Scott County the Beginning
PFC, Ralphard Payne; KIA, WWII France
Ralphard Payne was born May 21, 1925 in Scott County and was the son of Thomas and Daisy Nona (Anderson) Payne. Ralphard entered service on June 8,’1943 and received his training at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, Fort McClellan, Alabama and Fort George C. Meade in Maryland. He was assigned to the 143rd Infantry Regiment, 36 Infantry Division and arrived in France, February 28, 1944.
After arriving in Europe, he joined the 36th Infantry Division during the campaign of the Rapido River. The 36th Infantry withdrew, March 12, 1944 for rehabilitation. On May 25 they landed at Anzio and drove north to capture Velletri on June 1. June 6, they entered Rome. They encountered heavy fighting at Magliano and Piombino before moving back to Paestum for another stint of rest and rehabilitation. In the assault landing in the Raphael-Frejus area of France they encountered light resistance. The Division continued up the Rhine River Valley and captured Montelimar on August 28. They then advanced to the Moselle River at Remiremont at the foothills of the Vosges Mountains. During an offensive the 36th Infantry crossed the Muerthe River and was engaged in heavy fighting as they captured the St. Marie Pass. On October 29, 1944 Private First Class, Ralphard Payne was killed in action, during this engagement with the 36th Infantry Division.
His body was brought back to Scott County after the war and interred in the Black Oak Cemetery in Oneida, Tennessee.
Pvt. GEORGE C. MARCUM
87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron
killed in action Sept. 18, 1944, at the age of 26.
George Caney Marcum was born in Scott County, Tennessee June 15, 1917 and was the son of John Sherman and Rebecca (Watson) Marcum. His siblings included; W.C., Hillery, Clay, Andrew, Marion, Josie, Lucy, Frona, Edna and Voilet.
He entered service at Ft. Oglethorpe, Georgia and enlisted in the army on March 1, 1942. He served as a private in A Troop, 87th Cavalry Reconnaissance Squadron attached to the 7th Armored Division, departed from North Camp Polk, Louisiana on March 12 1943, and arrived at Camp Coxcomb (Desert Training Center), California, March 15 1943. The Battalion departed from Camp Coxcomb California, August 6 1943, and arrived at Fort Benning, Georgia, August 11 1943. On September 5 , 1943 Companies “A” and “C” departed Fort Benning, Georgia, for Barnwell and Aiken, South Carolina,
respectively, to organize and operate temporary Prisoner of War Camps for German
Prisoners engaged in the harvesting of peanuts. These units returned to Fort Benning,
Georgia, October 8 1943.
landed on Utah Beach, August 101944, and was assigned to U.S. Third Army,
commanded by ~ieutenant General George S. Patton. The division drove through
Nogent-le-Rotrou in an attack on Chartres. The city fell on August 18 . From Chartres,
the division advanced to liberate Dreux and then Melun, where they crossed the Seine
River, August 24. The division then pushed on to bypass Reims and liberate ChateauThierry
and then Verdun, August 31, halted briefly for refueling and then on September 6 drove on toward the Moselle River and made a crossing near Dornot. This crossing had to be withdrawn in the face of the heavy fortifications around Metz. The 7th Armored then made attempts to cross the Moselle northwest of Metz but the deep river valley was not suitable terrain for an armored attack. Elements of the division assisted the 5th Infantry Division in expanding a bridgehead east of Arnaville, south of Metz, and on September 15 , the main part of the division crossed the Moselle there. The 7th Armored Division was repulsed in its attacks across the Seil le River at and near Sillegny, part of an attack in conjunction with the 5th Infantry division that was also repulsed further north. It was at this time that Pvt. Marcum was fatally wounded. Pvt. Marcum died on September 18, 1944, probably one mile southeast of Marieulles, France.
Pvt. George C. Marcum’s body was brought back to Scott County, Tennessee in 1948 and the funeral service was conducted by Rev. Sherman Watson, assisted by Revs. Roy Blevins and Leland Thomas. Interment in the Marcum-Kidd cemetery in Scott County, Tennessee.