PVT Howard Louis Griffith

PFC Howard Louis Griffith, b. 30 Jul 1925 - d. 28 Dec 1996, son of Milton Palmer and Edna Violet (Price) Griffith. He is the twin brother of Harold Douglas Griffith and both were assigned to F Company 116th Infantry Regiment (but are not the only twins to serve in the Regiment at the same time). Howard was wounded on 30 Aug 1944 and evacuated but apparently did not return to the unit. Howard rests forever in Arlington National Cemetery. 

COL William Kent Adams

COL William Kent Adams was born in Halifax County, Virginia on 21 May 1917. He was the oldest of the 2 children born to John Herman and Ruth Thompson (Lewellyn) Adams. Called Kent for most of his life, he grew up in Danville, Virginia and lived there most of his life. In the first years of his life the family lived with his paternal grandparents on Grove Street in Danville and his mother supported the family working as a telephone operator. They later moved to 324 Farrar Street which they owned and his father ran a retail grocery. His mother would later run a boarding house. He graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1940. 

Commissioned as a reserve 2LT in the Field Artillery branch  on 3 Jun 1940 he was called to active duty on 1 Dec 1940. Serving throughout WWII and receiving a Bronze Star medal 1LT Kent was promoted to CPT on 23 Dec 1945. he was married to Dorothy Victoria Roark on 15 Aug 1942. After release from active duty, Kent went to work for Dan River Mills and he would work there for 30-years. Kent was promoted to LTC on 17 Apr 1951.. Kent and Dorothy had a son on 14 Oct 1953.

Dorothy died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage on 22 Aug 1958. Kent was married on 8 May 1959 to Stella Kerns Bailey Adams (no relation). In 1967 COL Adams took command of the reorganized 116th Infantry Regiment then the 2nd Brigade 29th Infantry Division consisting of 2 infantry battalions and 1 armored battalion. When he retired from service on 30 Nov1972 the Brigade was recognized as the best in the division.

COL Adams died in Danville, Virginia on 22 Nov 1995 and rests forever in Highland Burial Park in Danville.

COL Hobart Blauvelt Brown

COL Hobart Blauvelt Brown was born 2 Oct 1884 in East Rutherford, New Jersey. He was the first of 7 children born to John Spear and Annie (Blauvelt) Brown. His father worked as a store clerk, teamster, and salesman. Hobart was working as a railroad clerk in 1900 and living with parents at 160 Garside Street in Newark, New Jersey. His mother died at the age of 41 in 1901.

Hobart enlisted in "Essex Troop" a New Jersey militia cavalry unit, as a PVT. He was promoted to CPL in May 1909. At that time he was working as a cashier for the Fireman's Insurance Company.

In 1916 New Jersey provided soldiers to respond to the emergency along the Mexican border and CPT Hobart  was stationed at Camp Funston, at Douglas, Arizona from June through October 1916 and during this time was promoted to MAJ commanding 1st Squadron, Essex troop having expanded to 3 troops of cavalry. He married Mary Elizabeth James in March 1917 and then moved with unit to Sea Girt in July 1917 in preparation for movement to Camp McClellan near Anniston, Alabama.

After arriving at Camp McClellan, the old 1st Squadron was reorganized as the 104th Military Police Battalion at Camp McClellan and MAJ Brown commanded from September 1917 to April 1918 during which time he was promoted to LTC and served as post Provost Marshall. At this time there was a lot of shuttling about of officer and LTC Brown and he briefly served as commander of the 116th Infantry during June 1918 at Camp McClellan. He shipped out to France with the 116th on 15 June 1918 and once there he was re-assigned as Commander of the 114th Infantry which was composed of New Jersey National Guard units that had been reorganized at Camp McClellan. He led the unit during the Meuse-Argonne offensive in October 1918.

After the armistice on 11 Nov 1918 he was again reassigned this time as Deputy Provost Marshall General of American Expeditionary Force in France and served in this position until February 1919. For his service during the war he was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal. 

Returning to the United States he met his infant daughter for the first time. Shortly thereafter he was appointed Assistant Treasurer of Fireman's Insurance Company in April 1919. Hobart with George H. McCarter applied for and received a charter for American Legion in New Jersey on 24 May 1919 and was elected as the first commander of the New Jersey American Legion. This obviously was an extremely busy time for COL Brown and he refused command of 6th New Jersey Infantry in July 1919, not wanting to continue service.

He was then appointed as treasurer of Fireman's Insurance Company and in 1920, with his family, lived in the home of his mother-in-law 1920 on West 79th Street in New York City. However, military service was a continuing interest and in 1926 he was commanding the 302nd Cavalry Regiment, 61st Cavalry Division. Hobart was elected as Vice President and Secretary of  Insurance Shares Corporation in September 1927. He continued in this work, living with his extended family in New York City until he was called to active duty with his unit on 13 Apr 1941. He was selected to establish a Women's Army Corps training center at Fort Oglethorpe and was commanding that facility effective 1 Jan 1943. Mary died on 29 Apr 1946. He married Helen Bowden on 14 Oct 1947.

COL Brown retired from military on 29 Jun 1948 as a COL of Cavalry. He and Helen moved to 156 Palmetto Road, Clearwater, Florida. COL Brown died on 2 Jun 1955 in Belleair, Florida and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia. A granddaughter survives.

Hobart had 2 brothers who also served in the military. John Vincent Brown retired from the United States Air Force as a COL. Perry Terhune Brown retired from the United States Navy as a LtCmdr.

Note: this is published 40-years after his death.

COL Sidney Vincent Bingham Jr

COL Sidney Vincent Bingham Jr. was born 4 May 1915 in Douglas, Arizona. He was the first-born of the 5 children born to COL Sidney Vincent Bingham Sr. and Margaret Patterson (Nix) Bingham. This is a concise biography by the United States Military Academy Association of Graduates:

"His father, Sidney Vincent Bingham Sr. was a member of the USMA Class of 1912, His grandfather, Gonzalez S. Bingham, received a direct commission in 1883. His great-grandfather, Judson David Bingham, was a member of the USMA Class of 1854. He grew up at Fort Riley, Fort Meade and West Point. He entered West Point with the class of 1937, but graduated with the class of 1940. At graduation, he received his commission in the Infantry-Air Corps. After a brief attempt at pilot training, he joined the 2nd Division at Fort Sam Houston. Soon after graduation he met Rosemary Chapman in Dallas. They were married on April 6, 1941 in Dallas. They were the parents of three daughters. After a year with the 4th Armored Division, he joined the G3 Section of ETOUSA, England in April 1943. He was soon sent as an observer with the 3rd Division during the invasion and campaign in Sicily, from June to August 1932.
In September 1943, he joined the 29th Division in England and several months later assumed command of a battalion in the 116th Infantry. He led the unit into Normandy on D-Day. His leadership earned him the Distinguished Service Cross. He was wounded in August and hospitalized five weeks, but he returned to the Division and assumed command of the 116th in December, leading his regiment until the Division was deactivated in December 1945. After the war, he was assigned to the Army Field Forces, the Pentagon, National War College, the CIA, Hawaii, Fort Polk, Korea, Fort Bragg and twice in Vietnam. In 1970 he retired with his wife to Aspen, Colorado. For a short time, he served as general manager of the Snowmass Resort. He became involved in planning for a city transportation system which involved designing routes, lobbying the City Council and searching for vehicles. He served as secretary and on the Board of Directors for the Aspen Camp School for the Deaf. In 1972 he started the Aspen Retired Senior Volunteer Program. He became chair for the Colorado Board of Nursing Home examiners, served as Colorado’s representative to the White House Conference on Aging, president of the board of directors of the Pitkin County Community Health Services and was appointed by the governor to be commissioner-at-large on aging for the state."

COL Bingham received the Distinguished Service Cross for actions on 6 Jun 1944 while serving as Commander, 1st Battalion 116th Infantry Regiment. The citation reads as follows:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Major (Infantry) Sidney Vincent Bingham, Jr. (ASN: 0-23267), United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in connection with military operations against an armed enemy while serving as Commanding Officer, 1st Battalion, 116th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, in action against enemy forces on 6 June 1944, at Normandy, France. When his battalion was pinned down on the beach by the heavy and intense enemy fire, Major Bingham gathered together five of his men and personally led them across the beach and up a cliff in an attempt to seek out an enemy machine gun that had been inflicting heavy casualties on his unit. Though unable to reach the machine gun, he was, nevertheless, able to discover its location. He returned to the fire-swept beach and organized a flank and rear attach which succeeded in taking the enemy position, thereby permitting his unit to advance. Major Bingham's superior leadership, personal bravery and zealous devotion to duty exemplify the highest traditions of the military forces of the United States and reflect great credit upon himself, the 29th Infantry Division, and the United States Army.

 COL Bingham died 22 Aug 1993 in Aspen, Colorado and he was cremated. 

 

BG William James Perry

BG William James Perry was born 20 Jan 1866 in Baltimore, Maryland. He was the 1st of 4 children born to the Reverend William James and Harriet Ruff (Martin) Perry. His father was a minister of the Baltimore conference of the Methodist Church (south) and moved the family to Staunton, Virginia as part of his work. However, Reverend Perry died at age 39 in 1878 after a protracted illness. William attended local public schools before attending Dunsmore Business College. He was a bookkeeper for Augusta National Bank in 1885 when he decided to leave banking for the insurance business. He saw opportunity in providing insurance for southerners who apparently wouldn't buy insurance from northern agents. Successful, he became the agent for the Maryland Life & Land Insurance Company. When the Spanish-American War began in 1898 he enlisted in the local militia unit and was soon a 1LT in K Company 2nd Virginia Regiment. After the war he was made CPT and commander of K Company. He began a general agency in West Virginia in 1900. He was also soon promoted to MAJ in the 2nd Regiment and then LTC by 1903 when he married Maude St. Clair Conrad of Richmond, Virginia. The couple would soon have 3 children, a son in 1904, a daughter in 1905 and another daughter in 1907. William continued to build his business, changing office locations as the business expanded. He was also active in local civic and business interests including real estate.

He participated in the Army maneuvers near Chicamauga, Tennessee in 1908. COL Perry deployed with his regiment to Brownsville, Texas in 1914 and was discharged when the unit returned in 1916. He returned to duty in 1917 when the unit was mobilized for the First World War and commanded the newly formed 116th Infantry Regiment at Camp McClellan, Alabama for a short time. William and Maude welcomed a 2nd son in 1916. William retired as BG Perry in 1920 and the next few years were devoted to his civilian life. However there were several tragedies. Son, James Martin Perry, died age 11 of pneumonia on 26 Oct 1926. Then daughter, Mary Frances Perry, died of pulmonary tuberculosis at age 20 on 24 Jun 1928. This must have had a toll on Maude and she died of pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 56 on 31 Jul 1931. 

BG Perry never remarried but lived in his home at 16 Washington Street in Staunton, Virginia until his death at age 77 on 20 Apr 1943. He was buried next to his wife in Thornrose Cemetery in Staunton. 

Note: this memorial was published on the 50th anniversary of his passing.

BG Hierome Lindsay Opie Sr.

BG Hierome Lindsay Opie Sr. was born 6 Oct 1880 in Augusta County, Virginia. He was the 2nd of the 7 children of John Newton and Ida Walton (Fletcher) Opie Jr.  Ida was John's 2nd wife, he had previously been married to Isabella (Harmon) Opie who had died in 1877 and Hierome had 4 older half-siblings. 

Hierome would spend nearly all his life in Staunton. He first enlisted in the Staunton Rifles a company of the 70th Regiment of the Virginia Volunteer Infantry in 1899 as a PVT. As such he participated in the unit's service in civil action in the Richmond street car strike of 1903. He founded the Evening Leader newspaper in 1904. Hierome was first commissioned as a 2LT on 13 Jun 1905 and promoted to CPT on 4 Jun 1906. 

Hierome married Mary Eleanor Ranson on 28 Sep 1910. Her father was a prominent local lawyer. The couple would have 4 children of whom the 3rd would die in infancy.

He commanded the Staunton unit then known as I Company 1st Virginia Infantry and in 1916 took the company to service on the Mexican border. Mobilizing with the unit for the war in France, he at first commanded the newly formed A Company 116th Infantry Regiment He was promoted to MAJ on 5 Mar 1918 and assumed command of the 3rd Battalion of the 116th Infantry Regiment. He departed with that unit for France aboard the USS Finland in June 1918. While in France he was wounded on 15 Oct 1918 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for refusing to be evacuated but continuing to lead his battalion taking the unit objective and consolidating its position. He spent several months recovering from his wounds before he was assigned the command of 1st Battalion 113th Infantry Regiment and returned with that unit aboard the USS Floridian in May 1919.

After returning from France in May 1919, Hierome purchased the Staunton Daily News in that same year and combined the 2 newspapers into the Staunton News-Leader which is still published today. He was active in  establishing the American Legion in Staunton and in supporting the needs of returning soldiers. When the regiment was re-organized as a National Guard unit in 1921, then LTC Opie was convinced to take command of the 116th to be headquartered in Staunton. He worked to make it one of the finest regiments in the National Guard. Despite having a health scare in 1926, he recovered enough to continue in command of the 116th until 1933. COL Opie led the unit in aiding civil authorities in the Danville Mill Strike in 1931 until the unit was relieved. He was also a founder of the Staunton Chamber of Commerce of which he was president for 12 years. Hierome was on the original committee that started the Shenandoah National Park movement. He was a vestryman in the Trinity Episcopal Church. He wrote articles about conservation and wildlife. 

Additionally he was a member of the National Press Club, Sons of the American Revolution, Commonwealth Club of Richmond, the Army and Navy Legion of Honor, the New York Southern Society, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, the Virginia Academy of Science, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Also, he was a member of Staunton Masonic Lodge No. 13, Staunton-Augusta post Veterans of Foreign Wars, Clemmer-McGuffin post of the American Legion, the Woodrow Wilson post of the 29th Division Association (now Post 116), a charter member of the Staunton Rotary Club, and on the board of directors of the Staunton Industrial Loan Corporation. 

A marksman, he not only promoted marksmanship in his military units, he participated and was on the Virginia team at the national matches at Seagirt, New Jersey in 1906 and at Camp Perry in 1909, 1910, 1911 and 1913. 

Hierome was ill and did not leave home for 22 days before he died on 26 Feb 1943. He was buried in Thornrose Cemetery in Staunton, Virginia in a ceremony attended by U.S. Senator Harry Flood Byrd and Virginia Governor Colgate Darden. 

He was the brother of MG Evarts Walton Opie. His oldest son LTC (USMC Ret) Hierome Lindsay Opie Jr. served with the USMC 1st Division in the south Pacific in WW2 . His youngest son CPT Thomas Ranson Opie, was killed with 15 others when he B29 Superfortress crashed in a training flight near Clovis, New Mexico. 

Note: This memorial was published on the 50th anniversary of his death.

 

PVT Thomas Memory Turner

PVT Thomas Memory Turner as born 17 Jul 1847 in Middletown, Virginia. He was the second of the nine children born to Professor Augustus J and Katherine M (Aby) Turner. The family moved to Staunton, Virginia in sometime between 1855 and 1859. Thomas was known to friends and family as "Mem".

When the Civil War began in 1861, Augustus became the leader of what is now known as the Stonewall Brigade Band and Mem played the B cornet in the unit with his father from 1 Apr to 22 Aug 1862. He enlisted in the 14th Virginia Cavalry band on 1 Aug 1863. He was serving with that unit when captured at Winchester, Virginia on 30 Apr 1865 and paroled. He was just 17 years old. 

Mem returned to his family in Staunton. The Stonewall Brigade Band was reformed in 1869 with Augustus as the leader and Mem as the Assistant Leader. He began working as a piano tuner and music teacher. Memory married Miss Katherine C "Kate" Grimes of Carroll County, Maryland on 28 Mar 1872. The couple were married in Warren County, Virginia by Reverend Amasa Converse who had officiated at the Edgar Allen Poe's wedding. The couple lived near Charlestown and a daughter was born to them there. Mem lead/instructed the Charlestown Cornet Band in 1874 and 1875. 

In 1876 the family moved to Lewisburg, West Virginia where Memory worked as a jeweler/goldsmith/watchmaker and undoubtedly continued to tune pianos. He directed the Lewisburg Concert Band. 

The family again moved in November 1879, returning to Staunton where they lived at 12 Madison Street. He again played in the Stonewall Brigade Band and also directed the Stonewall Octette, a vocal group associated with the band. He also composed music writing "Hancock's Grand March" for a politician and "Garfield's Funeral March" on the occasion of President Garfield's assassination. During this time he operated a jeweler's shop at 102 East Beverly Street (the main street of Staunton) where he repaired watches and jewelry as well as tuning musical instruments. He would continue to tune pianos to the end of his life. 

The family returned to West Virginia and lived in Hinton and Alderson where Kate died on 14 Oct 1888. Memory returned to Lewisburg with his three living children in 1889. It was there that his oldest son was killed at the age of 14 when he fell headfirst into a vat of boiling water at the Greenbrier Cannery. 

After his son's death he again returned to Staunton where he lived at 213 West Beverly Street. It was at this time that he became the director of the Blackford Cornet Band at the Western Lunatic Asylum where he was paid $6 a week and earned an extra $3 if he tuned the pianos. In this time before recorded music the band provided a welcome relief from boredom at the asylum for staff and inmates alike as well as visitors to the institution. 

On 15 Feb 1893 he married Virginia Anne "Nannie" Wyatt in Harrisonburg, Virginia. She died in childbirth a little more than a year later, on 9 Mar 1894 in Staunton. 

In 1896 and 1897 he was in Baltimore and Gaithersburg, Maryland, again teaching music but soon relocated again, this time to Norfolk, Virginia where he would live out his life teaching music and tuning pianos. He married Mary F. Goddard of that place sometime in 1900. Thomas died at the age of 70 on 2 Sep 1917. He was buried in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Norfolk, Virginia.

Note: This memorial was published on the 75th anniversary of his passing.

PFC John Edward Minnigh Jr

PFC John Edward Minnigh Jr, b. 1 May 1893 - d. 17 Jun 1966. Son of John Edward and Annie Elizabeth (Warner) Minnigh. His name is spelled "Mennigh" in some Army records. His brother George Luther Minnigh also served. John married Mildred Penn after the war and they lived in Alexandria, VA. They had one son, Morton Llewellyn Minnigh who served during WWII. A member of C Company 116th Infantry, PFC Minnigh is buried in Alexandria National Cemetery, Alexandria, VA.

COL William Lewis Bumgardner

courtesy of Angel Ellis

COL William Lewis Bumgardner was 14 Aug 1844 in Augusta County, Virginia near Bethel Church. He was the third of nine children born to James and Malinda Mathilda (McCorkle) Bumgardner. Two of his siblings died in infancy. His ancestors had come to Virginia prior to the Revolution. His father farmed near Bethel Church in the Riverheads district of Augusta County to support the family. William undoubtedly worked on this farm. This life was interrupted in 1861 by Virginia's vote for succession and the beginning of the Civil War. William enlisted on 24 Mar 1863 in E Company 1st Virginia Cavalry. PVT Bumgardner was wounded at Spotsylvania Courthouse on 9 May 1864. There is no known record of his return to duty. This being so close to the end of the war it may be that he returned home to recover and simply never returned to duty. 

William became a grocer after the war and operated a store where he sold, together with the usual things, his family's whiskey products. Like other businessmen in the area, he became involved in local civic organizations and joined the local masonic lodge. The Commonwealth of Virginia passed legislation on 29 Mar 1871 authorizing the reorganization of the militia in the state and reestablishment of the office of the Adjutant General of Virginia. However this act did not provide for funding of the militia units. Notwithstanding, local veterans and civic leaders met in 1874 to proceed with the recreation of local units and veterans formed the core of those units. Units began drilling in 1874 despite having to provide their own uniforms and equipment. 

William did find time to start a family and married Miss Pocahontas Virginia Happer on 25 Oct 1871 and the couple would have four children from 1872 to 1879. One daughter would died in infancy in 1877.

William was elected Captain and commander of the West Augusta Guard on 19 Jul 1875. The unit was first reorganized after the Civil War in April 1871 but had been struggling to equip and arm its members and reportedly incurred considerable debt. CPT Bumgardner was elected as Colonel of 2nd Virginia Infantry Regiment in May 1881. He was then ordered by the Adjutant General of Virginia McDonald to take command of the 1st Virginia Brigade in the interim before an election to replace BG Fitzhugh Lee. COL Bumgardner resigned from the 2nd Virginia Regiment in October 1885. 

William moved to Missouri in 1889, apparently to live close to relatives then living there. Unfortunately he soon became ill and died in Saint Joseph on 14 Oct 1890. His body was returned to Staunton and he was buried in Thornrose Cemetery in Staunton, Virginia.

His great-grandfather, Ensign John McCorkle, died on 17 Jan 1781 of wounds received at Cowpens while in American service.

Note: this memorial was published on the 100th anniversary of his death.

COL Samuel Houston McCune

COL Samuel Houston McCune was born 23 Feb 1819 near what is now Fishersville, Virginia. He was a son of James V. and Sarah (McCune) McCune. His father farmed in Augusta County, Virginia and Samuel would eventually take over the working of his father's farm after his father died in 1845. In 1850 Samuel was recorded as owning two slaves, a woman and a four-year old boy who was probably the woman's son. Samuel was apparently successful as a farmer almost doubling the value of their holdings by 1860. The family had also apparently no slaves in 1860.

Samuel also became a member of the militia rising to the rank of Colonel of the 32nd Virginia Militia before the war. In the fluid politics of the area after Virginia voted for succession Samuel remained with the 32nd until it was disbanded and the 52nd Virginia Infantry Regiment was formed. Samuel was elected Captain of G Company 52nd Virginia Infantry in August 1861. However, he was not reelected in the May 1862 reorganization and was dropped from the rolls. Returning home, he would command as Captain, D Company 3rd Virginia Valley Reserves Battalion. The history of this unit is rather vague but the battalion was present at the siege of Petersburg and may have been present at Saylor's Creek and Appomattox. 

After the war Samuel returned to farming. He married at the age of 50 in 1869 to Mary Elizabeth Ramsey who was twenty years his junior. The couple would have four sons. Samuel died at the age of 70 on 29 Sep 1889 and was buried in the Zion Lutheran Church Cemetery in Augusta County, Virginia. 

Brother, Alexander Givens McCune, also served as a CPT in the 52nd Virginia Infantry. 

NOTE: this memorial was published 75 years after COL McCune's death.

BG George Murrell Alexander

BG George Murrell Alexander was born on 1 Aug 1889 in Staunton, Virginia. He was the oldest of the 2 children born to Frank and Frances Elizabeth (Murrell) Alexander. His ancestors included the earliest settlers of the Shenandoah Valley as well as Native Americans. His father had worked as a clerk in a general store and then as head of the hardware firm of Frank Alexander & Company before dying of pneumonia at the age of 41 in 1893. Frances remarried 3-years later to James Emory Hughes, a Lynchburg lawyer, and the family moved there. However, his step-father was soon stricken with tuberculosis and although he moved to Texas seeking the relief of the dry climate by working as a cowboy he died in 1902. George's mother supported the family by taking in boarders at their home on Court Street. George was able to attend Virginia Military Institute and graduated in 1909. In 1910 he studied at Washington and Lee College.

Immediately appointed reserve CPT of Infantry in 1909 he served to 1910. In 1916 he received his federal recognition and commanded the Minutemen, a company formed expressly for the duty in Mexico. After mobilization for WWI he commanded L Company 116th Infantry which had been formed from E, L and part of G company, L Company (the Minutemen) having been CPT Alexander's before reorganization at Camp McClellan. He sailed for France in June 1918 with L Company and in the unit's service there was wounded. Promoted to MAJ while in France, due to other assigned duties he did not return with the 116th and came back to the United States in July 1919. 

George married Margaret Elizabeth Kinnier on 15 Nov 1921 and he worked as an insurance agent for Ivey and Kirkpatrick and notary with offices at the then Peoples National Bank Building, 801 North Main Street in Lynchburg. He would later own the firm. George and Margaret had a son in 1922, and a daughter in 1924. In January 1929 another son who died soon after birth. Meanwhile, he continued his military career with the Virginia Army National Guard. 

As a MAJ he commanded the 1st Battalion of the 116th Infantry then headquartered in Lynchburg. On 6 May 1929 he was promoted to LTC and served as Executive Officer of the 116th Infantry. When COL Hierome Opie retired he was promoted to COL on 26 Jun 1933 and made commander of the 116th. George and Margaret had the youngest of their children, a boy, in July 1938. COL Alexander was again reassigned, replaced by COL Evarts Opie on 6 Jun 1940. As the country prepared for war he was called to active duty, promoted to BG and assigned as commander of the 88th Infantry Brigade on 3 Feb 1941. He also commanded the 91st Infantry Brigade before being reassigned as Assisting Commanding General of the 29th Infantry Division on 11 Oct 1942. The division was then in England and beginning training that would prepare it for the amphibious invasion of Nazi occupied France. In 1943 he became the Assistant Deputy Provost Marshal General, US European Theater of Operations and served in that position until 1945. A recipient of the Bronze Star medal in WWII, BG Alexander retired from military service effective 31 Aug 1949. 

After his military retirement, George devoted himself to his business and civic interests. He died of heart disease on 3 Mar 1961 survived by his wife, daughter, youngest son, 3 grandchildren and sister. BG Alexander rests forever in the Spring Hill Cemetery in Lynchburg, Virginia. 

Note: this memorial is published on the 100th anniversary of his birth.

BG William Terry

BG William Terry was born 14 Aug 1824 in Amherst County, Virginia. He was the son of Thomas and Katherine (Robinson) Terry. His family on both sides had fought in the Revolution and was prominent in local affairs. William received a good, private, education and then attended at the University of Virginia where he graduated in 1848. 

Post graduation he moved to Liberty, Virginia (in Bedford County) where he taught school to support himself while he studied law. William was admitted to the bar in 1851 and began practicing law in Wytheville, Virginia as well as editing a newspaper of which he was part owner. He had been boarding with a local family near Liberty and in 1852 he married their daughter, Emma Wigginton. The couple would have seven children. William joined the local masonic lodge as well as the local militia unit, the Wytheville Grays, and was elected Lieutenant. It was he who led the unit to the execution of John Brown at Harper's Ferry in 1859. William was a slave owner with 5 slaves in 1860.

Upon Virginia's vote to succeed on 17 Apr 1861, William joined A Company 4th Virginia Infantry as a Lieutenant and was promoted to Captain soon after then moving to a staff position. He was promoted to Colonel in February 1864 and then to Brigadier General on 20 May 1864. On the next day he took command of a Brigade formed from remnants of several units including the Stonewall Brigade, the 1st Virginia Brigade. BG Terry had been wounded several times and was home recovering from wounds when Lee surrendered at Appomattox, Virginia. BG Terry attempted to join General Johnston but returned home upon learning of his surrender. 

After the war William resumed his law practice in Wytheville. After he received his pardon he was elected to the House of Representative in 1870, served until 1873 having lost a reelection bid but was again elected in 1874. He again lost an attempted reelection in 1876 and returned to his law practice. He was a delegate at the Democrat National Convention of 1880. 

BG Terry drowned when returning home from Grayson County Courthouse when he attempted to cross Reed Creek near Wytheville on 5 Sep 1888. 

BG Terry is buried in East End Cemetery in Wytheville, Virginia. 

Brother, Colonel John Fletcher Terry, commanded the 37th Virginia Infantry. 

Note: this memorial was published on the 100th anniversary of his death.

SSG Larry Henry Comer

SSG Larry Henry Comer was born 11 Mar 1946 in Shenandoah, Virginia. He was the son of Wilbur Warren and Treva Oneta (Morris) Comer. Larry operated the Waynesboro Small Engine Repair Company in Waynesboro, Virginia and attended the Pentacostal HolinessChurch. Larry was married to Cherie Jacqueline Bashlor with whom he had 3 daughters.

Larry enlisted in the Army on 22 Sep 1967 and served a tour in Vietnam and 2 tours in Germany as well as at Fort Belvoir, Virginia before enlisting in the National Guard in 1981 as a SSG. He was driving an M880 on a rainy, oil-slicked road when he was involved in a two vehicle accident and was killed.

SSG Comer was interred in Oaklawn Cemetery in Staunton, Virginia.

CPT Edwin L. Curtis

CPT Edwin L. Curtis was born 12 Nov 1824 in Saratoga Springs, New York. He was the eldest of eight children born to Henry D. and Electa (Abell) Curtis. His father worked as a hatter. The details of Edwin's education are lost to us now but he moved to Augusta County in 1852 and worked as a school teacher in Burke's Mill, then a thriving village north of Staunton. It seems that his wife, Adria Anna (Keppell) who was born in Vermont accompanied him on this move and that it may have been shortly after their marriage because their son was born in Virginia in 1854. He would be the couple's only child. It was in this time frame that Edwin probably joined a local masonic lodge.

When the Civil War became a seeming inevitability, Edwin enlisted in the local militia unit, the "Ready Rifles" commanded by CPT Oswald F. Grinnan who was also a teacher (professor) at the Loch Willow School headed by Jedidiah Hotchkiss (later to be famous as GEN Jackson's cartographer). Edwin was elected CPT of the Ready Rifles, now I Company 5th Virginia Infantry on 17 Apr 1862. Present for the Valley Campaign, CPT Curtis was wounded at Sharpsburg (Antietam) on 17 Sep 1862 but remained on duty. Although it was only temporary, this was the first time CPT Curtis took command of the regiment. He was wounded again at Fredericksburg on 13 Dec 1862 and did not return to duty until February 1863. He continued to command the company through the battles of Chancellorsville, 2nd Winchester, Stephenson Depot, Gettysburg, Mine Run, The Wilderness, and Spotsylvania Court House. It was at this last battle that the 1st Virginia (Stonewall) Brigade was nearly destroyed and afterwards the remaining 249 soldiers of the brigade were consolidated with the remnants of 14 other regiments. CPT Curtis was among those soldiers. He then was present for the the battles at Monocacy, 3rd Winchester, Fisher's Hill, Cedar Creek and in the seige of Petersburg. He is known to have been commanding the remnants of the 5th Virginia in March 1865 and is presumed to have been commanding the 8 officers and 48 enlisted men who surrendered at Appomattox on 9 Apr 1865. 

After the war CPT Curtis returned to Augusta county and resumed teaching, now near Mount Sidney, where he lived with his wife, son and widowed mother-in-law. He continued teaching and also reportedly worked as a tax collector for the Internal Revenue Service even though he continued to suffer from the effects of the wounds he suffered in 1862. His son still lived with them and also began teaching in this period. 

Edwin received word that his mother was dying and while enroute to visit her he was killed on 7 Aug 1887 in a train accident at the Greenwood Station in Albemarle county. His body was recovered and he rests forever in the Thornrose Cemetery in Staunton, Virginia. 

Edwin's great-grandsons all served in WW2. 

Note: this memorial was published on the 100th anniversary of CPT Curtis' death.

COL Philip Roy Dwyer

COL Philip Roy Dwyer was born 9 May 1900 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He was the oldest of the 2 children born to Phillip Michael and Louise C. (Maute) Dwyer. His sister was born just 2-years later. His father was a first generation citizen descendant of Irish immigrant parents. He worked at several jobs to support his family including in a saloon, as a hotel manager, as a foreman in a shipyard, and as an insurance agent and died in 1942. Philip began his military career as a PVT fighting in France and in October 1918 was sent to the prepatory course for the United States Military Academy at West Point and received an appointment in August 1919 joining the class of 1923 with which he graduated. 

Philip was commissioned as a 2LT on 12 Jun 1923. Philip married Mary Cecelia Gallagher of Philadelphia the following year. The year after that Mary gave birth to their first child, a daughter, at Fort Benning, Georgia. He was promoted to 1LT on 21 Dec 1927. He was stationed with the 15th Infantry in Tientsin, China where 1LT Dwyer served until 1930. It was in China where the couple's son was born in 1929. Philip was promoted to CPT on 1 Aug 1935. He was next promoted to MAJ on 1 Jul 1940 and attended the Command and General Staff College that year. Promoted to LTC on 24 Dec 1941. Promoted to COL on 30 Nov1942 he commanded the 153rd Infantry Regiment for 18-months in the Aleutians during the campaign to eject Japanese forces from there in 1941-1943. He attended the naval War college in 1944. Soon after that he took command of the 102nd Infantry Division in the United States where he led the division when it served to end the Philadelphia Transportation Company strike. He then went to Europe where he took command of the 116th Infantry Regiment in July 1944 replacing COL Canham who had been promoted and assigned as ADC 8th Division and held that command until November 1944 when COL Dwyer was reassigned yet again, this time to the command of the 407th Infantry Regiment in January 1945. He remained with the unit until February 1946 when the 102nd Division was deactivated after occupation duties in Germany. After the Korean War began he was sent to Korea, then Served in the office of the Assistant Chief of Staff, Washington, DC 1949-51, U.S. Army aid group in Turkey 1951- Chief of that mission 1953. COL Dwyer retired in 1954 and took up farming near Malvern, Pennsylvania. He died at Chester County Hospital in West Chester, Pennsylvania on 3 Dec 1985. 

COL Dwyer rests forever in the Saint Denis Cemetery in Havertown, Pennsylvania.

COL Dwyer was awarded the Silver Star (twice), Bronze Star (twice), Legion of Merit, and Army Commendation Medal (then a "ribbon"). He began a tradition of military service in his family. After the war he was active in veteran associations including the 102nd Division Association, the Veterans of Foreign Wars and the American Legion.

MSG David Walsh Powers

courtesy of DeLanne Randolph

MSG David Walsh Powers was born 6 Feb 1942 in Richmond, Virginia.  He was the 5th of 8 children born to Daniel Coleman and Blanche Annette (Collier) Powers.  His father was a salesman.

David married Francis Louise Murphy in Richmond on 27 Apr 1968. The couple would have 3 children. 

MSG Powers was assigned to A Company 116th Support Battalion, 116th Infantry Brigade (Separate) when, while attending Annual Training at Fort Pickett, near Blackstone, Virginia he suffered a medical emergency and died on 26 Jul 1985.

MSG Powers was interred in Mount Calvary Cemetery in Richmond, Virginia.

SSG Maynard William Pitcock

SSG Maynard William Pitcock was born 21 Jun 1927 in Opequon, Virginia.  He was the youngest of 11 children of Moses Luther and Sarah Edna (Avery) Pitcock. His father died of cancer in 1928 when Maynard was only 10 months old and it was left to 2 of Maynard's older brothers to support the family by farming.

Maynard entered the Army in February 1946 and served a little more than a year before his discharge.  He married Eva Naomi Haines on 23 Dec 1947 and they would have 3 sons. Maynard enlisted in the National Guard and served with Headquarters and Headquarters Company 3rd Battalion 116th Infantry in Winchester, Virginia.  At age 58 he was no doubt looking forward to retirement and collecting his retirement pay just 2 years later.  As the 116th Infantry Brigade (Separate) units were being reorganized into the 1st Brigade, 29th Infantry Division (Light) in 1985 an attempt was made to verify the physical fitness and deployability of soldiers in the Brigade. SSG Pitcock underwent a "stress test" after initial screening indicated that he might be susceptible to heart disease. After the test he suffered a heart attack and died.

SSG Pitcock was interred in the Mount Pleasant Meeting House Cemetery in Mount Pleasant, Virginia.

CPT Philip Stuart Menagh

courtesy of Chuck Metcalf

CPT Philip Stuart Menagh was born 20 Oct 1944 in Toledo, Ohio, the son of Harry Beresford Bateman and Margaret Hannah (Long) Menagh. His father worked as an associate professor and engineer at several places across the country.

He attended Franklin High School in Franklin, Indiana and Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. 

Philip entered the Marine Corps on 28 Mar 1966 and was commissioned on 1 Apr 1967. While serving with the United States Marine Corps in Vietnam, then 2LT Menagh was awarded the Silver Star.

The President of the United States of America takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Second Lieutenant Philip Stuart Menagh (MCSN: 0-103686), United States Marine Corps, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action while serving as a Platoon Commander with Company F, Second Battalion, Seventh Marines, FIRST Marine Division (Rein.), FMF, in connection with combat operations against insurgent communist (Viet Cong) forces in the Republic of Vietnam. On 22 March 1968, during Operation WORTH in Quang Nam Province, Second Lieutenant Menagh's platoon suddenly came under heavy small arms, automatic weapons and rocket fire from an enemy ambush force, wounding several Marines and temporarily pinning down the platoon. Completely disregarding his own safety, he unhesitatingly moved across the fire-swept area to the point of heaviest contact to maneuver his men into effective firing positions, supervise the care of the wounded and direct a heavy volume of fire against the hostile emplacements. He then led his men in an aggressive attack against the enemy positions. When he located a hostile emplacement that had temporarily slowed the advance, he assaulted the position single handed, armed only with a pistol and hand grenades, killing four enemy soldiers. Inspired by his heroic actions, his men successfully assaulted through the ambush, inflicting heavy casualties on the enemy, capturing numerous weapons and forcing the remainder of the hostile soldiers to flee. By his courage, bold leadership and selfless devotion to duty at great personal risk, Second Lieutenant Menagh was instrumental in the accomplishment of his unit's mission and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and of the United States Naval Service.

He left the USMC on 1 Jun 1970.  Philip married Nancy Jeanne Minor in Salem, Oregon on 6 Sep 1972. Philip re-entered military service 1 Sep 1972 to 1 Jun 1979 and again 2 Jun 1984. As with many officers from other branches, it was likely that military educational requirements for commissioned officers mandated Philip's entry into the Virginia Army National Guard as an enlisted soldier.  He served as a SSG with B Company 3rd Battalion 116th Infantry Brigade (Separate). On 9 Jun 1984 SSG Menagh was unintentionally shot and killed in a training exercise.

CPT (USMC) Menagh was interred in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

His father served in WW2 as RT3C aboard the USS Lyon. His wife has not re-married. The couple had 5 children at least 2 of whom also served in the U.S. military.

MG Evarts Walton Opie Sr.

MG Evarts Walton Opie Sr. was born in Staunton, Virginia on 12 Sep 1893, the youngest of State Senator John Newton and Ida Walton (Fletcher) Opie's 7 children. His father had 4 children by his first wife, Isabelle (Harmon) Opie, who had died in 1877. A graduate of the Virginia Military Institute, John Opie had served in the Stonewall Brigade in the Civil War and become a farmer after the war. He supported the family on a farm near Mount Sidney, Virginia valued at $25,000 in 1870. Evarts was educated in Staunton public schools, at the Staunton Military Academy and numerous military schools, including the Army Command and General Staff College. He began his newspaper career in 1904 as a carrier and held practically every position on The Staunton Leader staff during his 72 years with the company.

Evarts began his military career by enlisting as a musician/drummer in Co. A, 2nd Virginia Infantry, Virginia National Guard in 1907 at the age of thirteen. Opie was commissioned a first lieutenant in 1911 and participated in the Mexican Border conflict in 1916. He accepted a regular Army commission in the cavalry in 1917 and remained with the United States Liquidation Commission in France following his service there during World War I.

He returned to the newspaper in 1920 as city editor of The Staunton Leader. He afterwards served as advertising manager, managing editor and general manager.

Evarts remained active in the Virginia National Guard in peacetime and assumed command of the 116th Infantry Regiment (the Stonewall Brigade) in October 1940 and was promoted to colonel. He led the regiment into Federal service on 3 Feb 1941 and expanded it to war strength and training for combat overseas at Fort George Meade, Maryland. In September 1941 he was promoted to Brigadier General and assigned as deputy commander of the Infantry Replacement Training Camp at Fort Walters, Texas. Following World War II, he returned to Staunton and again resumed his newspaper career. MG Opie retired as board chairman and editor of The Staunton Leader Papers in 1979.

Opie was active in many civic and church affairs and a lifelong member of Trinity Episcopal Church. He was chairman of the State Hospital Board, the Woodrow Wilson Birthplace Foundation and a past president and charter year member of the Staunton Rotary Club.

MG Opie died on 12 Mar 1982 in Staunton, Virginia. He rests forever in Thornrose Cemetery in Staunton, Virginia. 

Evarts older brother, Hierome Lindsay Opie, was also a commander of the 116th Infantry Regiment and commanded the 3rd battalion of the regiment in WWI.

BG Morris Thompson Warner

BG Morris Thompson Warner was born 5 Sep 1899 in Bridgeport, West Virginia. He was the 2nd of 4 children born to Clary Hathaway and Cora N. (Thompson) Warner. His father sold stoneware. The family moved to Staunton, Virginia about 1917. Morris graduated from Staunton High School before attending Penn State College. With the arrival of war in 1918, Morris was selected to attend Officers Training Camp at Camp Gordon, Georgia and so was not  drafted. He was commissioned as a 2LT after graduation. 

The war being over, 2LT Morris returned home and began a civilian life deeply involved in community activities attending dances and playing second base for the Staunton Kiwanis Baseball Club among other things. 

Promoted to 1LT, Morris was assigned on 10 Aug 1922 as the Training and Plans Officer for the 116th Infantry Regiment commanded by COL Hierome Opie. In October of that same year he joined the Staunton Acca Temple Shriners and in November became the secretary-treasurer of the Staunton Section of the Army Association. 

In April 1923 he became engaged to Virginia Worthington, daughter of a prominent Staunton businessman. The couple was married on 19 Jun 1923. He was promoted to CPT in October 1923. Morris and Virginia had and lost an infant daughter on 24 Aug 1925. He joined the American Legion and the Trinity Episcopal Church Mens' Club. He also started the Staunton Novelty Company making pennants, banners and flags as well as a variety of other products. Another daughter was born on 23 May 1927.  In August 1928 CPT Warner was made Adjutant of the 116th Infantry. As he expanded his participation in the community he was also starting a business and was first noted as President of the Staunton Novelty Company in 1931 the same year in which he was made President of the Trinity Episcopal Church Mens' Club. Morris and Virginia had a son join the family on 4 Oct 1932.

1933 was a busy year for Morris, while he continued his other interests he joined the board of the Staunton Industrial Loan Corporation in March 1933, began a campaign for office of Staunton City Treasurer in April, was promoted to MAJ on 26 Jun 1933 and in July returned to duties as the Training and Plans officer of the regiment. More responsibilities came to Morris. In 1934 his company bought out the rival Beverly Manufacturing Company. A second son was born to his family on 30 Nov 1935. In February 1937 he was appointed as a member and then secretary of the Staunton City Electoral Board and in September he was elected to the board of the Augusta National Bank. MAJ Warner was appointed as a member of the Governor's Staff serving Virginia governor James Hubert Price.

The next decade began with the world drifting towards war and in August 1940 Morris was promoted to LTC and assumed command of 3rd Battalion 116th Infantry. His rank was federally recognized in January 1941 and he was made executive officer of 116th Infantry. He began a 3 month Battalion Commanders and Staff Officers course at Infantry School, Fort Benning, Georgia in February 1941 and resigned from Staunton Electoral Board due to his military commitment. The regiment was federalized and sent to Fort George Meade, Maryland while he was at Fort Benning. On his return to the regiment in April 1941 he assumed duties as instructor in charge of 29th Division junior officers school. As the regiment continued to train for deployment COL E. W. Opie was promoted and reassigned and LTC Warner assumed command of the 116th Infantry Regiment in September 1942 and commanded the unit as it arrived in England and began training there. He was succeeded by COL Canham in March 1943 and promoted to COL in August 1943 while commanding the 156th Infantry Regiment at the assault training center in England. He would lead that regiment onto the continent and in its mission of containing bypassed German units before making a final thrust at the end of the war. 

COL Warner returned to the U.S. in October 1945 and went into inactive status in November. Resuming his civilian life he was named to the Staunton Zoning Board of Appeals in May 1947. Morris also became active in the Staunton District of Boy Scouts of America and would be active in scouting administration for many years. In December 1950 he was elected President of Thornrose Cemetery Company, Inc. He participated in the 1954 ground-breaking for the Staunton's Thomas D. Howie National Guard Armory. 

COL Warner was made a Virginia State Brigadier General and was referred to by that rank. He suffered from Parkinson's in his later years and died of a heart attack on 17 Jan 1982. He was interred in Thornrose Cemetery in Staunton, Virginia.

CPT James Oren Jordan

CPT James Oren Jordan was born on 19 Feb 1892 in Nelson County, Virginia. He was the first born of the 5 children of Ryland Bradshaw and Nora Bell (McGann) Jordan. His father owned a store at Massie's Mill. After completing school, James took work as a clerk. He married Annie Leola Staples in 1913 and  the couple would have the first of their 8 children the following year.

James enlisted as PVT on 28 Jul 1919 and was commissioned as a 1LT on 11 Aug 1919. He was promoted to CPT (reserve rank) on 16 Dec 1920 and federally recognized effective 30 Mar 1927. He was the commander of the Machine Gun Company/D Company 116th Infantry Regiment when he organized and recruited the 116th Regiment Band in Roanoke in 1922. After clerking James went to work the Norfolk and Western Rail Road as a claims investigator. In 1925 he was able to purchase a home at 1611 Moorman Avenue in Roanoke, Virginia. The house was valued at $4000 in 1930. However, the family moved to 1401 Loudon Avenue and was living there in 1931. 

On the morning of Wednesday, 21 Oct 1931, CPT Jordan went to his National Guard office in the City Auditorium which was across the street from the Norfolk and Western passenger station. At about 10:30 AM CPT Jordan fired a single shot from a Colt 1911 .45 caliber pistol and the bullet passed just to the left of his heart, through the left lung exiting under the shoulder blade. He called CPT Fred W. Thomas who was in his basement office in the same building and CPT Thomas called an ambulance which took CPT Jordan to the hospital where he died at about 3:00 PM that afternoon. 

CPT Jordan was buried in the Fair View Cemetery in Roanoke, Virginia. 

James Oren Jordan is the uncle of SSG James Pershing Jordan.

COL Fitzhugh Lee Minnigerode

COL Fitzhugh Lee Minnigerode was born 10 Nov 1878 at Oatlands, his grandparents' home, in Loudon County, Virginia. He was the 5th of 7 children born to Charles Frederick Ernest and Virginia Cuthbert (Powell) Minnigerode. His grandfather was a German immigrant, professor of Latin & Greek and well-known clergyman who had ministered  to the highest levels of Virginia and Confederate States society and brought the first Christmas tree to Williamsburg, Virginia. His father had been aide-de-camp to GEN Fitzhugh Lee during the Civil War and worked as a railroad supply broker until business problems and lingering effects of a nearly mortal wound in the war drove him to commit suicide in 1888. Fitzhugh was just 9 years old. The family was then apparently supported by his grandfather. When he came of age, Fitzhugh began working as a clerk. His mother died of Bright's disease in 1899 at the family home at 414 Prince Street in Alexandria. Fitzhugh moved to live with his brother Charles (a civil engineer) at 1331 30th Street NW in Washington, D.C. and worked as a clerk for a railroad company. 

Fitzhugh enlisted in the army in May 1902. Serving in the 12th cavalry he rose through the ranks to 1SG. 1SG Minnigerode was commissioned a 2LT of the infantry in Oct 1904 at Fort Leavenworth, KS and assigned to D Company 8th Infantry. From 1904 to 1916 1LT Minnigerode served at least 2 tours with the 8th Infantry in the Philippines. On one of the unit rotations back to the Presidio of Monterey in Monterey, California, he met and married Ethel Patricia O'Brien, a newspaper reporter from Alameda, California in September 1911. After returning from the Philippines CPT Minnigerode was, for a time, Commander of Cadets at the University of Alabama but he was reassigned in 1917 in favor of more senior officer to deal with the increased number of officer candidates due to the war. Promoted to MAJ and reassigned to the 367th Infantry (a Negro unit in this time of segregated army), a position for which he was carefully selected. The was among the first in the 92nd Division to leave for the war, shipping out for France aboard the USS America on 10 Jun 1918. MAJ Minnigerode's long service with GEN Pershing may have helped him get the command of the 114th Infantry in the 29th Division which he was commanding during the Meuse-Argonne campaign when he performed an act for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. The following is the text of the citation:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Lieutenant Colonel (Infantry) Fitzhugh L. Minnigerode, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with 114th Infantry Regiment, 29th Division, A.E.F., near Verdun, France, 23 - 24 October 1918. When his battalion commanders, who had gone forward on a reconnaissance, preparatory to an attack, were prevented from returning by heavy shell and machine-gun fire, Lieutenant Colonel Minnigerode personally led his regiment into position under coyer. With a soldier, he then went forward for a distance of two kilometers under artillery and machine-gun fire, found the battalion commanders, and guided them back to their comrades.

At the end of the war now LTC Minnigerode was reassigned as commander of the 116th Infantry and was the commander when it boarded the USS Matsonia and departed Saint Nazaire, France for home on 9 May 1919. He had been promoted to COL on 7 May 1919. He was retired due to disability, reportedly hearing loss.

After his retirement Fitzhugh became the New York Times' London bureau representative as well as writing numerous freelance articles. He and Ethel split their residence between Alexandria, Virginia and 320 E. 57th Street New York City but often traveled to England and Italy. Their daughters were educated in England and Italy. They later moved to San Antonio, Texas.

The following is a copy of one of many obituaries written for him. 

Fitzhugh Lee Minnigerode, retired Army colonel, journalist and poet, died yesterday in a hospital in San Antonio, Tex., where he had been a patient for six months.  His age was 69. 
  A son of Charles Minnigerode, who served as aide-de-camp to Gen Robert E. Lee and before that as a Confederate officer in Fitzhugh Lee’s Cavalry, Colonel Minnigerode was a hero of the first World War.  Retired from active duty in 1920 for a service-incurred disability, he distinguished himself afterward as representative of THE NEW YORK TIMES Sunday Magazine in Europe, with headquarters in London. 
  He had won the Distinguished Service Cross and the Distinguished Service Medal for extraordinary heroism in action near Verdun in October, 1918, when he was a lieutenant colonel of the Hundred-fourteenth Infantry Battalion of the Twenty-ninth Division. 
  Well over six feet tall, slim and handsome, Colonel Minnigerode was impressive and charming.  When he was introduced to Sir Philip Gibbs, the British correspondent, in London in 1926, the latter turned to T. R. Ybarra, then London correspondent for this newspaper, and said:  “A dramatic figure, is he not?” 

A Picturesque Personality 

  The colonel’s associates remembered him as a wonderful raconteur who expressed interest in everything and everyone.  They saw him as a picturesque personality, a good writer and a graceful poet who never lost his military bearing and impeccable manner.  He was popular in America and Europe in the Nineteen Twenties, and he was closely associated with Queen Marie of Rumania,  George Bernard Shaw, Lady Nancy Astor, H. G. Wells, George Clemenceau and many other great personalities. 
  Born Nov. 10, 1878, in Oatlands, Loudoun County, Va., he was baptized in honor of his father’s cavalry chief.  His grandfather, the Rev George Minnigerode, a Lutheran minister, had emigrated from Germany to this country. 
  Settling in Richmond, Va., the grandfather accepted the call as rector of St. Paul’s Protestant Episcopal Church, where General Lee, Jefferson Davis and others high in the Confederacy attended services. 
  In May, 1902, Fitzhugh Lee Minnigerode enlisted as a private with Troop F of the Twelfth Cavalry, then rose through the ranks to become a second lieutenant of infantry on Oct. 15, 1904.  He was engaged in heavy fighting against the Moros in the Philippines Insurrection and served under Gen. John J. Pershing, then a brigadier. 

Made Captain in 1916 

  He was promoted to first lieutenant in March, 1911, and to captain on July 1, 1916.  In August, 1917, he was made a major and within a year won a lieutenant-colonelcy.  When he retired in 1921, with a mild deafness he suffered from gun firing, he was a full colonel. 
  He married the former Patricia O’Brien of San Francisco and for the next several years made his home in Italy.  Since 1920 he had contributed articles to THE TIMES Magazine. 
  Lester Markel, editor, hired him as European correspondent on Oct. 12, 1925, and Mr. Minnigerode remained in the London office until 1928, when he returned to this country.  He wrote many features on military tactics and about Army generals.  He found romance also in stories about New York, about Greenwich Village and the like. 
  He became an assistant to the late Dr. John H. Finley, editor-in-chief of THE TIMES, shortly after his return from London, and in this capacity made many after-dinner speeches before organizations here. 
  Besides his wife he leaves two daughters, Mrs. Arthur Ponsonby of London and Mrs. Rene Bouet-Willaumez of this city, and a brother, Cuthbert Powell Minnigerode, director of the Corcoran Art Gallery in Washington, D.C.

This was published on the 100th anniversary of his birth.

BG John Charles Steck

BG John Charles Steck was born 7 Sep 1911 in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of 9 children born to August Rhinaul and Bertha F. (Melick) Steck. His father, as well as many others in his family, was a Lutheran minister. John attended Carlisle High School. His mother died in 1928. John graduated from Gettysburg College in 1934 with a Bachelor of Science degree. He intially went to work for the state of Pennsylvania highways department as a laboratory assistant with a salary of $1140 a year.

John was drafted in June 1941. Being a college graduate probably helped his selection as an officer candidate and he was sent to OCS. Assigned to the 42nd Infantry Division as it was reconstituted. Commanding E Company 242nd Infantry then CPT Steck was serving in the 42nd Infantry Division 7th Army under General Alexander Patch when he performed the actions for which he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross as well as the Bronze Star Medal with oak leaf cluster. The qualifying events probably took place near Hatten, France in the 42nds resistance to the German Operation Nordwind. 

Worked as reporter for Farmville Herald before becoming news manager. Elected to Prince Edward County's board of supervisors in 1958, he served as the chair of that body for the 4 years prior to his death. President Farmville Chamber of Commerce. COL Steck attended the Command and General Staff College in 1963. COL Steck took command of 2nd Brigade 29th Infantry Division in 1964 and commanded the unit until 1967.

BG Steck  was still working when he died of cancer on 28 Jun 1977. He was interred in Westview Cemetery in Farmville, Virginia.

LTC Geyser White Pulliam

LTC Geyser White "Guy" Pulliam, b. 19 Apr 1892 - d. 19 Jan 1952, son of George Washington and Nancy Ann (Cabler) Pulliam of Danville, VA. Geyser was a mechanic in C Company 116th Infantry at Camp McClellan in 1917, moved to the Army Air Corps and made a career of it eventually rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. His eldest son Carnett Washington Pulliam (by his first wife, Anne Clyde Gardner) rose to the rank of Master Sergeant in the Army. His daughter, Margaret Louanne Pulliam was a First Lieutenant nurse in the Korean War and his second son Guy Eric Pulliam was a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force when killed in an A7 crash at Nellis AFB. LTC Pulliam is buried in the Fort Bragg Main Post Cemetery, Fort Bragg, NC.

SGT Peter William Smallwood

courtesy of JMB

SGT Peter William Smallwood was born 19 Nov 1922 in Weyers Cave, Virginia. He was the 6th child of Robert Franklin and Edna Christine (Hagedorn) Smallwood.  Peter was the first of the couple's 8 children to survive to the age of 18. His father was a farm laborer and the family lived for many years in the Weyers Cave area. His mother, Edna, died in 1930 and his father remarried in 1932. His only older surviving sibling, Hobart, died of typhoid fever that same year. At the time of the 1940 census, Peter was farming for and living with Mr. H. F. Meyer near Weyers Cave. He sometimes found work in Lancaster, Pennsylvania area and in 1942 was working at the Armstrong Linoleum plant there. While there he met and in 1943 married Violet Waid who was already the mother of one daughter who he apparently adopted. Whether he married before or after he was drafted is unclear.

Peter was drafted in April 1943. After his basic military training he was sent to England in July 1943 and assigned to F Company 116th Infantry. He then trained with the unit for the amphibious landing that was a planned element of the invasion and liberation of Nazi occupied France. PFC Smallwood took part in that landing serving with his unit until wounded on D+1, 7 Jun 1944, and evacuated to  hospital. He was dropped from unit rolls and never returned to any 116th Infantry unit.

However, the military life must have appealed because Peter stayed in service when he could have accepted a discharge. His father died in May 1946 at the age of 56 after a long illness. This was soon followed by another tragedy. Brother, Roy Samuel Smallwood, was still serving in the Navy and presumably home on leave when he was in an automobile accident on US Route 250 east of Staunton, Virginia and killed. Roy had served aboard the USS Intrepid (CV-11) at the Battle of Leyte Gulf but was stationed at the Philadelphia Navy Yard at the time of his death. When Roy died, Peter was a T3. In 1947 his step-mother died at age 35 of tuberculosis.

Peter and Violet had a daughter in 1949 but the marriage must have already been in trouble because when he applied for his Pennsylvania Veteran's bonus in 1950 they were already divorced. Peter married again in May 1953, this time to Eleanor Louise "Betty" Tankersley Brown of Staunton, Virginia. He was still serving in the Army, more than 10-years after being drafted. However, fate intervened and the marriage was not to last.

SGT Smallwood died 20 years ago today while stationed at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. He was on a log cutting detail when he made the ill-advised decision to ride the log carriage from which he fell into the spinning sawmill blade and was killed.

Peter now rests forever in Thornrose Cemetery in Staunton, Virginia alongside his 2nd wife, Betty.

Great-grandfather, Richard James Johnson, enlisted in Company H, Virginia 7th Cavalry Regiment on 25 Mar 1862, mustered out on 21 Jun 1862. Transferred to Company C, Virginia 17th Cavalry Battalion on 21 Jun 1862. Mustered out on 05 Feb 1863. Transferred to Company C, Virginia 11th Cavalry Regiment on 05 Feb 1863.