JD Box was born January of 1917 to Claude and Ruth (Boggs) Box. He and his two brothers, Pascal and Hoyt, and his two sisters, Dennis and Jamie, lived in Tippah County, MS until he was 10 when they moved to Booneville, MS. It was there in 1939 that he met Margaret Bullard who would later become his wife.
JD was drafted into the US Army in August of 1941 and went through basic training at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. While on furlough, he and Margaret were married in Booneville on December 31, 1941. Three days later, he left to return to Camp Edwards in Massachusetts.
His unit, the 221st field artillery, along with thousands of other soldiers were transported by train to New York to board 7 ships comprising Task Force 6814. This task force was later to become known as the Americal Division. The ships departed New York on January 23, 1942 headed to places unknown. It was only 6 weeks after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
JD fought the war in the Pacific, traveling to Australia, New Caladonia, Guadalcanal, and Bouganville. He returned to the states in September of 1944 to Fort Benning in Georgia as a candidate for OCS and was finally discharged after the end of the war in August 1945.
He returned to Booneville where he and Margaret would start a family and have three sons. Sadly, JD passed away in July of 1957 at only 40 years old due to a brain tumor.
Margaret was born in 1923 to Clint and Ethel (Monasco) Bullard. She grew up in Booneville along with her three siblings. Margaret and her sisters, Diddy and Louise, and brother Frankin traveled with their father and mother who sought work during the 1920s and ’30s in the farm fields and oil fields across Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Missouri. After losing all they had in the Great Depression, they would finally return to Booneville in 1939 when Margaret was 16. After JD's death, she remained in Booneville to raise their three sons.
JD was drafted into the US Army in August of 1941 and went through basic training at Fort Bragg in North Carolina. While on furlough, he and Margaret were married in Booneville on December 31, 1941. Three days later, he left to return to Camp Edwards in Massachusetts.
His unit, the 221st field artillery, along with thousands of other soldiers were transported by train to New York to board 7 ships comprising Task Force 6814. This task force was later to become known as the Americal Division. The ships departed New York on January 23, 1942 headed to places unknown. It was only 6 weeks after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
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| JD Box and wife Margaret February 1945 |
Margaret was born in 1923 to Clint and Ethel (Monasco) Bullard. She grew up in Booneville along with her three siblings. Margaret and her sisters, Diddy and Louise, and brother Frankin traveled with their father and mother who sought work during the 1920s and ’30s in the farm fields and oil fields across Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Missouri. After losing all they had in the Great Depression, they would finally return to Booneville in 1939 when Margaret was 16. After JD's death, she remained in Booneville to raise their three sons.