William Sexton

William “Alonzo” Sexton (1914 – Nov. 28, 1943) was a U.S. Navy sailor from Scott County killed in World War II.

See Also: Scott Countians killed in war

Biography

Born in 1914 in Scott County, William Alonzo Sexton was the son of Samuel Sexton (1876-1955) and Ida Bell Chambers (1879-1934). His siblings included Cresy Ann Axley (1908-1943) and Ezra Sexton (1910-1962). He also had several half-siblings: Marvin Hollis Sexton (1938-1995), Lindsey Sexton (1941-2019), Larry Wayne Sexton (1954-2013), Elizabeth Sexton and Ezra Sexton. They were from his father’s second marriage, to Lessie Lucille Chambers (1919-1975), after Ida Bell’s death in 1934.

Alonzo’s father, Sam Sexton, served as sheriff of Scott County from 1902 to 1906.

By 1930, the family had moved to Pickett County. In 1940, the family lived in Kingsport, Tenn., which is where Alonzo graduated high school. The rest of the family later moved back to Huntsville, where Sam married Lessie Chambers, who was more than 40 years his junior.

World War II

PO3 Sexton enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1941. He was reported as Missing in Action on Nov. 28, 1943.

Aftermath

PO3 Sexton is memorialized on the East Coast Memorial in New York. He received the Purple Heart. He is listed on the Scott County Veterans Memorial in Huntsville, and the East Tennessee Veterans Memorial in Knoxville.