Remembered

By Harry Thetford

With a template that fits every American community, Remembered focuses on ninety-nine former students from a typical Middle America high school. Each student gave their lives in the line of duty during World War II. The ninety-nine names are dutifully bronzed on a plaque visible to current students on a daily basis, but Remembered goes beyond names. It adds life, zeal, and excitement to each name. Remembered poignantly points out that those lives were cut short in their prime. By remembering their stories, the freedoms they paid forward were not in vain.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Apr 26, 2019
• ISBN: 9781796029659

Harry Thetford

Harry Thetford is a retired Sears store manager and veterans’ writer for the Greensboro (NC) News & Record. He and his wife, Martha, met and married as students at the University of Southern Mississippi. They have made their home in Greensboro since 1977. They have three children, seven grandchildren and one great-grandchild. Harry’s interest in veterans rises from four years as a peace-time Marine, his brother’s 20 years as a World War II Marine and his son’s 29-year Navy career spanning the Gulf Wars. The author of “Keep Their Stories Alive,” he serves as Historian for Marine Corps League Detachment 260 and is founding Historian of the Carolina Field of Honor. Contact him at [e-mail]

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Copyright © 2019 by HARRY THETFORD.

Library of Congress Control Number:   2019904970

ISBN:              Hardcover                            978-1-7960-2967-3

                        Softcover                              978-1-7960-2966-6

                        eBook                                   978-1-7960-2965-9

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Rev. date: 05/20/2019

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CONTENTS

PREFACE

INTRODUCTION

PREWAR

EDWARD WILLIAM TANKERSLEY

HARRY LEE WICKER

1942

MACK DEWEY MILLER

HARRY LEHMAN KUYKENDALL

JOHN WASHINGTON KING, JR.

MARK PAUL HUBERT

ADRIAN LONDON KIRKMAN

THOMAS RUFFIN BLEDSOE

1943

FABIUS MONROE CLEMENTS, JR.

ELMER MUNCIE FRYE

SANFORD FRIEDMAN

JOHN ALBERT FAW, JR.

JOE BENJAMIN PARKER, JR.

MARY WEBB NICHOLSON

ALBERT REID LAMBERT

JOHN BENSON PAYNE, JR.

JACK GRAYDON KLINGMAN

THOMAS WILEY MORGAN

WALTER LEE WALL, JR.

RICHARD HODGES SCOTT

DEARING FRANK STONE

STAFFORD WILBUR WEBB

HORACE VERNON HALL

1944

DISCLAIMERS

ELMER JACK BENDIGO

JULIAN EDGAR WINFREE, JR.

ERNEST ROLAND FRUITT, JR.

WILLIAM CARLUS CAGLE

DORSEY NEWMAN DUKE, JR.

PHILLIP HOYLE ARCHER

ALBERT TERRELL BROOKS

JACOB IRVIN HEDRICK, JR.

CARROLL GWYNN CONRAD

FRANK LESLIE ATKINSON, JR.

JOSEPH SIGMUND THOMAS

EDWARD PERCIVAL GEOGHEGAN, JR.

GEORGE WILLIAM DOBBINS, JR.

CHARLES AUBREY HUFFINE

HAROLD LACEY ROSS, JR.

ROBERT EUGENE ROACH

HENRY IVERSON BROOKS, JR.

JOSEPH HENRY HARDISON

DENNIS WILSON CURTIS

ROBERT EARL COX

WILLIAM CHARLES LEONARD

CALVIN NIX MCADOO

KEITH GLENN LOWDERMILK

JACK GLENN FLINTOM

LAWRENCE ALDINE BEARDEN

JAMES V. NEELLEY

RALPH ANDREW ARCHER

JOHN LAWRENCE SULLIVAN, JR.

JOHN EDWARD FERGUSON, JR.

PAUL COLEMAN BEHRMAN

THOMAS ODELL RIERSON

BRADLEY CROMER WYRICK, JR.

GLENN EARLE GOODWIN

JAMES KENT WILLIAMS

DANIEL BENNING FIELD, JR.

CHARLES BERNARD CALHOUN

CHARLES ELLIOTT WALTERS

JAMES MCGUFFIE SIMPSON, JR.

GUY JULIAN THOMAS, JR.

ALBERT DEWEY LINDSAY, JR.

RALPH ROBERT HALL

JOHN MOORE ALBRIGHT

RICHARD ALLEN STONE, JR.

VERNON LLOYD TESH

MILES SMITH KING

DOUGLAS THELBERT MILHOLLAND

GEORGE EARLE PREDDY, JR.

1945

ROBERT POPE GARRETT

RALPH LEE CLEMMONS

CHARLES PURNELL KENNEDY

JOSEPH SCARBOROUGH HANCOCK

SIGMUND SELIG PEARL

HENRY WORKMAN WATSON

WILLIAM JASPER BALSLEY

HARRY KARL SCARBOROUGH, JR.

JESSE FRANKLIN REYNOLDS

JACK D. HARWELL

HOMER HUFFMAN GROOME

BUDDY ROGERS GADDY

GERALD PAUL VAN LANDINGHAM

JOHN COUNCIL COSTNER

WILLIAM RHODES PREDDY

REUBEN REID FLOYD

HAROLD HILTON SMOTHERS

HELEN JEANETTE HENLEY

RICHARD SETTLE WHITTINGTON

JOHN WESLEY LONG BENBOW

JOHN MAXWELL HENDRIX, JR.

SCOTT BURGETT COLEY

WILLIAM LEE LOY

JAMES LOGAN KALE

1946

BENTON ARMFIELD WAUGH

HOMER LA FAYETTE HOBBS

GASTON WARD CALLUM

JEAN ERIC MCALISTER, JR.

ROLL OF HONOR BY THE NUMBERS

THE GREATEST GENERATION

EPILOGUE

APPENDIX

TIMELINE OF LOSSES DURING WORLD WAR II

GREENSBORO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS KILLED DURING WW II

ROLL OF HONOR BY ENLISTMENT DATE/DATE OF DEATH

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PHOTO COURTESY PREDDY MEMORIAL FOUNDATION

…there is always inequity in life. Some men are killed in a war and some men are wounded, and some men never leave the country, and some men are stationed in the Antarctic and some men are stationed in San Francisco. It is very hard in the military or personal life to assure complete equality. Life is unfair.

President John Fitzgerald Kennedy

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PHOTO COURTESY PREDDY MEMORIAL FOUNDATION

These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands by it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman.

Thomas Paine

PREFACE

By their birth year, the 97 men and two women listed on the Greensboro High School Roll of Honor are remembered as the Greatest Generation.

In reality, it depends on what is meant by remembered. Webster’s dictionary defines the word, to bring to mind, or think of again.

In varying degrees, the 99 have been brought to mind and thought of again– by families and friends – as well as their school and town.

Varying degrees would be the essence of this book.

Defending a specific generation from our nation’s 243-year history as greatest would seem a logical first step. That brings the question, which other generations were considered when our focus generation was declared, greatest?

Surely, the Silent Generation– composed of members generally considered to have been born 1925-1945– was in the mix. Keep in mind, members of the Greatest Generation were born in 1924 or earlier.

On a personal note, I was born in 1935 – ground center of the Silent Generation. My brother was born in 1922, solidly entrenching him in the Greatest Generation. There was never any argument in our family as to which generation was the greatest!

It is interesting to note that no member of the Silent Generation has become president of the United States. The Greatest Generation produced Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter and George H.W. Bush.

Those born 1946-1964 are generally considered Baby Boomers. Perhaps they have outgrown their name. They have contributed Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump.

Generation X’ers (1965-1980) and Millennials (1981-2000) are shaping their destinies as this is being written.

Now that the various generations have been unpacked, the nomenclature remains the same – the generation represented by the 99 names on the Roll of Honor is still remembered as the Greatest.

We would be remiss to allow them be remembered as the Greatest, solely because of their birth year. They should be remembered for the sacrifices they made while paying our freedom forward – one life at a time.

Mention has been made that the Greatest Generation would be better identified as the GI Generation. I don’t know the source or logic of this mention, but I do know it wouldn’t be long before pacifist revisionist sanitizers would take GI as a cause.

From a less biased perspective, remembering the life experiences of those on the Greensboro High School Roll of Honor should be relatively easy. The great majority were born and raised in one town.

Many attended the same elementary schools.

All attended the same high school.

Most entered military service in 1942 or 1943.

All entered at a young age.

None survived World War II.

To the contrary, recounting those life experiences with the appropriate finesse is perplexing and difficult, to say the least. None of the 99 survived to share their stories. In a few instances, there were witnesses. In many of those instances, the witnesses lost their lives as well.

Except for a few stateside training fatalities, the 99 died by land, sea and air in foreign locales not breached by their finest Greensboro High School history books.

At this juncture, Anyboro, or Everyboro, could be substituted for Greensboro. World War II defined why the 20th century is deemed the deadliest in world history – there were no exemptions, no safe harbors.

Thus, we come to remember the trying times faced by 99 of our town’s finest young people during World War II. Not one of them shrunk from the service of their country.

Remember– there are no summer soldiers or sunshine patriots past this point!

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GREENSBORO HIGH SCHOOL CLASS RING – 1944

SOME ENJOY THE FREEDOM TO WEAR THIS RING

99 SCHOOLMATES PAID THAT FREEDOM FORWARD

PHOTO COURTESY OF MANDY LOTZ

The trying times have now shifted to those of us enjoying the freedoms paid forward by these 99 local heroes and heroines and the other 407,217 Americans who paid our freedom forward with their lives.

Our task is not to resurface painful memories, but to build a living testament to those who did not come home to their families who had given them up in the prime of their lives.

Whereas the news wasn’t good for folks on the Greensboro High School home front during the initial outbreak of World War II, it appears they were spared the avalanche of devastatingly bad news received by many other locales over the country.

If any Roll of Honor alumni were killed at Pearl Harbor, Midway, or the Battle of the Coral Sea, it has escaped my notice. Someone should have made a marker of that, it was the peace before the storm.

Terrible tolls would be taken soon – and continue for four years. Two would die in training accidents before the war began, and at least five from Greensboro High School would lose their lives in 1942.

Our journey to put faces on the 99 patriots listed on the school’s Roll of Honor now begins. Names on the plaque were listed alphabetically. The 99 stories herein are written chronologically by date of death.

Given that information, some book readers just look at the photos. Others scan to the middle of the book in search of something they like. Still others skip to the end to see how the book comes out.

Either of those strategies would defeat the purpose of this book – to memorialize all who sacrificed their lives in World War II by highlighting 99 students from one middle America high school.

To miss one would be a shame.

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INTRODUCTION

An invite to join a group of Greensboro/Grimsley High School graduates for a look-see of the Sigmund Selig Pearl Field House turned into much more. The other look-seers were interested in what could be done to restore the once pristine athletic capstone to its former glory.

A bronze plaque deep inside the building captured my attention. It was a hallowed plaque on which were engraved 99 names of former students who made the ultimate sacrifice in World War II.

The memorial gesture reminded me of the modest granite monument in Southwest Mississippi at the merging of State Highways 28 and 550, engraved with names of the former students of my Union Church Agricultural High School who also made the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

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PHOTO BY HARRY THETFORD

Greensboro, North Carolina and Union Church, Mississippi don’t stand alone with memorials to those who fell in World War II. If over 400,000 of our finest gave their lives for our country, memorials such as these should be found in Anytown, U.S.A. Better yet, found in Everytown, U.S.A.

The should in the preceding paragraph is the elephant in the room. Another elephant is the mindset that a piece of bronze or granite fulfills our memorialization commitment.

Several years ago, our Navy son made a Memorial Day talk to the folks in Union Church, Mississippi, fleshing out the personal stories of our 13 native sons who made the ultimate sacrifice.

Friends and families were pleased to have their heroes memorialized in that manner. Which led to the possibility that friends and families of Greensboro’s 99 fallen would appreciate a similar digest of their native sons – and two daughters. Thus birthed the journey to remember those on the Greensboro High School Roll of Honor Plaque in more than bronze.

An early stop on the journey was the Greensboro Central Library. The splendid work of the Library Director, Mrs. Nellie Rowe Jones, made the task at hand much easier.

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The 99 journeys we are about to take ended too soon… There are no summer soldiers past this point.

What if these 99 had lived normal life expectancies – WW II survivors instead of

WW II casualties?

The spectrum of experiences would have ranged from truck drivers to chief executive officers; farmers to ranchers; carpenters to doctors; pastors to professors; small business owners to corporate entrepreneurs.

More importantly, they would have become spouses, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and great-great grandparents.

PREWAR

It was mentioned earlier that the Greensboro High School family did not suffer early losses at Pearl Harbor, Midway and the Battle of the Coral Sea. That isn’t to say the town’s psyche wasn’t well tested prior to the beginning of the war.

Aviation Cadet Edward Tankersley was killed 02Oct1940. S/SGT Harry Wicker was killed 08Jul1941. Both were killed in the line of duty – training for the war just over the horizon.

Both were killed in flying accidents during aviation training – well before the war started.

So begins this journey of remembrance – not just remembrances of the 99 names listed on the Roll of Honor, but remembrances of all Americans who made the ultimate sacrifice in World War II.

EDWARD WILLIAM TANKERSLEY

This Greensboro High School graduate garnered more than his share of accolades when he volunteered to become an aviation cadet for the U.S. Army Air Corps 27Jul1940. Well before the attack on Pearl Harbor, premonitions of war were strong enough to frame his decision as newsworthy and quite patriotic.¹

Tankersley wasn’t the first Roll of Honor hero from Greensboro High School to join the services – he was number five to join, but first to be killed in the line of duty. Harry Lee Wicker joined the Army Air Corps in 1938, Adrian Kirkman joined the Marine Corps 22Oct1939, Harry Lehman Kuykendall joined the Army in June, 1940, as did Calvin Nix McAdoo.

Wicker, Kuykendall and Kirkman were killed in 1942. McAdoo was killed in 1944.

For clarification, Tankersley joined the Army Air Corps (USAAC) on the above date. Effective 20Jun1941, the aviation wing of the U.S. Army became the U.S. Army Air Forces (USAAF). In 1947, the aviation wing’s name was changed to U.S. Air Force (USAF).

This organizational name change is commonly misunderstood, but not necessarily by friends and family of veterans from Greensboro High School. Almost half of those listed on the Roll of Honor died as members of the U.S. Army Air Forces.

Tankersley’s Army records state, Enlistment for the Philippine Department. It is unknown if this was at Tankersley’s request. Army personnel were routinely assigned on paper to Panama and the Philippines – and perhaps other designated regions– during Tankersley’s era.

It has been my observation that most of these assignments were on paper only.

The Greensboro surgeon’s son was said to be cultured, brilliant, talented and popular. Even though he was born in Charleston, South Carolina, he spent most of his young life in Greensboro. He graduated from Greensboro High School circa 1932.

He was a 1938 graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill, a member of the Signa Chi Fraternity, and captained the wrestling team.² At some point prior to joining the service, he worked for Standard Coffee Company.

He was the only child of Dr. James William Tankersley (1882-1963) and Bonnie Bishop Tankersley (1883-1927). Of the Catholic faith, the family lived on Meadowbrook Terrace in Greensboro. Dr. Tankersley was a well-known surgeon at St. Leo’s Hospital. Tankersley Street in Greensboro was named in his honor. Mrs. Bonnie Tankersley died at 43, her son was only 12 years old.

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EDWARD WILLIAM TANKERSLEY

PHOTO COURTESY TANKERSLEY FAMILY

Even the Associated Press made mention of Tankersley 28Jul1940, Four former college stars of the Carolinas entered as flying cadets: Dan Stubbs, Citadel fullback; Frank Cox, UNC outfielder; Edward Tankersley, UNC wrestling captain; Harvey Ferguson, Clemson Southern Conference boxing champion.

Tankersley’s military career ended tragically two months and two days after he began flight training. On 02Oct1940, his PT-19 trainer aircraft crashed in a cotton field, two miles north of Addison, Texas. Cadet Tankersley was killed instantly.³

This aircraft was widely used as a primary flight training plane. Tankersley had obviously done well in his training, inasmuch as he had soloed early in his training cycle. It is interesting to note that the body and wings of the PT-19 were made of plywood.

His USAAC detachment was stationed at Love Field in Dallas, with alternate landing fields at Nichol Field and Miche Field as well. Tankersley was scheduled to move to Randolph Field in a few days.

Tankersley had soloed one month into his training and had just been assigned his own plane the day of his death. Shortly after take-off, the engine of his aircraft stalled and the ship went into a tailspin which Tankersley could not correct. One witness said he crashed from an altitude of 500 feet, another said 1000 feet.

Aviation training came at a high risk – media reports made mention of seven deaths at Love Field – five cadets and two instructors.

Ink from accolades given this young man when he volunteered for the service had hardly dried when accolades in his memory began.

The 10Oct1940 Greensboro Record expressed the newspaper’s sentiments regarding Tankersley’s loss. The expression couldn’t be missed. Located in the masthead, just under the subscription rates ($7.30 per year or .15 per week by carrier) and the Pledge of Allegiance, came Tankersley’s tribute.

"Edward Tankersley’s name sadly though proudly added to the roster of Greensboro’s heroic dead– to the scroll of honor and fame, whereon are indelibly inscribed the names of the immortal patriots of this community, who, in generations gone by, have made the supreme sacrifice on the altar of our country.

On Fame’s eternal camping-ground their silent tents are spread; And Glory guards, with solemn round, The bivouac of the dead.

Young Mr. Tankersley was among the first from this locality to volunteer for military training, and shortly after his enlistment in the Army Air Corps he met death – in the line of duty – in an airplane accident last week on a Texas flying field.

He was the first citizen of this community to lose his life in the military service in the present international crisis. He was cultured, talented, and popular – a youth of brilliance, and of great promise.

But ah, that Spring should vanish with the rose that youth’s sweet-scented manuscript should close.

There has been published in the Record’s news columns a splendid and fitting tribute to the memory of this brave young man in the form of a resolution by the American Legion.

It expresses appreciation for his splendid service, and sympathy to his sorely bereaved family and relatives; sentiments in which the Record heartily joins.

How sleep the brave, who sink to rest by all their country’s wishes bless’d."

The Henry K. Burtner Post of the American Legion unanimously adopted the resolution in Tankersley’s memory mentioned above. Paraphrasing Historian McDaniel Lewis, (Tankersley) lost his life while training for service in the armed forces essential to defense of the United States, true to tradition of his city and county, was among earliest volunteers, recently met death in line of duty.⁴

Dr. Tankersley flew to Texas immediately after his son’s death and took charge of his remains. Funeral services for the young airman were held Saturday morning, 05Oct1940 at St. Benedict’s Church. Right Reverend Vincent G. Taylor of Belmont Abbey, assisted by Father Cornelius Deihe, conducted the services.

Pallbearers were: Charles Yates, Jr., John Latham, Jr., Francis Cooper, Victor Harlee, Charles Hudson, I.D. Ham, Jr., Jack Cheek and Dick Remmey.

Aviation Cadet Edward William Tankersley was buried in Greensboro’s Forest Lawn Cemetery.

No one could look into the future and predict that hundreds of Greensboro’s finest young men and women would fall over the next few months and years as unsuspectedly as had Edward Tankersley.

The last of the 99 names listed on the Greensboro High School Roll of Honor, Jean Eric McAlister, fell 08Aug1946, after the war had ended. It will be interesting to compare the tributes he received with those accorded Tankersley, who fell before the war started.

HARRY LEE WICKER

According to census information, the Wicker family lived on Greensboro’s Spring Garden Street as early as 1920. Lacy Phillip Wicker, Sr. (1877-1937) headed the family. His occupation was listed as a blacksmith for the railroad in 1920 and a welder for a welding company in 1930. His wife was Viola Oliver Wicker (1876-1967).

Children listed in the family as of 1920 were: Milton G. (1905-1989), Lacy Phillip, Jr. (1908-1992), and Harry, who was born 20Sep1913.

The 1930 census found only Harry still at home.

For the record, Harry Wicker’s full name was Harry Lee Wicker. He graduated from high school circa 1930. After two years at Georgia Tech, he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps.⁵ His enlistment date was 20Oct1939.

By newspaper accounts, he was an outstanding athlete at Greensboro High School. It appears he spent some of his high school years at Curry School. Interestingly, one newspaper account lists Wicker attending only Curry School, with no mention of Greensboro High School.⁶ However, his outstanding record in athletics leave no doubt that he attended both schools – likely Curry first, and Greensboro High School second.

Of historical note, the original name of Curry School was The Demonstration and Practice School of the State Normal and Industrial School.⁷

Wicker was the first Roll of Honor student to enter the military during the World War II era – but, by only two days. Adrian Kirkman joined the Marine Corps two days after Wicker joined the U.S. Army Air Corps.

Wicker had attained the rank of staff sergeant by July, 1941. That rank progression came during peacetime, when promotions were much slower and infrequent than during wartime.

On 09Jul1941, Mrs. Viola Oliver Wicker received word from Langley Field, Virginia that her son had been killed in an airplane crash at 4 p.m. on the day prior, 08Jul1941. He was 27 years old at the time of his death.

S/SGT Harry Lee Wicker’s remains arrived in Greensboro 10Jul1941, accompanied by Body Escort SGT J.A. McCloskey, from Langley Field. Funeral services were held at 4 p.m., 11Jul1941 at Hanes Chapel. Reverend W.E. Wisseman, pastor of the First Congregational Christian Church, conducted the services.

An official escort of six additional USAAC airmen flew down to participate in Wicker’s last rites.

Interment was in Forest Lawn Cemetery. Pallbearers were: Edward Benbow, Floyd, Wicker, Chester Strader, Ike Fesmire, and Walter Waynick.

Wicker’s father had passed away in 1937, but his mother survived, along with two other sons, Milton and Phil Wicker.

Later details of the crash stated Lieutenant George Samec, from Jamaica, New York, was piloting the A-17A aircraft, serial #36-241. This was a two-seat, single engine attack bomber, currently used primarily as a utility aircraft. bound for Bolling Field in Washington, D.C. S/SGT Wicker was a passenger. Wicker was a trained aircraft mechanic, so that may have had to do with his involvement.

On the other hand, he was living in an Army Air Corps barracks in Washington, D.C. in 1940, so he could have been returning home from Langley Field at the time of the crash.

Cause of the crash was attributed to a violent storm that the aircraft encountered 20 miles northeast of Langley Field. The crash site was reported as Hayee’s Store, Maryland. Most Army Air Force historians agree that Langley Field, opened in 1916, is the oldest continuously active air base in the world.

When Wicker’s grave marker was ordered 12Aug1941, his administrative unit was listed as Headquarters Squadron, 14th Air Base Group.

The Air Corps named Wicker’s Circle, aboard Eglin Field, Florida in SGT Wicker’s memory after he died in the line of duty. The tribute was based on his service deemed meritorious and distinguished as a non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Army Air Corps.⁸

And then there was war! Roger Gibbs, a Greensboro High School student who survived the war shared a poem he wrote about his Navy service.

I had just turned eighteen, a young man, some said, but really a teen.

A choice age none the less, for Uncle Sam to send me greetings, by telegram.

Report at once with no adieu, the Army needs more than just a few.

It was January and so very cold as I