Harlin Paul Hughes was just shy of 20 when he was inducted into service in March 1943 and not yet 21 when he was killed in action in Italy in Jan. 1944.

He was one of 53 young men from Chilton County who died in World War II. The death of any soldier is cause for sorrow, but this death shook the Cooper community and is something still remembered by older residents.

Sgt. Hughes was the third son of Luther Dewey and Pearlie Robinson Hughes. He, along with his brothers Melton and Orvid, grew up in Cooper. Their grandfather was the Rev. J.D. Hughes, a well-known Baptist minister.

Their parents were very active in Chestnut Creek Baptist Church so the boys were raised in a religious environment. But even parents of strong faith must have been shaken when the war came and all three of their sons went into service. Melton served stateside in the military police, but Orvid was in the Navy in the South Pacific, and Paul went into the Army.

Paul Hughes was home on leave a few months after his enlistment and just before he was sent overseas. According to a local newspaper account, Mrs. Hughes received the last letter from him on Jan. 28, 1944, and he told her “Everything is all right, just whichever way it goes. My God will take care of me; I have full faith in Him.” Three days later he was dead. If the news item is correct, it was not until March that the family received the telegram informing them of Paul’s death.

WWII ended in 1945; for the rest of the decade, bodies of fallen soldiers were sent home for burial. Chilton County newspapers carried accounts of these arrivals week after week. In August 1948, the paper reported that the remains of Sgt. Hughes arrived in Clanton on the night of July 29, and on Sunday Aug. 1, “the full military funeral was carried out by the National Guard with VFW members as pallbearers.”

One feature of the military funeral was the 21-gun salute. Taska Cox was about 4 years old and lived across the road from the Chestnut Creek Cemetery. Now a retired military man himself and living in Kentucky, Cox remembers the sound of those guns, something that naturally would have impressed a small guy.

Some younger cousins of Paul saw his picture recently and remembered his blond hair and sweet nature. Another woman commented that she was young but knew that it was a “sad, sad time for us all.” Paul’s niece, Lynda Hughes McElroy, was a toddler at the time of his death, but she felt this sadness. She writes, “Uncle Paul’s ultimate sacrifice not only broke our hearts but also gave us the resolve to live with the same commitment and dedication to God, family and country so that his ‘giving all’ would not have been in vain.”

Memorial Day will remind us of all those who made such a sacrifice.