News, Citizen Profile, Clarence "Earl' Doughty, LaSalle Parish, La. ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** Submitted by: Craig Franklin of The Jena Times, Jena, LaSalle Parish, La. Clarence "Earl" Doughty - Citizen Profile Wednesday, April 18, 2001, page 7B A Times-Signal Feature "Citizen Profile" A Very Special Salute This man best remembered for Doughty's Dept. Store For over 40 years this Jena man owned and operated one of the last of the old- time dry good stores - but his life will forever be remembered for much more that this. Clarence "Earl" Doughty owned Doughty's Department Store in downtown Jena from 1935 until 1976, and has served most of the older residents in Jena. Before buying the store, he was a highly decorated soldier in W.W.II, and during his time at the store, he was very instrumental in bringing new industry into Jena and serving in many civic and church related projects. He was born on March 6, 1919, in Jena and raised here by his parents L.J. and Agnus Doughty. Mr. L.J. had the very first cleaning, pressing and tailoring shops in Jena. This was during the time when folks first started buying suits, and in fact Mr. L.J. instituted a "suit club" at his store. Patrons would buy memberships for a couple of dollars a month, and every two or three months they would receive a new suit. All of the clothes made by Mr. L.J. were tailor made, with the client measured for a perfect fit. He was known throughout the Jena area as the best tailor around. Growing up, Mr. Doughty said he really grew up on the streets of Jena. "With our parents working in the store, we were actually raised in the streets," he said. "But it was much different that it is today. It was a common sight to see children playing everywhere in Jena - and nobody hardly ever got into trouble." On the same stretch of the downtown Jena street, just a few blocks away, was G.R. Russell & Company's dry good store. G.R. and Estelle Russell owned the store, which had operated in Jena for years even before they bought it as a dry good store. "He bought the store from Ernest McGuffee, who had operated it for years before him as a dry goods store," Mr. Doughty said. Mr. Russell, who before going into business was a principal at Nebo, was a very popular man in Jena, and even served on the parish school board for some 18 years. "He was known all over and he was most known for helping people," Mr. Doughty said. "He knew the business and was very successful. He and my dad taught me most of what I knew about operating a business." The reason Mr. Doughty became so acquainted with Mr. Russell, is because it was Mr. Russell's daughter who caught the eye of Mr. Doughty in high school, and the two would later marry. After attending all of his primary school years in Jena, he went on to Jena High School. It was there in the tenth grade that he started dating Oressa Russell. He escorted her to the Junior and Senior Banquet and continued dating her after they graduated in 1937. Upon graduating, Mr. Russell took a series of small jobs around Jena, including working at the Corner Drug Store seven days a week for seven dollars a week. He then went to work at Glen Druitt's service station, and then he found himself working at G.R. Russell & Company for his soon to be father-in- law. "At the store, I made $10 a week," Mr. Doughty said. "I put $5 in a savings account each week, and blew the rest. You know, things like dating and such."When he'd saved up $75, A.D. Flowers, who at the time was LaSalle's State Representative, got him into Louisiana Tech and also a job around Ruston paying $15 a week. While at Tech, Mr. Doughty met a young man by the name of O.K. Davis. They became immediate friends, but had no idea how strong their friendship would grow over the next few years. In February of 1941, Mr. Doughty was drafted. In fact, he was the first man from Jena to be drafted. This was prior to the United States becoming involved in W.W.II, as the Japanese would not bomb Pearl Harbor in Hawaii until December of that same year. "When I went in, a salary for a private was just $21 a month," he said. "Then, after three months, you got moved up to private first class and that paid $36 per month. Then I made sergeant and was made the plotter for the sea coast artillery battery. We had 16 inch rifles that could shoot 25 or more miles and I was in charge of plotting their course." In April of 1942, Mr. Doughty applied and was accepted into Officer Candidate School. As a sergeant, he made $60 a month, but upon graduating, he made second lieutenant and the salary was raised to $90 a month. He said that back during the early 1940's, this was big money. Following his graduation from Officer Candidate School u , Mr. Doughty decided he'd waited long enough to marry his hometown sweetheart. So on June 19, 1942, on leave from the Army on an 8 day delayed route on his way to Camp Hulen in Texas (near Houston), he and Mrs. Oressa were married. "We only had a one night honeymoon and I had to borrow money and a car for that," he said. "Then I went on to Camp Hulen and stayed there for sometime by myself until I could find a place for us to live. Their first home together was basically a small apartment in an old resort near the Camp. They were together for 10 days before Mr. Doughty was shipped overseas. The next time the two would see each other would be three years later, after the war was over. At Camp Hulen one day, a young officer walked over to Mr. Doughty and asked, "Aren't you Earl Doughty?" When he turned around it took him a minute to recognize his former college friend, O.K. Davis. "I didn't know it, but he was in the class right behind me at OCS," Mr. Doughty said. "One week after I got to Camp Hulen, he got there and he and I stayed together the full three years we were overseas." Mr. Doughty and Mr. Davis were two of the last to come home following the war, and have remained the best of friends ever since. Mr. Davis now lives in Monroe, but they keep in constant contact. At Camp Hulen, the men trained to use anti-aircraft guns. The only problem was, there wasn't any anti-aircraft guns at the camp to train with. So mock guns were used to simulate the real thing."During this time, the Army really didn't have anything," Mr. Doughty said. "There were hardly no pants, uniforms, guns are ammunition. When we got into the war, everyone, I mean everyone in the states came together to work to give us what we needed to fight." He said that is one of the main reasons he believes the United States was successful in the war, because we out produced the others in war supplies. "That's why us boys (veterans) hate to see the military go down," he continued. "We know how vitally important it is to keep the military in top form, from training to equipment and supplies." Finally, after sometime, the camp received a 37 millimeter gun - but only one. The entire camp had to use this single gun to train with. "Man, we'd practice with that gun, assemble and disassemble it, and we knew every part of it from top to bottom - inside and out," he said. When they were shipped overseas, they were placed with an anti-aircraft unit assigned to protect airfields in Britain. Once at Britain, they finally received enough guns for everyone. Although they were trained specifically for this job, it wasn't very long before they were pulled from their trained positions and placed in the infantry divisions. "In Italy, we were changed to infantry," he said. "About two months of hard fighting later, they pulled us out and gave us some infantry training." Mr. Doughty said that once into the war, the United States began drafting men of all ages - anyone that was able to fight. "At first there were certain limitations," he said. "But eventually, no one was exempt from the draft. They'd accept you if you had one eye, if you were older, anyone and everyone. At one point we had five million men in uniform." Both Mr. Doughty and Mr. Davis made the rank of captain by the time the end of the war came. While in infantry, Mr. Doughty was responsible for leading his unit to several victorious battles, and ended his Army career as a highly decorated soldier. Among the awards he won was the Silver Star, which is given for gallantry in action, the Bronze Star, and three Purple Hearts. He was a part of six different campaigns, including the invasion of North Africa and Italy. Although he is proud of his service to his country, Mr. Doughty said war is a terrible thing for any man to go through. "Every once and a while I'll watch one of those movies about the war, but they never come close to telling it like it really was," he said. "Some one told me that 'Saving Private Ryan' was as close to the real thing as they've made, but I haven't had a chance to watch that one yet. It really doesn't matter, no matter what movie they make, or how real they make it seem, it will never be like the real thing. This is something that only those who were there know about." Mr. Doughty said that watching someone "pretend to die" with fake blood on a television screen cannot compare to seeing someone die before your very own eyes."It's a very gruesome thing," he said. "But what they were dying for was a very worthwhile thing - our country's freedom. "He remembers once when his infantry unit was taking a hill, that he was actually having to try to slow his men down, because they were being killed at an alarming rate. "We, the officers, were sitting there going over our map and plotting our next course of action, when a mortar round hit on a ledge right in front of me," Mr. Doughty recalled. "One man had the end of his foot blown off, two sergeants on my left were killed instantly and one on my right was killed instantly. All I got was a cut on my left hand. Why God spared me I don't know, other than it was just God's Will."After the war had ended, Mr. Doughty and Mr. Davis were at Camp Gordon, waiting for the message that they were discharged from the Army. "At that time, you had to have 90 points to be discharged and I had 136 points," he said. "You got points by what rank you were, how long you'd been in, how many battles, etc. O.K. had 120 something points. One day someone came up to me and asked me if I was Clarence Doughty. I told him I was and he said he been looking for me for sometime. He then handed me my discharge papers and I headed home. A few days later O.K. was discharged as well." Once home in 1945, Mr. Doughty and his wife bought G.R. Russell & Company from Mr. Russell, and they operated the store until he retired in 1976. Up until just a few years ago, they still owned the building the store once operated in, keeping it more for sentimental reasons than anything. Mr. Doughty and his wife raised two boys, Mark Doughty, who lives in Jena and is a production superintendent with an oil field company, and Brian Doughty, who lives in Hollywood, California. He owns a travel agency and does acting as well. The Doughty's also have six grandchildren. With a son owning a travel agency, the Doughty's have spent much time traveling and seeing the world. They even had the opportunity to visit Italy, which Mr. Doughty said has changed much since he saw it from the battle field in the early 1940's. They have also been to Ireland twice, and several other places. In his spare time, Mr. Doughty loves to fish and work in his garden. This year alone, he's planted some 60 tomato plants already. His "honey-do" list also keeps him quite busy, mostly working on his wife's flower beds."We've had some wonderful years and we are so blessed that we're both still here after this length of time," he said. "We're both in remarkable health and this year we'll celebrate our 59th Wedding Anniversary. Next year, we'll celebrate our 60th." Life-long members of First Baptist Church in Jena, Mr. Doughty taught Sunday School for years and they both have been very active serving the Lord. As far as his community involvement, Mr. Doughty is most proud of being part of the creation of the Jena Industrial Development Corporation. "The original board consisted of me, Robert Wagner, Lois Sleeth, Dallas Wright, and Kenneth Stevenson," he said. "We formed JIDCO and charge ourselves $500 a piece for a membership. Some bought one membership and some bought two memberships." Perhaps the greatest accomplishment the board did was to bring in the Belden Plant to Jena - and Mr. Doughty was one of the most influential persons to see this come about. "When we first started, I was talking with someone and told them about the possibility of getting Belden," he said. "He more or less laughed at me and said it would never happen, and that's when I just became determined to see it become a reality - and we did." Because of his efforts in bring Belden to Jena, Mr. Doughty was named the Alexandria Town Talk's Man of the Year in 1967 - the only man outside of Rapides Parish ever to claim the award. "Everybody ought to have the satisfaction of doing something that nobody thought could be done," he said. "I just can't describe the feeling such an achievement gives. Sometimes in a man's life he needs to take on a task for the public good that is a challenge." There were also so many other aspects to Mr. Doughty's life that if all written, would perhaps take up all the space in this newspaper. But for Mr. Doughty, the most important things in life are those things which are not tangible. The love of God, the love of family and the love of friends. This week, we salute Mr. Clarence "Earl" Doughty for all his given to LaSalle Parish - and our nation. Caption under photo: BEST KNOWN AROUND JENA for operating Doughty's Department Store for over thirty years, Clarence "Earl" Doughty was also a highly decorated officer of World War II and was instrumental in bringing in new industry for LaSalle Parish. Read about his exciting life as he is featured in this week's Citizen Profile article.