Memorials › James Attwell Davidson

James Attwell Davidson

25 May 1919 – 25 Mar 2003

Birth	25 May 1919
Death	25 Mar 2003
Cemetery	Restlawn Memorial Park Sulphur Springs , Hopkins County , Texas , USA
Added by	Gena Forsyth on 23 Oct 2008
FaG	https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/30740425

Bio

(In his own words, before his death) JAMES ATTWELL DAVIDSON born May 25, 1919 to James Thomas Davidson and Matilda Ann (Tee) Polk Davidson, at Nelta, Texas (Hopkins County). The oldest son, he attended school at Nelta and helped his father farm until his mother died when he was 12 years old. The community thought his father should remarry soon after his mother's death as she died shortly after childbirth leaving Jim with three daughters (one an infant) and three sons to raise. There was another woman in the community that had recently become a widow and they were married that year. Soon after his father married again, Attwell quit school and started farming full time to help support the family. He says about his mother, "I remember her as the most loving Mother, who didn't send us to Church, she took us to Church." When Mother was alive we had a happy family. Dad farming, Mother taking care of us and they played with us at each opportunity. Dad never played with us much after Mother died, our lives changed dramatically. Mother was a good cook, and kept a clean house, she had long hair and was a good singer. She sang alto and participated in all the Church singings. She was well liked in the community. In 1918 a lot of people in the community were sick with pneumonia. Several died. Dad said his family stayed well, Mother and the girls (Juanita and Fanny) would cook for the sick, Dad would take the food they had prepared to those that both Mother and Father were sick. Dad said he would go day and night, he went by horseback or buggy. He said by the time the epidimic was over he was worn out, but still he and his family had kept their health while helping the others. They were both good neighbors. Even after remarrying, Dad would help his neighbors. If a neighbor had a horse or mule that wouldn't work, he would take it to his farm and make it work, and the same time letting the neighbors take his team. He never was paid, always said that he was just glad to help. At the age of 23, I was at a dance in Dike, Texas. A pretty blond girl came into the schoolhouse with her sisters. The guys teased me that I couldn't get her. November 8, 1941, we were married. She was Hazel Mozelle Eppers, daughter of John E and Martha Eppers of Dike, Texas. We were married at the home of Brother Neal, in Dike, with her sister Sue Eppers Chapman and husband W.B. Chapman as witnesses. The next month, Pearl Harbor was bombed by the Japanese. I was called upon to serve my country. I left Sulphur Springs, Texas on February 6, 1942 headed for Mineral Wells, Texas with the U.S. Army. There he stayed 10 days then they moved the troops to Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. Upon arrival at Ft Sill, there was six inches of snow on the ground, we spent that first night in a field tent in the snow. The next morning the troops weighed in, I was 175 pounds and 6 feet tall. At the end of the physical they announced "M.P." and I said "No, I don't want to be an M.P." The next morning they sent the new unit to the stables. There were 99 mules and 13 horses. We were given the orders to go into the lot, get a mule, saddle him, then take him across the road and ride him. I might add that these were not broke mules. Some of the new troops had never seen a mule, didn't no which end to put the bridle on. By the end of the day I had ridden three mules. And also knew what the officer had meant by M.P. (Mule Pack). We had to put pack saddles on the mules and put 100 pounds of sand on each side. One man to do that, one tied it down. The next day, we had to put another 100 pounds on top of the first 100, for a total of 300 pounds. It took a week to make those mules be still with a full pack. This was a field artillery unit and we then had to break down a 75MM pack Howitzer into 7 pieces and load onto 7 mules. They (the men all ready stationed at Ft. Sill) said they had been training for 13 weeks, but said, "You men will get the same training in 8 weeks." The next stop for the 99th Field Artillery unit was Fort Bragg, North Carolina. It was hot there. We were there for six months. Then on to El Paso, Texas. (The mules were shipped with the men to each station.) Mozelle came to visit while in El Paso,. after two weeks she had to return to Dike, due to the atmosphere in West Texas her nose bled the entire trip. From El Paso it was on to Camp Carson, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Mozelle came up there and stayed awhile. She enjoyed her stay in Colorado, she boarded with an older couple who treated her as if she were their own child. At Camp Carson the men and mules were trained for mountainous regions. The unit led the mules up Pikes Peak. The snow was so deep at times, the mules or men's feet were not touching the ground, only packed snow. There were bushes all the way up it weren't for the bushes to cling to we couldn't have made it. One man slipped down and lost his mule, the mule rolled down a quarter of a mile, lost his saddle, but his halter stayed on. When he finally came to a stop he got up and looked around, surprisingly he was okay. At the top when we made camp, the air was so light due to the high altitude that water wouldn't boil for coffee. After the Pikes Peak trip we went to the mountains near Pueblo Colorado with C Battery. Snow shoes were put on the mules, but the mules couldn't handle those shoes very well. After concluding our training in Colorado, the 99th went to San Francisco, California and boarded a ship headed for the jungles on their overseas tour. About three days out to sea they received their orders. At this point they became motorized, the mules were left behind, and the unit went from the 75MM Pack Howitzer to the 105MM. This gun was pulled by a truck. The 99th was changed to the 1st Calvary Division. We were in the Pacific Theater. We were the first in the Pacific and were on the ship 30 days for Australia. We landed in Brisbane and went by trucks to Beatrice, arriving prior to the Japanese. We crossed on the U.S. George Washington (World War I ship), being careful of Japanese Submarines. Securing that area, I was transferred to the 271st Field Artillery and was a lineman in Headquarters/Battery A installing lines for phones and radios. In most areas we used a track, in town we had to climb poles to get the wire up were trucks would not tear them down. We had to keep radios on the front line working if one went out, our line would be cut, then we would have to find it, fix it and a lot of the time we would be shot at. I was up in a tree and got a hole shot through my shirt but didn't hit me. I got down the tree in a hurry, we found the sniper, and then I finished stringing the line. When I reached the ground after the bullet went through my shirt I thanked my Lord he kept me alive. That happened in the Phillippines, on Leyte Island. We got shot at lots of time, but that was the closest incident for me. In the Admiralty Islands we hit the main island cutting off their supply line were the Japanese couldn't get in or out then we left. Our next stop from Australia was in New Guinea. We went in there to help the 98th, they were Mule Pack also but they got shot all to hell, wiped out. Then from Admiralty Island we stopped on Lombrum Point and had a time of getting on the islands. In day time we could push them back but at night they would have us back in the water, this went on for two days then we got more men and landed. The Japanese had an airplane that would bomb us every evening at about 4:00 p.m., We called him "Washing Machine Charlie". We were on Lombrum Point for three days. On to Luzon then on to Manilla Island in the Phillippines. We got a foot hold there, but we lost a lot of men. While we were landing, a Japanese bomber struck, he dropped five bombs, missing with all of them. We were lined up going in with a lot of shooting and shelling from the Navy ships that had brought us. The bombs fell in the water between those ships. Two days after landing on the island of Manilla we had to go back out to help General McArthur land. He got up to a building and he was telling the Philippine people, "I told you I would be back", he went on telling how proud he was to be back, just about the time he got to speaking good some where a gun was shot, he jumped so high he lost his cap, didn't take him long after that to say bye and he left. The 1st Calvary continued cleaning up the island, a few Japanese we had not found finally got hungry and gave up. One of the prisoners gave us this account of the Japanese Zero Bomber Pilots; prior to leaving their duty base on a bombing mission the pilot's memorial service was held, they were suicide bombers, each pilot was belted into the airplane and was to crash into their target, never to return to their families; this pilot whose belts had came unfastened begged us not to return him; had his squadron learned he was still alive they would have killed him themselves. It was considered a courageous act for your country, to give your life in such manner. We were preparing to go on from there to Tokyo. We were scheduled to leave the island the next day. About 2 or 3 o'clock in the morning they dropped the bomb. It woke us all up, shaking the ground for what seemed like 30 minutes. I don't guess it was that long, but it seemed like a long time. We stayed there on the island for a few days, then the officers came around telling us who could go home, cause the Japanese had surrendered. They first told me I could go home, then we got the replacements in, they came back and told me I would have to go on to Tokyo. My heart was broken, I wanted to go home. They told us they had to have every man. The replacements were not trained, and as we had been they thought it was best for us to continue on with the mission. We sailed on September 8, 1945, there was snow all over Tokyo, about 8 inches the best I remember. We were in 8 battles, received a bronze star for each landing where we had to fight to secure. About November 15, 1945, I got back to California. On November 21, 1945 I was back in Sulphur Springs, Texas. It was 3:00 a.m., when I arrived at the train station, I walked to Seller's cafeteria on the square and was in front of Bridges hardware store (now is the location of the Sulphur Springs State Bank) a policeman stopped me and asked where I was going. I told him I was on my way home to Dike, Texas. There was no one else out at this time of morning, and he told me he was going to lock me up. I blew my top, "after fighting for about four years for people like you, now you want to put me in jail". "It will be after a fight before you take me to jail" "Old man, I'm not mad at you, but if you even try to take me to jail." Then I saw a light over there on the corner, "I am going to walk over to that light, do you want to walk with me?" He replied, "Well, I'm not suppose to but will." So I went over there and stood till about 5 a.m. because I knew the mail man would come by and I could get a ride to Dike. I saw him, called him by name, he turned and greeted me, and we sat down and had a cup a coffee at Seller's Cafeteria that had opened by now. I asked him if he was allowed to give a guy a ride, he said he was going to Dike, and would take me. We finished our coffee and left. When we got to Dike the first man I saw was my Father-in-Law, Mr John Eppers. He gave me a big hug. He reached up and pulled his mustache, "Said I want to pull a joke on Mozelle." So we went back to the house, Mozelle was still in bed, Mrs. Eppers liked to not have turned me loose, she was hugging me so tight and crying. Mozelle was a very happy woman, she had to cry for awhile, then asked were I had stayed in town from 3 o'clock on, I told her about my arrival, then drifted off to sleep. Didn't wake up till noon, got up had dinner and got in the car to go see our new home. She had bought 102 acres while I was overseas, and paid for it with my allotment that was sent home each month. I was so proud of our new home. The following year, 1946, I began farming on our own farm and we were very happy. In January 1952 we learned that we were going to have our first child. Farming was slow at that time. Cotton had hit an all time low in the market. I decided to go to public work. I was hired by A.P. Green Refractories at Thermo. We made fire brick. At the age of 62 I retired from A.P. Green. Diane was born August 20, 1952. It was a difficult delivery and we learned that we couldn't have any more children.

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Family

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Spouse

Hazel Mozelle Eppars Davidson 1916–1992

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