolina. Aside from his grave, I only have one photo to give hint to his service.

I'd like to find more information on my Great-Uncles and their, but I don't have information such as service numbers and dates of service, which appear to be required to obtain information from the National Archives. I'm hoping that as online databases expand their records, they will put more emphasis on military branches besides the army.

If anyone has advice on researching Navy veterans, I'd love to hear it.

Wordless Wednesday