b. May 26, 1921John William Watlington is the only member of our Watlington-Hammond families to give his life in the Armed Services of our country. On our trip to Honolulu and Los Angeles in Nov. 1980, we discovered that John is included in the memorial list of fallen comrades in Pacific wars in the ``Punch Bowl,'' the National Cemetery of the Pacific, above Honolulu, Hawaii. The ``Punch Bowl'' is a crater of one of the ancient volcanoes that helped build the island of Oahu. Many sailors, airmen and others who died at sea or who were never memorialized in other cemeteries are included in this beautiful memorial overlooking Honolulu, Diamond Head Mountain and Pearl Harbor. John was a Master Sergeant and served with Headquarters Company as Sergeant Major of the Third Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment, Seventh Division, when it shipped from Sapporo, Japan via Yokohama to the Inchon Beach landing in Korea in September 1950.m. February 1945, Frances Shirley Johnson
(b. September 3, 1923)
d. November 29, 1950
His wife, Shirley Johnson and son, John Wesley, were with him in Sapporo prior to the outbreak of the Korean conflict, and returned to the U.S.A. a few days after John's unit left Yokohoma for Korea. The Seventh Division landed at Inchon, near the capital city of Seoul, then occupied by North Korean Communist troops. They took part in several operations previous to the ``break through'' in November 1950 which permitted United Nation forces to advance into the far north of Korea, near the Yalu River and Chinese Manchuria. John had already suffered an injury, but had returned to his unit on recovery.
It was near the Chosin Reservoir that the Seventh Division, along with U.S. Marines, encountered the first Chinese troops to enter the war. The surprise attack in strength in the fearful cold decimated the Third Battalion, with only forty-nine reported survivors who were able to join other outfits and fight their way through to a seaport for evacuation. Because of the catastrophic losses, confirmation of John's death was slow in reaching the family, and then with so little detail as to leave doubt of the reports. As further reports from friends and acquaintances came they confirmed that John was killed outright in the early attacks that destroyed their battalion encampment in the snow of a night or early dawn attack across the frozen Chosin Reservoir.
A memorial marker for John William has been placed in the lovely National Cemetery at Shiloh National Military Park, near Savannah, Tenn., on the Tennessee River. Thus John William Watlington has been honored in the cemeteries of Hawaii and Tennessee, remembering his service and sacrifice for his nation and his people. His grandson who bears his name is now in service with the U.S. Marines and is one of the Marines at the service of the U.S. Embassy in Seoul, South Korea. The Ambassador at this time is the Rev. James Laney, a native of Memphis, Tennessee, and a former missionary of the United Methodist Church to Korea. The younger John William is the son of John Wesley Watlington and Karen Kinsey of West Tennessee.