William Russell Hemphill – Colonel, United States Army

From a contemporary press report:

William Russell Hemphill, 83, an Army Colonel who retired in 1974, died of a heart attack November 8, 1997at Columbia Arlington Hospital. He had lived in Arlington since 1957.

He was a native of St. Louis and attended William Jewell College in Missouri.

He enlisted in the Missouri National Guard in 1935 and was commissioned in the Army in 1940. He served during World War II in the Aleutian Islands and Europe, where he fought in the Battle of the Bulge. His honors included Silver and Bronze stars and two Purple Hearts.

After the war, he returned to the National Guard in Missouri, where he was a training officer. He had an Army intelligence assignment at the Pentagon from 1957 to 1961 and then was a foreign assistance training officer.

He was a founder and president of the Veterans of the Battle of the Bulge and served as treasurer for organizations that included the Military Order of the Purple Heart, the Northern Virginia chapter of the Retired Officers Association, the Us Too prostate cancer support group at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the Missouri Society, the Military Order of the World Wars and the American Legion post at the State Department.

His marriage to Alice Mallory Hemphill ended in divorce. His second wife, Dorothy Dorris Hemphill, died in 1988. His third marriage, to Louise Chandler, ended in divorce.

Survivors include a son from his first marriage, William Russell Jones of Bridgeton, Mo.; a brother; seven grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard