Burley Booe, white, name on monument, Davie County, North Carolina

Burley Robert Booe, full name

Birth: 2 September 1914

Death: 6 May 1945

Buried: Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial and later, Eatons Baptist Church Cemetery

1920 US Census: 5, living in Clarksville Township with parents, R. Marshall and Peonie L. Booe, and 3 older sisters

1930 US Census: 15, living in Clarksville Township with parents, Marshall R. and Pernie Booe, and an older sister

1940 US Census: Burley R. Booe, 25, living at Ossippee, Boone Station, Alamance County with wife, Shirley; he is a knitter at a hosiery mill, and she is a copper at a rayon mill. (In the 1930 census, she is 15, daughter of Watson and Elvira [Richardson] Lowery. Watson served in the Spanish American War.

Draft Registration: Burley Robert Booe, 26, born 2 September 1914 in Davie County, living at Elon College, Alamance County, NC; working at Glen Raven Knitting Company; wife: Shirley Sue Booe

Enlistment: enlisted on 6 April 1944 at Fort Bragg, NC, 4 years of high school

World War II Prisoner of War: Burley R. Booe, POW in Germany where he died; last report date: May 1945

WWII Veterans Interred Overseas: Burley R. Booe, Private, U.S. Army, 175th Infantry Regiment, 29th Infantry Division, Entered the Service from North Carolina; Died: 6 May 1945; Missing in Action or Buried at Sea; Name on the Tablets of the Missing at Epinal American Cemetery; Epinal, France. Awards: Bronze Star

U.S. Veterans Gravesites: Private, U.S. Army, buried at Eatons Baptist Church Cemetery, 2 September 1914 – 6 May 1945

Online genealogy: parents: Robert Marshall and Permelia Lovenia Reavis Booe; married Shirley Lowery in 1936

Davie Record, 28 March 1945: “Davie Soldier Prisoner. Mr. and Mrs. R.M. Booe, of Clarksville Township, have received a message from their son, Pvt. Burley Booe, that he is a prisoner of war in Germany. He writes that he is in good health. He landed overseas last October. He asks everybody to contribute to the Red Cross campaign, as they are doing a wonderful work among the boys overseas.”

Mocksville Enterprise, 3 August 1945: “Pvt. Burley Booe Dies in Prison Camp. Word has been received of the death of Pvt. Burley R. Booe, on May 6, in a German prison camp in Czechoslovakia of pneumonia. Pvt. Booe was the son of Mr. and Mrs. R. M. Booe of Route 2. He entered service in April 1944, and was taken prisoner November 26, 1944. He is survived by his wife, the former Shirley Lowery, and two children of Route 2, Elon.”

Davie Record, 8 August 1945: “Davie Boy Dies in Europe. Pvt. Burley Booe, son of Mr. and Mrs. R.M. Booe, of Clarksville Township who was reported missing in Germany, on Nov. 11th, 1944, is now reported to have died in a German prison camp on May 6th, death resulting from pneumonia. Pvt. Booe entered the army in April, 1942, and went overseas in September, 1944. He is survived by his parents and three sisters. He is the 36th boy from Davie County who has given his life for his country. The parents and family have the sympathy of a host of friends.”

Interview: Burley and Shirley had 2 sons, Kenneth Wayne who died at 5 ½, and William R

Photograph of Burley shared by his son Bill Booe,, author’s third cousin through the Booe line and the Richardson line. The last time Bill was with his father was when he was six months old.

Photograph of Epinal American Cemetery and Memorial, in Epinal, France

Memorial marker at Eatons Baptist Church Cemetery

Marker inscription:

In Memory of

Burley R. Booe

PVT US Army World War II

Sep 2 1914 May 6 1945

Bronze Star Medal

Killed in Action