Colvy Madden
Colvy Beth Madden (Nov. 18, 1914 – Aug. 6, 1944) was a soldier from New River killed during World War II.
See Also: Scott Countians killed in war
Biography
Born Nov. 18, 1914, in the Flat Rock area of McCreary County, Colvy B. Madden was the son of William Beth Madden (1888-1952) and Maggie Mae Strunk (1892-1958). His siblings included an older brother, James Coleman Madden, and a sister, Pauline Madden. He also had a half-sister, Norma Jean Lewis (1922-2002).
William Madden and Maggie Strunk were divorced early in Colvy’s life; William married Edna Gunther (1904-1984) of Glenmary in 1919, when she was 14 and he was 30.
The Madden family moved to New River sometime during Colvy’s childhood. They resided at New River when the 1920 census was taken. William worked as a railroad operator. They still lived there when the 1930 census was taken.
When the 1940 census was taken, Colvy was a prisoner at the Scott County Jail in Huntsville. There’s no clear record of what crime he committed or was accused of.
In August 1943, Colvy married Verta Lee Sims, the daughter of William Evan Sims and Ida Florence Loudin of Robbins, in Dayton, Oh. They did not have any children.
World War II
Pvt. Madden enlisted in the U.S. Army and was assigned to the 8th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Division. He fought in the European theater of World War II. He was killed on Aug. 6, 1944. No further information is available. The 8th Infantry Regiment was the first of the 4th Infantry Division’s infantry regiments to land on Utah Beach on D-Day, June 6, 1944. It is not known if Pvt. Madden was at the battle. According to war diaries, the 8th Infantry was near Rennes, France on Aug. 6, 1944, working to liberate that city from German control.
Aftermath
Pvt. Madden was initially interred at the American Cemetery in Cambridge, British Isles. His body was later returned to the U.S. for burial at the Mill Springs National Cemetery near Somerset, Ky.
He is listed on the VFW Post 5669 Memorial Wall in Oneida, the Scott County Veterans Memorial in Huntsville, and the East Tennessee Veterans Memorial in Knoxville.
Vertie had two children with Clifford West of Scott County (Ronald Kent West, 1946-1970, and Jerald Keith West, 1950-1970). She eventually remarried to Allen Coots (1932-2000) and moved to Indiana, where she died in 2014.