Three of the brothers
in younger days
Left to Right Murphy, Milton and Merrion
Introduction
By John
Troesser
Shortly after publishing
Victor Lively's Pearl Harbor Story, by Sandy Feidler, we heard from
Maurice Higginbotham who also lives in Anderson County. Maurice told
us of his four older brothers (Marvin, Merrion, Murphy and Milton) who were
all in uniform during WWII. Since they weren't drafting 10 year-olds,
Maurice had to sit out the war. His brothers help make it possible for him
to marry the girl next door - which he did. Maurice has since inherited the
role of family biographer, since, we're sad to say, his brothers have all
passed away.
Maurice has collected the correspondence between the family and the four
far-flung brothers and had nearly 500 letters plus photographs published in
book form. For our readers who live in Anderson (or neighboring counties)
it's available in the Palestine Public Library.
We've separated the Higginbotham Family History during WWII into five parts
listed above.
I hope you'll find the stories as interesting as we did. Dodging V-2
Rockets, crash-landing in Belgium, and taking French real estate away from
Germans again and again - it's enough to make you wish you were back in East
Texas milking the family cow. - Editor
Our special thanks to Maurice and Edna Higginbotham for sharing these
stories with us and our readers
Murphy, Milton and Merrion Higginbotham home on leave