COUNTY NEWS
Veteran's Memorial Fund Raiser Begins
MEMORIAL FUND RAISER IN PROGRESS--Janet Milam (left) and Skyler
Cornelius (right) show off a poster full of pictues of Veteran's
Memorials. The poster has been put together by Skyler to be used in
his presentation to help raise money for a Floyd County Veterans
Memorial.
Skyler Cornelius wasn't sure how well received his
4-H Citizenship Project would be. However, now that the word is
getting out, the project has taken off so rapidly Skyler and his team
are having to work overtime just to keep up.
Sixteen year old Skyler is leading a 4-H
Citizenship and Civic Education Project that involves the building of
a Veteran's Memorial for Floyd County Veterans, living and deceased,
on the Courthouse Lawn.
A junior and adult team have already been
organized and for once volunteers have not been hard to
find.
"Everywhere we go with our plans, people keep
asking me, 'What can I do?'" said Skyler.
As part of his Citizenship Project, and also to
spread the word for support, Skyler will be talking to civic
organizations, City Councils, Commissioners Court, the Economic
Development Board, American Legion, VFW, the Floyd County Museum, the
Boy Scouts, and the Chamber of Commerce. Organizations will be asked
to elect one person to be their representative on the Veterans
Memorial Board.
"I believe this Memorial will affect more people
than anything ever built in this county," said Skyler.
Skyler came up with the idea of a Veterans
Memorial after seeing the Knox County Veterans Memorial in Benjamin,
Texas.
"The memorial really takes your breath away," said
Skyler. "It looks like it belongs in Washington D.C. We were inspired
and decided right then and there that Floyd County needed such a
memorial."
"Benjamin has a population of 200," said Skyler.
"I figured if they could do it, so could we."
According to Skyler the Knox County Historical
Society erected the memorial of 2,470 names in one year.
Another memorial in Graham, Texas was erected in 1
1/2 years with 5,100 names. Roaring Springs has a memorial with 546
names.
"We have visited with granite companies to get
estimates of the costs," said Skyler. "A rough estimate for a
memorial in Floyd County, with 800 names, would be
$20,000."
The Veterans Memorial Board is kicking off their
fundraising for the project on Veteran's Day, November 11, 2001. They
hope to have it completed and dedicated by next year's Veteran's Day,
Nov. 11, 2002.
Working under the tax exempt umbrella of the Floyd
County Historical Museum, the Veteran's Memorial Board is ready to
accept donations. All donations are tax deductible.
"The Museum has already been very helpful in this
endeavor," said Adult 4-H Leader, and Skyler's mother, Julianne
Cornelius. "We also had wonderful input from the Boy Scouts in
Floydada and Lockney, the American Legion, and VFW."
Julianne heads up the adult volunteers who have
already joined the team. They are: Janet Milam, Jimmy Willson, June
McGaugh, JoLyn Dean, Julie Duke, Monte Williams, Eric Cornelius,
Nancy Marble, and Carolyn Jackson.
A Junior Board, led by Skyler, consists of 11 High
School students, 4 junior high students, and 2 from elementary
school. They are: Derrick Griggs, Josh Bradley, Jesalyn Bradley,
Lindsey Nutt, B.J. Chappell, J.C.Chappell, Allison Griggs, Jay
McGaugh, Morgan Marble, Melissa Dunlap, Chance Crossland, Katie Beth
Crossland, Spencer Schacht, Jordan Cornelius, Jurahee Jones, and
Molly Long.
Donations can be made to:
Floyd County Historical Museum Veteran's Memorial
Fund
First National Bank,
Box 550
Floydada, TX., 79235.
EAGLE PROJECT--Once again flags will fly in the
Floydada Cemetery on Sunday, November 11, to honor our fallen
Veterans. This is a continuing Eagle Scout Project for Jay McGaugh
and has been a succes because of other members, parents and friends
of Troop 357 working many hours. Thanks to the Veterans of Foreign
Wars new flags will fly this Veterans Day. All expenses for this
project have been paid for by the V.F.W. The new flags are marked
with red tape. The Scouts ask that you please do not remove these
flags as they will be used again and again.
Lockney Resident Dies in House
Fire
Longtime Lockney resident, Milton Shores, died in
a fire that destroyed his home at 301 E. Bryant in Lockney, Tuesday
night October 30th. He was 60 years old.
Arson investigators were called to the scene but
no accelerants were found. "We believe the fire was an accident,"
said Lockney Police Chief Jerry Edwards. "The fire could have started
by Shores falling asleep with a cigarette in his hand. No foul play
is indicated."
Firefighters were called to the scene at
approximately 9:50 p.m., October 30, by neighbors who noticed the
fire.
"The fire was mostly contained in the bedroom,"
said Edwards.
Memorial services for Milton Boyd Shores will be
held at a later date.
He was born on December 3, 1940 in Maynard,
Arkansas, to the late Melvin Shores and the late Mildred Bagley. He
attended schools in Lockney and worked on TVs, radios, and air
conditioners. For several years he suffered from Multiple Schlorosis.
He wrote songs and poetry.
He is survived by his stepmother, Celeste Shores,
of Lubbock; two sisters, Lenora Vanvlake, of Arlington, and Allice
Marie Stephens, of Corning, AR.; a stepsister, Aletha Shores, of
Lubbock,
FIRE KILLS LOCKNEY RESIDENT--Milton Shores, of
Lockney, died in a fire in his home (pictured here), the night of
October 30. The fire has been ruled accidental.
Q.D. Recalls Battles of
WWII
(Editor's Note: This special Veteran's Day
story was provided to us by Monte Williams, son of Q.D. Willliams, of
the Lakeview Community in Floyd County. Monte interviewed his father
for family posterity. We are printing the story to help us all
remember the sacrifices our veterans made on our
behalf.)
By Q.D. Willliams as told to his son, Monte
Williams
I was born on a farm near Hamlin in Jones County,
Texas on December 1,1925.
My parents were Charles Burton and Lola Cantrell
Williams. My dad was a farmer. I was raised at Rochester, Texas.
As a young boy, I began to go the Bullington Ranch
which was located west of Rochester on the Brazos River near Kiowa
Peak. J.D. Smith was the foreman. It was J.D.'s influence that made
me a cowboy instead of a farmer.
When I became a teenager, I started working on
ranches. J.D. became the foreman for the Big 4 Ranch which was
northwest of Truscott.
I could always find work at the Big 4 because they
always had lots of young horses to ride.
I was working at the Matador Ranch in 1943. I was
on a branding crew that was out for over six months and we never
covered the whole ranch. The crew consisted of older men and boys
under the draft age. We were camped out at Teepee City when a
blizzard hit. It was bitter cold and we were sleeping on the ground.
We had our fill and told Mr. Riley, the ranch manager, we were all
quitting. He said that if we did we would all be drafted, and he
heard things were tough in the military. My best friend Clarence Webb
said it was not too easy working on the Matadors and having to sleep
outside in the snow.
Mr. Riley was correct. Soon after leaving the
Matadors we all did receive draft notices. Funny thing happen though,
Clarence went on to make a career of the military. He fought in three
wars ,was a green beret, and was the most decorated soldier from
Haskell County, Texas.
I was working for the Big Four when I had to
report. I took my physical at Reese Air Base in Lubbock. A neighbor
from Rochester was being processed at the same time. This guy was
older than me. He told the Officer-in-Charge he was studying to be a
preacher. The Officer said that a lot of young men were suddenly
starting to become preachers. The neighbor also said he had a bad
knee from an old football injury. Again the OIC said they were seeing
a lot of those type of injuries.
The excuses did not do the guy any good because he
was placed into the Marines. I last saw him while going through basic
at San Diego. He was on a fifteen mile road march with a full duffel
bag. He said the Marines were killing him.
I had originally signed up for the Navy. While we
were being processed a sergeant came into the room, asking for two
volunteers for the Marine Corps. No one would volunteer so he left
the room. In a few minutes he came back and called my name and
another young man as just having volunteered for the Marines. Thus
began my recruitment into the Corps.
I was inducted at El Paso and was sent to
California on a troop train. We had an extended delay in Arizona
because the train ran over a drunk Indian.
I received basic training at San Diego and Advance
Infantry Training at Camp Pendleton. I qualified as an expert with
the M-1 rifle and Browning Automatic Rifle.
During basic training my company was sent to fight
fires in the Cleveland National Forest. Afterwards, I was sent to
Guadalcanal where by November 1944 the Marines were in mop-up
operations.
The jungles at Guadalcanal still had Japanese
hiding out. Each night, individual Japanese soldiers, looking for
food, would try to sneak into the American positions . Someone would
be killed nearly every night. Sometimes it would be the Japanese, and
sometimes it would be an American.
The natives were given bounties to bring in the
Japanese. Occasionally the natives would bring in a captured Japanese
soldier hanging from a long pole just like a wild animal.
The natives looked like aborigines. I encountered
one group of natives that had been given peroxide . It was strange to
see blonde headed aborigines.
When we were off duty, we would go swimming in the
bay. We would swim about a half of a mile out to a partially sunken
Navy ship that was a casualty from the original Battle for
Guadalcanal. We were told that there were sharks in the area but that
never deterred us.
I was transferred to the 6th Tank Battalion for
two days until my records caught up with me. When my marksmanship
records were reviewed I was transferred as an automatic rifleman to
the 1st Battalion, 29th Marines, 6th Marine Division.
Just before we left Guadalcanal, a buddy and I
were working on the beach when a general staff car drove into the
area. We made the mistake of walking away before saluting. We were
punished by having to scoop sand from one spot and then moving it
back again. We were left on this detail for nearly two days without
sleep or food and we had an armed guard standing over us the whole
time. A naval officer finally came to our rescue and ordered us to
board ship because our unit was leaving for Iwo Jima .
My unit was held in reserve for the Iwo Jima
invasion. The day before the attack on Okinawa, all the Marines were
off loaded on the small sand spit, Mog-Mog for a beer bust .
On April 1, 1945 we made an amphibious assault on
Okinawa. We climbed off the troop ship by large web ropes onto
landing crafts . A marine above me dropped his rifle and it hit the
front of my helmet. I thought my neck was broken but I still managed
to catch his rifle and hold onto mine as well.
There were kamikaze attacks going on everywhere.
As far you could see in any direction there were US Navy ships, and
the Kamikazes seemed to be attacking them all. I came up on a
kamikaze plane that had landed on the beach that day. The pilot was
chained in the cockpit and was already dead.
Within hours of landing my unit captured the
Yontan Airfield. We captured the airfield so quickly that a Japanese
pilot landed there. He was promptly shot. We proceeded to take ground
toward the Ishikawa Isthmus. We encountered civilians who only
surrendered in order to detonate grenades they were carrying. Orders
were soon given to take no prisoners. I witnessed people committing
suicide by jumping off steep cliffs rather than surrender to us.
The Japanese, hidden in a cave on the side of a
mountain, had set up a large artillery piece on rail tracks. They
began shelling us. Our return artillery fire was ineffective because
the Japanese artillery was so well protected. A fire order was called
into a battleship with a 16 inch cannon. When those rounds hit, the
whole side of the mountain literally exploded.
We proceeded up the Motobu Peninsula where we
began to encounter Japanese Royal Marines who were quite a contrast
to the regular soldiers because they were all over 6 feet
tall.
There was heavy fighting because the Japanese were
entrenched in tunnels and caves. In my platoon, the country boys were
always given the night patrols. When we complained to the Lieutenant,
he said that we were used to hunting at night and were the ones for
the job.
I received my first Purple Heart for being shot in
the hand. The wound was just superficial.
One day we were crossing a small clearing when two
Japanese soldiers jumped up out of the brush. Just before they dove
back into the jungle one of the soldiers turned and shot the Company
Commander, Captain Rogers . Rogers was hit in the shoulder and spun
to the ground. When his runner, a very young Marine saw his Captain
go down he lost his senses and started running toward him. A shot
from out of the jungle was fired. It hit the Company runner right
square between the eyes, and killed him instantly.
I later talked to Captain Rogers on the hospital
ship where he was recovering.
The war ended for me on April 14,1945. The
fighting was very difficult up the steep slopes .The Japanese had
placed snipers in the palm trees. As my company proceeded up a slope,
snipers waited in the palm trees until we were underneath them to
start firing. I was shot through both legs. Although am six foot
three inches tall, my ammo carrier, Jimmy Anaya, who was just over
five feet tall, rolled me onto a poncho and slid me down the mountain
to an aid station.
I was part of the first litter group to be laid
out on a small narrow road. Just before I was loaded out to a ship I
raised up on my elbow and as far as I could see in either direction
there were wounded Marines laid out in the road. Just a few feet from
me was my Battalion Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Monroe. Monroe had
had a foot blown off.
I was loaded on to a jeep with two other wounded
Marines. We had started down to the beach when mortar rounds started
incoming. When a shot went through the canvas, the driver became so
rattled that he abandoned the jeep and us. We were strapped in and
could not move. A Seabee finally heard us yelling and he drove us to
safety. The Seabee grabbed our driver and told him that he would
personally shoot him if he ever abandoned his post again .
I was placed on a hospital ship just off Saipan,
and flown to Pearl Harbor.
The hospital staff asked if I had any family in
the area. I told them that I thought my brother-in-law, Jack Miller,
was stationed at Pearl Harbor.
Jack was an Army sergeant in the Quartermaster
Corp. They quickly found him and on his first visit he asked if there
was anything I wanted. I said that I would love to have a cold beer.
He got me one quickly and it really hit the spot.
Jack visited me in the evenings and really lifted
my morale. I was soon transferred back to state-side. We were flown
back to the U.S.
There was a one night lay over at Fort Bliss and
all the patients were taken to a mess hall for chow. All the
attendants at the mess hall were Italian Prisoners of War. These
P.O.W.S. were one happy bunch. They did not even have guards placed
on them. I guess the officers did not have to worry about them trying
to escape. The P.O.W.'s were just happy to be out of the war.
I ended up in the military hospital at McAlester,
Oklahoma. There was a huge patient at McAlester who was a military
prisoner. At night this goldbricker would beat on the ward patients.
When word of this got through to the chain of command, a Marine NCO
who was a judo expert was brought in to handle the situation. The
next day the bully's attitude was completely changed. The judo expert
was a small man but he must have known his martial arts because the
huge prisoner had obviously received a severe beating. He had to
follow the Marine all the next day and the Sergeant only had to look
at him to make him jump back.
My recovery seemed to go slowly. I Iearned that I
was to be transferred to the VA Hospital in Amarillo. I did not want
to go so I told the staff I was going home instead. I promptly
received a lesson in military procedure. To ensure that I reached my
proper destination I was escorted by two guards to the bus station
and met by two guards in Amarillo.
Still on crutches I paid a visit to my brother,
Odell Williams, who was out with the wagon, south of Guthrie, on the
Four Sixes. The ranch manager, George Humphrey, asked me if I wanted
a job with the Sixes. I said I was in no condition to a make a hand
yet. He said for me not to worry because the Sixes would make a spot
for me. I declined his offer but always appreciated the gesture.
I was released from the service on October
17,1945. I was awarded a Purple Heart with an oak leaf cluster, an
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign medal, a World War II Victory medal, a
Combat Action Ribbon, a Presidential Unit Citation, a Good Conduct
Medal, and a American Service ribbon.
I used my GI Bill to take flying lessons at
Hamlin. Later this would come in handy because I flew a J 3 Cub for
the Masterson Ranch at Truscott. I married Evelyn Joyce Jones on
November 3,1947 in her parents house at Truscott. Her parents were
Edgar and Bernice Jones. Edgar owned a ranch at Truscott where the
Truscott Brine Lake is located today.
We stayed in the Truscott area where I worked for
the Masterson Ranch. Our first son, James, was born on August 8,
1948. Our second child, Nancy, was born on June 12, 1952.
We moved to Floyd County, Texas in January 1953. I
was foreman of the Montgomery Ranch located in Blanco Canyon.
Our third child, Monte, was born in Floydada, on
November 1, 1957. We eventually bought part of the T-Bar Ranch and
there we still reside. Both of my sons are veterans. James served in
the Army as a Military Policeman. Monte also served in the Army as a
Field Artillery Pershing Missile Officer.
Miller and Reyes Will Compete at State
Cross Country Meet
WADE MILLER
Floyd County will be well represented at the State
Track Meet, November 10, in Round Rock.
Wade Miller, a senior at Lockney High School, and
Rocky Reyes, a senior at Floydada High School, both qualified for
State competition at the regional cross country meet Saturday,
November 3, in Lubbock.
Miller placed 3rd with an individual time of
16:53.1. The Lockney Boys Cross Country Team as a whole placed 4th
with a total score of 180.
Rocky Reyes fifth place time of 16:58.7 also
earned him a trip to State. The Floydada Boys Cross Country Team was
14th overall with a time of 370. FHS Girls Cross Country placed
15th.
FHS Coach Brattain said, "Rocky has done well in
all the meets he has ran this year, including placing 2nd at
District. He is a very hard worker and deserves all that he achieves.
"Rocky works out early every morning and works
every day after school as well as on Saturdays after he runs in a
meet. He also does very well in the classroom despite how little
extra time he has left in the day. We're very proud of Rocky and his
accomplishments."
LHS Cross Country Coach Lisa Schumacher said,
"Wade Miller is an extremely hard working athlete. He has recovered
from ankle injuries that plagued him his junior year to come back and
be a State contender.
"Wade has had long range goals and trained all
summer. He is a dedicated and superb leader for our team. If he is
not running or playing basketball he is hitting the books, as he is
in the top percentage of the Senior class.
"He is an all around great person and athlete and
we hope the best of him in Round Rock this weekend."
ROCKY REYES
Run Off Needed to Elect New State
Senator
There was no clear winner in Tuesday nights
election for a new State Senator for Senate District 30. Because no
contestant claimed a majority of the votes, Wichita Falls Republican
Craig Estes and Bowie Democrat Greg Underwood will face off in
another election.
There were six contenders in the race to fill the
unexpired term of the late Sen. Tom Haywood who died July
12.
In Floyd County, of the 333 people who voted, 128
voted for Craig Estes, and 83 voted for Greg Underwood.
The other votes were scattered among the other
candidates. Independent Rick Bunch received 7 votes. Republican Doug
Jeffrey also received 7 votes. Republican Harry Reynold received 16
and Republican Kirk Wilson garnered 71 votes.
According to the Wichita Falls Time Record, Estes
led in the districts 521 precincts with 16,864 votes, or 47.2
percent. Underwood had 8,286 votes, or 23.2 percent.
Governor Rick Perry will set the runoff election,
which would probably be in December. The winner will finish the last
year of Sen. Haywood's term.
Senate District 30 consists of Floyd, Archer,
Armstrong, Baylor, Briscoe, Carson, Castro, Childress, Clay,
Collingsworth, Cooke, Cottle, Dickens, Donley, Fisher, Foard,
Grayson, Hall, Hardeman, Haskell, Jones, Kent, King, Knox, Montague,
Motley, Scurry, Stonewall, Swisher, Throckmorton, Wheeler, Wichita,
and Wilbarger counties.
Floyd County voters approved all 19 of the
constitutional amendments on the ballot.
Floyd County has 4,588 people registered to vote.
Approximately 14% of those registered cast a vote. Forty of those
voted early and the other 293 voted Tuesday.
The total votes for each proposition are as
follows: Prop. 1: 212 for, 82 against; Prop. 2: 177 for, 137 against;
Prop. 3: 168 for, 135 against; Prop. 4: 197 for, 118 against; Prop.
5: 219-104; Prop. 6: 201-115; Prop. 7: 241-78; Prop. 8: 179-130;
Prop. 9: 236-80; Prop. 10: 174-137; Prop. 11: 183-139; Prop. 12:
211-100; Prop. 13: 260-60; Prop. 14: 168-146; Prop. 15: 200-107;
Prop. 16: 187-118; Prop. 17: 192-116; Prop. 18: 232-74; Prop. 19:
194-117.
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