Murray looks like my kind of guy. He’s a twenty-year-old young man leaving the cotton fields of Plainview, Texas for the rolling seas of the United States Navy. The clothing left hanging out of the suitcase and the thumb-out looking for a ride leaves me to believe he’s in a hurry to start his adventure.

Charles Ashley Austin, Jr. was born in Motley County on April 16, 1918, but spent most of his life in Skellytown, Texas with his family – father C.A. Austin, Sr., his mother, Ethel Austin, and sisters, Laverne and Christine. Charles graduated from White Deer High School in 1937 and was voted most popular boy during his senior year while he was captain of both the football and basketball teams.

On February 5, 1940, Charles joined the US Army 13th Armored Division…

In March 1966, PFC William Anthony (Tony) Thomas was trapped along with other soldiers from the 1^st Cavalry Division in an unnamed valley in Binh Dinh Province, Vietnam. They were surrounded by the Viet Cong. 

Tony’s brother, PFC L. V. Thomas, Jr., was also in the 1^st Cavalry Division, 1^st Squadron, 9^th Cavalry, B Troop. L. V. served as Light Weapons Infantry and was a paratrooper. During the Operation Masher/White Wing, UH-1D Helicopters were used to rescue infantrymen trapped behind enemy lines dozens of times.

L. V. was manning the door gun on the Huey helicopter that was dispatched to pick up his little brother, Tony. 

Tony made it home safely, unharmed. L. V. did not. 

Eligah Tice Autry, Jr., was born in Dustin Oklahoma on May 6, 1920, but his family moved to LeFors, Texas a few years later. Eligah’s father was an Army Veteran of World War I; his mother, Carrie Lanhan Autry, was a homemaker. As a teenager, Eligah not only looked like the comic strip character, Popeye, but did an impressive impersonation of the spinach-eating cartoon character singing “Popeye the Sailor Man.”

The Battle of Chosin Reservoir in the Korean War is considered by many to be the most brutal wartime battle in American history. The battle raged for seventeen days, from November 26, 1950, until December 13th, on some of the toughest terrain in Korea during extreme winter conditions. 2,836 Marines and Army personnel lost their lives at Chosin; 13,000 more were wounded, many from frostbite and other weather-related injuries. Cpl. Huey Pierce French’s unit was part of the Task Force MacLean/Faith, which suffered 88% casualties.