John Slaven

John Randolph Slaven (July 31, 1922 – Aug. 3, 1944) was a soldier from Oneida killed in France during World War II.

See Also: Scott Countians killed in war

Biography

Born July 31, 1922, John R. Slaven was the son of Robinson Crusoe Slaven (1895-1973) and Ora Ellen Wheaton (1891-1990). He had a twin brother, James Rudolph Slaven (1922-1989) and another brother, Crusoe Wheaton Slaven (1920-1979). James was also a World War II veteran.

John Slaven’s third-great-grandfather was Richard Harve Slaven, the first settler of the Big South Fork.

World War II

SSgt Slaven enlisted in the U.S. Army on Jan. 4, 1940 and was assigned to the 36th Armored Infantry Regiment. He fought in the European theater of the war, and was killed in St. Lo, France on Aug. 3, 1944 when he walked into a German machine gun nest in a hedge grove. His twin brother, CWO James Slaven, was wounded by a sniper’s bullet at St. Lo.

Aftermath

SSgt. Slaven’s body was returned to Scott County in September 1948. A funeral service was held on Sept. 19, 1948, and he was buried at West Cemetery in the Williams Creek community west of Oneida.

He received the Purple Heart with Oak Leaf Cluster. 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.