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The Way We Were: Augusta’s first World War II casualty

Bill Kirby
bkirby@augustachronicle.com
Marine Pvt. Thomas Buford Scott Jr. was Augusta’s first World War II casualty. [FILE/THE AUGUSTA CHRONICLE]

We know a lot about World War II, but not a lot about its first Augusta casualty.

Marine Pvt. Thomas B. Scott Jr. was 19 when he died in early 1942 in a service-related plane crash.

His parents told The Augusta Chronicle they had been notified of his death in a Feb. 8 telegram from Lt. Gen. Thomas Holcomb, the Marine Corps commandant.

They said they last heard from their son Jan. 20 when he was in the continental United States, but "the government stated that further details about the accident might aid enemies of this country," The Chronicle said.

The parents said they had been advised not to make public any details of where or how his death occurred.

Perhaps they never did.

Newspaper archives do not show such a story, and neither do similar accounts in The Atlanta Constitution, which also reported Scott's death. Years after the war, he was quietly reburied in Westover Memorial Gardens.

The Chronicle did recall the young Marine had attended Monte Sano Elementary and the Academy of Richmond County, where he was described as an outstanding football player.

He enlisted in the Marines in June 1941, went to Parris Island for training, then off to a special course at Quantico, Va., as well as the Marine School in Chicago, where his family proudly noted he had graduated seventh in a class of 700.

Besides his parents, who lived at 2006 Pennsylvania Ave., Scott was survived by a brother, Whatley Scott; maternal grandparents Mrs. and Mrs. L. Montgomery, of Augusta; five aunts, Mrs. R.B. Collier, Charlotte; Mrs. Baxter Williams, Jacksonville; Mrs. James Bennett and Mrs. J.T. Howard, both of Augusta; and Mrs. J.R. Bates, of Blythe; and an uncle, Leck Montgomery, of Augusta.

The city paid tribute to Scott during a memorial service Feb. 15, 1942, at the old Second Baptist Church at Dantignac and 11th streets with the Rev. Archie Brickle in charge, assisted by three other ministers, the Revs. R.E. Mayfield, E.S. Jones and L. Bert Joyner.

They helped many say goodbye to the first Augustan to die in the war.

He wouldn’t be the last, but today they should all be remembered.