Robeson County War Dead 1939 Plaque

A large bronze plaque approximate five feet tall is attached to an interior wall of the Robeson County Courthouse. At the top of the plaque is a stars and stripes shield with what appear to be a pair of crossed olive branches. The plaque is dated 1938 but was dedicated in 1939. It replaced a wooden painted tablet placed in March 1919. The 1919 plaque listed “45 white, 12 Indian and 4 colored.” This plaque has additional names and spellings corrected from the original but otherwise the inscriptions are identical. By 1939 the local newspaper used the term Negro instead of colored in its reports but the wording on the plaque was not changed. THE CALL / THIS IS NOT A DAY OF TRIUMPH; IT IS A DAY OF DEDICATION. / HERE MUSTER NOT THE FORCES OF PARTY, BUT THE FORCES OF / HUMANITY. MEN’S HEARTS WAIT UPON US, MEN’S LIVES HANG / IN THE BALANCE, MEN’S HOPES CALL UPON US TO SAY WHAT / WE WILL DO…… / WHO SHALL LIVE UP TO THE GREAT TRUST? WHO DARES FAIL / TO TRY? I SUMMON ALL HONEST MEN, ALL PATRIOTIC, ALL / FORWARD LOOKING MEN, TO MY SIDE. GOD HELPING ME / I WILL NOT FAIL THEM IF THEY WILL BUT COUNCIL AND SUSTAIN ME. / WOODROW WILSON THE ANSWER / WHITE / [Column one] GEORGE E. GALLOWAY / CHARLES HALL / CARSON CHASON / DONNIE SUTTON / EDGAR LOVETTE / COY BRITT / E. LATHROP AUSTIN / MURDOC MCRAE / ALVA IVEY / BENJAMIN CARTER / MARVIN J. ODUM / ED. J. POPE / GEO. LAWSON / JOHN H. WALKER / SAM MCLAUGHIN / DUNCAN G. SHAW / JOSEPH SHAW / [Column two] JOHN A. MCLEAN / ALFRED OLIVER / HERBERT WATSON / JAMES COLLINS / DANIEL MARSH / LONNIE PROCTOR / CASPER STONE / HENRY H. STRAUGHN / GEORGE E. MCDOWELL / DANIEL W. FOWLER / CARSON A. WEST / HENRY BARR / EDWIN V. JOHNSON / O.B. O’BREIN / D.B. PURCELL / EDMUND BRITT / WALTER L. BEASLEY / [Column three] MARTIN L. STUART / LLOYD PITTMAN / G.H. MARSH / GUS NORTON / E.W. BRITT / ATLAS JOHNSON / JAMES E. SMITH / WILLIAM S. HYATT / ARCHIE GILLESPIE / ELLIS TYNER / RAYMOND EVERS / FRED GILLIS / WILLIS ALLEN LEE / ARCHIE MCLAUGHLIN / E. DAWSON BULLOCK / CLAUDE E. PHILLIPS INDIAN / [Column one] ELLIS HARDIN / CALVIN B. LOWERY / WILLIAM R. OXENDINE / PRESTON LOCKLEAR / HARVEY OXENDINE / [Column two] WINSLOW LOCKLEAR / ADDINALL H. LOCKEY / GOLDEN OXENDINE / LONNIE HUNT / [Column three] GARFIELD LOWERY / JAKE EDWARDS / W.R. OXENDINE / LONNIE W. HAMMONDS COLORED / [Column one] ARTHUR ROZIER / ZEDDIE ROBESON / ROBERT BURTON / EDDIE SMITH / [Column two] MARSHALL PITTMAN / LACY H. MCALLUM / VAL. PIERCE / [Column three] JASPER J. ELLIOT / FRED D. GILLIS / JAMES MCNEIL THE EPITAPH / DULCE ET DECORUM EST PRO PATRIA MORI / THY SONS AND THY DAUGHTERS SHALL BE GIVEN UNTO ANOTHER / PEOPLE, AND THINE EYES SHALL LOOK AND FAIL WITH LONGING / FOR THEM ALL THE DAY LONG. / DEUT. 28:32 / GREATER LOVE HATH NO MAN THAN THIS, THAT A MAN LAY DOWN HIS LIFE FOR HIS FRIENDS. / JOHN 15:13 / PRESENTED BY ROBESON COUNTY COMMISSIONERS / IN MEMORY OF OUR WORLD WAR DEAD / A.D. 1938