PFC Owen Mitchell Wilkins

PFC Owen Mitchell Wilkins was born 12 Feb 1919 in Halifax County, Virginia. He was the 4th of his father, Ivie or Evan Perriman Wilkins 6 children with 2nd wife Leora Alice (Jones) Wilkins. Owen had 4 half-siblings as well. His father worked as a blacksmith as late as 1920 and then took up farming exclusively. Owen's formal education didn't continue after the 8th grade and in 1938 he married Nannie Bell Marshall but the marriage apparently didn't last even 2-years. In October 1940, Owen was working as a farm hand for R. W. Coates near Semora, North Carolina. 

Owen was drafted in November 1942 and went to Camp Croft, South Carolina for his initial training. Sometime between May 1943 and May 1944 he was transported to England. We don't know what he did in that time period. PFC Wilkins was transferred from the replacement depot to G Company 116th Infantry on 19 Jun 1944. He was killed in action near Saint-Lo, France on 11 Jul 1944. 

PFC Wilkins was repatriated in 1948 and re-interred in the Danville National Cemetery in Danville, Virginia. 

As noted in the newspaper clipping shown here, brothers Evie Perriman Wilkins and Hustler Roger Wilkins served in the U.S. Army in the Pacific theater.