Troy Native John Morrison is seeking stories about Pike County men who fought in World War II in the 933rd Field Artillery Battalion.

Bob McLendon, American Legion Post 70 commander, said he was contacted by Morrison, who is in the process of finishing the text for a history of these Pike County soldiers that has not been documented.

“These young farmers, hunters and fishermen became artillery connoneers in World War II,” McLendon said. “John Morrison remembers only one story that his father told about his service in the 933rd Field Artillery Battalion in Europe in World War II. The story was about a bugler playing ‘I’m Sitting on Top of the World’ while Pike County men were freezing in the brutal Italian winter of 1944 and were trying to escape artillery shells fired on them by the German army.”

Several members of the 933rd died from the enemy shelling in February 1944. Other 933rd soldiers were injured or killed in training leading up to the war and in the 18 months of combat served by the 933rd.

“John Morrison has researched an ancestor uncle whose name is engraved on the Confederate Soldier monument here in Troy,” McLeondon said. “The Confederate soldier fought in Gettysburg on Little Round Top. John said he knows more about his uncle’s service than his father’s. That was what led him to the search about the men from Troy and Pike County who served with the 933rd Field Artillery Battalion.”

Morrison plans to write a small book about the adventures of the men of the 933rd and a longer, more detailed scholarly combat chronology about the 933rd.

“There are few stories about the men who served in the American artillery,” McLendon said. “John hopes there are relatives and possibly World War II veterans who have letters or memorabilia about the men of the 933rd who would be willing to share the memories and stories as he finishes the draft of his book. He wants to tell the best story he can about the 933rd and its men. As that generation rapidly dies and becomes a memory, it is these stories that will continue to tell the story of the 933rd.”

Anyone who has any information, stories, photographs or other records or memories of the 933rd Field Artillery Battalion in Europe, and also later in Korea, and would be willing to share the information with Morrison for publication in his book, is asked to contact John Morrison via email at jdmorris@fuse.net or jmorr806@gmail.com or via phone st 859-344-1472.

Names of enlisted NCOs and enlisted men who left Troy and were trained at Camp Blanding Florida in 1941 were Cleveland L. Adams, Deleon Adams, Wiley P. Barnett, James L. Boutwell, L.J. Carlisle, Toxie F. Carlisle, Harvill S. Carter; James. M Carter, Calvin C. Chalker, James G. Clower, James H. Cochran, Shelton Davis, Joe D. Dorrill. Horace H. Eddins, George H. Field. William L. Fleming, Charles M. Fryer, Gerald K. Furlow, John R. Furlow, Arthur W. Graves. John F. Gibson, Robert F. Graddy, John H. Griffin, Osbourne A. Griffin, Julian F. Gunter, Clinton Harris, Cody W. Harris, Robert H. Head. George W. Hinton, Willie F. Holmes, Joseph m. Hughes, Hugh F. Inabinette, Wiley Inabinette, Tyrell G. Jackson, Charles N. Jones, Grady L. Jones, Harvey K. Jones, Roscoe D. Kelley, Charles M. King, James L. Knotts, Richard D. Knotts, William S. Laney, Charles H. Lee, Harold F. Lee, Richmond H. Lee, Johnnie R. Lott, Freeman H. Mallett, Edward A, McCrory, Dewey C. McCullar, James G. McVay, Luard E. Miller, Maurice L. Miller, Walter W. Mills, Cleon M. Minor, William M. Mitchum, James R. Moore, John W. Moore, Kelly Moore Jr., Olen Moore, Ralph I. Moore, Milford L. Moore, Raymond D. Morris, Sidney W. Nelson, Daniel H. Morrison. Douglas P. Newby, Clarence C. Newsom, William t. Ogletree, George Omary, Robert L. Orrick, James W. Osteen, John C. Owen, Joe W. Park, Wilbur Penn, Parnell C. Powell, Dilmus Price, William J. Redmon, Orun G. Reeves, Hugh G. Rose, Willie R. Rushing, James L Ryals, Louis R. Scarbrough, Randolph Smith, Oscar M. Spivey, Underwood Spivey, Leon T. Starling, William F. Starling, Robert W. Stone, Travis Tate, James B. Thompson, David Tillery, Fox Tillery, James G. Townsend, James O. Townsend, Samuel F. Townsend, James J. Vickers, Arthur Wallace, James E. Whitehead, Simeon E. Wiggins, John T. Wilson, Thomas J. Wilson, Willis H. Wilson and William E. Young.