George F. Settle

Biography:  George Franklin Settle was born on August 25, 1914, in Biggersville, Alcorn County, Mississippi. He was the son on William McDougal Settle and Barbara Whisenant Hill and graduated from Biggersville High School. George worked with his father on the family farm.

Service Time:  George entered the service on January 6, 1942, at Camp Shelby, MS. He was assigned to Company B of the 605nd Tank Destroyer Battalion and received a Marksman Badge during his training.

On December 11, 1942, he married the former Mary Avis Adair who was born in Booneville, Prentiss County, Mississippi, and was the daughter of John Guy Adair and Jessie Pernecey Maxwell.

He returned to the unit which trained at a number of camps including Camp Hood, Texas. The 605th boarded the Queen Mary and shipped out from the New York port on December 10, 1944, arriving in Clyde, Scotland, on December 16th. The unit moved to Weymouth in Southern England and boarded transports, landing at Le Havre, France, on January 26, 1945. They were equipped with towed 3″ guns.

 

They entered battle on February 16th near Tevern, Germany, and crossed the Roer River on the 24th, joining the drive to the Rhine.  They were then deployed to the Remagen bridgehead on March 12th and withdrawn 5 days later on the 17th. The 605th was then sent to Belgium in support of British armored forces, but were almost immediately attached to the 17th Airborne Division. They crossed the Rhine beginning on the 25th at Xanten and participated in the reduction of the Ruhr Pocket in April. At war’s end, they crossed the Elbe River on April 30 and May 1st, at Bleckede. 

George received credit for two of the unit’s campaigns and was awarded the WWII Victory Medal, the EAME Medal, American Campaign Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. He would later receive the WWII Cross from the Daughters of the Confederacy. He left the service at the rank of Sergeant.

He returned home to Biggersville and continued his education by taking courses in Farm Engineering and Farm Management through LaSalle Extension University. The courses were offered to veterans at the local high school. He managed the family dairy farm, which had been in the family since 1858 when it was purchased by his great-grandfather, David Settle. George and Mary had three children, Raymond, born in 1945, Evelyn in 1946 and Edward in 1948. In his spare time, George enjoyed gardening and was an Elder in the New Hope Presbyterian Church. He was also a Biggersville School Trustee and member of the Corinth American Legion Post 6.

The photo above is George and Mary on their 50th Wedding Anniversary. The photo at left is George preparing to climb aboard the half-track he rode in during the 2010 Corinth Veteran’s Day Parade. That same year, he was able to visit the WWII Memorial, in Washington, D.C., as part of the Veterans Honor Flight Program.

George passed away on June 17, 2011 and was buried in the New Hope Presbyterian Cemetery. I want to thank George’s son, Raymond, for providing the information and photos for this tribute.