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Theron Alton Belcher

PFC in 603rd Engineer Camouflage Bn : Co B, 4th Platoon

ASN#34880027

Born 1909 in KY, Died 1998

County of residence at enlistment: Cheatham County, TN
Other residence(s): East Peoria, IL; Akron, OH
United States Army, European Theatre of Operations
Occupation before the war: skilled asbestos and insulation workers
Source: YOU ON KP by Jack Masey; Company B Names and Addresses roster; 1945 photo of Theron and first wife Velmer, from Ancestry®

Theron Alton Belcher was born on October 13, 1909, in Butler, Kentucky. In the 1910 census, his father was listed as a laborer in a lumber camp (as were most of the men on that page of the census). In the 1920 census, his father was a farmer in Kentucky, and in 1930 his father was a farmer in Cheatham County, Tennessee.

Theron married Velmer Louise Morris (also shown as Velma and Thelma on some documents but "Velmer" seems correct) about 1935. The 1940 census (taken in April) lists Theron as a farmer in Tennessee.

He enlisted on July 14, 1943 at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia. His enlistment record states his profession is a skilled asbestos and insulation worker.

A photograph of Theron and Velma at the end of the war in 1945 shows him in uniform, caught in a romantic pose. However, they were divorced in Ohio in October, 1946. She remarried two months later, and he remarried on April 21, 1947—his new bride was Christine Ardell Louallen, also from Cheatham County. His marriage license lists him as a rubber worker in Akron, Ohio. Theron and Christine would go on to have eight children—two sons and six daughters. They were living in East Peoria, Illinois by the mid-1950s, possibly earlier.

She was 15 years younger than he, but died young—in 1979 at the age of 55.

Theron found employment working for Cramer Concrete in Mossville, Illinois and as a school janitor. He died on January 6, 1998. Both he and Christine are buried in Cheatham County, Tennessee.

Photo, 1945 (in uniform, with 1st wife)

https://www.ancestry.com/mediaui-viewer/tree/80587788/person/46427964764/media/9f6eaca9-892c-4cd6-b28b-1e3be5b125c0?_phsrc=VIi13&_phstart=successSource

Sources:

1940 census

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2442&h=33829476&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=VIi21&_phstart=successSource

Draft card, 1940

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=2238&h=201640480&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=VIi8&_phstart=successSource

Marriage record (2nd marriage), 1947

https://www.ancestry.com/interactive/2145/4440965_00018?pid=383751&backurl=search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv%3D1%26dbid%3D2145%26h%3D...4

Social Security Death Record, 1998

https://search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?indiv=1&dbid=3693&h=3929532&tid=&pid=&usePUB=true&_phsrc=VIi9&_phstart=successSource

Obituary 1998

https://www.genealogybank.com/doc/obituaries/obit/0F91AA4362FA9F8D-0F91AA4362FA9F8D?h=1&fname=theron&lname=belcher&fullname=&rgfromDate=1998&rgtoDate=1998&formDate=&formDateFlex=exact&dateType=range&kwinc=&kwexc=&sid=lscojffkiyzdakkyxvuufcwplzighyou_wma-gateway010_1592169468343

Find a Grave record, 1998

findagrave.com/memorial/54630751/theron-a-belcher

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