FAMILY WAR
VETERANS
War of Spanish Succession
Edward Mayfield—British Navy Ship “Southampton”
WAR OF 1812
Ambrose Nix 1721-1819
John Scott Sr 1773-1820 Private 3rd Regiment South Carolina Militia
John Pratt Benton 1796-1849
James Thomas Burchfield 1776-1862
Archibald Pinckney Mayfield Sr 1794-1833
Pleasant Gills 1784-1877
Payton Madison 1795-1866
Joel Lowery 1790-1881 Battle of New Orleans on 8 Jan 1815
John Wells Woods 1785-1868
Abraham Keasler 1785-1860 Private SC 1st Regiment SC Militia
William Johnston 1778-1861 Private 4th Regiment East Tennessee Militia
Samuel Bayless Colonel 4th Regiment E Tennessee Militia 1814-1815
William Maddox 1776-1857 Tuscaloosa County
Samuel McCaig 1795-1850 Tennessee and Battle of New Orleans
Nathaniel Wells 1781-1843 Major 13th Regiment (Nixon's) Mississippi Militia. Battle of New Orleans
Isaac Williams 1779-1856 Captain
Peyton Madison 1795-1866 Private 39th Regiment Regular Infantry, US Army. Wounded at Battle of Horseshoe Bend
Pleasant Gills 1784-1877 Virginia
John Davy Davie 1758-1833 Sergeant
Isaac Williams 1774-1850 Captain
Aaron Underwood
David McCrary 1758-1854
William Nelson
Parker Knowles
Isaac Knowles
Dennis J Knowles
James Smyly
Daniel Smith Schmidt 1795-1872
Kitchen Perry 1772-1845 Company 2 Regiment West
Archibald Mayfield 1794-1833 Private Moses Kelley’s Company of Dragoon’s in Nash’s Regiment of South Carolina Militia
John A Meek 1791-1873 Roll of Captain William Smeathers Company of Kentucky Mounted Spies.
Elijah Mayfield
James Mayfield Private Coffee’s Company, Kentucky Mounted Volunteer Militia
James Mayfield Private Coffee’s Company, Kentucky Mounted Volunteer Militia, Davenport Regiment
David Blythe I the Battle of Georgetown and was in Command of the British Man of War Boxer
William Colvin 1762-1835
Adam Ormond 1795-1860
Robert Johns 1783-1861 Colonel
Joseph Jolly 1750-1836
Henry Reese Bowen 1770-1850 Colonel
Nathaniel West Henry 1790-1851
Menu Bates 1795-1876
James Henderson 1760-1830
James Henderson Private Captain Dooley’s Company Tennessee Militia
Thomas Carroll 1736-1829
James Washington Mabry 1792-1872 Tennessee Militants
William Latta 1787-1875 South Carolina Militants
John O Clark 1780-1826 New York Militants
John Dickson 1792-1874 Pennsylvania Militants
James Clarke 1781-1852 Virginia Militants
Joseph Daniel Dickson 1795-1888 Tennessee Militants
Henry Doss 1790-1872 Virginia Militants
Ezekiel Doss 1792-1868 Kentucky Militants
Alexander A Austin 1784-1874 Lieutenant Colonel Virginia Militia
Samuel Farmer 1784-1866 Private Tennessee Militants
James Foster 1790-1825 Captain Kentucky Militants
Young Condrey 1793-1853 Private Virginia Militants
Hazard Andrus 1788-1862 Private New York Militants
Abraham Fowler 1790-1864 Captain Massachusetts Militants
Henry Farmer 1790-1849 Private Georgia Militants
Andrew Glassell 1793-1873 Corporal Virginia Militants
George Washington Eastham 1792-1878 Private Kentucky Militants
Archer A Farmer 1782-1858 Captain Virginia Militia
Edmund P Gaines 1777-1849 Colonel, Brigadier General & Major General US Army
Little Berry Farmer 1785-1870 Private Virginia Militants
William Martin 1783-1855
William Colvin -1835
BRITISH ARMY
John Smith 1691-1783
.
FRENCH & INDIAN WAR
Nicholas Bishop 1723-0000 Soldier, French & Indian War
John Smith 1691-1783 Colonel
Moses Bowen 1753-1776 Died from wounds received in war.
WWII
John W Duncan 1918-2003 US Army Air Corp
Esta Wayne Henderson 1919-2014 US Air Force
Rolen Duncan 1919-1991 US Army
James Burl Johnson 1923-2013
Wallace Glen Duncan 1926-2018
William W Walton 1916- USS Portland CA33 Heavy Cruiser, Midway, Coral Sea, Guada Canal, Kiska
Daniel McGahey 1929-1979 WWII
J B Henderson 1921-2011 WWII Pacific Theater in Tinian & Saipan Great Uncle
Carl Givens Richards 1915-2002 U S Navy WWII 31 Mar 1945
John Rufus Richards 1918-1987 US
Robert Dewin Burette 1898-1965
Marion Boyd Henderson 1917-1959 Army 607th Coast Artillery Battery 1943-1944
Oliver S Henderson 1914-1991
Carl E Rayfield 1921-2015
Allen Craig Thomas 1889-1978
Desmond Doss 1919-2006 Medic, Medal of Honor, Heartbreak Ridge,
Edward Earl Richards 1916-0000 US Navy 1 July 1945
John T Dowdle 1913-1991 US Army 11 Dec 1942
Elton Ray Keasler 1911-1998 U S Army
Homer Starnes Goodson 1909-1962 U S Navy Seaman 2nd Class
Henry Garrett Rhyne 1866-1953
William E Harris 1907-1984
Rees Su Turner 1905-1944 KIA
Rufus R Keasler 1911-1998 SGT US Army Air Corp 11 Feb 1942
William Turner Harper 1763-1851Private 3rd South Carolina Regiment, 3rd Regiment in Garrison at the Siege of Charleston 1780
William Edward Seale 1891-1967 30 Sept 1944
James L Walton 1914-1979 US Coast Guard
Frank G Thomas 1915-1983 US Army
William W Walton 1916- US Marine Corps
Carl Edward Rayfield 1921-2015
George Woodrow 1913-1951 Staff Sergeant Headquarter Squadron 7th Bombardment Command (Heavy) B-12 , B-18, B-17 Served 1942-1945
Robert Edwin Christenberry 1926-1949 Sergeant Company B 53rd Armed Airborne Infantry Regiment
Joe L Mays 1903-1988 Major U S Marine Corps
Willie M Mayfield (Uncle WM) 1917- U S Army 1941
William W Richards 1913-2000 U S Army
Edward Earl Richards Jr 1916-1981 U S Navy
Donald C Kessler 1929-1998 U S Marine Corp
William S Thomas 1906-1979 US Army
Loyd Ernest Youngblood 1906-1989
Allen Preston McElroy 1909-2001
Newly Byrd Henderson 1882-1967
Marion Boyd Henderson 1917-1959 607th Coast Artillery Battery
Marion Verrell Keasler 1925-1989 US Navy
Willard E Keasler 1919-2001 US Army
Samuel Hickman Keasler 1903-1980 US Army
Boyd Clayton McGahey 1918-1993 US Army
John Harvey McGahey 1916-1999
Ray Rushton Duncan 1914-1976
Maynard O’Neil Henderson 1913-1990
James H Grissom 1926-1976 US Navy
Maynard O Henderson 1913-1990 US Army
Robert W Henderson 1926-2003 US Army
Raymond George 1922-1974
Raymond C Bray 1921-2000
William J Henderson 1890-1987
Ernest A Cole Jr 1914-2013
Reid Ewing Henderson 1909-1959
Jesse Clements Henderson 1913-1951 U S Navy
Truett J Henderson 1922-1988
Kenneth Lee Massengale 1913-2000 US Army
Herbert Woodrow Massengale 1918-2005 US Army
Albert Lynn Massengale 1915-2008 US Army
Paul L Reb 1924-2009 USAF
Ceon Lanier Bass 1912-1960 U S Navy Seaman 1st Class
Manly Winn Hall 1918-2013 Lieutenant Co-Pilot B-17 Flying Fortress, 418th Squadron, 100th Bomb Group (H) 8th Air Force
WWI
Samuel E McGahey 1898-1980
Harry Elmer Nicholas 1899-1959
Allen Boyd Thomas 1894-1987 WWI 28 May, 1918
Freeman Lester Thomas 1892-1918 Private Company A 328th Machine Gun Battalion, 82nd Division WWI KIA Rine Cuort, France
Henry Perry Thomas 1891-1966 WWI Departure of June 3, 1919. Was in St Nazaire, France
Andrew Clyde Thomas 1889-1955 Private Headquarters Detachment 86th Brigade 314 Division
James A 1879-1942 Brest, France 1918 to 2 Jan 1919
Otha W Thigpen 1897-1932
Earl S Gatlin 1892- 1918 Killed in France
James Arthur Thomas 1893-1918 KIA in France
John Houston McCrory 1894-1962
Robert Gilliam Kettrell Sr 1877-1957
Charles W Kessler 1896-1983 US Navy, Sea 2
William W Richards 1873-1933
Pinckney Coatsworth Abernathy 1876-1963
George L Mouchette 1889-1934
William C McGahey 1897-1964
Andrew Clark Henderson 1878-1963
William Ward Richards 1874-1933
Albert C Logan 1888-1979
James Matthias Reb 1899-1995 PFC U S Army. Came home from war from HAMBURG, Deutschland and arrived in Boulanger, Plymouth, New York
Adoniram J Henderson 1888-1973 US Army
Ernest Allen Cole 1891-1942 US Army KIA October 26, 1942
Finis W Henderson 1879-1961
Lemuel Henderson 1881-1942 US Army
Robert Elmore Cunningham 1896-1980
William Winn Cockerham Company B 142nd Regiment, Infantry 36th Division June 25, 1917-June 16, 1919. Service in France Expedition, St Etienne to Artiga France. Meuse Argonne France Offensive.
WAR WITH MEXICO (Mexican-American War)
Henry Reese Bowen 1770-1850 Colonel
Zachary Taylor 1784-1850 General
KOREAN WAR
Richard Marvin Thomas 1933-2008
Allen Boyd Thomas 1935-
James F Woods 1908-1988 SSGT USAF
Gerald L Henderson 1931-1995 US Army
Billy Bun Henderson 1931-1990 U S Navy
VIETNAM
Wayne McGahey
Wendell P Maxey
CHEROKEE & CREEK INDIANS in 1800’s
George Mayfield
TEXAS REVOLUTION
Henry Madison Smith 1817-1882 Captain
James Smith 1792-1854 General
CREEK WAR
Peter W Sharp 1810-1888 Georgia
John Hopkins 1769-1813 Battle of Talladega
George Mayfield Was Interpreter and Spy for Andrew Jackson
SUDBURY FIGHT INDIAN & CONCORD BATTLE
David Comy (Mac Omey) of the MacThomas Clan of Scotland
1635-1676 Sudbury, Massachusetts.
David was one of several colonial soldiers from Concord, Mass slain by Indians as they went to the aid of other soldiers in the "Sudbury Fight '' in King Philip's War (also called the first Indian War) on April 21, 1676. Him and the others are buried near the place where there's a stone marking their names. Captain Hugh Mason company from Watertown went to their aid and found all 5 of them in a river meadow. David was a immigrant ancestor of Dr Perley Pierce Comey MD of Worcester
John Georg Bamberg 1760-1803 a former officer of Frederick The Great of Prussia. Born in Bamberg Bavaria Germany. Served as Special Inspector in “American of German Troops and Colonists” during the American Revolution. Was also in the Revolutionary War in the 3rd Battalion New Jersey Volunteers 96 South Carolina. Was a Corporal
“The Battle of Point Pleasant”
Jonathan T Cundiff 1714-1774
I’ve been able only to find a few stories from any of the above veterans. I’ve researched a lot of people, but it was not easy finding information unless it had info on census records.
Manly Winn Hall 1918-2013With the outbreak of WWII, he volunteered for the Army Air Corps, and proudly served his country as a co-pilot on a B-17 'Flying Fortress" in the 418th Squadron of the 100th Bomb Group (H) of the 8th Air Force. He completed 29 combat missions, including D-Day, from the Group's base at Thorpe Abbotts, in North Anglia, England from March through August 1944.
Uncle J B Henderson This story and information came from Robert Henderson from El Paso, Texas, my 1st cousin. He sent me information on his dad from his military service. I have added some to it just to show from history where he was and to give an idea of what it was like where he was stationed. Uncle JB ) He was working in a DuPont gunpowder factory somewhere in Reform-Tuscaloosa area when he was drafted into the Army sometime in 1942-43 time frame...don't know exactly when. Never found any military papers. My mom probably discarded them years ago as "unnecessary"
2) Not sure where he trained or for how long. Pretty sure it was in SE. He did say that the unit he was in was eventually sent to England and subsequently involved in the invasion of France after Normandy. Said most all of his original unit were KIA before the end of war. My dad didn't go with them because of a detached retina found before his unit was transferred. My dad spent 6 months in a hospital bed (only treatment for detached retina at the time) somewhere in SE (Georgia, Carolinas....not sure). He admitted joking with nurses a lot. He said he just laid in bed and ate and ate. Said he got up to 180+ pounds on a 5'6" frame.....fairly stocky for the times.
3) After release from hospital, he became an MP. My dad never drank alcohol even during the military. Maybe that is why he was put into MP's to handle all GI's on leave in various venues in SE.
4) Some time in 1944, he was transferred to pacific NW......Seattle area maybe. He talked about still being an MP working with SP (shore patrol for Navy) rounding up and controlling drunk sailors on liberty. Said he had a girlfriend in every bar they patrolled while on duty. During the Vietnam war, there were a lot of violent anti-war demonstrations that needed crowd control by police wielding batons shown on nightly news. My dad said it reminded him of "knocking heads'' as an MP. He commented also about the heavy fog in the NW. He recalled one night that the fog was so bad that when the MP vehicle got to an intersection, someone had to get out and walk across the street to see if the traffic light was red or green.
5) Sometime late 1944 or early 1945 had him on a troop transport ship for a 3 week trip on rough seas to western Pacific (Tinian-Saipan) for troop build up for planned ground invasion of Japan. (As a result of the trip across the pacific, my dad didn't want to get on another boat unless he could swim to shore. My mom finally got him on a cruise ship in 1975....30 years later...my dad still wasn't thrilled)
6) My dad talked about driving around Saipan and seeing all bombed out Japanese fortifications and still some unburied Japanese bodies lying about (invasion of Tinian in Aug 1944 so maybe my dad got there in early fall 1944). He didn't talk much about what he did in Tinian/Saipan other than snagging a Japanese cadaver head and putting it in one of his buddies' bunk. Just mostly waiting.
7) Dad did comment on all the B-29's flying. He said they would start taking off in waves and took hours most every day to launch all the planes. I believe most of the bombers were on Tinian airfields with a part of B-29 group on Saipan. Dad spent most of his time on Saipan. He did say that once he snagged a trip on a B-29 to Guam. He was riding in the bombardier's seat in the nose but engine problems (B-29 notorious for engine problems) had them turn back after only a few minutes.
8) My dad said that by July 1945, there was a rumor going around the islands that a special bomb was coming.....powerful enough to totally wipe out the island. Dad and fellow GI's didn't believe it. They thought only wishful thinking.
9) Not sure when Dad left the Pacific. I have read that it took about 6 months to get all military deployed to Pacific theater back home. He used the GI bill and entered Livingston State Teachers College (about 70 miles south of Reform) now called U of West Alabama. There is where he met my mom one summer when my mom, U of Alabama student, was taking a trig class (she kept failing the class at U of A). They dated a year or so and were married in June 1949 after Dad had graduated.
10) In fall of 1949, he started at U of Alabama dental school in Birmingham. One year later, I showed up.
11) Summer of 1953, Dad graduated dental school and moved to El Paso.
12) No other military history after separation from WWII.
Tinian was a Protectorate of Japan following World War I having been both a Spanish and then a German possession prior to coming under Japanese administration in 1914. Tinian was largely a sugar plantation area in the pre Pacific war period. Large-scale military construction began on Tinian in 1939, during the Japanese military build up in the Pacific,. 1,200 prisoners of war were sent to the island from Japan for the construction of airfields as part of the defense of the Mariana Islands. By 1944, the island had three military airfields with a fourth under construction. What would later become North Field under US control was originally a Japanese fighter airstrip of 4,380 ft (1,335 m) in length, it was originally built as Ushi Point Airfield.
The island was captured from the Japanese in July 1944 in the Battle of Tinian. Following a 13-day naval bombardment of Tinian leading up to the invasion at Unai Chulu, U.S. forces utilized napalm bombs against the Japanese. It was the first time napalm bombs were used during warfare. The US Marine landing force overcame the numerically superior Japanese force on 1 August 1944 in what is considered to be the best-executed amphibious landing operation of the war. US Marine casualties were 328 dead with 1,571 wounded. The Japanese lost 8,010 dead. Only 313 Japanese were taken prisoner, many Japanese service personnel and civilians were reported to have committed suicide rather than face capture. Several hundred Japanese troops held out in the jungles for months following the capture of the island. Following the conquest of the island Tinian subsequently became an important operational base for the rest of the Pacific war.
The exact figure is unknown however it is understood that approximately 5,000 Korean civilian laborers died in the Marianas during the Pacific war. There is a small cluster of monuments on the island placed there in their memory.
B-29s of the 462d Bomb Group West Field Tinian Mariana Islands 1945
In December 1944, the US Joint Chiefs of Staff made the decision that the newly-captured islands in the Marianas in the central Pacific should have airfields built on them to support long range strategic bombing operations against the Japanese. Once under American control, a massive construction project was begun on the island in mid-August 1944. The previous Japanese airfield sited there was repaired and considerably expanded, being named as West Field, or Gurgaon Point Airfield due to its geographical location. WestField became operationally ready in the early spring of 1945, and the Twentieth Air Force XXI Bomber Command 58th Bombardment Wing was assigned there and initiated strategic bombardment operations directly against the Japanese Home Islands. After the Japanese surrender, groups of the 58th Bomb Wing dropped food and supplies to Allied prisoners of war in Japan, Korea, and Formosa, and took part in a show of force missions. Beginning in September, the vast majority of its fleet of B-29 superfortress were returned to the United States as part of "Operation Sunset". The 58th Bomb Wing returned to the United States on 15 November 1945, and its subordinate units were either inactivated or reassigned to other bases in Okinawa or returned to the United States.
George Woodrow was my 1st cousin that lived in Hale County, Alabama. He was a Staff Sergeant in India Headquarters for the 7th Bombardment Command (Heavy) from 1942 to 1945. They had 7 different Squadrons in their command. They had the B-17, B-12, B-18 & the B-24 Liberator.
Freeman Lester Thomas a 1st cousin from Hale County, Alabama was with the 328th Machine Gun Battalion Company A, 82nd Division. He served with the FAMOUS Medal of Honor Alvin York. They were also known as “The All American Division” because they had a person from all 48 states.
He went to Fort McPherson and then to Camp Upton, New York for final training. Left in April to Boston and boarded the ship “Scandinavian” to Southampton and Liverpool. He then boarded a train across England and then boarded ships for cross channel voyage to France. He arrived in April 1917. He was killed in action in Riencourt, France which was in northern France.
Richard M Thomas my Dad was in the Korea War in the U S Air Force as a E6 Technical Sergeant. He was a Radio Operator on a Fairchild C-119 Flying Boxcar. He was with the 3380th Technical Training Wing at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi for radio training.
Pickens County German POW Camp
Has anyone else ever heard of this???? Did anybody else know that there was a Prisoner of War Camp in Pickens County, Alabama.
During World War II, approximately 425,000 Axis soldiers were interned in over 500 POW camps in the U.S. One of the largest camps, with a capacity of over 6,000 POWs, was located at Aliceville, Alabama. The camp, which encompassed over 800 acres, employed more than 1,000 American military and civilian personnel.
On the afternoon of Wednesday, June 2, 1943, the first train carrying POWs who had been captured in North Africa arrived in Aliceville. Many of the prisoners were from Field Marshal Erwin Rommel’s elite Africa Corp. Later, prisoners captured in Europe (primarily in France) arrived in the camp.
In 1942, at the conclusion of the campaign in North Africa, the logistical strain of securing such a large number of prisoners in the area prompted the U.S. military to move the POWs to the United States. The Army Corps of Engineers rapidly established camps in nearly every U.S. state to house them. Alabama's first camps were constructed during the winter of 1942-1943. Army doctrine dictated that camps be built either at existing military bases or at sites distant from major cities and industrial centers. The Army first selected two sites near the rural Alabama towns of Aliceville and Opelika, located in western Pickens County and eastern Lee County, respectively.
Aliceville's initial influx of prisoners (members of Rommel's elite Africa Corps who had been captured and held in detention camps in North Africa until the prison was ready) started arriving by train in May, 1943. Eventually, the camp held over 6,000 prisoners, among the largest German POW camps in the United States. Almost all prisoners were German soldiers; however some Italian POWs from the European theater joined them. The camp employed more than 1,000 American military and civilian personnel.
Camp Aliceville was composed of 400 frame buildings: barracks, hospital, bakeries, chapels, greenhouse, theaters, water and sewer system, fire department, amphitheater, sports fields, and gardens. It was a barbed wire compound with guard towers.
Army engineers established another camp for 3,000 prisoners at Fort McClellan, located in Calhoun County, and a fourth camp for 2,000 prisoners was added in February 1944, at Fort Rucker in Dale County.
Camp Aliceville has become widely regarded as a model of humane treatment of POWs. The American military stocked abundant provisions for the dietary and recreational needs of the prisoners. Life within the camps was so comfortable that some Alabama residents resented what they perceived as the POWs' pampering while they endured rationing.
Daily life for prisoners consisted largely of work and leisure. During their free time, prisoners participated in a variety of activities, such as soccer, and some even formed orchestras. Each of the major camps established newspapers that featured prisoner essays, articles, short fiction, puzzles, and cartoons.
Each major camp also established camp colleges, and prisoners could enroll in a wide variety of courses, including history, mathematics, the sciences, vocational courses, and preparatory classes for students seeking postwar careers in medicine, law, electrical engineering, and architecture.
Following Germany's surrender in the spring of 1945, Alabama's POWs were repatriated to their homelands. During the years of postwar reconstruction, a number of former POWs returned to Alabama. Little exists of their former sites of imprisonment, however. By 1947 the camps had been dismantled, and, today there is little evidence that the camps ever existed.
Desmond Doss
Desmond Thomas Doss (February 7, 1919 – March 23, 2006) was a United States Army corporal who served as a combat medic with an infantry company in World War II. He was twice awarded the Bronze Star Medal for actions in Guam and the Philippines. Doss further distinguished himself in the Battle of Okinawa by saving 75 men, becoming the only conscientious objector to receive the Medal of Honor for his actions during the war. His life has been the subject of books, the documentary The Conscientious Objector, and the 2016 film Hacksaw Ridge.
Early life
Desmond Doss was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, to William Thomas Doss (1893–1989), a carpenter, and Bertha Edward Doss (née Oliver) (1899–1983), a homemaker and shoe factory worker. His mother raised him as a devout Seventh-day Adventist and instilled Sabbath-keeping, nonviolence, and a vegetarian lifestyle in his upbringing. He grew up in the Fairview Heights area of Lynchburg, Virginia, alongside his older sister Audrey and younger brother Harold.
Doss attended the Park Avenue Seventh-day Adventist Church school until the eighth grade, and subsequently found a job at the Lynchburg Lumber Company to support his family during the Great Depression.
Doss on top of the Maeda Escarpment, May 4, 1945
Before the outbreak of World War II, Doss was employed as a joiner at a shipyard in Newport News, Virginia. He chose military service, despite being offered a deferment because of his shipyard work, on April 1, 1942, at Camp Lee, Virginia. He was sent to Fort Jackson in South Carolina for training with the reactivated 77th Infantry Division. Meanwhile, his brother Harold served aboard the USS Lindsey.
Doss refused to kill an enemy soldier or carry a weapon into combat because of his personal beliefs as a Seventh-day Adventist. He consequently became a medic assigned to the 2nd Platoon, Company B, 1st Battalion, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division.
While serving with his platoon in 1944 on Guam and the Philippines, he was awarded two Bronze Star Medals with a "V" device, for exceptional valor in aiding wounded soldiers under fire. During the Battle of Okinawa, he saved the lives of 50–100 wounded infantrymen atop the area known by the 96th Division as the Maeda Escarpment or Hacksaw Ridge. Doss was wounded four times in Okinawa, and was evacuated on May 21, 1945, aboard the USS Mercy. Doss suffered a left arm fracture from a sniper's bullet and at one point had seventeen pieces of shrapnel embedded in his body. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for his actions in Okinawa.
Post-war life
Desmond Doss grave
After the war, Doss initially planned to continue his career in carpentry, but extensive damage to his left arm made him unable to do so. In 1946, Doss was diagnosed with tuberculosis, which he had contracted on Leyte. He underwent treatment for five and a half years – which cost him a lung and five ribs – before being discharged from the hospital in August 1951 with 90% disability.
Doss continued to receive treatment from the military, but after an overdose of antibiotics rendered him completely deaf in 1976, he was given 100% disability; he was able to regain his hearing after receiving a cochlear implant in 1988. Despite the severity of his injuries, Doss managed to raise a family on a small farm in Rising Fawn, Georgia.
Doss married Dorothy Pauline Schutte on August 17, 1942, and they had one child, Desmond "Tommy" Doss Jr., born in 1946. Dorothy died on November 17, 1991 in a car accident (Desmond was driving and lost control of the vehicle). Doss remarried on July 1, 1993, to Frances May Sherman.
After being hospitalized for difficulty breathing, Doss died on March 23, 2006, at his home in Piedmont, Alabama. He was buried on April 3, 2006, in the National Cemetery in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Frances died three years later on February 3, 2009, at the Piedmont Health Care Center in Piedmont, Alabama.
Awards and decorations
Medal of Honor
Corporal Doss receiving the Medal of Honor from President Harry S. Truman on October 12, 1945
Rank and organization: Private First Class, United States Army, Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division.
Place and date: Near Urasoe Mura, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, April 29, 1945 – May 21, 1945.
Entered service at: Lynchburg, Virginia
Birth: Lynchburg, Virginia
G.O. No.: 97, November 1, 1945.
The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, March 3, 1863, has awarded in the name of The Congress the MEDAL OF HONOR to
PRIVATE FIRST CLASS DESMOND T. DOSS
UNITED STATES ARMY
for service as set forth in the following
Citation: Private First Class Desmond T. Doss, United States Army, Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division. Near Urasoe-Mura, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, 29 April – 21 May 1945. He was a company aid man when the 1st Battalion assaulted a jagged escarpment 400 feet high. As our troops gained the summit, a heavy concentration of artillery, mortar and machine-gun fire crashed into them, inflicting approximately 75 casualties and driving the others back. Private First Class Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying them one by one to the edge of the escarpment and there lowering them on a rope-supported litter down the face of a cliff to friendly hands. On 2 May, he exposed himself to heavy rifle and mortar fire in rescuing a wounded man 200 yards forward of the lines on the same escarpment; and two days later he treated four men who had been cut down while assaulting a strongly defended cave, advancing through a shower of grenades to within eight yards of enemy forces in a cave's mouth, where he dressed his comrades' wounds before making four separate trips under fire to evacuate them to safety. On 5 May, he unhesitatingly braved enemy shelling and small arms fire to assist an artillery officer. He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection from small-arms fire and, while artillery and mortar shells fell close by, painstakingly administered plasma. Later that day, when an American was severely wounded by fire from a cave, Private First Class Doss crawled to him where he had fallen 25 feet from the enemy position, rendered aid, and carried him 100 yards to safety while continually exposed to enemy fire. On 21 May, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory while the rest of his company took cover, fearlessly risking the chance that he would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese and giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade. Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited five hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover. The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Private First Class Doss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man. Awaiting the litter bearers' return, he was again struck, this time suffering a compound fracture of one arm. With magnificent fortitude he bound a rifle stock to his shattered arm as a splint and then crawled 300 yards over rough terrain to the aid station. Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions Private First Class Doss saved the lives of many soldiers. His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty.
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