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Third in a series on West Market Street Methodist Church during World War II.

During this stressful time, West Market Street Methodist Church was exemplary in providing comfort to church members, those members serving their country and to service men and women from across the country stationed in Greensboro.

The West Market Street members who wore the uniform distinguished themselves.
 
Among them were Horace R. Kornegay, a 1941 graduate of Greensboro High School and an enrollee at Wake Forest University that September.

He enlisted in the Army in December 1942, and was assigned to a heavy machine gun platoon. He shipped to France and was part of the Seventh Army. He holds the Purple Heart and was discharged in February 1946.

Leroy Shuping Jr. discovered he was color-blind when he tried to enlist as a pilot in 1942. He remained in service, and in 1945, he was commended in a citation for his work in military intelligence while assigned to the Oak Ridge atomic bomb project.

Lt. Earl D. Warren, missing in France, was reportedly saved by the French underground. Army Air Corps surgeon Dr. John Burwell vaccinated Clark Gable when he joined the military and the two were photographed while the shot was given.

Margaret Grantham taught Navy pilots to fly blind in the Link trainer.

George Earl Preddy wrote his father, “Yesterday I received orders for the Silver Star. …I am proud to receive it. It was given for a mission last December when two others and I battled against six to one odds. I lost my wing man and he has been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.” Other notes tell about how in January 1944, “Capt. Preddy was decorated with the Air Medal and Oak Leaf Cluster for completing twenty raids. On one, he destroyed an ME-109 while protecting bombers.
 
Before serving in the European Theater, Preddy participated in 40 missions out of Darwin, Australia. In February 1944, Preddy and his wing man attacked 18 German fighters attacking a crippled B-24 (bomber.) They were joined by one other (American fighter plane) and dispersed the 18.”

Preddy was killed by friendly fire during the Battle of the Bulge, December 1944. He was the sixth most effective fighter pilot during World War II and was credited with shooting down more than 26 enemy planes.
 
William Preddy was also a fighter pilot during the war. He was a brother of George, and the church’s June 1943 “Quips and Quotes” noted, “Bill Preddy (had written) a letter to Dr. Craven and the Board of Stewards thanking them for his star placed on the service flag and his copy of ‘Strength for Service to God and Country.’”

William Preddy was killed in combat in Czechoslovakia.

The church also takes note of veterans who joined the church after World War II.

Doug Dickerson was part of the famed 82nd Airborne Division whose combat record is second to none. He participated in every parachute drop the 82nd made, including service in the Normandy Invasion and the Battle of the Bulge.
 
Maj. Richard G. Ivey, a West Point graduate, was in the Philippines when the Japanese invaded in early 1942. He earned the Distinguished Service Cross, the nation’s second highest decoration, for actions defending Bataan and Corregidor.
 
Ivey became a prisoner of war after Bataan fell. Brutally harsh treatment by the Japanese almost destroyed this young officer, but after more than three years of captivity, he returned home and was helped in his recovery by his wife, Margrette. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from UNC- Chapel Hill. Ivey died several years ago and Margrette passed away recently.

Steve Millikin served in the Navy in the Pacific Theater aboard the USS George A. Johnson, DE583, a destroyer escort. After the war, he was among the first American military to enter Shanghai, China, in 10 years.

After discharge in 1946, he became a lawyer and had a distinguished career.
 
Other than God, his family and the law, Millikin’s interests centered on veterans. He was founder of the Black Caps Veterans Group, the prime voice of veterans in Guilford County. He also donated more than 300 books on history to the church library. Millikin died a few months ago.

My sincere thanks to Gayle Fripp for the information she gathered about West Market Street Methodist Church.

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Those who have served their country have earned the right to be remembered. 

If you will send me the names of any veterans who have died in the year 2008, I will remember them in the last column of the year. Please include the veteran’s full name; which war they were part of; branch of service (Army, Navy, Marines, etc;) rank (sergeant, petty officer, lieutenant, etc.); and your name and telephone number.

Deadline is Nov. 30.