Bertie County NcArchives Military Records.....WWII Deaths, Non-Battle 
WWII 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Gerald Thomas gerald_thomas00@comcast.net January 15, 2018, 9:29 am

Non-Battle Causes Of Death


BERTIE COUNTY’S MILITARY SERVICE
PERSONNEL WHO DIED OF NON-BATTLE CAUSES DURING WORLD WAR II

by

Gerald W. Thomas



During the United States’ military involvement in World War II (December 1941 –
August 1945) more than 1,700 Bertie County citizens, including women, served in
the nation’s armed forces. The county’s sons and daughters served in the army,
the navy, the United States Marine Corps, and the Coast Guard. The vast majority
of the military service personnel were inducted and served predominantly in the
army. The county’s sons fought in Africa, Europe, the southwest Pacific islands,
and on the oceans of the world. Thirty-one Bertie County citizens lost their
lives as a result of combat – twenty-four individuals were killed in action and
five men died of wounds received in battle. Two men were killed while they were
incarcerated as prisoners of war. Another two men who were natives of Bertie
County and lived the majority of their pre-war lives in the county, but who were
residing at other locations when they entered the military, also were killed in
action.
Additionally, fourteen Bertie County servicemen died of non-battle causes
(disease, illness, accidents, etc.) during the war. This paper presents
biographical sketches of those individuals.

Fred Day Hughes
Fred Day Hughes, the son of Simeon Taylor Hughes and Celia Lois Perry, was born
August 26, 1914, at Colerain. He enlisted as a private in the army on December
22, 1941, at age 27. Hughes was assigned to the Army Air Corps and stationed at
Langley Field, in southeastern Virginia. Private Hughes died at Elizabeth City
on February 15, 1942. The coroner of Pasquotank County investigated Hughes’s
death and ruled that he was a “victim of acute alcoholism.” Private Hughes
served in the army less than three months before his death.

Robert Judson Mitchell Jr.
Robert Judson Mitchell Jr., the son of Robert Judson Mitchell and May Phelps,
was born August 8, 1921, at Merry Hill. Robert Jr. was inducted as a private
into the army at Fort Bragg on July 29, 1942 – less than two weeks before his
twenty-first birthday. Private Mitchell was assigned to the Army Air Corps and
stationed at Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, Missouri. Jefferson Barracks was a
training facility for the air corps. In early November 1942, Mitchell contracted
an acute throat infection and lived only a few days, dying on Monday, November 9
– having served in the army for less than four months. Funeral services for
Mitchell were held at Merry Hill Baptist Church on Friday, November 13, 1942,
and he was laid to rest in the Phelps Family Cemetery at Merry Hill.

James Thadius Spivey
James Thadius Spivey, the son of Joseph Bryan Spivey Sr. and Helen Iola
Sittison, was born September 25, 1921, at Windsor. After graduating from Windsor
High School, James attended Wake Forest College and was a member of the class of
1942.  He enlisted in the United States Navy Reserve on June 17, 1942, at age
20. Spivey was commissioned an ensign on August 18, 1943. He was assigned to a
fighter aircraft training squadron stationed at San Diego, California. On March
3, 1944, the members of the squadron – including Spivey – had been training over
the Pacific Ocean and were returning to their home base. As the squadron had
done in the past, some of the fighters simulated attacks on bombers while other
fighters countered the “attacks.”  Ens. Jack Bridgers was “attacking” and Spivey
was countering when their two planes collided and crashed into the ocean about
twenty miles southeast of San Diego. Both aircraft sank immediately in waters
estimated to be 1,800 feet deep. Search boats soon arrived at the scene but
found only one of Spivey’s gloves and a map. Neither of the pilots’ bodies were
recovered. Ensign Spivey was twenty-two years old.

Ens. James T. Spivey
Image from Bertie County World War II Scrapbook.
James was the second son of Joseph B. and Helen Spivey to die in military
service. Joseph Bryan Spivey Jr., a gunner on a B-24 bomber, was killed in
action during a raid on Ploesti, Rumania on August 1, 1943. A third son, Lowell
Burden Spivey, was killed as a passenger aboard a B-29 bomber that crashed upon
takeoff into the Pacific Ocean off Saipan on June 6, 1945. Military authorities
had transferred Spivey to a noncombat assignment in Hawaii when he killed. He
was transferred because he had two brothers who had died in military service
during the war.

John Dorsey Nelms
John Dorsey Nelms, the son of Robert O. Nelms and Lucy Cooper, was born November
30, 1916, at Nashville, Nash County. John – a resident of Colerain – enlisted as
a private in the army at Fort Bragg on December 18, 1940, at age 24. Nelms
volunteered to serve in the army in lieu of another individual being drafted
from Bertie County. Private Nelms was assigned to the Army Air Corps, 97th
Bomber Group, 342nd Bomber Squadron. The group flew B-17 “Flying Fortress”
bombers and was eventually assigned to Italy where Nelms, a technical sergeant,
died of a non-combat cause on March 13, 1944.

Whitmon Harris
Whitmon Harris, the son of Tom Harris and Candice Taylor, was born July 4, 1912,
at Edenton, Chowan County. Whitmon, a resident of Windsor, was inducted as a
private into the army at Fort Bragg on February 28, 1942, at age 29. He was
assigned to the 588th Ordnance Ammunition Company, Ordnance Department. Private
Harris died of a non-combat cause on April 30, 1944.

Earl Lassiter
Earl Lassiter, the son of Percy Lassiter and Edna Earl Odon, was born November
7, 1921, in western Bertie County. Earl enlisted as a private in the army at
Richmond, Virginia on August 23, 1941, at age 19. At the time he enlisted he was
a resident of Aulander. Private Lassiter was assigned to the infantry. In August
1943, Pres. Franklin D. Roosevelt, Prime Minister Winston Churchill (Great
Britain) and other allied leaders decided that an American penetration force was
needed in Burma to operate behind Japanese lines to destroy supply lines and
communications, and generally wreak havoc with enemy forces. The force would
operate simultaneously as Allied forces attempted to reopened the desperately
needed Burma Road. Roosevelt issued a call for volunteers for the highly
dangerous and hazardous mission. Approximately 3,000 American soldiers responded
from units stationed stateside and in the Pacific theater. Earl Lassiter
volunteered for the special troop force.
	The subsequently formed unit was officially designated as the 5307th Composite
Unit (Provisional). The unit was officially formed in January 1944 and placed
under the command of Brig. Gen. Frank D. Merrill. The unit, in essence a special
forces outfit, became most commonly known as Merrill’s Marauders. Earl Lassiter,
who had achieved the rank of technician fifth grade, was assigned to Company F.
The Marauders were formed into six combat teams and trained in great secrecy in
the jungles of central India. After preliminary training the Marauders marched
more than 1,000 miles from India over the Himalayan Mountains into Burma. Much
of the trek was through dense, almost impenetrable jungles.
	Merrill’s Marauders participated in five major engagements and thirty minor
actions against veteran Japanese troops. Vastly outnumbered, the Marauders moved
to the rear of Japanese forces and disrupted enemy supply and communication
operations. On May 17, 1944, the Marauders captured Myitkyina Airfield, the only
all-weather facility in northern Burman. The capture culminated four months of
marching and uninterrupted combat in the Burmese jungles. The Marauders carried
all of their equipment and supplies on their backs or on pack mules. They were
resupplied by air drops, often having to clear thick brush to receive supplies.
The troops suffered from exhaustion and malnutrition, A substantial number of
the men contracted tropical diseases. Earl Lassiter may have been one of those
individuals – he died June 7, 1944, of a non-battle cause. For their
accomplishments, Merrill’s Marauders were awarded the Distinguished Unit
Citation in July 1944. Every member of the unit received the Bronze Star – a
combat medal for heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or
meritorious service in a combat zone.

Johnnie Rudolph Heckstall
Johnnie Rudolph Heckstall, the son of John C. Heckstall and Lenora Rhea, was
born December 12, 1922, at Windsor. He was inducted as a private into the army
at Fort Bragg on January 7, 1943, at age 20. Private Heckstall was assigned to
the Transportation Corps. He died of a non-battle cause on December 10, 1944 –
two days prior to his twenty-second birthday.

Lawrence Outlaw Parker
Lawrence Outlaw Parker, the son of Lewis O. Parker and Sallie J. Lawrence, was
born February 8, 1917, at Savedge, Surry County, Virginia. Lawrence was a
resident of Woodville when he was inducted as a private into the army at Fort
Bragg on October 16, 1942, at age 25. Private Parker died of a non-battle cause
on January 20, 1943. He had served in the army for only three months. Parker was
buried at St. Frances Methodist Church, Lewiston-Woodville.

Rodney S. Perry
Rodney S. Perry, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Raleigh Perry, was born September 2,
1920, at Colerain. Rodney was inducted as a private into the army at Fort Bragg
on February 25, 1941, at age 20. Perry was assigned to the 20th Engineers Combat
Regiment when that unit was organized and activated at Fort Benning, Georgia in
early July 1940. In November 1942 the regiment was transported to North Africa
and disembarked at Casablanca, French Morocco. Perry participated in the North
African and central European campaigns. He died in a hospital in Germany on
April 26, 1945. He was twenty-four years of age at his death and had served in
the army more than four years. At his death he had been promoted to technician
fifth grade.

Tech. 5 Rodney S. Perry
Image from Bertie County World War II Scrapbook.

Lowell Burden Spivey
Lowell Burden Spivey, the son of Joseph Bryan Spivey and Helen Iola Sittison,
was born October 17, 1924, at Windsor. He was inducted as a private into the
army at Fort Bragg on March 30, 1943, at age 18. Spivey was assigned to the Army
Air Corps, 71st Air Service Group, 572nd Air Materiel Squadron and was stationed
at Isley Field, Saipan, By June 1945 he had been promoted to private first
class. PFC Spivey was killed on June 6, 1945, when the B-29 bomber upon which he
was a passenger crashed into the Pacific Ocean upon takeoff from Isley Field.
Military authorities had decided to transfer Spivey from Saipan to a
non-combat-duty assignment in Hawaii since his family had lost two sons (Joseph
Bryan Spivey Jr. and James T. Spivey) in military service during the war. Spivey
“hitched” a ride on the bomber which was destined for Hawaii. His body was not
recovered. He was twenty years of age.

Joseph Andrew Northcott
Joseph Andrew Northcott, the son of Joseph A. Northcott and Namie E. Valentine,
was born February 20, 1917, at Colerain. He was inducted as a private into the
army at Fort Bragg on May 1, 1945, at age 28. Private Northcott died of a
non-battle cause on August, 9, 1945, having served only three months.

Milton Elmo Evans
Milton Elmo Evans Jr., the son of Milton Elmo Evans and Bertie C. Phelps, was
born October 9, 1916, at Woodard. The younger Evans was inducted as a private
into the army at Fort Bragg on May 28, 1941, at age 24. Private Evans was
assigned to the 335th Infantry Regiment, 84th Infantry Division. The division
was sent to Germany and engaged in its first combat in November 1942. Milton Jr.
married Hattie Mae Locke of Ahoskie on April 11, 1944. He returned to his
regiment in Germany after the marriage. Evans was wounded on November 30, 1944,
and was hospitalized. He recovered from the wound and returned to duty. During
the evening of August 16, 1945, Evans was a voluntary member of a security
patrol in a German town where American soldiers were absent with leave. (German
had surrendered on May 7, 1945.)  The patrol was checking houses for
unauthorized occupants when Evans inadvertently fell and hit his head on a
stone. He suffered severe head trauma and was immediately transported to an army
hospital where he died within a few hours. At his death Milton E. Evans Jr. was
a technical sergeant. He had accumulated a sufficient number of points to be
eligible for discharge from the military and was expected to return to the
United States within a few weeks. Evans was buried in a military cemetery in
Germany.

Arthur Harrison
Arthur Harrison, the son of John H. Harrison and his wife, Susan, was born in
Bertie County in 1912. The Harrisons resided in the Snakebite area of Mitchell’s
Township. Arthur is listed as a soldier from Bertie County who died of a
non-battle cause during World War II in “World War II Honor List of Dead and
Missing Army and Army Air Forces Personnel from North Carolina,” National
Archives. No available army service records have been identified for Arthur
Harrison of Bertie County. The Bertie Ledger-Advance of August 4, 1944, lists
Arthur in its Bertie County Roll of Honor, a list of servicemen from the county
who died during the war.

Lloyd Dail Cherry
Luther Dail Cherry, the son of Luther D. Cherry and Tempie Brown, was born
Christmas Day, 1923. He was inducted as a private into the army at Fort Bragg on
April 27. 1943, at age 19. Private Cherry was assigned to the Quartermaster
Corps. He died of a non-battle cause on February 14, 1946.




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