NEWS FLASH
Shelby Foote passed away today in Memphis. Shelby Foote was born in Greenville, MS and studied in South Carolina. He wrote a few novels before he wrote his 3-volume work on the Civil War. He was one of the historians featured in Ken Burn's 1990 PBS-series "Civil War".
During WW2, Shelby Foote served as an Artillery Officer. He graduated from OCS school in 1942. Below is a class photo and Lt. Foote is identified as #19 in the photo. Lt. Foote was assigned to Camp Shelby, MS.
Several of the Graduates of this class were also assigned to Camp Shelby with 328FA, 85 Division: G. Brehm, W. Dempsey, H. Goodwin, H. Zaklikiewicz (some of whom are shown in photo of 2nd Section). Lt. E. B. Andrews (#2) is believed to be the actor who appeared in many TV and movies and known as Eddie Andrews.
Shelby Foote was assigned to two different artillery battalions while they were undergoing basic traning. Foote eventually sent overseas with 50th Field Artillery Battalion of 5th Division. One local website on Mississippi authors report that Foote went to Ireland on leave. Apparently he did not fill out the right paperwork and was reported absent without leave (in peace time, the military would not let you travel more than 250 miles without requesting leave). He resigned his commission from the Army.
If anyone has any further details on Shelby Foote's service, please contact me.
Appreciate any replies about Mr. Foote and his writings and what they meant to you.
Steve
Photo copyrighted by custermen.com