Black soldiers from Clarksville went 'over there' in WWI - Leaf Chronicle

Message from fivefilters.org: If you can, please donate to the full-text RSS service so we can continue developing it.

(2 of 2)

Black and white citizens alike from Clarksville-Montgomery County proudly answered their country's call. Among the African Americans was farmer James Andrew Williams, born in 1892 in the St. Paul community.

His experience on the farm helped him when he was deployed to Argonne, France, with the war winding down. The private became a blacksmith, shoeing the horses for the cavalry.

Hyburnia Williams said his father's officers were Americans. "He gained a lot of information from them. He always said, "My sergeant or my lieutenant told me this or he told me that."

Williams came home from France with mementos from the war, including uniforms and a gas mask. He raised 11 children and sent five of them to college. Hyburnia Williams, the ninth child, said his father gave him a choice upon high school graduation in 1951 â€" attend college or work in the tobacco fields.

It was an easy decision. He later taught at Burt High School and became an assistant principal at Northwest High School after the school systems were integrated.

In 2004, Hyburnia Williams had the opportunity to honor his father, who had lived to be 100, by portraying his life in a well-received "Dinner with the Dead" presentation at the Smith-Trahern mansion. "I just told them some of the things about how he actually grew up and how he went into the service."

Clarksville threw a gala celebration for the returning servicemen like James Andrew Williams on May 15, 1919. The homecoming parades and celebrations were held separately for the black and white troops.

The black soldiers drilled at the athletic field of Southwestern Presbyterian University. Lt. M.G. Ferguson of Nashville led the march, preceded by a 12-piece band from Nashville. Among those in attendance was St. Peter's former pastor, Lt. Noah W. Williams. The military chaplain rode in the parade with the veterans and then addressed the group at the corner of Main and Third streets.

Ursula Smith Beach wrote in "Along the Warioto" that meals were served to the "150 veterans who participated in the Negro Servicemen's Parade which disbanded on the Public Square."

All of that activity was followed by dancing in the streets well into the evening. Black veterans organized American Legion Post 143, which received its charter in 1923 with 35 members present. It was named in honor of Lonnell Williams, a local African-American soldier who went missing in action in France.

Today, the post at 223 Ninth St., has more than 400 members with a Sons of the American Legion, which performs various community services, and a Legion Auxiliary.

Tina Brown, post historian and public affairs officer, said that post membership widened beyond its African-American base after a merger with Post 7 about a decade ago. She also said that for the April 15 rededication ceremony of the renovated Doughboy statue on Legion Street, the post will be there to salute those who made the ultimate sacrifice â€" just as it did 81 years ago.

Five Filters featured article: Chilcot Inquiry. Available tools: PDF Newspaper, Full Text RSS, Term Extraction.