William Herbert (Willie) Lee

May 14, 1942

Flagler County has 74 men in the various branches of the armed forces at this time ..... the list up to date is as follows: WILLIAM HERBERT LEE

October 1, 1942

WILLIE LEE, mess sergeant, who has been stationed at Smyrna, Tenn., is home on a furlough.

April 15, 1943

Staff Sgt. WILLIE LEE sent us a card this week from Courtland, Alabama, where he has been stationed for some time. Sgt. Lee said he gets The Tribune regularly and enjoys it very much.

July 1, 1943

S/Sgt. W. H. LEE arrived here today from Courtland, Alabama, for a short visit with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. W. J. Lee.

December 30, 1943

According to souvenir menu cards received from S/Sgt. WILLIE LEE at Courtland, Alabama, and Cpl. Leonard Moody at Camp Haan, Irwin, California, they must have had a "double decker" banquet on Christmas day. It kinda made our Christmas menu which consisted of turkey and dressing and all the trimmings (and one that proved to be very filling) look like just a lunch.

January 27, 1944

S/Sgt. WILLIE LEE is here for 15 days. He was called home by the death of his father which occurred last Sunday and he was buried Wednesday at Espanola cemetery.

July 20, 1944

Received a card this week from S/Sgt. WILLIE LEE in Courtland, Alabama, saying it was just too hot there for him. He added that he has a WAC 2nd Lt. for a mess officer. "What next? I now take orders from a woman!"

December 7, 1944

S/Sgt. WILLIE LEE, stationed at Courtland, Alabama, with the army, was here this week on furlough.

March 8, 1945

MILITARY FUNERAL TOMORROW FOR SGT. W. H. LEE

S/Sgt. WILLIAM HERBERT LEE, 34year old, mess sergeant of the student officers' dining hall at Courtland Army Air Field, Courtland, Alabama, dropped dead in his barracks Monday afternoon, March 5, his death being caused by heart disease.

Sgt. Lee graduated from Bunnell High School in the class of 1929. He entered the army on June 19, 1941. He was a graduate of the U. S. Army Cook's and Baker's School at Camp Blanding, Florida.

Sgt. Lee, known to his friends throughout Flagler County as Willie Lee, had been patient in the army hospital at his camp but had been discharged and had been on duty the day he died, according to a letter received by his mother here from Pfc. John B. Smith, barrack mate of Sergeant Lee.

Private Smith, in his letter to Mrs. Lee here said in part "I am writing this letter on behalf of the boys in the squadron. When I was transferred to this squadron I didn't take much notice of him x x x but before long he won my respect and admiration. He really was outstanding x x We know that he must have been a devoted son for he seemed to think so much of home x x x."

The body was sent to home accompanied by Sgt. R. M. Johnson, a member of Sgt. Lee's outfit, as military escort.

Funeral services were held Friday from the Methodist Church here, of which he was a member, with Rev. A. A. Godfrey, pastor, officiating and assisted by a former pastor, Rev. R. A. Selby of Daytona Beach and Rev. W. K. McClure, pastor of the Bunnell Baptist Church.

He was buried in Espanola Cemetery that afternoon with full military honors, with a firing squad from Camp Blanding.

Sgt. Lee is survived by his mother, Mrs. Ellen Lee of Bunnell; two sisters, Mrs. B. N. Davis and Miss Annie Ruth Lee of Montgomery, Alabama, and one brother, Edward O. Lee of Bunnell.

Pallbearers were members of Flagler Post No. 115, The American Legion: A. M. McDaniel, O. .F. Alford, Brady Wadsworth, H. C. Miller, F. J. Chambers and H. M. Benson.

Honorary pallbearers were H. T. Cook, Clyde Lewis, J. F. Mercer, Henry Wells, H. A. Eisenbach, Dale B. Brown, T. K. McKnight, D. D. Moody, K. K. Knight and Albert Johnson.