General Lucian K. Truscott, Jr. was born in in 1895 in tiny Chatfield, Navarro County, Texas. His father, Lucian King Truscott, Sr., was a doctor who had just bought a medical practice of Dr. William Pannill who had desired to relocate to nearby Corsicana, the county seat. His mother, the former Maria Temple Tully, taught piano there in Chatfield. However, the family did not reside very long in Texas before again relocating, this time to the Oklahoma Territory in 1901.
Continue reading Gen. Lucian K. Truscott, Jr.Category: world war 1
John J. Pershing
General John Joseph Pershing served in Texas immediately prior to the United States’ entry into World War I. His name might be familiar to some in Texas due to the raids into Mexico that were intended to catch the bandit Pancho Villa.
Marcelino Serna
The headline in the El Paso Herald-Post on Veterans Day, November 11, 1970 read “Hero of World War I Rides in Parade” and went on to tell the amazing story of Marcelino Serna. Private Serna was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, Purple Heart and Victory Medal (United States decorations) along with the French Medaille Militaire and two Croix de Guerre and the Italian Merito de Guerra. The article added that Private Serna spent his first Armistice Day in a hospital recovering from his wounds that he received about a week earlier on November 7, 1918 while participating in the Meuse-Argonne offensive.
Continue reading Marcelino SernaChoctaw Code Talkers
People are probably more familiar with the Navajo Code Talkers of World War II, but the Choctaw Tribe is proud to acknowledge the United States military service of its members. As early as the Spanish-American War and in every conflict since, members of the Choctaw tribe have served as American soldiers.
Battleship Texas (BB-35)
The USS Texas is now berthed near the San Jacinto Monument. She is second of the New York ship class, which consisted of only two ships, the USS New York and the USS Texas. The New York Class (1908-1914) was characterized as being more heavily armed than the previous Wyoming Class. They were the first battleships to use 14 inch/45 caliber guns. This particular gun was used on the Nevada- and Pennsylvania Class ships. The ships of the New York Class were also powered by coal and had five gun turrets when first built. Some of the above was changed during overhauls and retrofitting, including her conversion from coal to diesel power.
TEXAS HISTORY NOTEBOOK 