COLUMN: ‘News from our Boys in the Armed Forces’ – September 7, 1944

Cpl. Rexal R. Jones, U.S. Army Air Force, has returned from service outside the continental United States and is being processed through Army Air Forces Redistribution Station No. 2 in Miami Beach, Fl. Having been with a medical detachment in India for one year, he will be assigned a new duty station based on where he is best fitted. Corporal Jones, 25, is the son of Mr. and Mrs. William J. Jones of Andalusia, and the husband of Mrs. Mary Ann Jones of Andalusia.

Camp Blanding, Florida.

M.Sgt. Cecil C. Talbot, U.S. Army, of Andalusia, heads the decorating committee that is in charge of the dance for the WAC non-commissioned officers of Camp Blanding. The party given in their honor will be held at the Non-Com’s Club No. 1 on the base. They will be dancing to the smooth music of the Infantry Replacement Training Center 183rd Army Band. The dance will begin at 8:30 p.m. and conclude with a sumptuous buffet supper at 11 p.m.

The many friends of Pharmacist Alfred Williams, U.S. Navy, will be glad to learn of his promotion to Chief Warrant Officer. He is an instructor at the Naval Hospital, Portsmouth, Va.

Keesler Field, Biloxi, Mississippi.

PVT Clyde F. Vann, U.S. Army Air Force, has graduated from AAF Training Command’s B-24 Liberator bomber mechanic’s school. He is the son of Mr. and Mrs. George B. Vann, 236 Church St., Andalusia. The training he received at Keesler will be augmented at another AAF station before his assignment to a combat air crew. During the 17-week course at Keesler, PVT Vann has learned Liberator aircraft maintenance and emergency operations in flight. The latter was achieved during actual flights extending over several hours with Vann performing the duties of an aerial flight engineer.

SGT Lindsey Padgett Killed in Action 

SGT Lindsey Padgett, U.S. Army, was killed in action on the fighting front in France on August 9. Sgt. Padgett lived in Andalusia until his enlistment in September 1942. He was a member of the football and baseball teams and the Senior Honor Society at Andalusia High School before graduating in 1941. He entered the University of Alabama in 1941 but left to join the Army during his second year. He took basic training at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, advanced training at Camp Young, California and Camp Laguna, Arizona, before going overseas. He reached England in November 1943 and was among the first troops to hit the beach on D-Day. He fought on into France with the 743rd Tank Battalion and served as commander of his tank division for five weeks prior to his death near Montagne-au-Perche, Normandie, France.

Author’s note: Sgt. Reuben Lindsey Padgett was survived by his parents Walter Carlos and Vera Montee Lindsey Padgett. He is buried in Andalusia Memorial Cemetery.

Lt. George W. Hutcheson Receives Awards

At a Tenth Army Air Force base in India: First Lieutenant George W. Hutcheson of Red Level, Alabama, has received the First Oak Leaf Cluster to his Distinguished Flying Cross. The award was presented by Maj. Gen. Howard C. Davidson, Commanding Officer, Tenth Air Force. Lt. Hutcheson is a B-24 pilot for the 7th Bombardment Group, Tenth Air Force. Lt. Hutcheson also holds the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster. The award reads in part, “for extraordinary achievement by participating in heavy bombardment missions and allied operational flights totaling more than 400 hours during which exposure to enemy fire was probable and expected. These flights, in which he has flown from bases in India over Burma, Thailand, China and the Andaman Islands, have been eminently successful. The devotion to duty exhibited in the execution of these assignments, and cooperation displayed therein, as an essential and vital part of a combat team, has contributed much to the success of these operations.”

Lt. Hutcheson’s wife, Stella, now lives in Niagara Falls, New York.

John Vick