By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Paris, Tenn.–Pvt. Herman Hankins now can fully rest in peace, with the marker from the U.S. Veterans’ Affairs Administration now in place at his grave in Maplewood Cemetery.
Pvt. Hankins was killed under mysterious circumstances at Camp Tyson July 29, 1943, and was buried in an unmarked grave. 80 years to the day that he was killed, a ceremony was held in Juy to formally mark his grave at Maplewood Cemetery in Paris. Pvt. Hankins was a member of the 320th Barrage Balloon Battalion at Camp Tyson, the only all-African-American unit to storm the beaches at D-Day.
The stone was installed by Henry County Monuments and was a project of the Paris-Henry County Bicentennial Committee. Specifically, County Historian David Webb did the paperwork to receive the gravestone, which states Pvt. Hankins’ name, birth and death dates, and battalion.
At the July ceremony, a foot stone was installed at the grave and several dignitaries, including County Mayor John Penn Ridgeway and Paris Mayor Kathy Ray, spoke at the ceremony.
Camp Tyson in Henry County was the only U.S. barrage balloon training center during WWII and barrage balloons can be seen in the photos of the D-Day battle.
Organized by the Paris/Henry County Bicentennial Committee, the formal gravemarking ceremony has been planned for the past year to honor Pvt. Hankins, who was killed at the age of 25.
Photo by Shannon McFarlin.