All eight sons in the armed forces of the U.S.A. at the same time during World War II, is the remarkable record chalked up to the credit of Ulrich A. Watlington and his late wife of Madison Co., Tenn.
Add to that honor roll a son-in-law and another young man who married their youngest daughter after the war, both of whom wore uniforms at the same time, and you get a record that may be unprecedented on several counts.
What is more, the brothers served from two to four years each and before the first was discharged, the eighth son, not quite 18 had joined the Marines. Actually, for a short time all eight were overseas at the same time.
Stranger still, though half of them were in hard fighting zones, all eight brothers got home without a scratch, some with enviable records. Only mar to the beautiful picture came five years later when one of the boys, who had re-enlisted before Korea, was killed in action early in that conflict.
Perhaps world tension nearly fifteen years ago was too much for Jennie Hammond (Mrs. U. A.) Watlington, who at that time was mother to three daughters as well as the eight sons. Anyway, she died in 1941 and how the father and 11 children heroically worked and sacrificed together during the next hectic decade is another American saga.
The Watlingtons farm home where U. A. and the unmarried daughter, Evelyn (a Westerm Union employee) still live, is in the Pinson-Malesus area, 10 miles south of here. All children attended Malesus grade school. Oldest son Mack dropped out of high school to help get the younger children through school but the other 10 graduated from high school, nine at Malesus, and one (Joe) at Bemis.
But let's get back to today's resume of the World War II ``one-family army.'' Oldest Watlington is Clara Mai (Mrs. Lloyd) King who teaches at Bemis and who with her husband and family live near her ancestral farm. (Lloyd, a Jackson blacksmith, was an artilleryman in the European theatre.)
Next comes Sergeant Mack who with brother Sam, operates a construction firm here bearing the family name. An army combat MP, Mack slashed across Europe with Gen. George Patton's Third army.
Sergeant Kenneth, now 40, had 39 months in airplane maintenance, mostly in Africa and Italy. He also lives near his dad's farm and is now math teacher and assistant principal of the Jackson high school. Sergeant Sam with army service in Okinawa and Korea, likewise rests his feet now on good earth close to his old home.
Lt. Herman, now operator of a Memphis T.V. service shop, was a bomber pilot who trained on a B-24, then did fifty missions out of Italy on a B-17. Tension mounting toward the end and with home in sight, he miraculously brought his Flying Fortress from the 46th mission with an engine out and a wing shot up on one side and again (after repairs) on the 48th with an engine out and a wing all but off on the other side.
Sergeant John, in service longest, entered with the National Guard 117th Infantry Regiment of the 30th division at the war's start. In hard European fighting, he got home safely but in a later enlistment was killed in action in Korea where his body will remain. Incidentally, his wife, the former Shirley Johnson of Bemis, now lives here with their 8 year old son, John Wesley, a second grader in West Jackson school.
Sergeant Paul Watlington spent two years in Army Air Corps radar on a ``God-forsaken South Pacific island where mosquitoes were the worst enemy.'' Also settled down near his home place, he now makes store fixtures here.
The draft board tried to persuade Elton to stay home and help out remaining family members, but it worked for only a short while. He wanted to help those in the actual fight more and entering late, served in Japan. Now a graduate of Lambuth college here, he is presently a student in Garrett seminary and preaching in Elroy, Wis., preparatory to mission work perhaps in Japan.
Joe chose the Marines for his service. He enlisted the day after he graduated from high school and went to far-away China to serve. He is now a teacher and coach at Crockett county's Hamlett Robinson high school near Alamo. Betty Watlington, a young girl at the outbreak of hostilities, grew up to marry Hubert Williams, who before the war's end was old enough to see service himself. Living also in her home community, she teaches with sister Clara Mai at Bemis and her husband works for the local electric co-op.
Don't you think the family of devout Methodists is most unusual? Only reason they're not known around the world is that they are the salt-of-the-earth kind whose humility keeps pride down and gives reporters and photographers only a smile and wave of the hand.
My luck on the story began when Kenneth asked me to give his graduation address several years ago when he was principal of Livingston High in Overton county. After the program, his wife (the former Mary Nanney of Medon near here) served us strawberry shortcake in their home and he incidentally disclosed the family's war record. He later went to Red Boiling Springs High but moved back home here before he said with total family consent: ``You may go ahead and tell it to others.''
-- Orig. appeared in ``The Nashville Tennessean,'' April 11, 1954
by Gordon H. Turner, Staff Correspondent, Jackson, Tenn.