George Singleton writes of 84-year-old World War I veteran Walter Eugene Mason of Peterman

World War I veteran Gene Mason

(For decades, local historian and paranormal investigator George “Buster” Singleton published a weekly newspaper column called “Somewhere in Time.” The column below, which was titled “Still active at 84: Gene Mason recalls memories” was originally published in the Oct. 9, 1975 edition of The Monroe Journal in Monroeville, Ala.)

It’s not every day that one finds a man who does the 100-yard dash and at its completion touches his nose with his big toe.

This was all done by Walter (Gene) Mason during his 84^th birthday celebration Aug. 29 at Peterman.

I have known Gene Mason for the past 11 years. He was one of the first Monroe Countians whom I became acquainted with upon arriving here as a total stranger in June 1964.

Walter Eugene Mason was born in 1891 in the community of Axle to Benjamin Franklin Mason and Leslie Fountain. Axle was a thriving community north of Monroeville on the Old Ridge Road.

Reed Speller, Reader

He grew up and attended school near the Ridge Cemetery. The school house has long been torn down where he studied the Reed Speller and the Reed Reader for Grades 1-5. Math and history were his “strong subjects.” Spelling and English were the ones that he didn’t do so well in.

Prior to 1918, Gene Mason worked as a clerk in a county store for $10 a month and board. On May 29, 1918 he answered his country’s call to help win World War I with the famous 81^st (Wildcat) Division.

On that day in May, 100 men left Monroe County for Greenville, S.C., where they took 60 days training before being sent to France, where they stayed for 13 months.

Gene Mason has a vivid memory of the events of his past years. He remembers many, many things exactly as they happened, giving exact dates and names of people he met during the war years.

Memories, tributes

After the war, Gene returned to his beloved Monroe County, where he has living since then except for short visits with relatives and periodic trips to conventions held by his old comrades-in-arms from the famous division. Here they reminisce and pay tribute to the ones who sleep in foreign lands.

Down through the years, Gene has kept most of his uniforms and equipment from the Great War. A display of this equipment can be seen at the county museum.

Gene has been a Methodist all his life, just as his parents before him and their parents before them. He has a perfect record for being present in Sunday School for the past 37 years.

Only twice during this period was he away from his church. This was during a brief illness when he was hospitalized. But Sunday School was held in his hospital room on both occasions, thus giving him his perfect record.

Unweary runners

Many things could be said about this man and his love for God and Country. But for lack of better words, I shall refer you to Isaiah 40: 31 – “But they that shall wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint.”

(Singleton, the author of the 1991 book “Of Foxfire and Phantom Soldiers,” passed away at the age of 79 on July 19, 2007. A longtime resident of Monroeville, he was born to Vincent William Singleton and Frances Cornelia Faile Singleton, during a late-night thunderstorm, on Dec. 14, 1927 in Marengo County, graduated from Sweet Water High School in 1946, served as a U.S. Marine paratrooper in the Korean War, worked as a riverboat deckhand, lived for a time among Apache Indians, moved to Monroe County on June 28, 1964 and served as the administrator of the Monroeville National Guard unit from June 28, 1964 to Dec. 14, 1987. He was promoted from the enlisted ranks to warrant officer in May 1972. For years, Singleton’s columns, titled “Monroe County history – Did you know?” and “Somewhere in Time” appeared in The Monroe Journal, and he wrote a lengthy series of articles about Monroe County that appeared in Alabama Life magazine. It’s believed that his first column appeared in the March 25, 1971 edition of The Monroe Journal. He also helped organize the Monroe County Museum and Historical Society and was also a past president of that organization. He is buried in Pineville Cemetery in Monroeville. The column above and all of Singleton’s other columns are available to the public through the microfilm records at the Monroe County Public Library in Monroeville. Singleton’s columns are presented here each week for research and scholarship purposes and as part of an effort to keep his work and memory alive.)