WWII

JERONIMO F. DOMINGUEZ

JERONIMO F. DOMINGUEZ

Mar 1, 2010 | ,

Jeronimo Dominguez was born in Yancey, Texas (Medina County) in 1913. He attended a Missionary School in Medina County but early in his childhood years his family moved to Elgin. Except for his service in WWII he has lived in Elgin ever since. Jeronimo attended public schools but his education was interrupted by periodic trips with his family for seasonal migrant farm work and, (at least one year), they followed the harvest as far as North Dakota. He had completed 8th grade when, in 1934 he left school for employment, mostly as a farm hand where and whenever work was to be found locally near home in Bastrop County. In 1940 he found year-round employment with Rafael Castillo,...

JESSE J. FARMER

JESSE J. FARMER

Jan 1, 2010 | ,

Jesse J. Farmer was born in Devine, Texas in 1926, the first of three children born to James T. and Bessie (Rogers) Farmer. In his early childhood, his family moved to Uvalde. His father became chronically ill there while working for a car dealership, so they moved to Llano, the parental home of Jess’ mother. After some months in Llano, her family set her up in business and she operated a store in Travis County at “4-points” (intersection of today’s RM 2222 and RM 620). When Jess was about 13, his mother turned the store over to her brother and they moved into Austin. They lived in the 10th Ward in east Austin where he attended 6th grade. His mother found work doing...

JAMES LOGAN (JIM) BROWN

Dec 1, 2009 | ,

James Logan Brown, a Charter Member who helped in creating Chapter 1919 is an Army Korean War veteran. He was a platoon leader in Company L, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, wounded during the defense of the Naktong River Line, in the early days of fighting to hold the Pusan Perimeter in the Summer of 1950. His wounds were severe, requiring medical evacuation to the United States. He was a career officer who originally hailed from Louisiana. He had later assignments in the 6th Infantry and 7th Infantry Regiments and with the Army Rangers, and is also a Vietnam veteran, having served there, 1965-1967. He had memorable experiences during his Cold War assignment in...

JAMES LOGAN (JIM) BROWN

Dec 1, 2009 | ,

James Logan Brown, a Charter Member who helped in creating Chapter 1919 is an Army Korean War veteran. He was a platoon leader in Company L, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division, wounded during the defense of the Naktong River Line, in the early days of fighting to hold the Pusan Perimeter in the Summer of 1950. His wounds were severe, requiring medical evacuation to the United States. He was a career officer who originally hailed from Louisiana. He had later assignments in the 6th Infantry and 7th Infantry Regiments and with the Army Rangers, and is also a Vietnam veteran, having served there, 1965-1967. He had memorable experiences during his Cold War assignment in...

FRANK C. LUDDEN

Dec 1, 2009 | ,

In WWII, Frank Ludden was a combat engineer, promoted up through the enlisted ranks, making Master Sergeant in record time. Postwar, he graduated with a degree in Mechanical Engineering then went on to a highly successful professional career of 42 years. But, despite those impressive lifetime achievements, today he modestly deflects attention from himself to other things he’s proudest of. He says, “I have a brother that is famous, Allen Ludden, he was host of the TV show “Password” for ten years, married to one of the “Golden Girls,” Betty White. Allen died in 1981, but Betty is still acting (Betty is in the recently released movie, “The Proposal,” with Sandra Bullock). He...

BERN BALLARD

BERN BALLARD

Sep 1, 2009 | ,

Bern Ballard was born near Inez, in Victoria County, Texas in 1920, one of six sons born to the family of a tenant farmer. Five of the six sons would survive to maturity and the five all served in WWII, with one being killed in action. His father had a serious chronic illness that was misdiagnosed and as a result, beginning when Bern was three years old, they moved frequently during his childhood years in unsuccessful attempts to find a favorable location for the father’s health. By 1927 they had farmed at Bethel (outside Ballinger) for two years, at Concho for a year and at Paint Rock for a year, before moving to Hext, in Menard County, where Bern started to school. The...

SAMUEL E. (SAM) BAKER

SAMUEL E. (SAM) BAKER

Mar 1, 2009 | ,

Samuel Baker entered military service before WWII and served 35 years continuous active duty before his retirement in 1974. Although only wounded once, as a glider pilot in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, he was always a bit unconventional and something of a risk taker, especially in his younger days. Fortunately though, he was always lucky enough to walk away from some of his less than successful landings. The early part of his story is told in his own words, starting here. “It all started in September 1921 when I was born in the Sacramento County Hospital in Sacramento, California. I went to and graduated from the North Sacramento Grammar School in North Sacramento in 1934....

JOE S. CASTRO

JOE S. CASTRO

Dec 1, 2008 | ,

Joe S. Castro was born in 1921, the next-to-youngest born into this large Castro family of Austin, Texas that would send four sons off to war.  His younger brother, also wounded in action, was our late Patriot, L.C. Castro (chapter charter member and our first chaplain), featured in the PATRIOT BULLETIN with a story similar to this in the August 1997 issue and that may also be found on our website.  We are overdue for saying more about Joe and L.C.’s family, and will make up for that here. Parents Ladislao and Leonarda Castro had come from Mexico during World War I.   They had two daughters and three sons when they arrived in Austin, making their first home here in a downtown...

WILLIAM H. MAYS

Sep 1, 2008 | ,

William H. Mays was born in Round Rock, Texas in 1925. When he was about nine years old, his family moved to Austin where he continued to attend public schools until, at age 17, he enlisted for service during WWII. He was in his Junior year at L.C. Anderson High School (the old segregated L.C. Anderson High for Black-only students) when he dropped out, entering active duty in the Marine Corps in October 1943. He was sent to Monteford Point at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina where he was assigned to the 20th Marine Depot Company. Prior to WWII, there had never before been any Black troop units in the history of the Marine Corps; and William reported in just when large numbers of...

WILLIAM F. (BILL) KING

WILLIAM F. (BILL) KING

Jul 1, 2008 | ,

William F. King was born in Reno, Texas in 1919. He enlisted in the Army from Fort Worth, Texas and was sworn into service on July 3, 1940 at the Induction Center in Dallas. He was assigned to the 2nd Infantry Division as a member of Service Company, 9th Infantry Regiment at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio where the division was stationed in 1940 and 1941. The division participated in several maneuvers in Texas and Louisiana until November 27, 1942 when they moved to Camp McCoy, Wisconsin for winter training. In September 1943 the 2nd Infantry Division was moved to Camp Shanks, New York and then sailed from the New York Port of Embarkation on October 8th. They arrived in...

HADRON “IZELL” BANKSTON

HADRON “IZELL” BANKSTON

May 1, 2008 | ,

Hadron Izell Bankston was born in Malta, Texas (Bowie County near New Boston) in 1925. He has been called Izell all of his life. As a small child his family moved to Kaufman County and while he was growing up they lived variously at Kemp, Blue Bank, Mabank and Kaufman. He was attending Kaufman High School when America entered the war and he wanted to volunteer immediately. However, he was only seventeen and his mother refused her permission. So, Izell bided his time until he turned eighteen and enlisted in the Navy on his birthday. Doing so meant dropping out of high school before finishing his senior year. Izell entered service as a “selective volunteer” and after eight...

EDSELL H. (ED) LONG

Apr 1, 2008 | ,

Edsell H. Long was born in Parkin, Arkansas in 1925. His mother died when he was five years old and sometime around 1932 his family moved to Paris, Texas for a year and then moved again, to Mesa, Arizona. He had a childhood friend at school named Ben Gregory, but, times were hard and after 7th Grade Edsell left school for whatever work could be had. Later he left home at age 15. Eventually, he got a good job at Luke Field in Arizona and had been working there as a government employee for about a year when his draft call came. His supervisor was prepared to put in a deferment from the draft, but Edsell told him not to do so, if it was his turn to serve, then he was ready to...