Army Sergeant First Class Lenton L. (NMN) "Bookie" Mack was born in Opp, Alabama on July 24, 1921, the son of Alto Lee Mack (1886-1953) and Leona Woodall (1890-1978). His father supported the family in Babbie, Alabama as a farmer and later as a carpenter working 48 hours per week for $900 per year (1939).
Bookie would marry a Pensacola girl by the name of Miss Nelda Zachary (1916-1960), who was the former Mrs. Nelda Z. Pape. She was the daughter of the renowned lawyer William L. Zachary (1869-1948) and Etta Applegate (1880-1926). Bookie and Nelda would marry after 1948 and made their home in Pensacola at 1225 West Jordan Street. Bookie had been in Pensacola since 1941 as was working for the Coca Cola Bottling Company on North Palafox Street working his way up to salesman.
He had served in the US Army during WWII where he fought for three years in the South Pacific. After the war he returned to Pensacola, went to work for Coca-Cola, and married Nelda. Then came Korea in June 1950 and everything changed. As more men were needed, Bookie was recalled by the War Department in October 1950 and sent overseas on November 20, 1950. He was assigned to Company "C" of the 9th Infantry Regiment attached to the 2nd Infantry Division.
On May 17, 1951, his regiment had placed two of their battalions on the "Roger Line" and one on the "No Name Line" near Chogulon. On May 18th, the regiment was ordered to fill a gap between the 23rd and 38th infantry regiments. There, in the early morning hours of the 18th, Bookie and his "C" Company came under heavy enemy fire until 0300 hours. Disengaging, his company moved to Paegi-Dong to reunite with the other two battalions of the regiment. On the night of the 18th the enemy suddenly attacked all along the front from Sangsaet to Kungwang. Aerial reconnaissance observed over 2,000 enemy soldiers massing in the Choun-Sinchon valley to their front, which was taken under fire by massed artillery and aerial bombardment, killing over 800.
On the night of May 20th, Bookie and his comrades were hunkered down in their foxholes around 10:00 PM when things got too quiet. They had been shelled for three days and nights and now the eerie silence was too unusual. The company lieutenant got suspicious, so he slipped out of his foxhole and went around to his men warning them not to fall asleep and to expect another attack. About that time a mortar shell landed near the lieutenant and killed him. Bookie got out of his foxhole and ran to give aid to the lieutenant when another mortar shell landed right in front of him, killing him instantly. Over the next two days, the battle raged resulting in 11,000 enemy casualties and only 112 Americans. Bookie was one of them!
When time allowed his body was removed to the grave registration unit in the rear lines and buried in a temporary grave. Nelda was notified of Bookie's death with the details supplied by one of Bookie's men Corporal Serafin C. Ramos. Then she waited and waited for him to be transported home. Finally, in November his body was shipped home on the cargo ship SS Allegheny Victory and buried in the Bayview Cemetery in Pensacola. Nelda would never remarry and would join him nine years later in 1960.
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