Wilton Earl DAVIS

Source :  thecitadelmemorialeurope.wordpress.com

15 July 1903

Oconee county, SOUTH CAROLINA 

Spouse : Eva Beatrice O'Neal DAVIS

Son : Wilton E DAVIS Jr.

Parents : Walter R & Elizabeth Smith DAVIS

Siblings : Clayborn R, Gatha, Joe S, John P & Sara 

Source : Andy

CEMETERY TEMPORARY of  Luynes Cemetery, Aix-En-Provance N°3551

Story of Cemetery Temporary  

RHONE AMERICAN CEMETERY de Draguignan 

Plan du cimetière de Draguignan

Source : The Citadel Memorial Europe

Beaverdam Baptist Church Cemetery

Captain Wilton Earl Davis, born 15 Jul 1903, was the son of Walter Reid Davis and Elizabeth “Lizzie” (Smith) Davis of Center Township, Oconee County, South Carolina. Oconee County is in extreme northwestern South Carolina 123 miles northeast of Atlanta, Ga. He left a wife, Eva, and two children, Walter Jr and Letty Elizabeth, in Alexandria, Louisiana.

In the 1910 census 7-year-old Wilton is living with his parents and siblings Clayborn 9, Gatha 8, Joe 5, Pruitt 3, and Julian 2, in Center Township, Oconee County, South Carolina. His father is farming.

In the 1920 census 16-year-old Wilton is living with his parents and siblings Clayborn 19, Gatha 18, Joe 14, Pruitt 13, Julian 11, Mary 8, Walter Jr 5, and Sara 3, still on the farm in Center Township.

Wilton graduated from the Citadel, Military College of South Carolina in Charleston in 1926.

In the 1930 census 25-year-old Wilton is one of ten boarders living in a rooming house run by Drucilla Hair on Hurt Street N.E. in Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia. Wilton is a clerk for the electric company.

Wilton married Eva Beatrice O’Neal sometime before 1938. In the 1938 Alexandria, La., city directory Wilton and Eva are living at 1410 Flowers Street.

In the 1940 census 35-year-old Wilton and Eva 34 with Wilton Jr 2, are living in the household of Eva’s mother Lettie O’Neal at 2406 Hill Street in Alexandria, Rapides Parish, Louisiana. Wilton is an educational advisor at a CCC (Civilian Conservation Corps) camp. Eva is a clerk in a department store.

On 29 Apr 1940 reserve Captain Wilton E Davis departed for Fort Benning, Ga., for active-duty training.

In April 1941 Wilton was ordered to active duty reporting to Fort Benning, Georgia, and then in November 1941 he was ordered to Scott Field and became a liaison officer with the Air Corps. He sailed for North Africa in 1942 landing in Casablanca, Morocco. His brother Joe S. Davis was a Lieutenant in the Navy and sailed with the same convoy to North Africa, but neither of them knew it until they met in Casablanca. He was assigned to the Delta Base Section, a subordinate unit of the COM Z, or Communications Zone responsible for massive logistic effort to support the 6th Army Group. Delta Base Section operated the coastal ports of Southern France.

The NARA WWII casualty listings by state and county for Louisiana show Davis, Wilton E, Capt from Rapides Parish as DNB (Died Non-Battle) so he died in the line of duty from some illness or accident on Christmas Day 1944. He was 41 years old.

In the 1958 Shreveport Louisiana city directory she is still listed as the widow of Wilton. She is an office secretary at the Veteran’s Administration residing at 611 Erie Street.

At some point Eva remarried Robert Martin. She passed away in Baton Rouge 1 Dec 1993 at age 88.

Source: American Battle Monuments Commission (ABMC) contributor Brian Kueker

Brother's 

Wilton E

Joe S. DAVIS

Beaverdam Baptist Church Cemetery
Fair Play, Oconee County, SOUTH CAROLINA

 Source : Theron Rogers 

Parents : Walter R & Elizabeth Smith DAVIS

Siblings : Clayborn R, Gatha, Wilton E, John P & Sara