UPDATE: TUESDAY, JAN. 20, 2026
A subcommittee of Vance County’s America 250 group is in the process of collecting photos and information for the 124 individuals who hailed from Vance County and were killed in action in service to their country.
The plan is to have banners placed throughout the downtown area by Memorial Day this year. So far, everything is going along on schedule, but the committee is enlisting the help of the community as it continues to search for photos of the fallen heroes.
To date, 58 photos have been obtained, leaving 66 yet to be located. Each banner will feature the name and photo of the individual, as well as a QR code to learn more information about each person.
Barbara Harrison, who serves as chair of the county’s America 250 committee, also is heading up the subcommittee to find photos of those killed in action.
The America 250 committee is working with the Vance County Historical Society, Perry Memorial Library and others to get the word out about the banners and the photo search.
Below you can access the names of the men from Vance County who were killed in action since the county was established in 1881.
There are 10 names that remain under review to confirm that they were from Vance County, Tem Blackburn said, president of the Vance County Historical Society. Those names under review leaves a possibility that the final list could grow to as many as 134.
The banners will have a QR code on them, that, when scanned, a viewer will gain access to additional information about the individual. The library is the hosting website for the information that the QR code will access.
Blackburn expressed thanks to Patty McAnally and Monica Alston at Perry Memorial Library for their help with the project.
Visit https://www.perrylibrary.org/home and click on the tab ‘America’s 250’ to see the full list, or scroll down in this post.
He said that Tracy Madigan will coordinate with city employees to make sure the QR code on the installed banners can be accessed from street level.
“She going to investigate and do a test run,” Blackburn explained.
••••••••••••••••••••••••
UPDATE: MONDAY, JAN. 19, 2026; Submitted by Tem Blackburn, President, Vance County Historical Society
The Vance County Historical Society is seeking assistance in locating the best available photographs of members of the armed forces who died in armed conflicts since formation of Vance County in 1881 (VCKIA). The photos will be used on street banners and memorial book pages honoring these men.
The street banners will be deployed beginning on Memorial Day 2026 and each year thereafter on Memorial Day. The Memorial Book will be on permanent display at the entrance to the Society’s Historical Museum on the second floor of Perry Memorial Library. A QR code on each banner will link to the Memorial Book page for the VCKIA service member shown on the banner.
The street banners and memorial book initiatives are joint projects of Vance County Historical Society, the Vance County Committee for America’s 250th anniversary celebration and Perry Memorial Library. Both initiatives are being funded by the John William Pope Foundation.
A joint committee of VCHS, VCA250, and PML, chaired by Barbara Harrison, is conducting the photograph search. She also Chairs the Vance A250 Committee and is Regent of the John Penn Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution. In announcing the search, Mrs. Harrison said: “We are all excited about this project to honor the sacrifice of local service members since Vance County was formed in 1881. The memorial pages will present information that, in many cases, has not been known about their service and sacrifice, even to family members. The death notices and obituaries frequently provided no more information than the statement that the fallen warrior died ‘in France’ or ‘at sea.’ We now have access to a great deal more information about the specific locations, battles and conditions in which these men gave the last full measure of devotion to our country. The memorial book will formally inscribe them in our county’s memory.”
Perry Memorial Library has created a website hosting an online gallery of photographs of VCKIA located to date and a list of names of the fallen service members for whom no photographs have been located to date. The public, and especially VCKIA family members, are requested to provide photographs of VCKIA for whom no photographs have been located to date. These photos should preferably show the service members in uniform. In addition, anyone with a photograph of one of the VCKIA that is in better condition than those shown in the online gallery on the PML website should also contact the photo search committee using the PML website contact information for the VCKIA Photo Project.
The website can be accessed at: https://www.perrylibrary.org/americas-250/america-250-banners.
The members of the armed forces from Vance County who died in armed conflicts since formation of Vance County in 1881 are listed below. Further details about them can be found on the Perry Memorial Library website.
Oscar Allen Abbott
Ronnie Darnell Adcox
Clarence William Allgood
Huston Hammet Averette
Bennie Ayscue
John David Baker
Robert Lee Baker
George Armitage Ball
William Balthrop Jr.
Rex Baskerville
Robert Vernon Bennett Jr.
Clarence Ray “Billy” Brame Jr
Claude Hubert Breedlove
Lunsford Bernard Brown II
George T. Buchan
Edward W. Bullock Jr.
Thomas J. Bullock
Ernest Vance Bunn Jr
Robert Morrison Byrd
Joseph Cannady
Lee Andrew Cannady
Edward Fenner Capps
Grady Isaiah Carriker Jr.
Luther Monroe Chance
Simon Peter Christmas
Walter Christmas Jr
Charles Beacom Church
William Clifton Clay III
Hill Parham Cooper
Raymond B. Crabtree
George S. Debnam
Dalton James Dixon
Samuel Durham
Elon “Bud” Eastwood
George E. Edwards
Charles Duel Ellington
Warren Pershing Faucette
Ernest Kinnette Fleming
Floyd F. Fleming Jr.
Leon Floyd
Claiborne M. Fuller
Charlie T. Gardner
John Cleveland Greenway
Julian Thomas Greenway
Ellis Bailey Gregg
Edmond Gregory
Grover L. Griffin
Ernest W. Grissom
Thomas Jarvis Grissom Jr.
Sidney Alford Haithcock
Leo Edward Hamlin
Andrew Jackson Harris Jr.
James Clifton Harris
William Brown Harris
Walter Andrew Haskins
Harry Carlton Hedgepeth
Percy Lee Hedgepeth
Charles M. Hester
Carl Clinton Holbrook
Roger Edward Howard
Jessie Lee Huff
Emmett Fenner Hughes
Hugh Hunt
Charles Edward Ivey
Archie Jarrell
Norwood Thomas Jenkins
Clifton Cleo Jones
Fred O’Neal Jordan
Donald Arrington Joyner
Arthur Graham Kelly Jr.
Simon A. Kelly
Claiborne Field King
John Nathan King
Bill Brooks Knight
David Goode Langley
Eugene T. Lassiter
Henry Thomas Leonard
William Liles Jr
Morris Dabney Link
Robert E. Mabry
Henry Elmo Matthews
John H. Mimms
Russell Y. Mitchell
James Clifton Moore
James E. Moore
William Henry Moseley
Claude Edward Mustian
Luther Hammett Newton
Richard Turner Norvell
James Scott Norwood
Thomas Elmo Norwood
Edward Barney Parrish
Alvin W. Peace
Francis B. Peoples
Robert Lee Perry
John Lewis Poythress
Hamit N. Powell
Julius Donald Pritchett
Walter Pruitt
Jasper Davis Pulley
Charles N. Ranes Jr
Robert M. Rideout
Lawrence Jackson Rux Jr.
Graves Morgan Shotwell
James A. Steed
James D. Tarry
Chester Arthur Taylor
Phillip Earl Taylor
John Randolph Teague
William A. Teague II
William C. Vaughan
James Matthew Vernon
Jimmie Walker
Robert Dade Wall
Owen Ashley Wallace
Edwin Goode Watkins Jr.
James Tasker Weldon
Alpheus W. White
Freeman Whitfield Jr
Guy Wren
Wiley Lamon Wright
Click Play for TownTalk Audio!
