Military: Battery F Members Louisiana National Guard Holds Annual Roll Call, Lincoln Parish, LA Submitted by: Dorothy Rinehart Taylor, 111 Racove Drive, West Monroe, La. 71291 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.org/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.org/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** ************************************************ The Ruston Daily Leader, Monday, July 12, 1993 Local National Guard Battery Holds Annual Roll Call By Jeff Benson, Leader Staff Writer Battery F members were in Ruston Saturday for their 48th annual roll call at the Ruston Holiday Inn. Members attending were Shorty Holtzclaw, Lloyd Scoff, Vernon Leachman, W.C. McBride, Charlie Green, Bilbo Price, C.W. Aswell, Herman Smith, Red Ricks, Jay Watts, "Dick Blackstock, Clint Parnell, Dalton Williamson, Van Ingram, Aubrey Futrell, Harold Best,, O.K. Davis, Red Sanderson, Herbert Green, Buster Ambrose, Cap Harper, I.B. Cracker, Jamar Vining, Kenneth Rinehart, Willard Barham J.W. Chandler, A.C. Hammett, Wyman Spinks, Will Rasberry, Skillet Roach and Paul Davis. For the 48th time since 1945, members of Ruston’s Louisiana National Guard Battery F, 204th Coastal Artillery (Anti-Aircraft) held their annual roll call Saturday evening in the Lincoln Room of the Ruston Holiday Inn. About 33 Battery F members were expected to attend this year’s event, including 32 guests, according to local Battery F member Paul Davis of Sibley. "They represent 13 states other than Louisiana," Davis said prior to the event. However, each was in Ruston during January 1941 as the battery left for one year of training in Houston, Texas. Davis said the original group (consisting of about 153 members) had no idea that their one, year away from home would turn into four as the United States entered World War II, following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. Right after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, they sent us to the West Coast because the government kept expecting an attack there, he said, adding they manned anti-air craft guns along the coast. From there, a lot of us went on to officer candidate school. Because most of the members of the battery saw little active combat he said more of them survived the war. "One of the surprising things to us was that out of the number that left, only seven lost their lives. Some units that were in the war were nearly wiped out," Davis said. 'Of the seven who died, only three or four were the result of enemy action. The others were killed in training accidents." While Davis said some of the Battery F members were involved in actual combat, "I saw practically no combat." At the time Battery F left Ruston Davis said the average age of the members of their group was 21 years old. As to why the group has kept the spirit of Battery F alive all of these years, Davis attributed that the fact that "a lot us were kinfolks, and we lived together for a year in Houston." "That foundation is what’s kept it going," he said. However, he pointed out the past 52 years have taken a heavy toll on the Battery F roll call than any combat. Four members have died since last year's reunion. Through the years, 95 members of the original group have died. Those members who were killed in action or in the line of duty included: Howard C. Brewster, Norman A. Kendall, Ellis P. Micheael, Elzie McDow, Robert M. Simmons, Max Tatum and Arthur G. Turner. Those member who died since the last roll call include Ivy Leo Bennett, William A. Colvin III, James Ralph Hargrove and Jewell Williamson. All other previous deaths include: Lavonne A. Aulds, Curtis P. Barham, Grayson Baxter, Cavitt C. Blundell, Johnnie W. Boddie, John W. Brown, Shelby T. Brown, O. C. Bryan, Harmon T. Burgess, Benji L. Burks, John D. Calhoun, E. J. Cannon, Harold E. Cook, Eron M. Cooper, Eschol A. Cooper, Arthur W. Crocker, Boyce C. Davidson, Carl J. Durden Jr., John D. Edwards, Julius M. Ford, Lawrence J. Fox, Clifford C. Frey, Vesta L. Gray, William H. Griffin, Ray Griffith, John B. Griggs, Greig E. Hammett, Norman A. Hartwell, Clinton L. Harris, William L. Harris, Charles E. Henderson, Charles Holstead, Robert S. Holtzclaw, Sam Huffman, John B. Jiles, Rufus B. Johnson, Shelby W. Johnson, T. W. Ray Johnson, Harold L. Jones, Lafayette W. Jones, Barney Kelly, Daniel W. Kelly, Charles W. Kennedy, Thomas C. Lewis, Marcus Lott, Leo V. Mayers, Warren N. Moffett, James B. Moore, Truett Moore, Walton E. McBride, Johnson E. McCorkle, Alymer L. McCullin, Joseph D. McFearin, Willie E. Neal Jr., Wilbur E. Neilson, Seamon Nolan, William F. Nolan, Arch Otwell, Jewel Otwell, Obie Otwell, Roy Otwell, Samuel M. Pace, Grady Patterson, James N. Patterson, Paul E. Pilcher, Pat Riser, Walter L. Rogers, Melvin R. Simmons, Oscar C. Sims Jr., Verdie G. Smith, Petr N. Stephens, Knawood L. Taylor, Willie G. Tibbett, Harold L. Trussell, Malcolm G. Vining, Ellis J. Walker, James W. Walters, Arvill Weaver, Euel L. Webb, Max A. Webb, Joe W. Williams, Robert N. Williamson, Eugene L. Wilson Jr., and Raymond Wilson.