Emmett Lunsford - At Home

Emmett Lunsford


Claremore Oklahoma

At Home


Emmett Eldon Lunsford   (b.July 19, 1898 Trenton Mo. d.. Aug 10 1958 Claremore OK.)   was the seventh of eleven children born to Houston Taylor Lunsford   (b Mar. 17, 1854 Manchester Ky. d. Nov 25, 1933 Claremore OK)   and Mary Jane McAtee Lunsford   (b.Jan 10, 1865 Manchester, Ky. d. Jan 10, on her birthday, 1927, Claremore OK.)   They are buried in the Oowala Cemetery.

He was the grandson of Abraham Kilby Lunsford   (b.1814, Tenn d. 1865, Bancroft, Mo.)   and Minerva Gray Lunsford   (b 1825, Ky.)   and the great grandson of Thomas Henry Gray   (b.1798, Tenn.)   and Mary Ann (Polly) Frazier Gray (b.1798 Tenn.) The Lunsford's were mostly of the Holiness religion and were farmers.

Emmett (also known as Speed) came to live on a farm near Claremore when his family moved from Missouri when he was four years old. His grandfather and great-grandfather had fought in the War of 1812 and the Civil War. Emmett enlisted in the United States Army Jan 28, 1918 at Tulsa, OK. and entered World War I. He was nineteen years old.

On June 25, 1919 he was wounded in action and was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the second highest medal within the gift of the United States and can be won only in combat for extraordinary heroism in action against an armed enemy. It is an honor not easily won, nor casually conferred. The following is copied from the Nov. 10, 1934 edition of the Tulsa World which paid tribute to the few Oklahoma holders of the coveted award:

"Emmett E. Lunsford, Private First Class, Co. A 31st U. S. Infantry, was serving in the frigid reaches of Siberia, when near the subarctic village of Romanovka, on June 25, 1919, he was one of a party of American soldiers jumped by a vast horde of Bolsheviki Wounded early in the hot action., the Claremore man nevertheless refused to drop out of the fighting, but remained on the firing line working the automatic rifle with telling effect until the enemy was completely driven off."

He was also awarded the purple heart (he was wounded twice) and the World War I Victory Medal with 1 Battle Clasp for the Defensive Sector. On Nov 22, 1919 he was given an honorable discharge and returned to Claremore, where he was met by his parents and brothers and sisters.

On April 12, 1925 Emmett married Mattie Lola Harper (b. Mar 25, 1907, Claremore) daughter of John Franklin Harper (b. Feb 13, 1881 Ark. d. Feb 28, 1962 Claremore) and Maude Jean Dawson Harper (b. Feb 12, 1885 Claremore, d. Sept 9, 1952 Claremore)

She is the granddaughter of Garland P. Harper (b. Aug 8, 1844 d. Feb 14, 1921) and Martha Hogan Harper b. Sept 5, 1853 d. Dec 14, 1890)They are buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Claremore. Mattie and Emmett made their home in the Oowala Community, 9 miles north of Claremore, near the Verdigris River. Here their four daughters were born, They are: Lillian Josephine (b.Dec 20, 1925)Mary Alma (b. Oct 29, 1928, d. June 28 1931) buried at Woodlawn. Lola Louise (b. Mar 6, 1933) married Finis Ward (b. Apr. 21 1934). They live at Foyil, where Finis is a postmaster. Doris Ann (b. Jan 10, 1941)

Emmett loved to wolf-hunt and most any still, clear night you would find him and his wolf-hunter friends sitting by a roadside listening to the dogs run. He always thought "Old Clabber" was out front, but a cousin, and good friend of his, Henry Brown, seemed to think it sounded like "Old Beagle". Traps were run in the winter and Saturday morning a trip was made to town to sell possum hides and cream and eggs. They brought in enough money for Mattie to buy groceries for a week and the other few necessities of a farm family.

Most of this time they were living on the Tom Kight place one mile west and 1/3 mile north of the Oowala School house. Emmett was a school board member there for years where the kids attended school in the little country school house that also served as a non-denominational church. He was quite a tenor singer and enjoyed the singing conventions around the country.

In 1946 they bought the Damron place 3 miles west and 1/2 mile south of Foyil. They lived there until 1951 when they sold out and moved to Claremore where Emmett owned and operated a service station until April, 1957 when he became ill and had to sell it. He spent the next several months in and out of the Veteran's Hospital at Muskogee where they told him he had leukemia. He continued to enjoy his sport of wolf-hunting between stays in the hospital. On Aug 10, 1958 he died at 8:00 o'clock in the evening at the age of sixty years.

He had a military funeral and is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery. The flag that draped his casket is stored in the army trunk at the home, along with his medals and awards. Also in that trunk is the horn he carved himself out of a bull's horn to call his hounds in. It was used for the last time on a wreath of chrysanthemums at his funeral with the inscription, "Friends of the Chase" printed on the ribbon. It was a floral tribute from the men he had hunted with and as only fitting, the ones to carry him to his grave. Mattie still lived in Claremore in the house they bought when they moved their from the farm.

By Louise Lunsford Ward

From the History of Rogers County Oklahoma

LUNSFORD, EMMET E.
Private First Class, U.S. Army.
Company A, 31st Infantry, 33d Division, A.E.F. (Siberia).
Date of Action: June 25, 1918.
Citation:
The Distinguished Service Cross is presented to Emmet E. Lunsford,
Private First Class, U.S. Army, for extraordinary heroism in action
near Romanovka, Siberia, June 25, 1919. Though wounded early in
action Private Lunsford continued to operate his automatic
rifle throughout the fight.
General Orders No. 133, W.D., 1919
Home Town: Claremore, OK

text of the Distinguished Service Cross

EMMETT LUNSFORD

War Hero, Dies

(b.July 19, 1898 Trenton Mo. d.. Aug 10 1958 Claremore OK.)

Emmett E. Lunsford, 60 year old local service station operator and World War I hero, died at 8 O'Clock Sunday morning in the veterans hospital at Muskogee following an illness that attacked him last April.

Mr. Lunsford entered World War I from Claremore, serving with the 31st Infantry division on Siberia, where he was twice decorated for valor and was twice wounded. He held the Distinguished Service Cross. Following the war he returned to Claremore. In recent years he has operated a Conoco filling station on Highway 66 but sold it in April when he became ill. He had spent most of the time at the Muskogee hospital since then.

Funeral services for Mr. Lunsford will be at 2 O'clock Thursday afternoon in the First Baptist church here. Burial will be in Woodlawn Cemetery under direction of Musgrove funeral home.Mr. Lunsford is survived by his wife, Mattie Lola Lunsford; three daughters, Mrs. Lillian Andrews of Stinnett Texas., Mrs. Loila Louise Ward of Foyeil and Miss Doris Ann Lunsford of the home; and by six brothers and five sisters.



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More information about Emmett (Emmitt) Lunsford at the following links

31st Infantry Regiment Heroes

Distinguished Service Cross - Romanovka, Siberia

31st Infantry Regiment - Romanovka, Siberia
Wrong spelling (Ammot)

31st Infantry Regiment - Romanovka, Siberia

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