Joseph Barre Traywick came from a family of physicians; he, his father, his father-in-law, and his son were all doctors.

Joseph was born on Aug. 31, 1910, in Cameron, Calhoun County, South Carolina, to Asa Paul Traywick and Janie Mae Crute Traywick. His father was a physician in Cameron for over 50 years, and his mother was a homemaker to Joseph and his three younger siblings: Bruce (female), Mary, and Heber (male).

Joseph grew up in Cameron and graduated in 1931 from The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina. He received his medical degree from the Medical College of South Carolina in Charleston. He practiced medicine in Holly Hill, South Carolina.

On April 20, 1940, he married Miss Eliza Patterson “Pat” McLean in Scotland, North Carolina. He was 30 and she was 25. Her father, the late Dr. Peter McLean, had practiced medicine in Laurinburg, North Carolina. Joseph and Pat’s son, Joseph Paul, was born in 1942. He would follow his father and grandfathers into medicine.

The elder Joseph served during the war as battalion surgeon for the 1340th Combat Engineer Battalion in North Africa and Europe. His service number was O-1693094. A captain, he was awarded a Silver Star for gallantry in action from Nov. 6-8, 1944, near Vossenack in Germany’s Hurtgen Forest.

“Finding that the routine procedure of establishing an aid station in a sheltered spot and having the wounded brought to him would delay the collection and treatment of casualties for some time, Captain Traywick elected to roam the fire-swept battlefield to treat men at the locations where they were wounded,” his Silver Star citation read in part.

“In the pursuit of his work, without sleep or rest, night and day, in cold, wet weather, Captain Traywick treated some 60 soldiers, thus greatly increasing their chances of living as a result of almost immediate attention.

“At about 0300 hours on the morning of 8 November, 1944, Captain Traywick was hit by enemy artillery fire. Despite painful wounds, he continued to treat others. About 1130 hours on the same day, he was killed by enemy artillery fire while giving aid to a wounded officer to whom he had gone.”

Capt. Traywick, 34, was buried in Henri Chapelle American Cemetery and Memorial in Eupen, Belgium, and reinterred in Section 12 of Arlington National Cemetery on Dec. 19, 1947.

His widow Pat remarried and died in 1989 at the age of 74.

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Sources:

Find a Grave:

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49328034/joseph-barre-traywick

Federal Census

U.S., World War II Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947

Newspapers.com

Ancestry.com

Google.com

Fold3

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Joseph B. Traywick