Lacellas Threadgill, U.S. Army

Lacellas Threadgill was drafted into the Army on January 13, 1941. He was one of the lucky ones to have a low draft number. He was stationed at Camp Bowie in Brownwood, TX in the 36th Division Combat Engineer Reg. Company A.

A month later, Feb. 14, 1941, he married Mary Ruth Travis. Mary Ruth had tried to get him to marry her before he was drafted but he thought everyone would think he was a draft dodger. Mary Ruth sent him a telegram that his grandmother was sick (which wasn't true!), and he got a weekend pass to corne home and they were married at Mt. Auburn Christian Church.

Las transferred to the 176th Engineers C.-Special Troops in preparation for Officers Training on April 19, 1942 and left for Officers Candidate School on May 12, 1942 in Virginia. He graduated on August 5, 1942 and became a 2nd Lt.

For the first time since they were married, Mary Ruth and Las got to live in the same town! They boarded a train to Camp Attebury, Indiana, 338th Engineers General Service Regt. and rode all night long sitting up to Indianapolis. They found a cute little house in Columbus, Indiana that they shared with another couple. The men didn't get to come home every night but it was a lot better than it had been.

Not long after he was transferred to Claiborne, LA, and then left for England May, 1943. Mary Ruth moved back home to Dallas to live with her mother and her two sisters whose husbands were also overseas.

Lacellas first saw land off the northern coast of Ireland, July 1943 and he was stationed in England. The big day finally came when he and the 358th division landed on the beaches of Normandy on June 6th, 1944 (D-Day!) He was in the second wave. He said most of the first wave was killed. The beaches were covered with dead soldiers when they landed.

In November, 1944 the 358th was sent to Belgium for the battle of the Bulge. Las was sitting next to a window when a V2 Rocket flew into the building and glass flew in his head. He received a purple heart. It was in Belgium that he was promoted to Captain on Jan. 16, 1945.

While serving in Europe, General Dwight Eisenhower walked up to the tired and unshaved Lacellas and said, “Soldier, in this army we shave every day.” His response to General Eisenhower was, of course, “Yes, Sir!!!”

Finally in October, 1945, the war was over and Lacellas was coming home. He sent a telegram to his bride Mary Ruth - ON MY WAY HOME! LOVE, LAS. They had been apart for 30 months!!!

He returned to his job at Sears Roebuck, & Co and stayed a member of the Army Reserves until 1953. By then he and Mary Ruth had two daughters, and with the threat of the Korean War he decided to request an honorable discharge, which was granted.