Rossville, Illinois

A Big Baby!



Our Grandpa Paul was born on May 10, 1923 in Rossville, Illinois.  Grandpa Paul weighed in at a scant 13 pounds when he was born!  He was the fourth boy born to William James and Lydia LaBounty.  Grandpa and his siblings were children of The Great Depression and were extemely poor, yet his childhood was reminiscent of Huckleberry Finn.



Grandpa, his brothers and sister and 2 cousins in the early 1930's.

 Grandpa's siblings in order of birth;

• Odes (pronounced like Otis) 1915, (US Army).
• The twins Don and Dale 1920, (USMC and US Army).
• Grandpa Paul 1923 (US Army).
• Dorris 1926, married to Don Roisland.
• The hound dog Sport.



The Rossville crew, with Grandpa's trusty hound "Sport".  Grandpa is top left, seen in his "hand-me-down" overalls.

Grandpa's childhood consisted of responsibility and adventure.  Most times, responsibility was mixed with adventure.  He can not recall an episode of boredom from his childhood.

They grew their own vegetables, raised chickens and had their own black and white milk cow.  Grandpa hated that cow.  Being the youngest boy, he had to milk the ornery old heifer daily.

At the age of 11, Grandpa began caddying at the local 9 hole golf course.  He was the smallest caddy and was fearless.  He never wore shoes and loved the water.  Nobody ever lost a ball.  He made $0.25 a round, plus a tip.  The money he made was given to his mother to pay for school clothes. 

He would collect broken clubs and make his own.  He made his own bikes.  Being poor provided its own forms of entertainment.

Grandpa loved his mother, and would do anything he could to help her.  He would regularly visit the town butcher and beg for soup bones, which his mother would make dinner with. 

Dinners were supplemented by something Grandpa Paul found that he was a natural at; Hunting, shooting and fishing.  As a boy he had a single shot .22 rifle and a single shot 12 gauge shotgun.  A true marksman, he honed his skill shooting bumble bees off of flowers and swallows when they dove onto the water.  A box of .22 short ammo cost $0.19, and every shot would put food on the table.  3 shotgun shells could be purchased for $0.05.  The food Grandpa would provide the family was squirrels, rabbits, pheasant, snapping turtles, soft shelled turtles, duck as well as catfish, crayfish (crawdads) and carp.  These skills would come in handy later in life in the jungles of the South Pacific, the streets of Salt Lake County, the mountains of Utah and as a competitive trap shooter.

I'm pretty sure he didn't eat these foxes, but I bet he made money on the hide.  Note the "R" with a B on his shirt.  That was his basket ball "letter" from Rossville High School.

Like most boys, Grandpa didn't like school.  He did enjoy sports.  Grandpa lettered in football and basketball. 



Rossville High School basketball team, 1940ish.  Grandpa is #3.  #9's nick name was "Tubby"?



Grandpa with his brother Don, wearing his football letter.

Shortly after the above photograph was taken, the two of them were off to war.  Don with the Marines, Grandpa with the Army.

Rossville War Memorial, Rossville, IL.

All 4 of the LaBounty brothers served in World War II in various capacities.  In the next entry to Our Grandpa Paul, the story of Grandpa's life in the Army will be told.

"He was a Cop's Cop". Remembering Det. Percy Clark.

Detective Percy L. “Perc” Clark, killed in the line of duty January 11, 1973.

Detective Clark was shot and killed during an armed robbery. The 42-year-old victim and other officers were conducting a stakeout of a pharmacy located at 564 Third Avenue.
Information from an informant had revealed that the pharmacy would be robbed. At approximately 9 p.m., two suspects arrived and were in the process of robbing the pharmacist when the victim left a position of cover and moved closer to the doorway. As the suspects exited, Detective Clark called for their surrender. He was shot in the head with a 9mm handgun.
The suspect who fired the shot was immediately killed by other officers. The second suspect surrendered and was eventually committed to the State Hospital.
Detective Clark was married and the father of seven children. He is buried in Salt Lake City Cemetery.

http://www.slcpd.com/Newsroom/Press_Releases/SLCPD/In%20Memoriam99CN%20Detective%20Percy%20Clark/


The idea for this blog came when I had asked Grandpa about his friend Percy Clark.  Percy Clark's grandson is a friend of mine, and also happens to be one squared away Police Officer too.  After hearing of the friendship and the seeing the emotion, I had to document it.  Not only for the Clark family, but ours too, as it is our history. 

Below, Grandpa Paul who was then a Lieutenant with the Salt Lake County Sheriff's Office speaks of his fallen friend, Salt Lake City Police Detective Percy Clark.

http://www.odmp.org/officer/3109-detective-percy-lindsay-clark

How I Got Shot, My Good Friend Benny

 

"It's no wonder I didn't get killed".  Grandpa Paul tells about the first time he was shot....right in the behind!

He recovered, and went on to fight another day.  While being shot in the ass is laughable, Grandpa Paul was soon to experience one of the most devastating, yet heroic day of his life.  There is not a day that goes by that Grandpa does not think about "Little Benny, the red headed Mormon kid from South Carolina".  

Grandpa describes the day his buddy Benny was killed in action, just feet away from him, and the rage and fury that followed. 

                                         The Browning Automatic Rifle (BAR) M1918.

The heartache and fury of that day was followed by little sleep, and a surprisingly good breakfast;

March 7th, 1945, Leyte Island, The Phillipines.

  

The BAR and bandolier of magazines smilar to what Gandpa was wearing the day he was shot.



A photo of an Army BAR man, and what the jungle warfare looked like.

A 6.5 Jap round that Grandpa was shot with (next to a .40 S&W round for comparison).

Dearest Folks....

"THE SECRETARY OF WAR DESIRES ME TO EXPRESS HIS DEEP REGRET THAT YOUR SON PFC LABOUNTY PAUL E WAS SERIOUSLY WOUNDED ON LEYTE 07 MAR 45"......

"March 22, 1945

Dearest Folks


    Here I am dictating these few words to let you know that I'm as well as can be expected and as always my hopes are that all at home are in the best of health thanks to God.

    The reason I haven't been able to write is because of my wounds, and previous to that I had been busy.  Got in te way of some incoming mail and got one in the chest and neck.  Now I'm getting along fine and still a chow hound.

    I'll close now as I can't think of anything else to say.  Give my regards to Jim B.

                                                                             Love, Paul."


On March 7th, 1945, then 21 year old Private First Class LaBounty, United States Army, was struck through the neck by a Japanese Sniper's bullet.  After three years of jungle warfare, they finally got him.  The bullet entered the right side of his neck and exited out the left side of his chest, just above the hip. 

Surely this would be the end of an ordinary man....but this was no ordinary man.  And this man would not go down that easy. 

This is the first of what I hope to be many of the fascinating stories that is Our Grandpa Paul.  Some sad, some funny, all real.  This is one of the most incredible men I have ever met, and it just so happens he is also my Grandpa.  He is one of many heroes of his day.  A dirt poor kid from the mid-west, he fought valiantly for his country in the greatest conflict known to man, then moved on to become a ledendary Sheriff- and the greatest Grandpa there ever was.

Say hello to Grandpa Paul.