BENJAMIN HARRISON WEST, JR
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Born Oct 13, 1918 in Cumberland County TN
1938 Graduated High School in Crossville, TN and
attended UT, Knoxville that fall
Died Jan 1, 1943 in Guadalcanal WWII airplane Crash
Crossville Chronicle, date unknown, probably 1937-1938
school year – CUMBERLAND COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAM - Back row left to right: Bill Mayberry (partly
hidden), Cecil Buttram (1),-Ben West (16), Benton Bilbrey (17), Coach Pope, Roy
Randolph (13), T. A. Swafford .(15), William Wolf (9), Perry Godsey (18) and
Van Smith Walker (trainer), Middle
row, left to right: Albert Swallows, manager (standing), Wesley Godsey (11),
Loy Conatser (12), Ambrose Easterly (2), Ogle Conatser '(7), Wallace Ledford
(3), Ray, Gossage (5), Donald Brookhart (14). Front
row, left to right; Delmar Conatser (10), Charles Hill (6), Robert Walker (8),
Wilburn Snow (4) and Pryor Kington.
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Ben Jr then studied for a while at UT, Knoxville
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Crossville Chronicle, November 16, 1939 – NELSON-WEST – Dr. and Mrs V. A. Nelson announce the engagement and approaching marriage of their daughter June Elizabeth to Mr. Benjamin Harrison West, Jr. The wedding will take place at the Nelson home at noon Saturday, November 18th. Only relatives and a few close friends will witness the ceremony.
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Crossville Chronicle, November 23, 1939 page 2 – NELSON – BEN WEST JR WEDDING – notes of Marilyn Bishop West say it is a long article, but the article is not included -
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Jan 1, 1943 Graduating Platoon 187, N.T.S. Norfolk, VA
Knoxville News Sentinel – January 12, 1943 - PARENTS AWAITING SONS RETURN LEARN HE’S KILLED - By BESSIE M. WILSON ^News-Sentinel Correspondent - CROSSVILLE, Jan. 12— “If you open the door some day and see me standing there. Mother, don't faint. I probably won't let y o u know when I'm coming." That is what Ben H. West Jr., 24, wrote on Dec. 11 to his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Ben H. West, of Crossville. Every day since receiving that letter, Mr. and Mrs. West have been watching the street, listening to every step, waiting to hear a gay, "Hi Mom! How are you, Dad?" But all that ended late Saturday afternoon when Mr. and Mrs. West received a message from the Navy Department stating that their son had been killed on Jan, 1 in a plane crash, "while in performance of duty and service of his country." Ben who enlisted with the Navy on Dec. 1, 1940, was a machinist's mate second class, and is the first boy from Crossville to give his life in World War 2. Ben is survived by his parents, and his younger brother, Corp. Paul West of the Army. He attended U-T a year.
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Crossville Chronicle, January 14, 1943 - page 1 – BEN
WEST JR – CROSSVILLE’S FIRST DEATH WORLD WAR II - Parents Receive Telegram from Navy
Department Saying Son Died January 1, as Result of Airplane Crash - The entire
community was "shocked and grieved on Saturday, January 9, when it became
known here that Mr. and Mrs. Ben H. West had received a telegram from the Navy
Department telling of the death of their son Benjamin Harrison West, Jr.,
aviation machinist mate, believed to have been on active duty in the Pacific.
-- Copy of Telegram -- Arlington, Va.,
January 9, 2:50 P. M. Benjamin Harrison West, Box 143, Crossville, Tenn.
"The Navy Department deeply
regrets to advise you that your son Benjamin Harrison West, Junior, aviation
machinists mate third class, United States Navy, died January 1, 1943 as result
of plane crash while in the performance of duty and service of his country. On
account of existing conditions his body will be interred in locality of death
pending cessation of hostilities. Further details not now available but will be
communicated to you promptly when received. "To prevent possible aid to
our enemies please do not divulge the name of his ship or station. Sincere
sympathy is extended to you in your deep sorrow. Signed "Rear
Admiral Randall Jacobs, Chief of Navy Personnel." -- In a recent letter received by his parents
Ben said: "If you open the door and see me standing there, Mother, don't
faint. I probably won't let you know when I'm coming." This referred to
the fact that he expected to return to the United States soon to take advanced
training. Ben Junior enlisted on
December 1, 1940, received his basic training at the Navy Yard, Norfolk, Va.,
and attended a special school at Jacksonville, Fla., going immediately afterwards
into active duty. His last visit home was at Thanksgiving time 1941, and almost
immediately afterwards his parents received word of his transfer to a Pacific
base. For almost a year he was stationed at Pearl Harbor, where he reported
contacts with several Cumberland County boys, among them Sam Brewer, Jr., and
the Conatser boys, Loy, Delmer, and Ogle, all of whom were in high school at
the time Ben was. He passed his 24th birthday on October 3,
1942. He was graduated from County High with the class of 1938 and then
attended the University of Tennessee. He afterwards became active with his
father in the plumbing business. His friends were numbered by his
acquaintances, because of his cheerful disposition and general friendly spirit. He
was raised to the sublime degree of Master Mason in Crossville Lodge No. 483
on February 7, 1940, and soon thereafter was received into membership in
Amanda Chapter No. 4, Order of the Eastern Star. At the stated meeting of the Chapter Tuesday
evening, January 12, Mr. and Mrs. West, both of whom are members, their son
Paul, a corporal in the U. S. Army, and his wife, attended the ceremony of
draping the charter of the Chapter in4ribute to their son and brother. A
service flag with one gold star was hung on the Chapter wall during the ceremony. Other
immediate surviving members of the family are his grandmother, Mrs. M. W.
West, who makes her home with her son Ben Senior, and will have reached the
advanced age of 83 on February 3, this year.
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Crossville Chronicle, 1943 Date unknown, Memorial Held For Ben West, Jr. --Memorial services for BENJAMIN HARRISON WEST, JR, who "died January 1, 1943, as result of plane crash while in performance of duty and service of his country," were held at the First Christian Church, of which he was a member, Sunday, February 17th, at the morning worship hour. [military photo of Ben Jr] the church was filled to more than its usual seating capacity, with relatives, friends, members of that church and other churches, who came to honor this young man who gave his life for his country; and to honor others who are serving their country in uniform. [picture of Paul West in uniform] CORPORAL PAUL WEST second son of Mr. and Mrs. Ben H. West, enlisted in the Army in August, 1940, at the age of 17. His' basic training was had at Ft. Benning, Ga. His marriage to Miss Lula Bruce took place on July 5, 1942. He is now stationed with a motorized division at Camp Gordon, Ga.
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Crossville Chronicle, February 7, 1946, page 1 - VFW
POST IS NAMED FOR TWO VETERANS FROM CROSSVILLE WHO LOST LIVES IN WAR
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Crossville Chronicle, Date Unknown 1948, BEN H WEST JR, COUNTY’S FIRST WWII CASUALTY IS RETURNED FOR SERVICES HERE ON SUNDAY – West-Buttram Post 5025, VFW., American Legion And Masonic Lodge to Conduct Burial Service. -- The remains of Ben H. West, Jr., accompanied by a military escort, will arrive Saturday, Feb. 28, from Atlanta General Distribution Depot, for last rites to be held here. Arriving by rail at Rockwood the remains will be brought directly to the family home here, to lie in state until shortly before the funeral hour. These services are scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 29 at 1:30 p. m. in the First Christian Church, of which he was a member. Connor R. Lundy will officiate and be assisted by Rev. Thomas Burkett, of Rockwood. Bilbrey Funeral Home will be in charge. Crossville Lodge No. 483, F. & A. M., will give their impressive indoor service at the church. Assisting with the tribute to the deceased, will be the regular ceremonial of burial of the Veterans of Foreign Wars given by members of the local post, at the grave, assisted by members of the Cumberland County Post of The American Legion. The West-Buttram Post 5025, Veterans of Foreign Wars, was 'named for Ben Jr. and his school and classmate, Cecil Buttram, son of Mr. and Mrs. A. J. Buttram, Cumberland Homesteads, who was rep_orted missing in action in the North African Area as of Jan. 11, 1943, the tenth day after Ben had given his life in the crash of a naval plane at Lunga Point on Guadalcanal in the South Pacific Area. Ben Jr. was this county's first casualty of World War II; while Cecil was the second, in an honor roll numbering more than 65, who gave this county as home and who made the supreme sacrifice for their country during the recent conflict. His parents had planned to abide by his last wishes, that he be buried where he fell, which was agreed upon by all the crew of which he was a valuable member, but the .cemetery there was not a permanent one. So they felt that as long as he had to be moved at all, the best thing to do was to bring him home.
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Original grave of Ben Jr in Guadal Canal
Crossville Chronicle, March 4, 1948 page 1 – SERVICES
FOR BEN H WEST JR HELD SUNDAY, MOST IMPRESSIVE
First War Casualty Is Returned to Native Soil For Final Interment - When the faint echo of taps wafted over the bowed heads of the huge throng gathered at Crossville's city cemetery Sunday afternoon, Feb. 29, the remains of a hero were lowered into their final resting place on earth. The amblem bedecked casket lowered in the grave bore the remains of Ben West, Junior, a hero if there ever was one, who as an Aviation Machinists Mate, Second Class, gave his life on Guadalcanal Island on January 1st, 1943, at the age of 24. The casket bearing "Junior", as he was known and called by his hundreds of friends, arrived here Saturday morning after having been transported across the Pacific and the United States by military escort. The tributes paid this fallen hero, Cumberland County's first casualty in the late World War, were unsurpassed in solemnity and impressiveness as the Reverends Connor Lundy and Thomas Burkett spoke the final civilian words in the First Christian Church here, Sunday at 1:30 p. m. A procession of over sixty-five Masons from the local Lodge of which Ben, Jr. had been an active member before his enlistment in the U. S. Navy, filed into the church with the casket borne by 6 members of the Lodge: John S. Reed, Jr., J. T. Horn, Jr., Thomas L. Thurman, Lane Stevens, Ray Dillon and Ralph Hall, as active pallbearers, from the residence of the parents Mr. and Mrs. Ben West, to the church. Following songs by a quartet composed of Dr. L. G. Templin, J. L. Snod-grass, F. J. Huddleston and C. R. Lundy, and the s e r m o n and prayers by the Reverends Burkett and Lundy, Masonic rites directed by Geo. F. Brookhart, Past Master, were held over the casket of the dead hero. The quartet sang: "Does Jesus Care" and "The Beautiful Land" for the church service, "Nearer My God to Thee" and "Near to the Heart of God" for the Masonic service. Mrs. J. S. Reed sang "Beautiful Garden of Prayer". Mrs. E. W. Mitchell was at the piano for all the music, which also included a processional and a recessional. Only a few hundred inside the church saw the church and Masonic rites but hundreds more heard from the surrounding lawns and adjoining Baptist church by the installed public address system. From the church to the cemetery the hearse bearing the casket was flanked by an escort of Junior's buddies of the late war, members of the local VFW and American Legion posts, whose colors were borne by R. N. Pelot, Reed Noland and John Bolin. The long procession of Masons, led by Alvin Hamby with the sword, as Tiler of the Lodge, Frank Brown, Master, and Paul Linde who as the oldest Mason in attendance bore the Bible, added to the impressiveness of the funeral cortege which in addition consisted of hundreds of cars in a line reaching from the cemetery to the city. At the grave wreath upon wreath of flowers were heaped upon and around the mound of earth that was to cover the casket. A square around the grave was formed by all t^e organizations participating, in which were seats for the family, and a uniformed firing squad under former (Continued on Page Eight) Marine sergeant H, G. Eldridge and Captain Coleman E. Morgan. A military burial was the final ceremony for the dead hero in whose memory his former comrades, local members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, named one half of their Post (West), the other half (Buttram) named in | the memory of Cecil Buttram, another Crossville boy, no less a hero than Ben, Jr., and whose body was never found on the field of battle on the opposite side of the globe from young West. As the firing squad sounded the 18 rounds tribute to a departed comrade and military rites were said by former Lt. Col. Herbert M. Houston, also a Chaplain in the U. S. Army, the thought perhaps occurred to every one of the assembled hundreds, including the dead hero's immediate family of grandmother, Mrs. W. T. Harris, parents, and brother Paul and his family, that although this pomp and ceremony over Ben, Jr. was at the moment for and due him, it was nevertheless symbolic for each and every one of Cumberland County's war dead. Guarding the Colors were R. E. Harmon and Raymond Ryan; M e m b e r s of the firing squad were: Lester Hill, Jr., Bill Duerr, Bill Thurman, Kenneth Burnett, Jimmie Hill, and Paul Kington. Vaughn Swafford, Proctor Up-church and Bryan Stanley set cadence for the procession with the drums. J o h n i e Randolph blew taps, while the echo was given by Mark C. Dunbar, Jr. Pallbearers for the removal of the casket to the grave, and to remove "Old Glory" for presentation to the deceased’s parents were: Thos. Ray Coleman, J. H. Graham, Jr., Fred Brandon, Harold Mar low, Charles Hill, and Edward Ryan. Out-of-town relatives here for the services included: P. V. Beadle, Clyde Beadle, Mr. and Mrs. Wallace West, Mrs. R. H, Turner, Mr. and Mrs. Newton Garmany and two children Alice Lee and Bobby, all of Chattanooga, and Mrs. Allen Smith, of Soddy.