Johnson County GaArchives News.....Perry Recalls WWI, America's Contribution November 6 1986
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Gwen Brooks jhngwn@tds.net September 26, 2003, 2:05 pm

The Wrightsville Headlight

Perry recalls WWI, America’s contribution by Mary Eleanor Wickersham. page 1 

Photo of Andrew Perry, Caption: World War I veteran Andrew Perry recalls his 
war as Veteran’s Day approaches.  Perry is one of three known local veterans 
of World War I.

When the Armistice was signed on November 11, 1918, ending World War I, Andrew 
Perry was prepared to pack his bags.  Instead, he stayed seven months longer 
in Europe, part of the Army Occupation group which was to help rebuild the 
Europe the War had destroyed.

There are some few bitter memories from that time, says Perry.  He resented 
the attitude of some Europeans that the U. S., which, Perry says, had entered 
the war to help save the Allies, was held financially responsible for repair 
of building and roads.  “In some cases, they said that our trucks did road 
damage and that the U. S. should pay for it.”
But Perry has other memories, memories of the camaraderie of those men and of 
his small part in the war.  

Perry, born in 1894, was drafted at age 24.  He remembers the day: June 27, 
1918.  Hospitalized with measles and pneumonia, his training period was non-
existent, but he was shipped out anyway, landing with his troop ship in 
Liverpool, England.  

The trip took several days, longer than it should have, because we zigzagged 
across the ocean, accompanied by a big battle ship.  Our first site in 
England,” he recalls, “was a train, loaded with injured soldiers.  It was a 
terrible feeling, knowing that we were going into that.” 

But Perry did not actually go into battle.  The 310th Infantry, a division 
intended to replace those of long service and the wounded, came within 50 
miles of combat when the Armistice was signed.

Perry got his training in the field, he says.  “Since I had missed basic 
training, I didn’t even know how to roll a pack.  Some of the fellows had to 
help me.”

What he soon learned was how to get along in another country, a war close at 
hand.  He and his fellow soldiers spent their nights sleeping in cold barns 
where there was no wood to make a fire, did guard duty in snow, and, as he 
puts it, “just got used to difficult conditions.  We made up our minds to 
endure.”

Perry, now 92, along with Ernest Townsend and E. L. Lee are the three known 
Johnson County World War I veterans still living, all of whom have had full 
lives since their service.

On his 90th birthday Perry was honored by friends and relatives for his years 
of service to the community and to his church.  Letters he has saved tell his 
life story. 

A staunch Baptist, he carried out his beliefs at home.  A widower with seven 
children, they now praise their father for “reading the Bible every night” and 
for the family prayer which, they believe, kept the family close knit. 

Perry and the other veterans have lived another lifetime since that war which 
took them to a foreign land, to miserable conditions, away from their 
families.  And they have not forgotten .  But like other Americans they 
believed it was their duty to serve.  




Additional Comments:
William Andrew Perry was born Wrightsville, Johnson Co., Georgia June 11, 
1894.  He died October 1993 Wrightsville, Johnson Co., Georgia, at 99 years of 
age.  He is buried in Westview Cemetery in Wrightsville.
  
He married twice.  He married Gussie Bell Garrett in Johnson Co., Georgia, 
October 1919.  She was born August 9, 1900 and was the daughter of Augustus 
Henry Garrett and Alice Elizabeth Harrison.  Gussie died February 4, 1944 in  
Bibb Co., Georgia.  She was buried in Westview Cemetery.  

William married second Bessie Will Lindsey Price.  She is also buried in 
Westview Cemetery.

William was the son of William Micajah Perry and Lougenia Virginia Clark of 
Johnson Co.  


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