Cordell Wilmoth

Cordell Wilmoth (Oct. 29, 1919 – Aug. 7, 1944) was a Scott County man killed in World War II.

See Also: Scott Countians killed in war

Biography

Born Oct. 29, 1919, Cordell Wilmoth was the son of Jubie Collins Wilmoth (1890-1972) and Rachel Almer Petty (1889-1928).

His siblings included Jewell Thomas Wilmoth (1910-1968), Brison Findley Wilmoth (1913-1985), Charles Dennis Wilmoth (1923-2001), Dalton Wilmoth (1928-2018), Eugene Wilmoth (1931-1932), Cleo B. Brown (1933-1997) and Jubie Collins Wilmoth Jr. (1934-2011). He also had a half-sibling, J.C. Wilmoth (1944-2013) born from his father’s second marriage to Eva Overton (1905-2003).

He married Clara Upchurch (1919-2000), the daughter of Ira Elmer Upchurch (1897-1986) and Ettie Pearl Smith (1900-1999) of Jamestown, and they had two daughters: Clodean Nadosy (1942-2016) and Opal Huddleston (1943-2020).

Cordell was born and lived most of his life in Cookeville, which is where his family was from. However, he moved to Oneida before World War II to work for the Tennessee Coal & Lumber Corp.

World War II

Pvt. Wilmoth enlisted in the U.S. Army and was assigned to the 115th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division. He fought in the European theater of World War II. He was killed in action on Aug. 7, 1944.

Aftermath

Pvt. Wilmoth was buried at the Wilmoth Cemetery at Poplar Springs in Overton County, Tenn.

He received the Purple Heart. 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.

Clara did not remarry. She died in 2000 in North Vernon, Ind. Clodean married Francis Nadosy and died in 2016 in Wisconsin. They had three children: Terry, Jeanie and Jodi. Opal married William J. Huddleston and died in 2020 in Indiana, where she had been a hairdresser for 35 years and owned a beauty salon. They had one son, William.