Shelby County Today

August 9, 2016 - If you ever served in the military this has happened to you without a doubt. You report to a new duty station and what is the first question people ask you? Where you from?  We are out there in this big world and we are always looking for somebody from home, or close to home. You’ve heard the phrase “it’s a small world” and in a lot of ways it is but what’s the odds you are going to actually bump into someone from home when you are halfway around the world.

I guess you can say that these three Center, Texas boys beat the odds during World War II and somehow came together at an Army base in Italy in 1944. Even if you are on the same installation you still have to have that meeting moment and they did somehow. I’m not sure of the details or even if they knew each other before this. After it was over I’m sure they had talked about everyone in Shelby County.

Dalton “Shug” Jones was born in Center, Texas on October 19th, 1919 to Pleasant Dalton Jones (1882-1972) and Dollie Smith Jones (1887-1973). He had one sister, Julia R. Page Cochran (1921-2010) and a brother Joe Louis Jones.  The census showed he lived with his family at 331 Tenaha Street. Shug graduated from Center High School with the class of 1936 at the age of 16.  Three of his classmates, Ralph Amoss, Walter Bruce Henry and Julius R. Windham would also serve and not survive the war. He was the first of the three Center boys to enlist on October 23rd, 1941, 47 days before the attack on Pearl Harbor and four days after his 22nd birthday. I am not sure what he was doing in Jackson, Mississippi, maybe selling bibles, but that is where he enlisted in the Army from. He served in North Africa and was mentioned in a December 1942 letter to the Champion from Lieutenant John Fisher Taylor. Dalton Jones would survive the war and marry Eva Jean Brittain (1926-2012). They raised four children, Dalton, Damon, Leisa and Roderick. Shug had many business ventures and I remember him best from Surplus Sales on Hurst Street where you could find most anything. He passed away on March 22, 2014 at the age of 94.

The son of William Steward Beckham (1877-1973) and Elvira Jencie Cook (1887-1967), Aubrey Maurice Beckham was born on January 20th, 1919. He grew up in a large family with seven brothers and sisters. Aubrey graduated from Center High School with 67 others in 1937 and was a star football for the Roughriders. After graduation he became the manager of two Devenport stores in Center and Winsboro. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor Aubrey traveled to Houston, Texas to enlist in the US Army Air Corps on January 2, 1942. Ten months later on October 9, 1943 he married Miss Alice Lindsey (1923-1973) of Joaquin. He served in Italy and North Africa during World War II and was honorably discharged on September 20th, 1945 eighteen days after the formal surrender of Japan. During his life Aubrey was a Master Mason for 65 years and served as a church deacon for 68 years. He passed away on November 28th, 2008 in Shelby County, Texas at the age of 89. Surviving at the time of his death were wife, Margie, two sons, Aubrey Lloyd and Edward and two daughters Elizabeth and Janet.

Murvil Ervis Adams born on November 23, 1905 in Shelby County was the oldest of the three soldiers. The son of Joe Calvin Adams (1883-1970) and Cora Duetta Jones Adams (1879-1967). He was part of a large family consisting of four brothers, Merval, Hugh, Allen and Clifford and two sisters, Maycel and Mildred.  He married Minnie Eloise Martin Adams (1914-1992) and they had a son in 1930 who died in infancy. Although married and 37 years of age, he enlisted in the US Army from Tyler, Texas and served in Italy. He passed away on January 10th, 1964 at the age of 59 due to heart problems.

The three Center Boys meeting in Italy in 1944 was something but the story doesn’t end there.  They defied the odds even more by surviving the war, returning home to live their lives and reuniting once again in death at Oaklawn Memorial Park.  Shug is resting in the Garden of the Last Supper while Murvil and Aubrey are in the Garden of Faith area.

If you can add anything to the story, please contact me at 936-598-2976 or chief@chiefimaging.com.

(Sources:  Ancestry.com, August, 2016; Find A Grave, August 2016; Champion Newspaper, August 3, 1944, October 13, 1943, December 10, 1942 and September 27, 1945; and book, Shelby County Men and Women in World War II)