Knoxville High School WWII Casualties
If you were born in Knoxville or have spent a number of years there, you are certainly familiar with Knoxville High School and the stately brick structure on Fifth Avenue that was home to KHS students for 41 years. The Albert Bauman, Sr. designed building, first occupied in the fall of 1910, stands to this day as an historic landmark of the City.
Many in Knoxville played youth basketball across the street in the KHS Lamar Street Gymnasium, built in 1927. But, unless you were a student at “Knox Hi”, as it has always been affectionately known, you have probably not been inside the Main KHS building. If you haven’t, you have missed an incredibly important piece of Knoxville history.
Immediately inside the front door, on the wall to the right, is a bronze plaque that honors the 136 graduates of Knox Hi who lost their lives in WWII and the 12 who died in the Korean War. The more readily recognized KHS related war memorial is, however, the bronze Doughboy statue that has guarded the front of the building since its dedication in 1921. This prominently displayed statue stands as a memorial to the 117th Infantry Division soldiers who lost their lives in WWI. Many, but not all of those casualties were former KHS students. Because it focuses directly on KHS related casualties, the lesser recognized but more poignant of the two memorials is, doubtless, the WWII plaque.
When recently visiting the KHS building I was struck with a desire to search for information on these men who died in WWII protecting the freedom that we enjoy…freedom that is, arguably, in danger today. I have searched but have not been able to locate anything other than a list of these men. Today, over sixty-six years have passed since the conclusion of WWII in Europe and the Pacific. These men have been largely forgotten by all but those few relatives who remember them or heard the stories of them as young men…their achievements, dreams, potential…and then their death. I’d like to do something about that, and to do so I need the help of you and many others.
Following is a complete list of the 136 KHS men who died in WWII. Please look through it. You may know of a relative, family friend or acquaintance or someone on this list you heard a story about, who died in WWII. Or this list may remind you of someone. If so, please send me what information you have. To develop some type of chronicle of these very important and valuable lives, I need the following: a photograph, dates of birth and death, branch of service and any other information about him that you may have or could direct me to. Please send me an e-mail with any information, and photos or better yet, digital scans of photographs to rossgreene@knoxvilleheritage.com.
I have an uncle and a next-door neighbor on this list. Both died in 1944, my uncle in Europe and my childhood neighbor in the Pacific. My interest in this project is personal to be sure…but it is beyond that. As I’ve gotten older I have grown to both understand the value and appreciate the cost of this freedom we enjoy. My guess is that you feel the same way. Please help me do something about honoring the following men.
KNOXVILLE HIGH SCHOOL WWII CASUALTIES (136)
James G. Allen, Ivan Andes, John J. Angle, Hartsell Bailes, Wesley Hughes Baker, Frank Ball, John J. Banner, James Barrickman, Karl P. Baum Jr., James Peters Belvin, William R. Best, Edward Bissell, Walter Blaufeld, Grady H. Blazier, William Bonner, Nicholls W. Bowden Jr., Robert Brooks, Robert H. Browder, Leonard M. Brown, Sam Wright Brown, Walter E. Burnett, John T. Byerly, Herman C. Carey, W. T. Chandler, Johnny Childress, Charles R. Clarke, Wyman K. Clark, Shelley C. Coffey, Hector Coffin, William F. Collingsworth, Richard H. Colvin, David M. Coulter, Matt L. Coward, Bruce Cox, Howard Cox, Thomas Z. Crews, William T. Dalton, Herbert L. Davis, Walter E. Davis, Warren DeMarcus, Walter Dooley, Norman C. Draper, Willard C. Dyer, Charles B. Easley, Sam L. Ellis,
Karl R. Elza, William Essex, J. A. Fine, John E. Fine, James Foley, Fred Ford, Walter A. Ford, Roscoe L. Fortner, Phillip Francis, Paul A. Freels, Richard L. Furgerson, Charles N. Gentry, Fred Geyer, James D. Gilbert, Lloyd C. Goolsbe, Joseph G. Halliburton, Charles Elmer Haney, Kenneth B. Hart, Cecil M. Henley, Charles Henley, Earl H. Henry, Karl K. Hicks, Charles R. Hudson, Claude R. Huffman, James C. Hull, Albert Hurst, James E. Hurst, N. T. James Jr., Edward Ford Johnson, Hugh J. Jones Jr., Richard Julian, George W. Kelly, D. C. Key, William Killian, Millard J. Klein, J. V. Ledgerwood, Clarence Lilly, John Lilly, George Lindley, Almer D. Lister, J. Lester Llewellyn, James D. Long, Van G. Love Jr., James W. Martin, Arthur McCoy,
Charles McElyea, Raymond McElyea, William Edward Minton, Troy A. Monday, Kyle C. Moore, Alva C. Murphy, Calvin Murphy, James A. Murrian Jr., Herbert Newman, Frank S. Norris, Ralph H. Nunn, S. L. Ogden, Curtis Parker, Roy Parker, Wayne Parkey Jr., Henry C. Patrick III, Ross W. Perrin, Jr., Lambeth A. Phifer, Carl E. Pierce, Sam K. Prater, George J. Pratt, Robert H. Rimmer, Billy W. Roberts, John A. Roberts, Johnston F. Roberts, III, Harry Ruth, Mack Sanders, J. Marvin Sink, Jr., Kenneth L. Smith, Kenneth Snyder, James M. Still, Willaford Swan, Ben H. Testerman, John A. Thomas, Harry C. Tonkin, Harris Tucker, Willis Tucker, Jack L. Waller, Charles R. Ware, Earl Ware, Harry R. Wayland, Harold White, Jack E. Williams, Joseph Woodruff, Ray Worsham, Charles R Wright Jr.
KHS KOREAN WAR CASUALTIES (12)
Dewey Christie, James Fuller, Caylor Grooms, Clifford Harold Headrick, Charles D. Johnston, Alexander A. Oglesby, Kenneth R. Rader, Guilford Robinson, Gaines Stuart, Nobel Denis Wagoner, Guy Webb, Dudley Wilson.
Thanks Ross
Regarding Charles Douglas Johnston lll listed as a casualty of the Korean War I believe this listing
is incorrect. Charles Douglas Johnston was my cousin and he was killed June 12, 1944 at Granier
France. He was a Major in the 507th Parachute Infantry assigned to the 82nd Airborne that was dropped into France on D-Day. His father Charles Douglas Johnston Jr was killed in France in World War l not far from where his son would be killed.