by Penny Clark
Archivist/Museum Curator
Sam Houston Regional Library & Research Center
It has always been popular to glamorize and romanticize war.
This is particularly true about World War II. We want to remember
the exciting and thrilling aspects of the war years. Many Americans
are nostalgic for the strong sense of purpose our nation had during
the war. While people were working hard, and making some sacrifices,
such as limiting their consumption of meat and sugar, they believed
that each individual's actions could help the Allies achieve victory.
For many Americans the war years brought prosperity with higher
wages than they had enjoyed before the war.
World
War II was an exciting time. There were many couples who met,
enjoyed a lightening fast courtship, and suddenly married. It
is easy to see why a young woman might be swept off her feet,
meeting young men in spiffy uniforms who were traveling to some
of the most remote and exotic lands on the globe.
While it is appealing to remember the positive aspects of the
Second World War, it is important to recognize that the war had
a devastating impact on many people's lives. Homes and businesses
were destroyed and people were maimed and killed.
William Waldo Partlow was one of the fifty-two men from Liberty
County who lost their lives in World War II. Partlow's untimely
death seems especially tragic due to his appealing personality.
Will, as he was known, was the quintessential All-American boy.
He was a native of Liberty, born to Mr. and Mrs. William Dozier
Partlow in 1920. He had a sister, Ellen Catherine, and a much
younger brother, Ray Dozier, known as Dick. As a youngster, he
enjoyed all the normal activities of boys including playing football,
participating in boy scouts and helping his father tend cattle.
One day, while working cattle, Will became thirsty and drank impure
water from a creek. He contracted typhoid fever from the water
and became very sick. Despite this early illness, Partlow grew
to be a handsome and tall man. A redhead, he stood six feet, two
inches and weighed 159 pounds.
Will received a good education, graduating from Liberty High
School in 1938, and the Schreiner Institute, a military junior
college in Kerrville, in 1940. He was an Aggie, obtaining a bachelor's
degree in Agronomy from Texas A&M in January 1943.
He enlisted in the Reserve Corps of the Army for the duration
of the war plus six months on November 17, 1942. Apparently, Will
Partlow, like many young men of that time wished to fulfill his
military service as a pilot. Although becoming a pilot might have
been considered glamorous, it was definitely not easy as there
were strict psychological, physical and intelligence standards
to meet. Early in 1943 Will was stationed at the San Antonio Cadet
Center which specialized in the "mass production of pilots, navigators,
and bombardiers." At San Antonio he had physical and mental training
including course work in physics, mathematics, aircraft recognition,
and the organization of the Army.
Later, during the summer of 1943, he continued his training
at Cimarron Field near Oklahoma City. Here he was eliminated from
further pilot training due to "weak coordination." Will had discussed
his frustrations in a letter to his parents: " I'm plenty disgusted
with the way my hands and feet don't do what I tell them to do
lately." Although, Partlow may have lacked coordination, one of
his instructors said that Will had an abundance of "horse sense
and judgment" that would have enabled him to be a good pilot.
Although he didn't become a pilot, Partlow's training and skills
enabled him to serve as a radio operator on an aircraft. In March
of 1944 he was shipped overseas to North Africa. Will's task was
to assist the Army in transporting cargo from the Middle East
to India.
The
letters he wrote home to his family and friends show him to be
a pleasant, thoughtful, person who made the best out of military
service. Even being stationed in the Middle East with its scorching
heat failed to dampen his spirits, instead of complaining he enjoyed
a wide variety of activities during his free time. He swam, read
books, attended church, and toured exotic sights. He took particular
pleasure in choosing souvenirs to send his family including brass
ash trays and ivory elephants. Like most soldiers, Will looked
forward to returning to America, but this was not to be.
Corporal William W. Partlow was killed July 27, 1945 in a plane
crash in Saudi Arabia. One of his Army buddies speculated that
a fire started somewhere in the front of the plane, and that the
pilot attempted to make a forced landing, but was overcome by
the heat or fumes and lost control of the aircraft. When the crew
failed to reach their destination, search parties were dispatched,
and located the wreckage.
Military authorities offered the family comfort. They praised
Will's character, saying he was a person who "always brought cheer
and happiness where ever he appeared. Although he was of a quiet
nature, his personality was of the type that left a lasting favorable
impression." Robert Nye, a Major in the Air Corps, told the family
that: "All those who knew or worked with him have said he was
as fine a man as they could hope to meet."
A military official wrote the family about the far-away funeral
and burial in Iran: "Here your loved one was buried with full
military honors, befitting one who has died in defense of his
loved ones and country, and here with other fallen comrades of
the service he sleeps beneath the gravestone that marks his grave.
The magnificent towering mountains speak in their majesty of God's
eternal care, and the grounds which are now, and ever will be,
well cared for, speak for the care and interest which our government
manifests in this spot made sacred by the dust of our fallen comrades."
In 1948 the Partlow family had the body shipped home for burial
in the City Cemetery in Liberty. Two Methodist ministers conducted
the services at Allison's Funeral Chapel. The Veterans of Foreign
Wars and the American Legion conducted graveside services. Will's
pallbearers were high school classmates Rubin Allison, Marvin
Waldman, Ben Pickett, Horace Pickett, Donald Tims, Glen Rodgers,
Allen Chambers, Brit Perryman, Floyd Telford, and Leonard Mason.
A chaplain sent Mrs. Partlow a meaningful message: "I wish there
was something which I could write that would assuage your grief.
We can only trust that the new world which is to be when the guns
of war are silenced will be such as to justify all the sacrifices
that are now being made."
World War II did bring positive and long-lasting changes to
the world. The evil dictatorships of Germany, Italy, and Japan
were destroyed. A peace of almost fifty years was brought to the
continent of Europe. Moreover, America emerged from the war stronger
and more prosperous than ever.
But the Allied victory came at a huge cost. Men, such as Will
Partlow, gave up their entire lives. He would never again join
his family around the Thanksgiving table. He would never open
another Christmas present. He never had a chance to pursue a career.
Will never got married, never got to know the joys of raising
children. If he hadn't been lost to the war, he would probably
be living in Liberty today enjoying the company of his grandchildren.
Instead, long before his time, he filled a hero's grave. He, indeed,
made the supreme sacrifice.
This story is based upon the William Waldo Partlow Archives which
were donated by R. D. Partlow and Ellen Swindle to the Sam Houston
Regional Library and Research Center.
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