Earl Daniel Stroud
SGT in 3133rd Signal Service Co
ASN#34514121
Born 1917 in SC, Died 1947
County of residence at enlistment: Lancaster County, SC
Other residence(s): Lancaster, SC
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
Occupation before the war: Semiskilled linemen and servicemen, telegraph, telephone, and power
Earl Stroud was born on September 23, 1917 in Lancaster, SC, the fifth of 10 children. His father was a farmer. Tragedy struck the family early—his two older sisters both died of the flu on the same April day in 1921 when he was three years old.
Earl completed three years of high school, and toiled as an unpaid laborer on the farm. But at some point, he went to work for AT&T as a telephone lineman.
Earl married Etta Mae Warren on May 24, 1942; at the time he was based in Leeds, AL. He enlisted six months later, on November 18, and Etta moved back home to her parents’ home in Branchville, SC.
The skill sets he had developed working for AT&T made him an attractive candidate for the Signal Corps. In the spring of 1944, he was stationed at Camp Crowder, MO and he was eventually assigned to the 3133 Signal Service Company.
Earl went to Italy with the unit in March, 1945, and was promoted to the rank of T/4 somewhere along the way. After returning home in August, 1945, he went back to work for AT&T.
By 1947, he was based in New Orleans, LA, and he and Etta had made their home there. In September, 1947, a category 4 hurricane struck the Fort Lauderdale, FL area. Earl was one of a number of AT&T linemen from other states in the region who were sent to Florida in the aftermath of the storm to help restore power. On September 24 he was atop a pole when he was electrocuted as the result of a high-tension power wire crossing the telephone line. Power in the city was shut off while his fellow workmen spent nearly two hours attempting to revive him. A doctor climbed up the pole to inject him with adrenaline, but found him dead.
Earl was the first enlisted man in the Ghost Army to die after war’s end, and the second overall. He had risked his life in Europe during the war, but would die violently back at home only two years later.
He is buried at Ott Cemetery in Branchville, SC. Etta went on to remarry two years later; her second marriage lasted 62 years until her death in 2011.
Sources:
1920 census
1930 census
1942 wedding announcement in The State (Columbia, SC)
https://www.newspapers.com/image/748673100/?match=1&terms=earl%20stroud
1942 enlistment record
1944 article in the Times and Democrat (Orangeburg, SC) about his military career (at Camp Crowder)
https://www.newspapers.com/image/346030509/?match=1&terms=earl%20stroud
1945 article in the Times and Democrat (Orangeburg, SC) about his military career (stationed in Italy)
https://www.newspapers.com/image/344566690/?match=1&terms=earl%20stroud
1945 article in the Spartanburg Journal (SC) about his military career (arriving home from Europe)
1947 article in the Times and Democrat (Orangeburg, SC) about his death (includes biographical details)
https://www.newspapers.com/image/344554918/?match=1&terms=earl%20stroud
1947 article in the Times and Democrat (Orangeburg, SC) about his death and funeral
https://www.newspapers.com/image/344556198/?match=1&terms=earl%20stroud
1947 Find a Grave record