OUR VETERANS

Military Service Wall of Fame

Military Servicemen - Airforce

Robert Allen (1965), Greg Bailey, Ricky C. Brown (2019), Ronald Butler, Jr., Captain Walter Collins (196-75/Vietnam 1965), Horace “Gun Dog” Elliott (1970), Kermit S. Elliott (1973), Ellie H. Fears (1964), Marshall Flanigan 1965), Jr. , Carl Folds (1965), Andrew Gaither, William Gibson (1965), Adrian Guthrie (1971), Albert Hamm, Clifford Henderson, Oscar Hill, Jr., Luther Jackson, retired; Robert T. Loyal, Joseph McCollum (1970-73), Roy T. Mitchell, Robert Moore, Jr. (1971), Howard Rakestraw (1963-67), Robert Stewart (1971), Walter Leonard Usher

Military Servicemen - Army

Arthur W. Bailey (1958-63), Raymond C. Bailey/WWII, Albert Banks, Willie Clarence Banks/WWII (1942-63), W. O. Benton, Luther R. Bigby, Rufus Bigby, Willie Bigby/Korean War; Jerry Lewis Bullock/WWII, John H. Butler, Joe L. Camp, Joseph T. Camp, Joseph C. Chapman, John T. Clack, Emmett Clay, Howard Carr, George L. Davis/ WWII, Marshall Flanigan, Jr. (1964-70) and then Reserves, Mathew Flanigan, Robert Foster, Andrea Gaither, Willie C. Garlington, Buster Giles, Parvis Giles, William Giles, Clarence T. Hamm, Kenneth Hall, Willie Clark Hall, Earl Hamm, Edward Hamm, Raleigh Hamm, Z. H. Hamm (1964-67), John H. Hammond, Robert Lee Hammonds, Johnnie Lee Height, Leroy Height, Trevon Hendley, Lucious Holden/WWI, Frank Jackson, Ervin Lee Johnson, Johnny William Lester, George “Shebub” Levett/WWII, Charles Lucas, Howard Mabry, Newton Columbus Maddox, Ernest Martin (1965-67), Russell Martin (1966), George D. McCalla, William Keith "Bill" Moore, Moses McCaskill, Howard McCollum, Jr. (1960-62) and the 4 years Reserves, John Lewis McCollum (1965-67), Ralph McCollum 1953-55), Robert “Lurch” Mitchell, Misty Moore, Reno Moore, Jimmy Norfleet; Johnny Pierce, Felton Price, Anthony Printup, Bobby Printup, Earnest Printup (1966), Horace Printup (1960-62), Eddie Jackson Printup/Korean War, James Printup, Rochelle Printup/1918, Albert Rakestraw (1959-61), A. B. Roberts, David Roberts/Vietnam (1966), Icel Roberts, Norman Robinson, Willie H. Roseberry, Arthur Will Shepperd, Edward C. Shepherd, Clarence Shipp/WWI (1918-20), Clarence Jerome Shipp/1978, Jim Shipp/WWI, James Ralph Shipp, Korean War; Johnnie Will Shipp, Sr./ WWII, Barry Sidwell, Richard Sidwell (1963), Ernest Lee Sims, O. C. Smith, Tom Swift; Laymon Taylor (1962), Arnold Nathaniel Thomas, Clifford Walker/WWII, Jacob Webb, Johnny G. Williams/WWII (1941-1944) Casualty

Women: Ruby Mitchell (1940) Women's Army Corp - She lived on the "Upper Line"[presently named Grimes Street, NW] in Milstead. She was the oldest sister of the Late Wayman Mitchell. She was probably the first Black Female from Rockdale County to enlist in the Armed Forces of the USA. (Note from Walter Collins in the Black Heritage of Rockdale Facebook page.

Charlotta Elliott Swift (1972-1976) Army

Military Servicemen - Marines

Hill, George Jordan, Sr. (1972), Robert Lewis (1970), Grover Simmons

Military Servicemen Navy

Alex Camp, Steve Camp (1974-1994), Captain Walter Collins, Willie Otis Dardy (1965), Reginald Harris (1975), Luther Isaac Ingram (1955-59), Garrett Martin (1973), Douglas Mitchell, Joseph Edward Moore (1965-71), Richard Henry Moore (1965), Samuel Alison Moore (1956-62), John Wesley Rakestraw (1960), Brandon Scott, Kerwin Scott, Sr.; Kerwin Scott, Jr., Harry Shipp (1958-61), Willie Turner, Jr.

MEMORIAL DAY

This is the day that the nation honors the memory of the men and women who died in active military service . PLEASE POST INFORMATION ABOUT BLACKS WHO ARE IN THIS CATEGORY. l know of two such fallen soldiers among my kinsmen.

WWI: Pvt. Jodie Aiken of the U.S. Army, the uncle of my grandmother Ethel Aiken Moore, died in France on Feb. 23, 1919, at the age of 29. The war had officially ended Nov. 11, 1918, but soldiers remained in Europe for some months later. According to family lore, Jodie had been a reluctant soldier and had been counting the days until he could return home to his family in Covington.

WWII: Sgt. Johnny G. Willams of the U.S. Army Air Corps, was the son of Robert Williams and Minnie Williams, nee Giles. Old-timers will perhaps remember Robert Williams as the proprietor of the old shoe shop that was located in what was once a black business strip in downtown Conyers. Johnny, who was about 26, died during a mission that left the base in Burma on Aug. 19, 1944, flying supplies into China. He was officially recorded as missing in action on August 20, 1945. The Defense Department occasionally notifies family members — including Rev. Aldren Sadler, Sr. a nephew born six years after his death — about the possibility of recovering remains. For more information on Sgt. Williams, look at a post by Rev. Sadler from Aug. 19, 2017 — the 73d anniversary of Sgt. Williams’ death. (Put “Johnny Williams” in the search bar and you will easily find the post. Or, you can scroll down to that post.)

Submitted by E.R. Shipp, May 28, 2018 to the Black Heritage of Rockdale Facebook page

NOVEMBER 11, 1918 — The war that President Wilson vowed would “make the world safe for democracy” officially came to an end at 11 am on this date. Among the 2.3 million black men who registered for the World War 1 draft and the 370,000 black men who ultimately served were some of my kinsmen from Rockdale and Newton counties in Georgia. My grandfather, Clarence Shipp and his brother Jim, who was called Scrap, dropped their farm work to register — Clarence in Conyers, Scrap in Covington. Clarence was 23 when he enlisted on Feb. 28, 1918; Scrap was 27 when he enlisted on July 17, 1918. (I note that these military records marked the first time that birthdates were officially recorded for most, if not all, of these men. This was before birth certificates became standard.)

Lucius Holden, the brother of Clarence’s future wife, Celia, also answered the call, enlisting on Feb. 25, 1918, at the age of 24 8/12 years old. A little more than four months later, he was discharged with an injury that left him “75% disabled.” Will Bigby, called Hun, registered in Oxford at the age of 42. He was the husband of Clarence’s future sister-in-law, Catherine. A bunch of Giles men registered, including two first cousins of Celia and Catherine: Brookin and Buster (whose given name was Johnnie). Brookin Giles was 38 and, like Will Bigby, was probably never called up to enlist. But Buster Giles, whose service record got his hometown AND his surname wrong (Jiles!), enlisted on Oct. 5, 1917. He was 22 5/12 years old.

That’s on the paternal side of my heritage. On the maternal side, my grandmother’s rather notorious “slacker” uncle, Jodie Aiken, reluctantly registered in Covington falsely claiming dependents in an unsuccessful effort to stay out of the army. He was inducted June 6, 1918, and soon charged with delinquency and falsification of his record. He was shipped out to France a month later, as was Clarence Shipp, and he died there Feb. 23, 1919. The army records said he had advanced syphilis. I wonder.

From Chad L. Williams’ 2010 book, Torchbearers of Democracy: African American Soldiers in the World War I Era, comes this glimpse of what these country boys faced: ”Military officials attempted to replicate the practices, customs, and hierarchies of white supremacy as closely as possible in the army. A combination of biological racism and historical fears of armed black men shaped army policy and the decision to consign the majority of African American draftees to labor and service units. For black soldiers and officers in the Ninety-second and Ninety-third Divisions, the two all-black combat units, the army went to great lengths to reinforce their marginalized role in the American Expeditionary Forces and larger Allied war effort.”

Despite such conditions, these men served their country. And for that, we honor their memory on this Veterans Day and into perpetuity. #VeteransDay

D-Day

Article written by E.R. Shipp for the Rockdale Citizen 1994, probably June timeframe since this is regarding D-Day.

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