By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.–It took 80 years, but Pvt. Herman Hankins can finally rest in peace.
Pvt. Hankins was killed under mysterious circumstances at Camp Tyson July 29, 1943, and was buried in an unmarked grave. 80 years to the day that he was killed, a ceremony was held to formally mark his grave at Maplewood Cemetery in Paris.
Pvt. Hankins was a member of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion at Camp Tyson, the only all-African-American unit to storm the beaches at D-Day. Like other members of the 320th, Hankins was trained in the operation of the barrage balloons but was killed before he could participate with his fellow soldiers in the battle that is regarded as the turning point of WWII.
Camp Tyson in Henry County was the only U.S. barrage balloon training center during WWII and barrage balloons can be seen in the photos of the D-Day battle.
Organized by the Paris/Henry County Bicentennial Committee, the formal gravemarking ceremony has been planned for the past year to honor Pvt. Hankins, who was killed at the age of 25 near what was then the Gate 1 entrance of Camp Tyson. He was shot by a .22 caliber bullet and died en route to the Camp Tyson Station Hospital. The medical examiner ruled it a homicide, but no charges were brought and the incident has been veiled in racial overtones.
Speakers at Saturday’s ceremony were Henry County Mayor John Penn Ridgeway, Paris City Mayor Kathy Ray, Rev. Dr. John Dandridge of Quinn Chapel AME; Rev. Terry Fuller of Mt. Olive Church in Atwood; City Commissioner Sam Tharpe and his wife Gale, Elder James Travis of the Church of the Living God in Paris. Pat Wofford sang a stirring rendition of “His Eye Is On The Sparrow”.
Members of AMVETS Post 45 in Buchanan were present at the ceremony and saluted Pvt. Hankins’ grave.
Rev. Fuller–who served on the Paris City Commission previously–said, “We may never know the reason why” Pvt. Hankins was killed “but that can be said for a lot of African-Americans during the time of Herman Hankins’ murder.” He noted that divisiveness continues where such deaths result in “loss for some and justice for others.”
Ridgeway noted that the history of Maplewood Cemetery “is the history of this community, good and bad…We don’t know the story 80 years later, but he signed up to serve this country and was stationed in little Routon, Tennessee. It’s 80 years later, but Henry County cannot forget.”
“We’re proud that the county is righting a wrong,” Tharpe said. “He and his fellow soldiers received unique training here for D-Day, but he wasn’t there to share in serving there. It’s altogether fitting that we recognize his service. It was a blessing to this community.”
Top Photo: Speakers posed after the ceremony. From left, Sam and Gale Tharpe, Elder Travis John Penn Ridgeway, Rev. John Dandridge, Kathy Ray, Pat Wofford and Rev. Terry Fuller. (Shannon McFarlin photo).
