BREWER, ROY CALVIN, was born in Wayne County, Tennessee on 28 November 1896. He died 5 Oct 1985, in Collinwood, TN. He is buried at McGlamery Cemetery. He was the son of William Henry BREWER and Malinda Ann Dora BUTLER. Roy was inducted on 6 September 1918 at Waynesboro, TN. He was a private, serial number 4245751. He was 21 years, 9 months old at induction and by occupation a farmer. He was described as having brown eyes, black hair, a fair complexion and was 5′ 10¼” in height. From 29 Sep 1918 to 12 Oct 1919, he served with the American Expeditionary Forces in Europe, serving with the 249th Co. P.W.E. He was discharged at Camp Gordon, GA on 20 Oct 1919.

After he returned from the service, Roy married Lillie Ellender LAY on 24 September 1922 in Collinwood. They were married by Dr. W. W. RIPPY who was the Justice of the Peace for the 4th Civil District. Lillie was the daughter of John Sampson LAY and his wife, Sarah Alice DIXON. Lillie was born 1 June 1906 and died 26 Jan 1951. She is buried at McGlamery Cemetery.

Roy and Lillie had two children:(1) Juanita Helen BREWER, b. 13 April 1924, m. 7 Aug 1948 to Clarence Delbert THOMAS, b. 4 Dec 1927; they have a son Matthew Lowell THOMAS, b. 1 May 1959; (2) Judith Lay BREWER, b. 27 Feb 1941, m. in 1962 to Virgil H. DAVIS, b. Jul 1938, they have one son John Brewer DAVIS, b. 4 Dec 1968.

Following Lillie’s death in 1951, Roy married second to Hettie A. QUILLEN on 7 June 1954. She was born 29 Dec 1917, and was the daughter of John Lewis QUILLEN and his wife Estella J. STULTS. Roy and Hettie did not have any children.

Several stories, told by Roy, of his experiences during World War I were remembered and recorded by his daughters. They were submitted along with his biography and a published here as part of that biography. They are written in first person, Roy C. BREWER speaking.

The Argonne Cemetery

For a time I was stationed in the Verdun area and assigned to a company that helped build the Argonne Cemetery. In an infantry company a soldier may see a lot of other boys killed. While it affects you to see your friends and acquaintances killed, you are always moving, trying to stay alive. Not even combat could prepare us for what we experienced building the cemetery.

I don’t remember how many acres the cemetery contained, but it would have made a very large farm. We laid the graves out in straight rows so that every way you looked rows would fan out in a straight manner. When we started they had our dead boys laid out and stacked like cord wood. There were great big stacks all around the area. The bodies still had their dog tags on them so we could identify each boy with his grave.

Our camp was ten or twelve miles from the cemetery, but you could smell the decaying bodies even back there. I hope no one ever has to see or smell something like that again.

THE GRAND TOUR

After the Armistice, I was assigned to a guard company that guarded German prisoners of war. Even though they would be repatriated in a little while, we still were responsible for them and maintained a loosely guarded POW camp. The people who lived in that area were mostly Germans and would provide a place for escaped POW’s to hide.

One morning my Captain, a man from near Nashville, told me that a POW had walked off during the night. He also said that no telling where that rascal had gone. He gave me a European wide pass/orders and told me to find the guy if I had to go all over Europe to do it. I took that to mean that the Captain would not be upset if this Wayne County boy took what would probably be his only chance ever to see Europe. I was gone almost six weeks, visited most of the big cities, did some dancing and no little bit of drinking before coming back to the area near our camp, captured the missing POW and marched back to our camp.

THE RUSSIANS

After the Russian Revolution, the new government stopped sending provisions to their troops that were left in France. They were in terrible shape. Most of them could not speak either French or English. They had no money as they were seldom paid even before the Revolution. Some of the boys were very good at carving. I bought several carved horses and so forth from them. I don’t know what happened to those carvings. It would be nice to have them now.

I almost got sent to Russia. You know we landed an expeditionary force in Vladevostock. Some thought we would support the White Russians against the Reds. Just before I was supposed to leave for Russia someone changed his mind and I got to come home.

THE TRIP HOME

On the way back to Tennessee we were on a troop train. I think we were in Trenton, New Jersey. Anyway, we were in a train car packed with troops. When we stopped, this old Italian came by pushing a big cart of fruit that he was trying to sell to people who were on the train. Somebody hollered, “Hey, BREWER, bet you won’t get us a stalk of bananas.” Well, I climbed out an open window, ran up to the cart and grabbed a stalk of bananas and pitched them through the open train window. The old Italian was cussing me good in both English and Italian. I told him to send the bill to Uncle Sam. By the time the train had started again I was back aboard but the other boys had already eaten all of the bananas.