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Floyd Allen "Jack" Tolbert

PFC in 23rd Headquarters Co

Military occupational specialty: 521 (basic, administration)

ASN#34211814

Born 1920 in NC, Died 1974

County of enlistment: Fort Jackson, Columbia, SC
Other residence(s): Arcadia, NC; Stoneville, NC; Newark, NY
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
Occupation before the war: unskilled occupations in manufacture of furniture, n.e.c.
Source: Unit Shipment 10143-A, 23d HQ, from le Havre 23 June 1945; Ghost Army roster by state; militaryyearbookproject.org/references/old-mos-codes/wwii-era/army...

Jack Tolbert was born on June 6, 1920 in Guilford County, NC, the oldest of nine children in a farm family. In 1930 they were farming in Arcadia, NC, just south of Winston-Salem. In 1940, they were living in Stoneville, NC and Jack's father was working as a WPA blacksmith.

Jack registered for the draft on July 1, 1941; at the time he was working at the Stoneville Furniture Factory. He enlisted on February 18, 1942, indicating that he had a grammar school education and was still with the furniture factory.

Jack eventually found his way into the Ghost Army, working in administration in the 23rd HQ Company. At some point in 1943 he was charged with desertion, but appears to have gotten reinstated. He served in Europe with the unit, and was discharged on September 21, 1945 with the rank of PFC.

Six days after his discharge, he married Ida M. Gnagie, a young woman from Newark, NY, and they went to live in Newark, a village on the Erie Canal, about 35 miles southeast of Rochester. He was the only one of the nine children in his family to leave North Carolina.

Little is known of his life or work after that. He and Ida did not have any children, and he died at 53 in Newark, on January 7, 1974. He is buried at Newark Cemetery.

Sources:

1930 census

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/77285707:6224?tid=&pid=&queryId=b232cccbaf466a9b74809f263783a448&_phsrc=rNz4&_phstart=successSource

1940 census

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/153306496:2442?tid=&pid=&queryId=4d0a6e5250e21937e6e3e14192af60ab&_phsrc=mSH14&_phstart=successSource

1941 draft card

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/122693:2238?tid=&pid=&queryId=4d0a6e5250e21937e6e3e14192af60ab&_phsrc=mSH12&_phstart=successSource

1942 enlistment record

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=8939&h=1858899&tid=&pid=&queryId=4d0a6e5250e21937e6e3e14192af60ab&usePUB=true&_phsrc=mSH16&_phstart=successSource

1943 desertion record

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=61993&h=38333&tid=&pid=&queryId=4d0a6e5250e21937e6e3e14192af60ab&usePUB=true&_phsrc=mSH18&_phstart=successSource

1945 marriage record

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=61632&h=6005854&tid=&pid=&queryId=4d0a6e5250e21937e6e3e14192af60ab&usePUB=true&_phsrc=mSH9&_phstart=successSource

1974 Find a Grave record

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/187757922/floyd-tolbert

1974 Social Security death index

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=3693&h=62780697&tid=&pid=&queryId=84627470685c064f7a1f1c1144df1951&usePUB=true&_phsrc=mSH4&_phstart=successSource

1974 VA death record

https://www.ancestry.com/discoveryui-content/view/3491409:2441?tid=&pid=&queryId=4d0a6e5250e21937e6e3e14192af60ab&_phsrc=mSH6&_phstart=successSource

1974 obituary in the Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester NY)

https://www.newspapers.com/image/136841485/?article=f6a1dace-0a10-47f5-9fe8-1cbcd241518a&focus=0.7369657,0.28724644,0.8504019,0.35154098&xid=3355&_ga=2.154239739.2109204835.1633087834-1626043944.1633087834

2019 wife's obituary

https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/fltimes/name/ida-tolbert-obituary?pid=191829638

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