Lest We Forget ~ May 26, 2025

It was February 19, 1917 when Will Dubose and Lona May Rook were united in holy matrimony; just a few months later, on June 5th, he was registering for the draft in Hardeman County. His registration card listed his occupation as a teamster with the G M & K Ry Co. The transport schedule showed him departing for Europe aboard the George Washington on June 15th of the following year after training at Camp Meade in Baltimore, Maryland. On July 4th he wrote his father saying “Listen father, I am just as happy as a boy can be, to be so far from home. Tell all of my friends I said be men don’t be boys. I very often think of times past. And I am glad for this reason when I come home I can tell what pretty trains and citys I seen, and nothing make me feel so good as my officers is so nice to me and that make me want to be a soldier more and more every day. So give my love to all.” Three months later, his father received a telegram from the Adjutant General which read as follows:

“Deeply regret to inform you that private Will Dubose Infantry is officially reported as killed in action September twenty seventh” 

It was sent at 7:41 PM. Short and to the point; his family would later learn he had been wounded in France while engaged in combat, his death following three days later on September 30th. Will was originally buried in France, as were so many of the young men who died there, but was returned to his home in Bolivar, Tennessee in September of 1921 and buried in Bethlehem Missionary Baptist Church Cemetery.