A Veterans Administration search for the family with most members in the military service brought a response from the Watlingtons of Madison County who had eight brothers in uniform during World War II.
A Minnesota family had claimed the record with seven brothers simultaneously but more than a dozen families came forth with at least seven members in the service during the past twenty-five years.
At least two of the families had ten military veterans, but Madison County's Watlingtons may be unchallenged as having the most in service at one time.
The eight sons of Ulrich A. Watlington and his late wife all served overseas in combat areas during World War II and returned home safely. One was killed in action during the Korean conflict.
In addition to this, a son-in-law and another young man who later married one of the three Watlington girls were in the military during World War II.
Six of the seven surviving Watlington sons still live in Madison County--five of them in the neighborhood of the ancestral farm near Malesus.
Mack, the oldest son and now in the contracting business here with two of his brothers, served with the Army in both the European and Pacific theaters during World War II, seeing action with Gen. George Patton's Third Army.
No. 2 son, Kenneth, now principal of Alexander Elementary School in Jackson, had 39 months in the Army Air Corps, most of which was spent in Africa and Italy.
Sam, the third son, is an Army veteran with service in Okinawa and Japan. He is in the construction business now and still lives in the Malesus area.
Lt. Herman Watlington, a building contractor, was a bomber pilot with 50 missions to his credit. He was the only officer in the family, though others held enlisted ranks from corporal to master sergeant.
Sgt. John, in service the longest, entered with the National Guard before the start of World War II. He saw rugged combat duty as an infantryman in hard European fighting and received the Bronze Star. He rejoined the service shortly after the end of the war and was sent to Korea in early stages of the conflict there, and was killed in action.
Paul, a foreman at the Piggly Wiggly factory here was an Army sergeant on a tiny South Pacific island which he has never been able to locate on a map.
The local draft board tried to persuade Elton, the seventh son, to stay home and help out remaining family members but it worked for only a little while. He wanted to help his brothers in combat and saw service in Japan after the end of World War II. Elton, now a Methodist missionary, has been serving in Perú for some eight years and is the only brother to leave his native Madison County.
The youngest son, Joe, enlisted in the Marines the day he graduated from high school and went to far-away China to serve. He is presently teaching physics and chemistry at Lambuth College.
On at least three occasions, Watlington brothers crossed paths in distant places. ``With so many of us, how could we help running into each other somewhere,'' Kenneth observed. Kenneth visited Herman's air base in Italy; Mack and Sam had a reunion in Okinawa, and Sam saw Elton in Japan.
``It was quite a task trying to keep up with each other, with all of us overseas at the same time,'' Kenneth recalled today.
The eight service stars at the Watlington home place makes Veterans Day a very special occasion for the ``one family army.''
-- Originally appeared in ``Jackson Sun,'' November, 1963