Wednesday, July 13, 2016

PVT Olan Derwood Polk

courtesy of Dominique Potier
PVT Olan Derwood Polk was born 16 Apr 1922 in Colleton County, South Carolina. He was the 2nd of the 8 children born to Oliver Putnam and Lela May (Carter) Polk. Oliver farmed for others in Bulloch and Liberty counties in Georgia. Olan was able to complete 1 year of high school before starting to work. We think that Olan married in 1942. His bride was Dorothy A. Nelson.

Olan was working at a sawmill in McIntosh County, Georgia when he was drafted in August 1943. After his basic military training he was sent to the European theater. PVT Polk was transferred from the replacement depot to B Company 116th Infantry on 16 Jun 1944. PVT Polk was killed in action when struck by fragments from an artillery shell on 13 Jul 1944 near Saint-Lo, France.

PVT Polk rests forever in the Normandy American Cemetery

Great great-grandfather, Isaac Oliver Polk, served as a PVT in K Company 11th South Carolina Infantry (CSA) in the Civil War.

Dorothy moved to Atlanta and was living there in 1950.

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