Sunday, August 12, 2018

Corporal Terrell J. Fuller-Hometown Hero, Home At Last


Corporal Terrell J. Fuller     

  Between 1990 and 1994, Korea returned 208 boxes of human remains which were later determined to contain the remains of  400 U.S. Servicemen.  Through sophisticated DNA testing many of them have been identified.  One of them, Corporal Terrell J. Fuller was from my hometown of Toccoa, Georgia.  I am proud to say that yesterday he was given a burial in Toccoa with full military honors.  His body was flown from Honolulu to Atlanta and from Atlanta to Toccoa by car, he had a military escort.  If you click on his name at the first of this post, you may read more about him from an excellent written obituary.  
It appears that he had been a prisoner of war.  In 1954, Fuller's name had appeared on a list of soldiers who had died in custody. Another soldier has come forward and stated that he remembered him as a fellow POW. 

Corporal Terrell J. Fuller was laid to rest on Aug. 11, 2018, on what would have been his 88th birthday.   He is buried in Stephens County Memorial Cemetery.  It is same place where my grandparents are buried, my father's parents and it is serenely beautiful.  Corporal Terrell J. Fuller, may you rest in peace, surrounded by those from your hometown. 




On a personal note, I wonder how many have Terrell as a name in this area.  One of my cousins had that name as a middle name on my mother's side and on my Dad's side, his brother has Terrell as a middle name.  There was a well known doctor by that name (Dr. Terrell, it was his surname) and he must have been very well loved.
My cousin died at a young age but my Uncle John is in his 90's.

I must also mention to you that my mother's first husband died in Korea.  I will never forget seeing the American flag so carefully folded and his Purple Heart in our cedar chest.  Roy Hollifield was killed July 7, 1952.  He was only 24.  

From the Korean War,  7691 Americans still remain unaccounted for. May all those who have died in service be honored and remembered.

14 comments:

  1. Wise words indeed, Kay. I'm glad Corporal Fuller is finally home. My fathet-in-law served in the Royal Navy's Far East Fleet for the duration of the Korean War and always said it was The Forgotten War. He resented that. My husband has his medals and we have made sure our children know about it. x

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  2. Never too late to be buried with honour.

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  3. Beautiful, but also, heartbreaking. I am glad he is home at last but thinking of how much life he missed that he should have known. It's difficult to know what to make of all the suffering.

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  4. Now he will finally rest in peace. His family has their young man home. For that I am grateful.

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  5. How my heart grieves for the parents who never got to see their children brought home.

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  6. So much grief and suffering, and still we have not really learned to avoid wars. We are a stubborn lot, us humans.

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  7. It was a long time coming and I am sure his family can finally exhale. War breaks so many hearts.

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  8. It's wonderful that this brave soldier finally made it home. War is such a terrible thing and many have never found their way home. Remembering them is the least we can do.

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  9. I am happy for Corporal Fuller and his family that he finally made it home, may he rest in peace and may they have their peace with closure.

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  10. How wonderful to see the town turn out to honor the fallen soldier. Lovely post.

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  11. Hello! First-time reader here, I think. I live in Canton in Cherokee County and clicked on your blogname in the sidebar of Graham Edwards's blog. I'm not a native Georgian but I have lived here since 1975 (I'm 77 now). My mother was from Pennsylvania and my father was from Iowa so I have "yankee roots" (which is neither here nor there) but I'm commenting about the name Terrell. FOr many years there was a church in Cherokee County whose pastor was Terrell McBrayer. I googled "terrell mcbrayer" and found a real estate agent in Villa Rica. On a whim/hunch I then googled "terrell governor of Georgia" and found a Governor Terrell in the first decade of the twentieth century. This could explain the many Terrells in this part of the country.

    I am nothing if not thorough.

    I hope to do a lot of catch-up reading on your blog. What little I've seen thus far is fascinating.

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    1. https://www.jstor.org/stable/40580762?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents
      If you copy and paste that, you can read "William Terrell:Forgotton Benefactor" online. I am sure that the Dr. Terrell in Toccoa must be related to him, as was the Governor of Georgia that you mention.
      Thanks for your comment and nice words. You know that uncle I mentioned whose middle name is Terrell? He lives in Canton!

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