PRIVATE HENRY THOMAS

THE UNRECOGNIZED SOLDIER

In 2021, a member of Veterans Helping Veterans USA received a phone call that a headstone of a World War I veteran, Henry Thomas, had been found on a farm in Chiefland, in Levy County, Florida. It was determined that this was the only headstone found and was not part of an old, rural cemetery. With the help of Florida’s Department of Veteran’s Affairs, the life of Henry Thomas - along with his service to our country- came to light.

Henry was an African American man who was born in Jackson, Mississippi in 1894, but grew up in Brooksville, Hernando County, Florida. Growing up, Henry worked in the wild pine groves, gathering up pine sap from these trees, to make turpentine. While World War I was raging, Henry responded to the call, and he was inducted into the U.S. Army on April 25, 1918. Immediately, he was shipped to Camp Mills, on Long Island New York, as a member of the Army Company A, 427th Reserve Labor Battalion. There, the primarily African American battalion of soldiers handled labor intensive projects for the war effort, thus supporting active combat soldiers in the U.S. and Europe. In essence, Henry and his fellow black soldiers provided the necessary support and resources for our frontline troops to win the war overseas.

World War I ended on November 11, 1918, and Henry was honorably discharged from the Army on March 13, 1919. He returned to his native town of Brooksville, and years later moved to the tiny town of Bell, Florida, in Gilchrist County, northwest of Gainesville. Henry continued to work in the local wild pine groves, now harvesting pine sap to make soap with. It was a brutal way to make a living.

Henry lived a quiet, rural life in Bell, and died on April 29, 1956, at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Lake City, Florida, at the age of 61. The listed causes of death were pneumonia, heart disease, and malnutrition. According to his death certificate, he was buried in Cedar Field Cemetery, located in Bell, days after his death.  Four months later, in August 1956, a relative of Henry’s applied to the Veterans Administration for a military headstone for him. This is, in fact, the headstone that was found in 2021 in Chiefland. In late 1956 or 1957, Henry’s headstone was erected on his grave in Bell.

A diligent search of the town of Bell and the surrounding area concluded that the Cedar Field Cemetery no longer existed, becoming a victim of the overgrowth of nature. This sad ending haunts many rural cemeteries in our country nationwide.  Thus unfortunately, Henry’s headstone was not able to be reunited with his grave.

However, 65 years later in 2021, Henry’s partially broken headstone was found in a farmer’s field in Chiefland, Florida, 40 miles away from Bell. We will never know whether vandals removed and discarded the headstone, miles away from the gravesite, decades later after Henry’s death. What we do know is that these events have publicly brought to life the deeds and service of Private Henry Thomas to his country during a time of world war. Henry endured a life of hard labor in Brooksville and Bell during the Jim Crow era of separate but equal laws in the south. He also endured institutional racism in the U.S. Army, that used African American soldiers mainly for supply, support, and labor tasks here in the U.S., rather than being sent to Europe to fight on the front lines. He served his country during the time of war, and then returned home to live a quiet unassuming life. But for this abandoned headstone, few- if anyone- alive would ever remember Henry Thomas of Bell, Florida.  

Thus, Henry Thomas is one of the countless unrecognized men and women who answered the call to serve our country, and asked nothing in return, other than dying with dignity in a VA hospital, and receiving a government issued gravestone to proudly display their service to our country. Henry’s headstone is probably permanently separated from his grave site. However, this broken piece of marble is the tangible symbol of a giant who answered the call to his country, when the very foundation of our country was being threatened by evil abroad a century ago.

Henry Thomas, job well done!