Hide Article Text (OCR)
First DrafteeProviso ClerkKilled Overseascfpca,EafLt. James B. Manning, former athletic clerk at Proviso high school, who was lifted to national prominence when he became the first man in the nation to be drafted under the Seective Service Act, I was killed near Cherbourg in Nor- ou many on July 28. A piece of yo shrapnel, which struck him while ci* he was eating his rations out in to the field, resulted in an almost in- mlt; stantaneous death. • wjFormerly of 7742 Monroe, For- | P° est Park, Manning became on November 18, 1940, No. 36,001,001 of I ap the U. S. Army, a number which ge he carried from the Chicago indue- fir tion center to Fort Sheridan, then za to Fort Custer, Mchigan; and fin- ty ally to officer’s training school, ar When the nation learned on that | en day that No. 158 was the first to be drawn from the national draft lottery, Manning, its possessor, did I P€ not wait for official verification but re went right down to the recruiting | fo office and volunteered .Six feet 5 inches tall, Manning I si was just an inch under the maxi- di mum height prescribed by the ar Army, when he passed with 88 ce others through the induction phys- ce ical examination. He was 27 and us weighed 186 pounds. GA year later, a sergeant, Man- | nlt; ning might have returned home, but he preferred to remain and | pi went on for officer’s training. He summed up his reasons concisely at the end of his training pe- I gj riod: “This Army is big, swift | cc that I like—it’s my kind of work.mPiMy training period was real fun.” I ^lrei1tfq'hIn the meantime, he married Lt Daisy Manning, an Army nurse now stationed at Camp Blanding, | K Florida. It was she who telephoned his parents, Mr. and Mrs. John F. Manning of Wasburn, Wis., after learning of his death. Mr. Manning is a Spanish-Ameri-can war veteran.A gangling, fun-loving fellow, Manning was the youngest of a family of nine. Ater serving as a football and basketball captain at his home town of Washburn, he I p spent a year in a Wisconsin CCC C1 camp. His athletic advanage was slt; employed to advantage in the si Army, and he received the expert £i rifleman’s medal. bwa:APtlCe’lrVa
Newspaper Details
Bellwood Proviso Township Herald
Bellwood, Illinois, US
Thu, Aug 03, 1944
Page 23
Full Page
Clipped by
James O.
USA 05 Jan 2020
Other Publications Near Bellwood, Illinois
Bellwood Proviso Township Herald
Bellwood Star Sentinel
Bellwood Star Progress
