John West
John Henry West (Nov. 2, 1921 – April 7, 1945) was a soldier from Oneida who was killed in Germany during World War II.
See Also: Scott Countians killed in war
Biography
Born Nov. 2, 1921, John Henry West was the oldest son of Silas West (1893-1930) and Lizzie “Betts” Thomas (1903-1988) of Oneida.
His siblings included Pearlie Boles (1924-2007), James Silas West (1926-1990) and Dewitt West (1928-1947). He also had several half-siblings: Joseph Wade Davidson (1931-2010), Jolly Edward Davidson (1934-1983), Tommy Davidson Jr. (1936-2010) and Betty Lou Greene (1938-1990). They were born from his mother’s second marriage to Tommy Oscar Davidson (1907-1984).
John Henry’s father, Silas, died of pneumonia in 1930 at the age of 36.
When he registered for the draft in 1941, John Henry worked for the Tennessee Coal & Lumber Co. in Oneida.
He married Blanche Robinson in Dayton, Oh. in 1944.
World War II
Pvt. West enlisted in the U.S. Army on July 17, 1942 at Fort Oglethorpe, Ga. He was killed in Germany on April 7, 1945. He was shot by a sniper near Helba, Germany two days earlier, and died from his wounds.
Aftermath
Pvt. West was initially interred at the American military cemetery at Butybanch, Germany. His remains were later returned to Scott County for burial at Hazel Valley Memorial Cemetery, where his mother would later be buried.
According to a letter sent from Capt. Walter A. Miller, a chaplain in the U.S. Army, to Pvt. West’s widow: ” I visited him several times while he was in the hospital and prayed with him. I was with him until just a few minutes before his passing, which I am told, was very quiet and peaceful. You may be comforted to know that several soldiers gathered together and we held a Protestant funeral service for him according to his recorded preferance, and in accordance, also with his statement of faith which he made to me shortly before he died. We gathered some beautiful spring flowers which we laid over him for the service and which were taken to the American cemetery at Butybanch, Germany where he was laid to rest.”
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.
Blanche remarried to John Wade Rutherford (1920-1999). She died in 2015 and is buried in West Virginia.