my Corporal William Jefferson Fulghum was born in Macon, Georgia on February 24, 1917, the son of Clifford Arnold Fulghum (1880-1938) and Susie Grice Juhan (1888-1938). His parents married in 1909 in Macon where her father was a well-known owner of the large & successful Union Dry Goods Company. Her father would pass away from septic poisoning in 1924. Clifford was a successful contractor in Pensacola having relocated here from Louisville, Louisiana in 1903. He went into the contracting business with his father Stephen Fagan Fulghum (1856-1928) and together they built many of our beautiful local homes & businesses.
William's great grandparents were James E. Fulghum and Jane S. Harrison who were married on April 1, 1846 and took up residence in Sandersville, Georgia. When the Civil War broke out, James enlisted in the 13th Regiment of the George Militia on March 4, 1862 in Washington County, GA. He and a William Henry Fulghum enlisted under the colonelcy of James Scheley Hook who volunteered he and his men for service in the Confederate Army. However, Hook had to give up his command when he was rejected by the army on account of physical disability.
In the meantime, William's early childhood was uneventful and came at last to attend and graduate from Pensacola High School in the Class of 1935. He then enrolled at Georgia Tech University in Atlanta but returned home after one year. By 1937, he was a posting clerk for the General Motors Acceptance Corporation (GMAC) while living at home with his parents at 116 West Gonzalez Street. By 1940, he had moved up to assistant cashier then as an accountant under the watchful eye of his boss Arthur Loyal Maple at #901 National Bank Building.
He would enlist in the Army on November 5, 1941 and was sent to Camp Blanding, Florida for processing. He was sent overseas in February 1942 with no unit listed. He appears again in March of 1945 in a field artillery unit attached to Patton's 3rd Army, but again no particular battalion listed. However, we do know that he participated in the attack on Frankfurt, Germany. There, the two attacking divisions were the 5th Infantry Division with the 6th Armored Division providing support. Both units entered the northern part of Frankfurt on March 27th and two days later had the city under control. However, even though the city was "liberated" there was still pockets of fighting still going on. It was here that Corporal Fulghum was killed on March 30, 1945 although some records state that he was "DNB," which means died-non battle. This would be, for example, by disease, car accident, or accidental explosion with no contact or caused by the enemy. Regardless, he was buried in a temporary military cemetery until the end of the war. William was returned home to Pensacola on Friday January 21, 1949 and buried the next day in St. John's Cemetery with his family.
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