US Army Private Peter Herman Perry was born on October 13, 1922, the son of Allen Clayton Perry (1866-1940) and Anne M. Bowman (1875-1907). His parents would marry in 1890 and Annie would bear him nine children in Molino, however she died in childbirth along with her ninth child in 1907. She and her child were buried in the Lathram Chapel Cemetery. Allen would remarry in 1908 to Esther Lether Parker (1889-1927) and she would bear him eight children. Allen would remarry in 1927 to Spartie Alabama King (-1968). Allen spent his whole life as a farmer in the Molino, Florida area and would pass away in 1940 and was buried in the Little Flock Cemetery in Molino.
As for his son Peter, he would drop out of school in the 4th grade but became a grocery store clerk in 1940 while living with his father and step-mother in Molino. That same year he would marry on November 29, 1940 to Audie Mae Milstead, the daughter of James Thomas Milstead (1889-1980) and Naomi Lee Parker (1894-1973). Her father was a guard at the Escambia County Road Prison. After they were married he took a job for the government's WPA program at Tarkiln Bayou south of the Lillian Bridge on today's Highway 98. Soon Audie delivered a son they names after him, Peter Herman Perry Jr.
Then came WWII and Peter was inducted into the Army in June 1942. He left his wife and young son at their home in Walnut Hill and boarded a train for his basic training at Ft. Sill, Oklahoma. In August 1942, he was granted a furlough and returned home to his family. There are August 15th he passed away with his death listed as "DNB" or "death non battle." He was buried with military honors in the Little Flock Cemetery in Molino where his father had been buried two years before. An Army Chaplain from Ft. Barrancas conducted the services with an honor guard from there as well.
Audrey would remarry the following year of 1943 to Merrill Walter Mack (1923-2004) and today both are buried in the Bagdad Cemetery, Bagdad, Florida.
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