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Elliott shares WWII memories
Before the war Mr. Elliott attended the Citadel and graduated in 1935 with a degree in physics. He did not receive a commission at the time of his graduation because he was not yet twenty-one years of age. His birthday was in October and he could have gone back to the Citadel then and taken a physical and received his commission but he did not. When he was drafted into service in April of 1944 he entered service with the rank of private. He first reported for duty at Ft. McPherson in Atlanta, Georgia. His job there was in classifications and all of the applications would come before him. After a short time he was then sent to Camp Lee in Virginia for basic training which was mainly infantry training. He then attended cadre school, which was a school for non-commissioned officers, for six or eight weeks. After finishing the NCO school, he went back to Company O and qualified for Officer Candidate School. At OCS he was in Quartermaster Corps training where his class studied logistics, transportation, map reading, weaponry, communications, and other topics. His OCS class began with 62 men but was down to only 31 men by the end of the class. His class was at AP Hill going through their final test when he was released from service on Christmas Eve, 1944, two days before his graduation. He was released from service because of the death of his father-in-law. His father-in-law operated a large saw mill, turpentine, and farming business that provided among other things big timbers for Norfolk and Western Railroad and also timbers for rail service along the coast line of Georgia and Florida. There were many big trestles in Virginia where the railroad hauled coal. The timbers he cut would be forty feet long and not every sawmill could saw a piece of timber that long. Timber of that length was very necessary to keep the trestles repaired around Roanoke, Virginia, where coal was being hauled in support of the war effort. Also, his turpentine and rosin went to the government as fast as he could produce a barrel. The rosin was used to coat naval shells which made them impervious to water. The government also took a portion of the wheat grown on the farm. Mr. Elliott took over the operation of this business upon the death of his father-in-law. After graduation from the Citadel, he went in business with his father in a department store in Swainsboro, Georgia. His father bought one of his partners, Mr. Randolph Coleman's interest in the business and let Mr. Elliott have it as his ownership in the business. The department store was named Coleman, Elliott, and Clark, Inc. and became Elliott and Clark when he joined the business and later became Elliott's Department Store. After the war and after the settlement of his father in-law's estate, he returned to running Elliott's Department Store. Mr. Elliott was born in Conyers, Georgia, on October 11, 1914. He moved with his family to Swainsboro, Georgia, when he was twelve years old and his father joined the Coleman, Elliott, and Clark, Inc. department store business. Mr. Elliott married Billie Rountree on June 10, 1938, and they had two children, Billie Elliott Elder and Charles Thomas Elliott, Jr. He married Daphne Taylor on November 29, 1979. These World War II veterans' interviews are sponsored by the Franklin Memorial Library, the Governor David Emanuel Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Emanuel County Historic Preservation Society.
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