Winn Parish, as quirky as we may be at times, has never shied away when it comes to fighting in wars. Since her creation in 1852, and actually before that, weve sent our fair share off to fight, many who never returned. Buried right here in Winn Parish we have veterans of the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, WWI, WWII, Korea, and Viet Nam. I guess it should be noted that our politics have always been convoluted to the point we sent over 1,000 men to the Confederacy and a couple of hundred to the Union cause during the Civil War. Some could no make their mind up and swapped back and forth, depending on who had the best food I suppose. We truly had brothers, sons, and fathers fighting on opposite sides in that one. So, as this Veterans Day comes to an end, and I am not where I have access to my records right now, it should be noted we had some gents who were in the thick of the worst fighting this country has ever seen. Many from Winn spent horrendous times in prison camps and many died there. We still have at least one WWII POW living in our midst here in Winn, Mr. Buddy Taylor from Five Forks. We had one of WWIIs first flying Aces in Helene Walkers dad, Mr. Bobby Burns. We had Jake Williamson who General Patton called his one man fighting machine after Jake single handedly killed over 50 Germans after his entire outfit was wiped out. Mr. Junior Collins who killed about 15 Germans after his entire outfit was wiped out and he was captured. The list goes on and on and on. And any day of the week you can run into a Purple Heart recipient on the streets of Winnfield. Tommy Harrel, Jr., Billy Henderson, and Ronald Griffin come to mind and Im sure Ive forgotten some. And not a one of these men I mentioned would ever think of calling themselves a hero. But by golly I will call them all heroes. Thank you all.
Posted on: Wed, 12 Nov 2014 03:12:20 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015