Private Hardy Eugene Watkins, Sr.
United States Army, World War I
Medical Department – 144th Infantry – 36th Division
September 9, 2025 - Hardy Eugene was born in the small community of Tenaha which is located in far east Texas about twelve miles from Center, the county seat of Shelby. He entered this world on Tuesday, March 7th, 1899, just a month following the beginning of the Philippine-American War. He was the youngest of two children born to Lizzie Bryan and Thomas J. Watkins who had been married in Shelby County in 1895. His sister Anna “Annie” Mae was born in 1898 and died at the early age of 21 in Dallas. Mother Lizzie died just after his birth at the age of 26 and Father Thomas may also have died early as the census of 1900 shows Hardy and Annie living with their maternal Grandmother Sallie Ann King Bryan who raised them along with her own children.
The United States entered the World War on April 6th, 1917, and Hardy at age eighteen was too young to register for the first mandatory draft on June 5th, but he was not too young to enlist. He traveled to Camp Bowie, Fort Worth, Texas, and voluntarily enlisted in the Texas National Guard on November 18th, 1917. Following basic training, Private Watkins, serial # 1507280, remained at Camp Bowie and joined the Medical Department Detachment of the 144th Infantry Regiment, 72nd Infantry Brigade, 36th Division. Finally, after weeks and months of training the 144th was detrained to Camp Mills, New York, and then to the port of Hoboken, New Jersey where they boarded the ocean liner USS George Washington. On July 18, 1918, they steamed out of port bound for the war in France. As his next of kin, Hardy listed his Aunt, Mrs. Andrew M. Thompson of Timpson, Texas.
Upon arrival in France some eleven days later they were sent to the 13th Training Area in the vicinity of Bar-sur-Aube. The 144th participated in the Meuse-Argonne Offensive beginning October 7th and ending with the signing of the peace armistice on November 11th, 1918. Around October 15th, 1918, Hardy was wounded in action and his military record shows “degree undetermined.” The division spent 23 days in active sectors capturing 549 prisoners and suffering 2,528 casualties.
Following the armistice the division began occupational duties until May 24th, 1919 when they boarded the troopship, USS Pretoria and departed Brest, France for the journey home to the United States. Hardy listed his sister Miss Annie M. Watkins of 2629 Florence Street, Dallas, Texas as the next of kin for this voyage. The Pretoria docked at 11 a.m. in Hoboken, New Jersey on Friday, June 6th, and was part of eleven ships arriving that day carrying 18,000 soldiers as reported by the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Brooklyn, New York. Hardy and his unit were then transported to Camp Mills, New York for physicals and discharge processing. After eight months of voluntary military service, Private Hardy Watkins was honorably discharged on June 21st, 1919 and for that service, he was awarded the Wound Chevron [Purple Heart] and the World War I Victory Medal. His military record does not show he was awarded any disability for wounds suffered.
After the war, the 1920 census documents his return to Texas where he became employed in the oil fields, living in a boarding house in East Columbia, Brazoria County. As mentioned earlier his sister Annie who was now married to T. H. McCullough died at the Baptist Sanitarium on August 21, 1920, and was buried in Grove Hill Memorial Park, Dallas. No doubt they meant a great deal to each other, given their past, and this must have been a heartbreaking loss to Hardy. In 1926 he met and married Miss Bessie Rice Brown in Shelby County and they made their home in Houston where he worked for the Light and Power Company. On May 23rd, 1929 they were blessed with the birth of Hardy, Jr. in Bryan, Brazos County, Texas where he was now employed as a grocery store manager. They lived in Houston during the decade of the 1930s with employment in a restaurant, as a cold drink merchant and janitor.
Further research gives one the feeling that perhaps his life was in a downward spiral with his time in the war playing a part. Unfortunately, a divorce occurred by 1940 and the census lists Hardy as a patient in the Veterans Administration Hospital in Waco, McLennan County, Texas. The next census of 1950 lists him as living at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Biloxi, Mississippi, at age 51 and states he is unable to work. Hardy remained in Biloxi until his death on October 13th, 1666. This is from The Sun Herald, Biloxi, Mississippi, October 14th, 1966. “Hardy E. Watkins, 67, a resident of 28th Street, Gulfport, since 1945, died at the Biloxi Veterans Administration Hospital Thursday afternoon. He resided in Waco, Texas prior to moving to Gulfport. He was a drill press operator for several oil companies. Mr. Watkins was a veteran of World War I. He was born March 7th, 1899, in Tenha [sic] Tex. There are no known survivors.” The Sun Herald followed up on October 17th, 1966. “A graveside service was held Monday morning in Evergreen Gardens, Gulfport for Hardy E. Watkins, 67. The Rev. P. S. Dodge, pastor of Providence Baptist Church officiated.” A friend, G. W. Sumrall made an application for his veteran headstone on November 8th, 1966. Day is done, God is nigh.
Epilogue: Of course, I do not know the exact circumstances of his later life but I close this story with a feeling of great sadness. The final resting place of his parents, wife and son are unknown; the loss of a sister when she was just twenty-one; and an obituary that states “no known survivors.”
Sources:
(1): Year: 1900; Census Place: Justice Precinct 7, Shelby, Texas; Roll: 1669; Page: 10; Enumeration District: 0093; FHL microfilm: 1241669
(2): "Texas, World War I Records, 1917-1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9MN-Z3QM-B?cc=2202707&wc=334P-W38%3A1561327102%2C1561330901 : 26 March 2015), Enlisted men, wounded > Riggs, Frank-Young, Wayne M, 1917-1920 > image 2503 of 3360; Texas Military Forces Museum, Austin.
(3): The National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland; Record Group Title: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985; Record Group Number: 92; Roll or Box Number: 443
(4): Brief Histories of Divisions, US Army 1917-1918.
(5): The National Archives at College Park; College Park, Maryland; Record Group Title: Records of the Office of the Quartermaster General, 1774-1985; Record Group Number: 92; Roll or Box Number: 263
(6): Year: 1920; Census Place: East Columbia, Brazoria, Texas; Roll: T625_1774; Page: 19B; Enumeration District: 3
(7): Year: 1930; Census Place: Houston, Harris, Texas; Page: 19A; Enumeration District: 0001; FHL microfilm: 2342075
(8): United States of America, Bureau of the Census; Washington, D.C.; Seventeenth Census of the United States, 1950; Record Group: Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790-2007; Record Group Number: 29; Residence Date: 1950; Home in 1950: Harrison, Mississippi; Roll: 5449; Sheet Number: 30; Enumeration District: 24-18
