{"id":2635,"date":"2022-10-24T23:18:14","date_gmt":"2022-10-24T23:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/?p=2635"},"modified":"2023-08-31T15:30:23","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T15:30:23","slug":"powell-orville","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/powell-orville\/","title":{"rendered":"Powell, Orville Rex"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Pvt. Orville Rex Powell (December 15, 1924 – October 2, 1944)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

313th Infantry Regiment, 79th Infantry Division<\/p>\n\n\n\n

by Taylor Johns and Elizabeth Klements<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Early Life<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Orville Rex Powell, who often went by Rex, was born on December 15, 1924, in Coffee County, Alabama, to Clifford and Mary n\u00e9e Bowdoin Powell.1<\/sup> Clifford and Mary married in Coffee County in 1917 at the ages of twenty-three and twenty, respectively.2<\/sup><\/sub> Both were born in Alabama to large farming families. While Mary grew up in Coffee County, Clifford\u2019s family moved from Alabama to Walton, FL, in the early 1900s. By 1917, Clifford and some of his family returned to Alabama while other family members remained in Florida.3<\/sup> Clifford and Mary established a farm and a family of their own in Coffee County. Orville had nine sisters and five brothers: Agnes (1918), Alice (1919), Coy (1921), Myrtice (1922), Rudolf (1923 \u2013 1924), Samuel (1926), Lydia Marie (1927), Omah (1929), Laura (1931), Joy (1933), Roland (1936), Nancy (1939), and Joan (1940).4<\/sup> Such a large family, not uncommon for the time, would have been useful as extra hands on the farm. While the children doubtless worked on the farm, they also attended school \u2013 boys and girls alike \u2013 so that they could read and write. At least one daughter received a high school education, at a time when only one in eleven rural Alabama children attended high school.5<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Powell family in the 1940 US Census<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

The Powell children\u2019s access to education and the fact that Orville Powell owned his own farm, as seen in the 1940 census, suggests the Powell\u2019s had a degree of prosperity during the difficult years of the 1930s. The Great Depression affected every level of commerce in the country, and the agricultural south further suffered from the boll weevil infestation which decimated its cotton industry by the 1920s. Luckily, most farmers in Coffee County, including the Powells had started growing peanuts, a switch of crops G.W. Carver, at the Department of Agriculture at the Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institut developed and supported with the aim to increase southern farmer\u2019s revenues. By 1919, Coffee County became the largest producer of peanuts in the country and began to diversify to other cash crops such as potatoes, sugar cane, sorghum, and tobacco.6<\/sup> Orville\u2019s farm likely grew peanuts or some of these other cash crops.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between 1940 and 1942, the teenaged Clifford moved to the city of Ocoee, in Orange County, FL.7<\/sup> Clifford had some aunts and uncles scattered across Florida, but none near Ocoee, an all-white community after the Ocoee Massacre of 1920 when white residents murdered and drove out the town\u2019s black inhabitants.8<\/sup> Clifford probably moved to Ocoee for its proximity to Dr. Philip\u2019s orange groves and refinery. Dr. Phillips was known for owning a substantial portion of the orange groves in Central Florida and changing the citrus industry forever by creating \u201cflash\u201d pasteurization which gave orange juice a longer shelf life. By 1940, he dominated the orange industry in Central Florida, and his support and philanthropy helped other Central Florida businesses to grow as well.9<\/sup> Like many others in the area, Orville worked for Dr. Philips, either in the orange groves or the processing plant.10<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Military Service<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 1940 Selective Training and Service Act required every adult man to register for the draft, which Orville did in December 1942, a few weeks after his eighteenth birthday.11<\/sup>Half a year later, his number came up, and Orville reported to Camp Blanding for training on June 26, 1943.12<\/sup> Located in Starke, FL, Camp Blanding had been a training reserve station for the Florida National Guard. In 1940,  the US Army converted it into a federal training camp and expanded it to accommodate up to two complete infantry divisions at a time,  about 30,0000 men.13<\/sup> After the initial training, Powell joined the 313th Regiment of the 79th Infantry Division, which was known as the \u201cCross of Lorraine\u201d Division for its participation in the Meuse-Argonne battle in the Lorraine region of France during World War I.14<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The 79th trained at Camp Blanding before moving to field training in Tennessee and then desert maneuvers in Arizona. In December 1943, the 79th transferred once again to Camp Phillips in Kansas to train under winter conditions. During this winter, Orville, probably not used to the conditions, caught a bad cold for which he was hospitalized.15<\/sup> The US Army wanted these new recruits as prepared as possible to take the place of the soldiers who had fallen in overseas combat operations already underway. In April 1944, the 79th Division crossed the Atlantic, landing at Liverpool, England, in the middle of the same month.16<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In England, the 79th prepared for the Allied invasion of France, scheduled for D-Day, June 6, 1944. Having ousted the German forces in northern Africa and almost all of Italy by the spring of 1944, the Allied leaders prepared for the liberation of France. The first Allied landings took place on the coast of northern France, from which point the Allied troops pushed inland toward Paris. Between April and June, the 79th trained for amphibious operations and for attacks on fortified areas to prepare for the inevitable encounter with the German troops in northern France.17<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Orville and the rest of the 79th Division landed in the second wave of attacks on Utah Beach, Normandy between June 12 and 14, alongside the 4th, 90th, and 9th Infantry Divisions, which altogether made up the American VII Corps. The US military command instructed this Corps to seize the port city of Cherbourg and its surrounding area. Cherbourg\u2019s capture was vital to the Allies\u2019 overall success allowing control on supplies\u2019 transportation. The assault began on June 19, 1944, and lasted until June 26, when the German troops defending Cherbourg finally surrendered. Orville\u2019s regiment, the 313th, played a key role in this engagement, taking the brunt of the attack as the Corps took Fort du Roule, the last German stronghold defending the city.18<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the rest of June and July, the 79th Division pushed across northern France, at first encountering strong enemy resistance, and then moving quickly with less difficulty toward the Paris region. In early August, the 79th was about to reach Versailles when the military command ordered it to take the heights overlooking Mantes-Gassicourt, north of Paris, which would block the last escape route for Germans trapped by the Allied troops in northern France.19<\/sup>Throughout August, the 79th fought to take these heights and then cross the river Seine in face of German resistance.20<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the end of August, the US military leaders reassigned the 79th Division to the XIX Corps near the Franco-Belgian border. Then, throughout September, the 79th Division fought along a forty-mile front in the Lorraine region, liberating Charmes, Poussay, Ambacourt, Neufchateau, and Luneville. On September 28, 1944, the division began the attack on their next objective, the Parroy Forest. The new terrain was especially challenging to the men of the 79th and the German resistance was fierce. A captured German officer in the engagement reported that the German troops had received a direct order from Hitler to hold the forest at all costs, because \u201che, Hitler, had fought here in the last war and had attached a high sentimental value to this area.\u201d21<\/sup> By October 2, the Division had advanced a third of the way through the forest. The 313th regiment spent the day reorganizing and patrolling when the sporadic enemy artillery fire struck and killed Pvt. Orville Powell.22<\/sup> He was nineteen years old.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Legacy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The battle for the Parroy Forest ended with an Allied victory at the end of October, and the 79th Division received some well-earned rest before pushing further East. The Division defended the Allies\u2019 hold of the Moder River in the North of Alsace over the winter of 1944 \u2013 1945, crossed the Rhine River in April, and helped clear a pocket of resistance in the Ruhr valley. After Germany surrendered in May 1945, the Division remained on occupation duty until it was deactivated and sent back to the US.23<\/sup>In 1946, the French Provisional Government awarded the 79th Division with the Croix de Guerre with Palm in recognition of its \u201csplendid endurance and exceptional fighting zeal\u201d in the forest of Parroy and in liberating Baccarat, Phalsbourg, and Saverne.24<\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
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Powell Headstone and Internment Card<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

His fellow soldiers buried Pvt. Powell at a temporary cemetery in Lay-Saint-Remy near his place of death, and, after the war, the US Army reinterred him at the Lorraine American Cemetery in St. Avold, in block C, row 25, grave 44.25<\/sup> As seen in his headstone inscription and internment record, Powell earned a posthumous Purple Heart, a symbol of his camaraderie and bravery, awarded to soldiers who are injured or killed in action while defending the United States.26<\/sup>He was survived by his father and mother, who passed away in 1962 and 1986 respectively, four brothers and seven sisters.27<\/sup> The war took away Powell\u2019s chance to grow old alongside his family, but his service and sacrifice helped ensure their future safety and happiness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

1<\/sup> \u201cU.S., WWII Draft Registration Card,\u201d database, Ancestry.com <\/em>(www.ancestry.com<\/a>: accessed February 22, 2021), entry for Orville Rex Powell, Ocoee, Orange County, Florida.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2<\/sup> \u201cAlabama, Coffee County, Marriages, 1830- 1957,\u201d database, Ancestry.com<\/em> (http:\/\/www.ancestry.com<\/a>: accessed February 22, 2021) entry for Clifford Powell and Mary Bowdoin, Coffee County, Alabama.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3<\/sup> \u201c1910 US Census,\u201d database, Ancestry.com <\/em>(www.ancestry.com<\/a>: accessed January 26, 2022) entry for Orville Clifford, Walton County, Florida, and for Mary Bowdoin, Coffee County, Alabama; \u201cObituaries: Clifford Powell,\u201d Geneva County Reaper, <\/em>August 2, 1962, page 8, Newspapers.com.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

4<\/sup> \u201c1930 US Census,\u201d database, Ancestry.com <\/em>(www.ancestry.com<\/a>: accessed January 26, 2022) entry for Orville Clifford, Coffee County, Alabama; \u201c1940 US Census,\u201d database, Ancestry.com <\/em>(www.ancestry.com<\/a>: accessed January 26, 2022) entry for Orville Clifford, Coffee County, Alabama. For Rudolf Powell, see \u201cRudolf Douglas Powell,\u201d Find a Grave, <\/em>accessed January 26, 2022, https:\/\/www.findagrave.com\/memorial\/123772328\/rudolf-douglas-powell<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5<\/sup> \u201c1940 US Census;\u201d Gordon Harvey, \u201dPublic Education in the Early Twentieth Century,\u201d Encyclopedia of Alabama, <\/em>accessed January 26, 2022, http:\/\/www.encyclopediaofalabama.org\/article\/h-2601<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

6<\/sup> Lorraine Boissoneault, \u201dWhy an Alabama Town Has a Monument Honoring the Most Destructive Pest in American History,\u201d American South, <\/em>May 31, 2017, accessed January 26, 2022, https:\/\/www.smithsonianmag.com\/history\/agricultural-pest-honored-herald-prosperity-enterprise-alabama-180963506\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

7<\/sup> \u201cU.S., WWII Draft Registration Card.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

8<\/sup> \u201cObituary: Orville Powell;\u201d Carlee Hoffmann and Claire Strom, \u201cA Perfect Storm: The Ocoee Riot of 1920,\u201d The Florida Historical Quarterly <\/em>93, no. 1 (Summer 2014): 25 \u2013 43; \u201cBending Toward Justice: Voting Rights and Voter Suppression,\u201d RICHES<\/em>, accessed October 14, 2022, https:\/\/bendingtowardjustice.cah.ucf.edu\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

9<\/sup> Joy Wallace Dickinson, \u201cDoctor Philips: The Real Deal,\u201d Orlando Sentinel, <\/em>May 1, 2007, accessed January 26, 2022, https:\/\/www.orlandosentinel.com\/orl-doctorphillips-history-story.html<\/a>; \u201cBittersweet: The Rise and Fall of the Citrus Industry in Florida,\u201d Florida Memory, <\/em>accessed January 26, 2022, https:\/\/www.floridamemory.com\/learn\/exhibits\/photo_exhibits\/citrus\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

10<\/sup> \u201cU.S., WWII Draft Registration Card.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

11<\/sup><\/sub> \u201cU.S., WWII Draft Registration Card.\u201d (ibid)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12<\/sup> \u201cU.S., WWII Army Enlistment Records,\u201d database, Ancestry.com <\/em>(www.ancestry.com<\/a>: accessed February 22, 2021), entry for Orville R. Powell, service number 34788643.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

13<\/sup> \u201cHistory of \u200b\u200b\u200b\u200b\u200bCamp Blanding,\u201d Camp Blanding<\/em>, accessed March 18, 2021, https:\/\/fl.ng.mil\/Camp-Blanding\/Pages\/History.aspx<\/a>, George E. Cressman Jr., \u201cCamp Blanding in World War II: The Early Years,\u201d The Florida Historical Quarterly<\/em>, Vol. 97, No. 1 (Summer 2018), 44.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

14<\/sup> US Army, The Cross of Lorraine: a Combat History of the 79th Infantry Division, June 1942-December 1945 <\/em>(1946), 8 \u2013 9, https:\/\/issuu.com\/79thdivision\/docs\/ww2-history_of_the_79th<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

15<\/sup> \u201cU.S., WWII Hospital Admission Card Files, 1942-54,\u201d database, Ancestry.com <\/em>(www.ancestry.com<\/a>: accessed February 22, 2021), entry for Powell, Orville R., service number 34788643, February 1944.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

16<\/sup> US Army, The Cross of Lorraine<\/em>, 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

17<\/sup> US Army, The Cross of Lorraine,<\/em> 9; William M. Hammond, \u201cNormandy, 6 June \u2013 24 July 1944,\u201d US Army Center of Military History, <\/em>accessed February 10, 2022, https:\/\/history.army.mil\/html\/books\/072\/72-18\/index.html<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

18<\/sup> US Army, The Cross of Lorraine<\/em>, 18 \u2013 27.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

19<\/sup> US Army, The Cross of Lorraine,<\/em> 28 \u2013 47.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

20<\/sup> US Army, The Cross of Lorraine,<\/em> 47 \u2013 49.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

21<\/sup> US Army, The Cross of Lorraine,<\/em> 69.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

22<\/sup> Sterling A. Wood, History of the 313th Infantry in World War II <\/em>(Washington: Infantry Journal Press, 1947), 124; Staff Group C, Section 11, CSI Battlebook 11 \u2013 C: Foret de Parroy <\/em>(Fort Leavenworth: Combat Studies Institute, 1984), 59 \u2013 61; \u201cU.S., WWII Hospital Admission Card Files, 1942-54,\u201d database, Ancestry.com <\/em>(www.ancestry.com<\/a>: accessed February 22, 2021), entry for Powell, Orville R., service number 34788643, October 1944. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

23<\/sup> \u201c79th Infantry Division \u2013 Cross of Lorraine,\u201d US Army Divisions, <\/em>accessed January 28, 2022, https:\/\/www.armydivs.com\/79th-infantry-division<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

24<\/sup> Wood, History of the 313th Infantry, <\/em>203.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

25<\/sup> \u201cHeadstone Inscription and Internment Record,\u201d database, Ancestry.com <\/em>(www.ancestry.com<\/a>: accessed April 4, 2021), entry for Orville R. Powell, service number 34788643.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

26<\/sup> Fred Borch, \u201cThe Purple Heart \u2013 The Story of America\u2019s Oldest Military Decoration and Some Soldier Recipients,\u201d accessed April 4, 2021, www.Armyhistory.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

27<\/sup> \u201cPvt. Orville Rex Powell,\u201d Find a Grave, <\/em>accessed February 10, 2022, https:\/\/www.findagrave.com\/memorial\/56659665\/orville-rex-powell<\/a>. This link also provides two pictures of Pvt. Orville Rex Powell which we have not been able to verify. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pvt. Orville Rex Powell (December 15, 1924 – October 2, 1944) 313th Infantry Regiment, 79th Infantry Division by Taylor Johns and Elizabeth Klements Early Life Orville Rex Powell, who often went by Rex, was born on December 15, 1924, in Coffee County, Alabama, to Clifford and Mary n\u00e9e Bowdoin Powell.1 Clifford and Mary married in…","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":2938,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"template-narrow.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":{"x":0.5,"y":0.38},"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,19],"tags":[334,335,336,14],"veteran_name":[345],"veteran_rank":[79],"biography_author":[331,337],"army_branch":[252],"unit":[346],"division":[347],"award":[348],"hometown":[349],"cemetery":[401],"class_list":["post-2635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lorraine_american_cemetery","category-world_war_2","tag-313th-infantry-regiment","tag-79th-infantry-division","tag-ocoee","tag-purple-heart","veteran_name-orville-rex-powell","veteran_rank-private","biography_author-elizabeth-klements","biography_author-taylor-johns","army_branch-infantry","unit-313th-infantry-regiment","division-79th-infantry-division","award-purple-heart","hometown-ocoee","cemetery-lorraine"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2635","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2635"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3304,"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2635\/revisions\/3304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2635"},{"taxonomy":"veteran_name","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/veteran_name?post=2635"},{"taxonomy":"veteran_rank","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/veteran_rank?post=2635"},{"taxonomy":"biography_author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/biography_author?post=2635"},{"taxonomy":"army_branch","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/army_branch?post=2635"},{"taxonomy":"unit","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/unit?post=2635"},{"taxonomy":"division","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/division?post=2635"},{"taxonomy":"award","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/award?post=2635"},{"taxonomy":"hometown","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hometown?post=2635"},{"taxonomy":"cemetery","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/projects.cah.ucf.edu\/fl-francesoldierstories\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cemetery?post=2635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}