GEORGE WILLIAM DECKARD,

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GEORGE WILLIAM DECKARD, MACON COUNTY'S ONLY LIVING AND ONE OF TENNESSEE'S OLDEST LIVING WORLD WAR I VETERANS

By: Shirley Anderson
Compiled and written October 25, 1999

A native of Macon County, Mr. Deckard was born November 16, 1896, the son of the late Gipson Taylor and Almira "Allie" Tucker Deckard. From this union, he was the second born of seven children. Upon returning home from the Army, he was married to a young lady he met at church prior to entering service, Sadie Mai Cook from Smith County, on September 6, 1919, who preceded him in death on October 29, 1989. To this 70 year union was born two daughters, Mrs. Hazel White, who still lives in Lafayette, TN., and Mrs. Margie Marie Ferrin, who lives in Oklahoma City, OK.

Mr. Deckard was educated eight years at Galen School by Mr. Bratton Archer and continued his education at Teachers Normal in Holland, Kentucky. He obtained a certificate and taught school with Mr. Archer for one year in 1915. Deciding that teaching was not for him, he left that profession to go back to farming, and his hobbies of fishing and hunting that he says make up some of his fondest memories.

He is a member of the White Oak Church Of Christ, was nominated to be inducted into the Tennessee Health Care Association's Who's Who in Tennessee Nursing Home's Hall of Fame, presented with a Tennessee Senate Joint Resolution honoring Tennessee World War I Veterans, is a Chartered member of the Macon County American Legion, joining in 1926, member of the VFW, accepted as a honorary member of The American Society of the French Legion of Honor, presented the national Order of the Legion of Honor (Chevalier), which is France's highest honor instituted in 1802 by then First Consul Napoleon Bonaparte. Initially, in France, honors such as this one, were given only to Officers, Catholics, men having served twenty-eight years of military service, or outstanding heroic action. The award became politically motivated and only the aristocracy were given the award. Consul Napoleon Bonaparte wanted an award making eligible, not only the well-born man, but all soldiers and civilians who have rendered great services to their Country which might include men who could not even read. In April of 1999, JeanPaul Monchau, Consul General De France, presented the award to Mr. Deckard in a ceremony held at Royal Care of Westmoreland. The Award was given to United Armed Force members who fought in a war on French soil. By intervening alongside the French and other Allied troops, the United States was crucial to victory and had a decisive role when General John Pershing's troops re-took the Saint Mihiel Salient, in the Meuse-Argonne offensive, and at Chateau-Thierry, where they helped save Paris. Only five other Tennessean's have received this prestigious Award.

Mr. Deckard was able to live independently until July of 1997, at which time he became a resident of Royal Care of Westmoreland, Tennessee. He is still mentally alert to the point of being a wonderful conversationalist, ambulates with assistance, and enjoys people.

Mr. Deckard was born when Grover Cleveland was President of the United States and has since lived through the terms of 21 United States Presidents, with "Bill" Clinton being the current President. He was a young man when Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson engaged in the first telephone conversation from New York to San Francisco on January 25, 1915. By the time Charles Lindbergh flew The Spirit of St. Louis nonstop from New York to Paris in 1927, he had already served his Country during World War I. Eighty one years ago on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 was supposed to be the war to end all wars. Since that time, Mr. Deckard has seen World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the Persian Gulf War.

Mr. Deckard was inducted into the army on September 28, 1918 and served until August 3, 1919. His recollection of his service time, as he has recounted to his daughter, Hazel White, reminds us of what our veterans have to endure to allow us to enjoy the freedom we have and, most often, take for granted. Mr. Deckard left Lafayette, Tennessee in a Ford Model T owned by Gran Harwood to Hartsville, where he went by train to Gallatin, caught another train to Nashville, from Nashville traveled 2 days and nights to South Carolina. Boys inducted into the service were picked up all along the route. The train stopped in Decherd, Tennessee at one point, however, Mr. Deckard, did not know at the time that the town was named after his ancestors. After spending a few days in Spartanburg, South Carolina for inoculations, the 10,000 soldiers along with 3,000 crewmen boarded the Leviathan, the largest ship of it's time, in Jersey City, New Jersey. The men on the ship began to get very sick with influenza. Mr. Deckard got sick and had a terrible cough. All the sick were given a few black pills called "CC pills." He was told to go below deck, take the pills, and go to bed. He went to bed but he threw the pills in the ocean. The same pills were given for any illness. Dead bodies were stored in cold storage until the space was full and the rest were thrown overboard. When the ship landed, Mr. Deckard was so sick that he could barely stand. When the men were told that they had to hike about three miles, Mr. Deckard, with a feeling of defeat, sat down beside a fence and others followed. As rain began to fall, officers and marines came with rain coats and helped carry the back packs of the sick to a camp in a muddy field. They stayed in this camp about a week and all the men were forced to help dig graves for men who died. The men had to serve on guard duty, even though sick. Mr. Deckard was so hoarse, his voice was gone. Lights flashed from flood lights, officers carried lights, and anytime anyone approached, the guard's were supposed to halt them for identification. An officer passing where Mr. Deckard was guarding realized that he could not speak and took him off guard duty. After three days and nights, they were within 60 miles of the front line--Argonne Forest--Rhine River in Northeast France, where one of the major American offenses of the war was fought in 1918. They began drilling there and after a week an epidemic of mumps broke out. Mr. Deckard had the mumps. They were taken to a village where an old Frenchman's wife had a building that covered the barn, house, and buildings. They stayed there about two weeks, after which, they were taken to Limognes to a holding camp to recover and await being called to battle. This was one of Napoleon's barracks. The walls were thirteen inches thick, and four stories high. A few men were called every few days to be moved either North or South. They met a soldier who had been there four weeks and he told them if they wanted to stay there, they should not answer when called, however, an Officer had already told all the group that they had better answer when their name was called. Mr. Deckard had been with a man named Willie Dalton, also from Macon County, during all this time. They chose to answer and were sent to Bordeux to a convalescent hospital to be on guard duty 24 hours on and 24 hours off. Later, they were sent North where the native people there had to plow oxen wearing wooden shoes and no socks. One French man working the fields had straw stuffed in his shoes to pad them. They found plenty of turnips, sugar beets and artichokes to eat. This is all they had to eat and most of them were getting better from their sickness, their appetites were coming back and hunger prevailed. After the mumps ceased, rifle range training was conducted for a month. Winter was coming and there were heavy frosts. The soldiers did have good warm clothing and slept in tiled roofed barn lofts bedded with straw.

Mr. Deckard and his sweetheart, and future wife, were corresponding by letter and the mail was very slow coming. They were in France three months before receiving any mail at all. Mr. Deckard said he had left camp to go into a town's YMCA to get paper to write a letter and the lady working there told him he had better write her a long one this time because the war was over and he would be going home. Mr. Deckard did not believe the lady because rumor's had surfaced before, in error, that the war was over. Upon returning to his camp, he learned that the word of the Armistice being signed was, indeed, true and the "hollering of the soldiers was loud." They left France on July 23, 1919 and were on ship 13 days and nights. He was discharged at Atlanta, Georgia and given fare to get back home. He entered the service as a Private and came out with the same rank. Mr. Deckard said that all soldiers looked alike to him. All this time he and Willie Dalton were still together and Mr. Dalton was the only person he had seen from Macon County during the war, until on his trip back on the ship. Late one afternoon as he was going to a lower hatch, he heard someone call Chester Cook. It was Jessie "Cook" Tucker's brother. The next morning he watched for him and they met. They were surprised that they had been in the same place almost a year and had not seen each other. He and Mr. Cook rode the train together to Gallatin. Upon exiting the train, they saw a Ford Model T. belonging to "Bug" Knight from Red Boiling Springs, who ran a taxi service to Red Boiling Springs when it was a booming town with all the mineral wells and hotels. Mr. Knight delivered them to Lafayette at 11:00 o'clock on Sunday morning. Mr. Deckard went inside the Woodmore Hotel, which was located on what is presently the Lafayette town square, to call home. Mollie Carter Shaw answered the switchboard at Galen. She told him that there was a big revival going on at the church in the Williams Community, which is located just off the present Akersville Road. Jim Blankenship heard him on the phone and promised to come get him on a mule. However, when Mr. Deckard came out of the hotel, he saw a "Coley boy" that he knew, but can't recall his first name now, talking to Crotia Cook. When Mr. Coley realized that he had just gotten home, he took him to the church in the Williams Community where his future wife and family were attending. What a "glad reunion day," that was.

Not only the World War I Veterans, but all our Veterans who have fought and many who have given their lives for our freedom, deserve to be honored and shown' how much we appreciate what they have done for us.

Note: Mr. George William Deckard, a Tennessee resident and Macon County's oldest surviving World War I Veteran was featured in the Macon County Veteran's Day Parade held on November 11, 1999 at 11:00 am in LaFayette, Tennessee. The 102 year old Veteran was escorted by Phillip Anderson in a 1927 Ford Touring Car.