MONTCALM — More than a decade ago, Ken Davidson read a story in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph about a soldier from Mercer County — Pvt. James Woodrow Brown — who was killed in action during World War II, and was among a group of 13 paratroopers with Company I, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment who were honored with a monument at Fosse, Belgium.
Davidson, who lives on Jones Hill, didn't know Brown or his family who came from Crystal. However, he was very familiar with Brown's final resting place, Tabernacle Hill Cemetery in Montcalm, and he knew he had never seen a headstone marking his grave.
"My brother Roger and I have been taking care of our family plot since we were kids," Davidson, 73, said. "The old Tabernacle Church put the cemetery up here on a hill because it was too steep to put a garden up here. Nobody had any money, and the church asked families to pay what they could. My (maternal) granddaddy, Thomas Sizemore, gave the church $60 for six plots in 1941.
"Years ago, this hillside would be filled with people caring for their family graves," Davidson said. "We would come up twice a year, trim around the graves before Memorial Day, and come back in late August and do it all over again. We didn't have money enough for headstones back then, so we carved the name of the person we buried on a big sandstone rock until we could fix something more permanent.
"When I saw that article in the paper, I thought that the military probably provided a headstone for Private Brown, but I had never seen it," Davidson said. He kept the clipping, without the dateline, and wrote a note to himself as a reminder to look for Brown's grave every time he went to tend the graves of his family members. Based on information available on line, the article may be from as early as 1991. All Davidson could say for sure was that the note he hung in his workshop as a reminder had become so brittle that it crumbled if he touched it.
About three weeks ago, Davidson found the headstone marking Brown's grave. The grave site was covered with multi-floral rose bushes and other vegetation that had grown unchecked for several years. Many families continue the tradition of clearing their family grave sites on Tabernacle Hill, but Brown's grave is located in an isolated part of the cemetery. Davidson completed the site clean-up on May 13, placed a hand-made cross and floral arrangement as well as an American flag near the headstone making Brown's grave.
Brown, 22, was a son of Mr. James "Walter" Brown (1882-1955) and Mrs. Lillie Mae Smith-Brown (1880-1961) of Crystal; brother of Hattie M Brown-Blevins (1915-2005), Lorene F. Brown-Meadwell (1930-2001), & Kathleen Gay Brown-Shrader (1930-2006); according to the brief announcement in the Feb. 4, 1945 edition of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. The article indicated that the War Department listed Brown as missing in action since Jan. 3, 1945. "Private Brown has been in the service for more than two years and has served in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Normandy, Holland and Belgium," according to the article.
Each edition of the Daily Telegraph during early 1945 contained stories about the war on two fronts, as well as inside pages devoted to military personnel killed or missing in action. Sometimes months passed before families received formal word from the War Department concerning what happened to their loved ones months before. Brown had been in the thick of things on the European front from the time of his arrival overseas until his death.
Information available on the Internet has expanded the knowledge-base of the wartime activities of many units that fought in World War II. The 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment trained for an assault on Grenada, but instead, the paratroopers were deployed to the European Theater of the war where they served as the spearhead unit in the invasion of Italy on July 9, 1943 and parachuted into Italy for the Sept. 14, 1943 invasion of that country.
The 505th PIR was among the first units to parachute into Normandy on June 6, 1944, and actually arrived before "H-Hour," earning them the slogan, "H-Minus." The paratroopers of the 505th jumped 53 miles inside of enemy lines at Nijmegen, Holland on Sept. 17, 1944. From mid-November to mid-December of 1944, the paratroopers of the 505th PIR were resting and getting refitted at Camp Suippes, France. That's where they were on Dec. 16, 1944 when the German Army launched its offensive in the Ardennes, a battle that would later be known as the Battle of the Bulge.
The 505th was part of the 82nd Airborne Division, and the 82nd and the 101st Airborne divisions were the only troops immediately available to the Allied Army to halt the German advance. The 505th PIR was assigned to hold a defensive line along the Salm River that was under attack by two German Panzer Divisions. Companies of the 505th PIR held and were part of the action that disrupted the German offensive in the Ardennes. The 82nd Airborne re-grouped on Christmas Eve, 1945, but on Jan. 3, 1945, the 505th PIR "Panthers" launched a counter-attack and sustained the most casualties in the unit's history.
Pfc. Patsy Passero, served as a medic with Company I, 505th PIR, and had been with the company since early in 1944, in his testimony included in the "Testimonies of the Battle of the Bulge," Passero told of trying to assisted soldiers in the battle, but getting wounded several times himself in the battle.
"Fosse was heavily fortified, the enemy had dug in well and going up hill was murder for there wasn't much cover," he was quoted as stating in his testimony. "I was evacuated by jeep to Basse-Bodeux. ‘Item' Company lost 13 men at Fosse."
Sgt. William H. Tucker of I Company, 505th PIR, posted his recollections of the battle in a writing dated February 2003. He said the company started its assault on Fosse at about 8 a.m. "It had snowed off and on all morning and the snow was incredibly deep," Tucker wrote. The squad was under heavy fire, and Tucker was moving his men to some ledges where they could find additional cover.
"We had to slide through the fence to get behind the ledge. I was the last man through and I was hit by a shell fragment in my left leg," Tucker wrote. He received two more wounds, and other men in his squad were hit as well. "The last two men killed were two close comrades, Pfc. (Oscar C.) Harris and Pfc. (James. W.) Brown when an artillery shell landed between them." The 505th PIR suffered about 50 percent casualties in the three weeks following Dec. 18, 1944, when they were engaged in the Battle of the Bulge.
Davidson said he was proud be able to place a flag beside the headstone marking Brown's grave. "My hope is that young people will remember the sacrifices our veterans made, and will continue to do this in the future."
There is a photograph on the monument at Fosse, Belgium honoring the 13 men who died there on Jan. 3, 1945, on the web site containing Sgt. Tucker's narrative of the battle.
Davidson, who lives on Jones Hill, didn't know Brown or his family who came from Crystal. However, he was very familiar with Brown's final resting place, Tabernacle Hill Cemetery in Montcalm, and he knew he had never seen a headstone marking his grave.
"My brother Roger and I have been taking care of our family plot since we were kids," Davidson, 73, said. "The old Tabernacle Church put the cemetery up here on a hill because it was too steep to put a garden up here. Nobody had any money, and the church asked families to pay what they could. My (maternal) granddaddy, Thomas Sizemore, gave the church $60 for six plots in 1941.
"Years ago, this hillside would be filled with people caring for their family graves," Davidson said. "We would come up twice a year, trim around the graves before Memorial Day, and come back in late August and do it all over again. We didn't have money enough for headstones back then, so we carved the name of the person we buried on a big sandstone rock until we could fix something more permanent.
"When I saw that article in the paper, I thought that the military probably provided a headstone for Private Brown, but I had never seen it," Davidson said. He kept the clipping, without the dateline, and wrote a note to himself as a reminder to look for Brown's grave every time he went to tend the graves of his family members. Based on information available on line, the article may be from as early as 1991. All Davidson could say for sure was that the note he hung in his workshop as a reminder had become so brittle that it crumbled if he touched it.
About three weeks ago, Davidson found the headstone marking Brown's grave. The grave site was covered with multi-floral rose bushes and other vegetation that had grown unchecked for several years. Many families continue the tradition of clearing their family grave sites on Tabernacle Hill, but Brown's grave is located in an isolated part of the cemetery. Davidson completed the site clean-up on May 13, placed a hand-made cross and floral arrangement as well as an American flag near the headstone making Brown's grave.
Brown, 22, was a son of Mr. James "Walter" Brown (1882-1955) and Mrs. Lillie Mae Smith-Brown (1880-1961) of Crystal; brother of Hattie M Brown-Blevins (1915-2005), Lorene F. Brown-Meadwell (1930-2001), & Kathleen Gay Brown-Shrader (1930-2006); according to the brief announcement in the Feb. 4, 1945 edition of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. The article indicated that the War Department listed Brown as missing in action since Jan. 3, 1945. "Private Brown has been in the service for more than two years and has served in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Normandy, Holland and Belgium," according to the article.
Each edition of the Daily Telegraph during early 1945 contained stories about the war on two fronts, as well as inside pages devoted to military personnel killed or missing in action. Sometimes months passed before families received formal word from the War Department concerning what happened to their loved ones months before. Brown had been in the thick of things on the European front from the time of his arrival overseas until his death.
Information available on the Internet has expanded the knowledge-base of the wartime activities of many units that fought in World War II. The 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment trained for an assault on Grenada, but instead, the paratroopers were deployed to the European Theater of the war where they served as the spearhead unit in the invasion of Italy on July 9, 1943 and parachuted into Italy for the Sept. 14, 1943 invasion of that country.
The 505th PIR was among the first units to parachute into Normandy on June 6, 1944, and actually arrived before "H-Hour," earning them the slogan, "H-Minus." The paratroopers of the 505th jumped 53 miles inside of enemy lines at Nijmegen, Holland on Sept. 17, 1944. From mid-November to mid-December of 1944, the paratroopers of the 505th PIR were resting and getting refitted at Camp Suippes, France. That's where they were on Dec. 16, 1944 when the German Army launched its offensive in the Ardennes, a battle that would later be known as the Battle of the Bulge.
The 505th was part of the 82nd Airborne Division, and the 82nd and the 101st Airborne divisions were the only troops immediately available to the Allied Army to halt the German advance. The 505th PIR was assigned to hold a defensive line along the Salm River that was under attack by two German Panzer Divisions. Companies of the 505th PIR held and were part of the action that disrupted the German offensive in the Ardennes. The 82nd Airborne re-grouped on Christmas Eve, 1945, but on Jan. 3, 1945, the 505th PIR "Panthers" launched a counter-attack and sustained the most casualties in the unit's history.
Pfc. Patsy Passero, served as a medic with Company I, 505th PIR, and had been with the company since early in 1944, in his testimony included in the "Testimonies of the Battle of the Bulge," Passero told of trying to assisted soldiers in the battle, but getting wounded several times himself in the battle.
"Fosse was heavily fortified, the enemy had dug in well and going up hill was murder for there wasn't much cover," he was quoted as stating in his testimony. "I was evacuated by jeep to Basse-Bodeux. ‘Item' Company lost 13 men at Fosse."
Sgt. William H. Tucker of I Company, 505th PIR, posted his recollections of the battle in a writing dated February 2003. He said the company started its assault on Fosse at about 8 a.m. "It had snowed off and on all morning and the snow was incredibly deep," Tucker wrote. The squad was under heavy fire, and Tucker was moving his men to some ledges where they could find additional cover.
"We had to slide through the fence to get behind the ledge. I was the last man through and I was hit by a shell fragment in my left leg," Tucker wrote. He received two more wounds, and other men in his squad were hit as well. "The last two men killed were two close comrades, Pfc. (Oscar C.) Harris and Pfc. (James. W.) Brown when an artillery shell landed between them." The 505th PIR suffered about 50 percent casualties in the three weeks following Dec. 18, 1944, when they were engaged in the Battle of the Bulge.
Davidson said he was proud be able to place a flag beside the headstone marking Brown's grave. "My hope is that young people will remember the sacrifices our veterans made, and will continue to do this in the future."
There is a photograph on the monument at Fosse, Belgium honoring the 13 men who died there on Jan. 3, 1945, on the web site containing Sgt. Tucker's narrative of the battle.
MONTCALM — More than a decade ago, Ken Davidson read a story in the Bluefield Daily Telegraph about a soldier from Mercer County — Pvt. James Woodrow Brown — who was killed in action during World War II, and was among a group of 13 paratroopers with Company I, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment who were honored with a monument at Fosse, Belgium.
Davidson, who lives on Jones Hill, didn't know Brown or his family who came from Crystal. However, he was very familiar with Brown's final resting place, Tabernacle Hill Cemetery in Montcalm, and he knew he had never seen a headstone marking his grave.
"My brother Roger and I have been taking care of our family plot since we were kids," Davidson, 73, said. "The old Tabernacle Church put the cemetery up here on a hill because it was too steep to put a garden up here. Nobody had any money, and the church asked families to pay what they could. My (maternal) granddaddy, Thomas Sizemore, gave the church $60 for six plots in 1941.
"Years ago, this hillside would be filled with people caring for their family graves," Davidson said. "We would come up twice a year, trim around the graves before Memorial Day, and come back in late August and do it all over again. We didn't have money enough for headstones back then, so we carved the name of the person we buried on a big sandstone rock until we could fix something more permanent.
"When I saw that article in the paper, I thought that the military probably provided a headstone for Private Brown, but I had never seen it," Davidson said. He kept the clipping, without the dateline, and wrote a note to himself as a reminder to look for Brown's grave every time he went to tend the graves of his family members. Based on information available on line, the article may be from as early as 1991. All Davidson could say for sure was that the note he hung in his workshop as a reminder had become so brittle that it crumbled if he touched it.
About three weeks ago, Davidson found the headstone marking Brown's grave. The grave site was covered with multi-floral rose bushes and other vegetation that had grown unchecked for several years. Many families continue the tradition of clearing their family grave sites on Tabernacle Hill, but Brown's grave is located in an isolated part of the cemetery. Davidson completed the site clean-up on May 13, placed a hand-made cross and floral arrangement as well as an American flag near the headstone making Brown's grave.
Brown, 22, was a son of Mr. James "Walter" Brown (1882-1955) and Mrs. Lillie Mae Smith-Brown (1880-1961) of Crystal; brother of Hattie M Brown-Blevins (1915-2005), Lorene F. Brown-Meadwell (1930-2001), & Kathleen Gay Brown-Shrader (1930-2006); according to the brief announcement in the Feb. 4, 1945 edition of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. The article indicated that the War Department listed Brown as missing in action since Jan. 3, 1945. "Private Brown has been in the service for more than two years and has served in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Normandy, Holland and Belgium," according to the article.
Each edition of the Daily Telegraph during early 1945 contained stories about the war on two fronts, as well as inside pages devoted to military personnel killed or missing in action. Sometimes months passed before families received formal word from the War Department concerning what happened to their loved ones months before. Brown had been in the thick of things on the European front from the time of his arrival overseas until his death.
Information available on the Internet has expanded the knowledge-base of the wartime activities of many units that fought in World War II. The 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment trained for an assault on Grenada, but instead, the paratroopers were deployed to the European Theater of the war where they served as the spearhead unit in the invasion of Italy on July 9, 1943 and parachuted into Italy for the Sept. 14, 1943 invasion of that country.
The 505th PIR was among the first units to parachute into Normandy on June 6, 1944, and actually arrived before "H-Hour," earning them the slogan, "H-Minus." The paratroopers of the 505th jumped 53 miles inside of enemy lines at Nijmegen, Holland on Sept. 17, 1944. From mid-November to mid-December of 1944, the paratroopers of the 505th PIR were resting and getting refitted at Camp Suippes, France. That's where they were on Dec. 16, 1944 when the German Army launched its offensive in the Ardennes, a battle that would later be known as the Battle of the Bulge.
The 505th was part of the 82nd Airborne Division, and the 82nd and the 101st Airborne divisions were the only troops immediately available to the Allied Army to halt the German advance. The 505th PIR was assigned to hold a defensive line along the Salm River that was under attack by two German Panzer Divisions. Companies of the 505th PIR held and were part of the action that disrupted the German offensive in the Ardennes. The 82nd Airborne re-grouped on Christmas Eve, 1945, but on Jan. 3, 1945, the 505th PIR "Panthers" launched a counter-attack and sustained the most casualties in the unit's history.
Pfc. Patsy Passero, served as a medic with Company I, 505th PIR, and had been with the company since early in 1944, in his testimony included in the "Testimonies of the Battle of the Bulge," Passero told of trying to assisted soldiers in the battle, but getting wounded several times himself in the battle.
"Fosse was heavily fortified, the enemy had dug in well and going up hill was murder for there wasn't much cover," he was quoted as stating in his testimony. "I was evacuated by jeep to Basse-Bodeux. ‘Item' Company lost 13 men at Fosse."
Sgt. William H. Tucker of I Company, 505th PIR, posted his recollections of the battle in a writing dated February 2003. He said the company started its assault on Fosse at about 8 a.m. "It had snowed off and on all morning and the snow was incredibly deep," Tucker wrote. The squad was under heavy fire, and Tucker was moving his men to some ledges where they could find additional cover.
"We had to slide through the fence to get behind the ledge. I was the last man through and I was hit by a shell fragment in my left leg," Tucker wrote. He received two more wounds, and other men in his squad were hit as well. "The last two men killed were two close comrades, Pfc. (Oscar C.) Harris and Pfc. (James. W.) Brown when an artillery shell landed between them." The 505th PIR suffered about 50 percent casualties in the three weeks following Dec. 18, 1944, when they were engaged in the Battle of the Bulge.
Davidson said he was proud be able to place a flag beside the headstone marking Brown's grave. "My hope is that young people will remember the sacrifices our veterans made, and will continue to do this in the future."
There is a photograph on the monument at Fosse, Belgium honoring the 13 men who died there on Jan. 3, 1945, on the web site containing Sgt. Tucker's narrative of the battle.
Davidson, who lives on Jones Hill, didn't know Brown or his family who came from Crystal. However, he was very familiar with Brown's final resting place, Tabernacle Hill Cemetery in Montcalm, and he knew he had never seen a headstone marking his grave.
"My brother Roger and I have been taking care of our family plot since we were kids," Davidson, 73, said. "The old Tabernacle Church put the cemetery up here on a hill because it was too steep to put a garden up here. Nobody had any money, and the church asked families to pay what they could. My (maternal) granddaddy, Thomas Sizemore, gave the church $60 for six plots in 1941.
"Years ago, this hillside would be filled with people caring for their family graves," Davidson said. "We would come up twice a year, trim around the graves before Memorial Day, and come back in late August and do it all over again. We didn't have money enough for headstones back then, so we carved the name of the person we buried on a big sandstone rock until we could fix something more permanent.
"When I saw that article in the paper, I thought that the military probably provided a headstone for Private Brown, but I had never seen it," Davidson said. He kept the clipping, without the dateline, and wrote a note to himself as a reminder to look for Brown's grave every time he went to tend the graves of his family members. Based on information available on line, the article may be from as early as 1991. All Davidson could say for sure was that the note he hung in his workshop as a reminder had become so brittle that it crumbled if he touched it.
About three weeks ago, Davidson found the headstone marking Brown's grave. The grave site was covered with multi-floral rose bushes and other vegetation that had grown unchecked for several years. Many families continue the tradition of clearing their family grave sites on Tabernacle Hill, but Brown's grave is located in an isolated part of the cemetery. Davidson completed the site clean-up on May 13, placed a hand-made cross and floral arrangement as well as an American flag near the headstone making Brown's grave.
Brown, 22, was a son of Mr. James "Walter" Brown (1882-1955) and Mrs. Lillie Mae Smith-Brown (1880-1961) of Crystal; brother of Hattie M Brown-Blevins (1915-2005), Lorene F. Brown-Meadwell (1930-2001), & Kathleen Gay Brown-Shrader (1930-2006); according to the brief announcement in the Feb. 4, 1945 edition of the Bluefield Daily Telegraph. The article indicated that the War Department listed Brown as missing in action since Jan. 3, 1945. "Private Brown has been in the service for more than two years and has served in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, Normandy, Holland and Belgium," according to the article.
Each edition of the Daily Telegraph during early 1945 contained stories about the war on two fronts, as well as inside pages devoted to military personnel killed or missing in action. Sometimes months passed before families received formal word from the War Department concerning what happened to their loved ones months before. Brown had been in the thick of things on the European front from the time of his arrival overseas until his death.
Information available on the Internet has expanded the knowledge-base of the wartime activities of many units that fought in World War II. The 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment trained for an assault on Grenada, but instead, the paratroopers were deployed to the European Theater of the war where they served as the spearhead unit in the invasion of Italy on July 9, 1943 and parachuted into Italy for the Sept. 14, 1943 invasion of that country.
The 505th PIR was among the first units to parachute into Normandy on June 6, 1944, and actually arrived before "H-Hour," earning them the slogan, "H-Minus." The paratroopers of the 505th jumped 53 miles inside of enemy lines at Nijmegen, Holland on Sept. 17, 1944. From mid-November to mid-December of 1944, the paratroopers of the 505th PIR were resting and getting refitted at Camp Suippes, France. That's where they were on Dec. 16, 1944 when the German Army launched its offensive in the Ardennes, a battle that would later be known as the Battle of the Bulge.
The 505th was part of the 82nd Airborne Division, and the 82nd and the 101st Airborne divisions were the only troops immediately available to the Allied Army to halt the German advance. The 505th PIR was assigned to hold a defensive line along the Salm River that was under attack by two German Panzer Divisions. Companies of the 505th PIR held and were part of the action that disrupted the German offensive in the Ardennes. The 82nd Airborne re-grouped on Christmas Eve, 1945, but on Jan. 3, 1945, the 505th PIR "Panthers" launched a counter-attack and sustained the most casualties in the unit's history.
Pfc. Patsy Passero, served as a medic with Company I, 505th PIR, and had been with the company since early in 1944, in his testimony included in the "Testimonies of the Battle of the Bulge," Passero told of trying to assisted soldiers in the battle, but getting wounded several times himself in the battle.
"Fosse was heavily fortified, the enemy had dug in well and going up hill was murder for there wasn't much cover," he was quoted as stating in his testimony. "I was evacuated by jeep to Basse-Bodeux. ‘Item' Company lost 13 men at Fosse."
Sgt. William H. Tucker of I Company, 505th PIR, posted his recollections of the battle in a writing dated February 2003. He said the company started its assault on Fosse at about 8 a.m. "It had snowed off and on all morning and the snow was incredibly deep," Tucker wrote. The squad was under heavy fire, and Tucker was moving his men to some ledges where they could find additional cover.
"We had to slide through the fence to get behind the ledge. I was the last man through and I was hit by a shell fragment in my left leg," Tucker wrote. He received two more wounds, and other men in his squad were hit as well. "The last two men killed were two close comrades, Pfc. (Oscar C.) Harris and Pfc. (James. W.) Brown when an artillery shell landed between them." The 505th PIR suffered about 50 percent casualties in the three weeks following Dec. 18, 1944, when they were engaged in the Battle of the Bulge.
Davidson said he was proud be able to place a flag beside the headstone marking Brown's grave. "My hope is that young people will remember the sacrifices our veterans made, and will continue to do this in the future."
There is a photograph on the monument at Fosse, Belgium honoring the 13 men who died there on Jan. 3, 1945, on the web site containing Sgt. Tucker's narrative of the battle.
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