May 25, 2011\
By AMBER POMPA
Greenville, Texas Herald-Banner Staff
GREENVILLE —The remains of Private First Class Floyd Thurman Coker are finally returning home
after some 60 years. Coker, who grew up in the Quinlan area, died a prisoner of war at the Suan Bean Camp in North Korea at the age of 25. He will arrive at the DFW Airport Friday morning and will be escorted to Paris, Texas by the Patriot Guard Riders.
Services are scheduled for 2 p.m. Sunday at Bright-Holland Funeral Home in Paris. Burial, with full
military honors will follow in Knights of Honor Cemetery.
Coker joined the U.S. Army in 1944. He served at the end of World War II and during the Korean Conflict when he was captured and became a POW Feb. 12, 1951. He died at the camp April 15, 1951.
The family had received reports from other POWs who has been captured and held at the camp who
claimed to have been present when Coker passed, but it wasn’t until 1954 that the military contacted
Ellen Coker to inform her that her son had passed away.
Coker spent nearly 40 years in a mass grave overseas until North Korea released approximately 208
crates containing the remains of more than 400 soldiers.
Through DNA testing, the military identified Coker’s remains in five different crates.
“It definitely gives us a sense of closure,” said Linda Harris about her uncle’s return. “We’re so thankful to the military because they didn’t give up. They could have, but they didn’t. They kept searching until they located them and I think that’s something they should be commended for.”
Paris Goes To War
War came Paris, Texas on December 7, 1941. The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the subsequent declarations of war of the Axis countries of Japan, Germany and Italy against The United States brought World War II literally to the doorsteps of Paris.
The U.S. response to war hit Paris like a tidal wave and the results were everlasting.
This small East Texas town responded as hundreds of small towns across America did. Its sons, daughters and citizens joined the war effort.
But Paris began to develop its own uniqueness with the opening of Camp Maxey just a few miles north of the city limits in 1942. Two major divisions, the 102d Infantry Division and the 99th Infantry Division, trained there. It is estimated that over 200,000 troops and civilians trained and worked at Camp Maxey during its short 4 years of existance.
Camp Maxey was also selected as a site, as were many other training camp sites in Texas, to house German prisoners-of-war. More than 6,000 Germans were hosted there until well after the last shots of anger were fired in Europe in 1945.
Paris, as was the whole country, was like a stirred pot. The young men and women who came to Camp Maxey to train spent their leaves in town. Many of them met, courted, and married local men and women. Likewise, Paris sons and daughters who left were meeting their future spouses. The long historic ties that had held Paris together as a tight community were stretched around the world.
To and from Paris the letters streamed in and out from friends and families: from the battle fronts, from far-away hometowns, from Washington D.C., to Europe, to The Pacific and literally all points of the globe.
Sad news of soldiers being killed, exciting news of the birth of a new baby, common news about town gossip all swirlled around this small town of Paris. Paris was making its contribution to march the country toward victory.
In 1941 Paris Goes To War.
How To Add A Story & Pictures To Paris Goes To War
If you have stories, pictures or items of interest to contribute to these web pages, please email them to steelyfamilias@yahoo.com. You can send written articles in doc or pdf formats and pictures are preferred in jpg format. Contributions will be posted according the their relevance to Paris, Lamar County, Camp Maxey and World War II. All contributions may be used on these blog web pages as well as any future publications that may appear on the subject.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
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