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LookingS'back with.* *ra ayLloyd MathewsPulliam was truer % hero from countyCelebrations like the Pulaski County Sesquicenten-nial awaken us to the fact that the making of this county, state, and nation did not comaeasy,.Besides all of the physical barriers standing in the way of the settlers there has al ways'been the conflict between America and other countries lurking out there to threaten our security. .Since the wresting of the country from the domineering rule of the British, Americans have been called pn to fight wars to hold onto what we have.Pulaski County has had many thousands of men and -women who served courageously in several wars. Some were unsung heroes and some highly decorated. Some were high ranking officers, and some were ordinary enlisted people. The true story I want to tell today is about one of the latter; one whose brief encounter with the enemy created a story that filled the four pages of the May 16,1914, edition of The South west Times.William Henry Pulliam was born bn Feb. 6,1882, in a modest home on Maple Street in the village of Martinis Tank. He was the son of Mollie and George Pulliam, the latter being the village blacksmith. His parents nourished Henry and watched him grow into a six-foot tall handsome and fearless young man.As a youth Henry tried his hand at various trades in the thriving little village that by this time had become the Town of Pulaski, but there was a restlessness in his soul. Stori es of great adventure were pouri ng iri from the west; and the same spirit that had brought his par-, ents and grandparents west to the mountains now pulled young Henry like a magnet until finally in his late teens he left home to seek his fortune in the wild west.! v 1After almost 11 years of working in several western states he gave way to the lure of the sea, and joined the U.S. Navy’. In 1911, two days before his 29th birthday he was ordered to go aboard the USS Utah, and in a short -time he had proven himself and was made a Fireman First Class.♦ •* *During the trouble between the United States andMexico the American Fleet was ordered to the MexicanA » • • * 1 !waters. Henry Pulliam was one of the “lucky twelve” s.ai-:lors chosen to go ashore with the^Mariries for the occupation of Vera Cruz. Fighting was’furious and Puiliamand his comrades were ordered to pull back to more secure quarters, a move that would have meant retreat and would have endangered the success of the operation, The young man from the mountains of Southwes t Virginia, who had already manned a machine gun, chose to disobey the order. His purpose there was to fight, and he stayed behind his guri, his only purpose to direct itsv. deadlv fire at the enemv uo ahead;
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Mon, Jan 01, 0001
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Sharon H.
NA, 20 Sep 2021
Other Publications Near ,
The Pulaski News
Pulaski Times Journal
Pulaski News Review
Pulaski Staunton News Leader
Pulaski Southwest Times
