Corporal William Clinton Davis
United States Army, World War I
Company A, Machine Gun Training School
March 6, 2025 - William Clinton, sometimes known as Willie or Bill, was born in Center, Texas, which serves as the county seat of Shelby on Monday, August 20, 1894, the same year that Coca-Cola was first sold in bottles. He was the second child of ten born to Emma Josephine “Jose” Akin and John Wiley Davis. His siblings were Lynn Burke (1892), Ozro Luke (1896), Jewel Edward (1898), Emmett Dean (1901), Clarence (1903), Bertha (1906), Alvis (1908), Prentis (1910) and Dudley Perdue (1915). His father, John Wiley, was commonly known as “Singing John Davis,” and he and Emma were married on July 9, 1891. They lived in the Sardis and New Hope communities before moving to Center. John Wiley taught singing schools and composed several songs that were published, probably his best known being “Sitting at the Feet of Jesus.” He was also a choir director, served as the Justice of the Peace in Center from 1933 to 1934, farmed, and later carried the US mail from Center to Shelbyville. William’s paternal grandfather, Isham Jackson Davis, served in the Confederate States Army during the Civil War and was wounded in action in September 1864.
On June 5, 1917, two months after the United States entered the World War in Europe, all men between the ages of 21 and 30 were required by the Selective Service Act of 1917, to register for the military draft. At age twenty-two, William completed his registration card (Form 1, draft # 535) at the McCauley County, Texas county courthouse on May 31. Besides his age, the card noted: home address as Center; natural born citizen; employed as a teacher at Rosebud High School, Rosebud, Texas; single; Caucasian; no prior military service; and an exemption to the draft was claimed due to “rheumatism.” Physically, he was described as of medium height and build with brown eyes, black hair, and not bald.
Receiving his draft notice, William was inducted into the US Army on Saturday, February 23, 1918, in Center and became US Army Private Davis, serial # 2243412. The Champion Newspaper, Center, Texas, February 27, 1918, reported the day's activity. “As had previously been announced, the Shelby County drafted soldiers left here Saturday morning for Camp Travis [San Antonio]. They reported here the afternoon before and were presented with comfort bags by the Red Cross Chapter and at the courthouse an informal reception was placed in charge of the squad for the trip. Seven of the number who were to go were granted extension of time for different causes. Those going at this time were young men of every walk of life. Willie Davis was teaching school and resigned his place to answer the call and went away with a smile on his face. A large number of people were at the station to see them off.”
Private Davis was assigned to the 165 Depot Brigade where he began basic training. Upon completion, he was promoted to the grade of Corporal on March 28, 1918, and then sent to Machine Gun Training School at Camp Hancock, Georgia, on May 16. While there with Company A, an injury must have occurred as he was honorably discharged with a twenty percent service-connected disability on November 6, 1918, five days before the war ended. The Champion Newspaper, Center, Texas, November 13, 1918, reported, “Willie C. Davis arrived here Sunday [November 10] from training camp where he has been attending an officers training school, he having received his title and was sent home on an indefinite furlough”. His World War I record (Form 724-2 A.G.O., Nov. 22, 1919) does not mention attendance at an officer's training school, although there was one at Camp Hancock. He was awarded the World War I Victory Medal for his nine months of military service.
Following the war, he married Miss Ruth Taylor in Goliad, Texas, on September 1, 1920, where he may have returned to public school teaching. The 1930 census shows he and Ruth were living at 4360 Vanderbilt Street, San Antonio, in a home they owned. His occupation was shown as “Government Patient,” which could mean his service-connected disability had grown beyond twenty-five percent. His parents celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary on July 9, 1941, a day that brought all the children but Clarence home. On April 27, 1942, William registered for a military draft for the second time. Although not called to service at the age of 47, he would see the beginning and ending of another world war. His registration card noted that he was a US Government Veteran with a permanent disability. William and Ruth, along with her Mother, Lula Taylor, age 73, were still living in San Antonio when the 1950 census was taken. “Unable to Work” was listed under his occupation category.
William fell from his wheelchair while going down a ramp on October 23, 1968, receiving a cervical spinal cord injury. He was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital in San Antonio, where he died of respiratory failure four days later at the age of 74. William Clinton was buried in the Mission Burial Park South, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, where Ruth joined him in 1984. Day is done, God is nigh.
EPILOGUE: His brother Lynn Burke also served during World War I but did not go overseas and survived.
SOURCES:
(1): Shelby County Historical Commission, History of Shelby County, Texas 1988.
(2): Registration State: Texas; Registration County: Shelby County
(3): "Texas, World War I Records, 1917-1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QS7-89MN-QSDN-3?cc=2202707&wc=3... : 23 March 2015), Enlisted men > Davis, Horace-Denton, Mathews Banks, 1917-1920 > image 1226 of 3804; Texas Military Forces Museum, Austin
(4): Year: 1930; Census Place: San Antonio, Bexar, Texas; Page: 30B; Enumeration District: 0135; FHL microfilm: 2342032
(5): The National Archives At St. Louis; St. Louis, Missouri; World War I Draft Cards (4th Registration) For the State of Texas; Record Group Title: Records of the Selective Service System; Record Group Number: 147
(6): 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: San Antonio, Bexar, Texas; Roll: 5146; Enumeration District: 265-377
(7): Texas Department of State Health Services; Austin Texas, USA
