Army reserve group hosts 15th reunion

Published 11:57 pm Monday, June 19, 2017

The members of the 329th Chemical Company (Decontamination) Army Reserve Reunion Group will once again come to Natchez on June 30-July 2, from all over the United States, to celebrate with their comrades and remember their deceased brothers. This year’s memorial service will be at 3 p.m. at Antioch Baptist Church on Liberty Road. All are welcome to attend.

The 329th Processing Company was reassigned the 329th Chemical Company and was activated at Jackson as Decontamination in 1953. It changed location from Jackson to Natchez on July 20, 1955. It was reorganized in Natchez with the 2nd and 3rd platoons being stationed in Lorman on June 25, 1959.

The 2nd and 3rd platoons were relocated and consolidated to Natchez on August 1, 1960.

Email newsletter signup

After completing its annual summer maneuvers in 1961. The unit was put on notification of possibly being moved to active duty status. In late August of 1961, the unit was notified of its active duty status and received orders transferring the unit to Fort McClellan, Ala.

The following persons were called to active status with the 329th in August 1961:

David H. Williams, John R. Collins, Edward G. Foreman, Bryant A. Reed, Walter B. Mackel, Jerry Graves, Leroy Graves, James L. Phipps, Charles Anderson, Joseph Davis, Wilbert Lloyd, Glasper Minor, Lee E. Minor, Willie M. Minor, Odie L. Butler, Cullen McCoy, Carl Williams, Rogers Adams lll, Delorus Curtis, Ralph W. Jennings, Robert L. Taylor, Columbus Woods Jr., Willie M. Smith, Hosea Sanders, Walter L. Barnes, Sam Colston Jr., Ernest Cubit, Charles H. Holmes, Richard Jackson Jr., Robert L. Jackson, Freddie Johnson Jr., Vertie Johnson Jr., Wilbur O. Johnson Sr., Frank E. Jomes, Walter Lucas, Louis Williams, Leroy Davis, Charles L. Dobbins, Frank Dobbins, Roosevelt Foster, John M. Hoskins, Rayford E. Mayberry, Edward G. McMorris, Elisha L. Quinn. James Robinson, Melvin Shelly, Herman B. Smith, Leonard L. Thomas Jr., Henry L. Winston, Charles E. Young, Franklin D. R. Davis, Leon Davis, Shed Howard Jr., Billy Q. Malone, Jessie H. Moore, Cecil Hawkins, James T. Henderson and Lee O. Rice.

In July of 1961 the unit was put on alert and made preparations to be transferred to Germany, but no orders were sent to confer the transfer.

In August 1962, the unit received orders sending it back to its home location in Natchez where it was to assume non-active status. The unit’s location was changed from Natchez to Chattahoochee, Fla. on June 15, 1964.

After many meetings and social gatherings, the members of the unit, under the leadership of Rogers Adams and others, decided to establish the 329th Reunion Group in 1989, the local committee met and decided to have its reunion in 1990. The reunion was so successful and enjoyable that a request was made to have a reunion every two years, starting in 1991.
Wilbur O. Johnson Sr. is the company clerk of the 329th Reunion Group.