Army solider from Lower Peach Tree was killed in France in July 1918

This past Wednesday – July 22 – marked 102 years since the death of John Henry Privette, who was killed in action during World War I.

It was on July 22, 1918 that U.S. Army Private First Class John Henry Privette of Lower Peach Tree was killed in action at the age of 23 while serving as a cook. Born on May 1, 1895, he is said to be buried in Liberty Methodist Church Cemetery in the Hestle community, west of Coy. (Liberty Methodist Church is also known as the Bear Creek Church.)

According to records at the Alabama Department of Archives and History in Montgomery, Privette’s death was first officially noted on Army casualty lists on Sept. 27, 1918, and his death was widely reported in the Oct. 3, 1918 edition of The Wilcox Progressive Era. That story read as follows:

“The casualty list of the past week gives the name of John Henry Privette of Lower Peach Tree as having been killed in action in France on July 22. This makes the second Wilcox boy to pass over to Fame’s eternal camping ground. John Watson of Pineapple was the first, being killed July 15. May the heroic spirit of these two young soldiers go marching on till the tyrant of Europe pays the penalty of his atrocious crimes. Watson and Privette are the first gold stars in Wilcox’s Service Flag.”

According to Privette’s service records on file at the state archives, it appears that he was initially buried overseas. At some point, like many other soldiers, his remains were exhumed and transported back to the United States for reburial. Privette’s body arrived in Hoboken, New Jersey on June 19, 1921 – nearly two years after his death – and were then sent (probably by train) back to Wilcox County.

Privette’s next of kin was listed as Green Privette, who I presume to be his father. On his son’s service records, Green Privette’s address was listed as Sunny South, which is just north of the Hestle community and Liberty Methodist Church Cemetery. If you visit this cemetery today, you will find a marker for Green, but I’ve never been able to locate one for his son, John Henry.

As best that I can tell from state records, in addition to John Henry Privette and John Watson, at least 23 other Wilcox County soldiers were killed during World War I. Those soldiers include Charley Blackman, William Boykin, William Dumas, William Kelsaw, William Reaves, Harry I. Savage, Howard Singleton and James Williams, all of Camden; Henry M. Autrey, Vivian T. Deaton and Jenkins Jones, all of Sunny South; Oscar L. Autrey, Henry C. Boutwell and Charles E. Treaster, all of Pine Hill; Jimmie A. James and Willie Gay Williams, both of Furman; Fletcher E. Smith of Lower Peach Tree; Frank C. Brooks of Coy, Fred Battle of Gastonburg, John Butler of Snow Hill, Daniel Robinson of Prairie, Frank Stallworth of Bellview, Wiley McMurphy Steen of Pine Apple and Samuel C. Watford of Caledonia.

In the end, I’d like to hear from anyone in the reading audience with more information about John Henry Privette or any of the other World War I casualties listed above. Also, if you know of any other soldiers from Wilcox County who were killed in World War I not mentioned above, please let me know and I will add them to the list.