Early Leaksville National Guardsmen (1935)
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Members
of Headquarters Company 60th Infantry Brigade, Leaksville, pose during training
at Camp Jackson, S.C. in 1935. The unit was attached directly to Adjutant
General J. Van B. Metss. The company was organized in the late 1920s, and the
drill hall was over the old Carolina Drug
store on the corner of Washington
and Henry streets. Later the drill hall was moved to what is now the Dan River
Water office on Patrick Street. In the early 1930s, an armory was built on Henry
Street where the unit was housed until 1981, when it moved to the new National
Guard Armory at Wentworth. The unit above had the best attendance record in the
state, according to Robert Stephens, one of the members, who says the unit met for six years without a single
absenteeism. He also says it had a
waiting list of 35 men who wanted to get into the unit.
The
men in the picture were identified
by several members of the unit, most of whom were able to name practically every
member. They are, front row, from
left: Tony Robertson, Raymond Ellington, Arthur Martin, Bob Reynolds, William
Ault, Pete Hopper, Nelson Yeatts, Paul Parks, Reid Tulloch, Bill Royster, Porter
Setliff, Robert Stephens, Turner Hayden; second row, Charles Tulloch, Charlie Wilkes, James Corum,
A. D. Roberts, Otis Robertson, Pete Robertson, Porter Fuller, Bill Vernon,
Morell MeCulloch, George D. Patterson, Lester Fulcher; back row, from far left,
Howard Barham, Jesse Hundley, Troy Ellington, Capt. George Ferguson, Bethel
Stultz, Mark Richardson, Ed Fagge, Buddy Carter, Cliff Lester, John Gallimore,
James Burcham, Otis Taylor, Earl Moore, Lewis Shivley, Edwin Chatham, A.T. Amos,
(first name unknown) Craddock, Lt. W.O. Jenkins.