Memorial- Chicken Thomas

Point South is a small community on the Northern edge of Jasper County, South Carolina, right off of exit 33 on I-95. Not a lot going on in Point South. Most passers-by would notice that there are a couple of hotel/motels, some fastfood restaurants, a KOA campground, and three or four gas stations, but not much of interest on the trip to or from Florida. But if you park your car and walk, you might see one of the many small family cemetaries in the area. This is where I met Private Chicken Thomas. The little graveyard in which Private Thomas is interred is the last resting place of several African-American families. I recognize the names from my practice in Ridgeland. I knew a couple of the people that are interred there now. I didn't know Chicken Thomas, as I didn't get to Ridgeland until 1987 or so, and he died on June 22, 1975. I do know he had family who loved him, because he has a nice headstone. The one thing Chicken Thomas' family wanted you to know about him from his nearly seventy-nine years on this celestial ball, was that he was a veteran of World War I. Since the Army wasn't fully integrated until President Truman ordered it in 1948, most of the African-Americans serving in the Army in World War I were not permitted into combat, and, according to this article http://www.liunet.edu/cwis/cwp/library/aaffsfl.htm#WWONE , the few that were permitted into combat fought along side French troops, rather than with White American ones. Chicken Thomas never got any rank to brag about, and probably never got into battle, but was proud to serve his Country. This Memorial Day, I want to thank Private Thomas.