[courtesy of Christine Thacker]

Crypt marker for Paul W. Lavendar in Chapel of the Pines Crypt, Parkhill Cemetery, Columbus (Muscogee), GA

Draft Record

Paul registered for the draft ca. 1941 at age 20 and indicated he had been born in Old Fort, NC.  His listed point of contact was his mother, then residing in East Marion, approximately 12 miles from his place of birth.  His employer, Marion Manufacturing Company, a textile mill, was located in that same town.

Paul enlisted in the Army at Camp Croft, S'C on 8 July 1944.

Pfc Lavendar was transferred from the 82nd Airborne Division to Hq 2nd, 508th PIR on 27 October 1945.

On 3 December 1945, Pfc Lavendar was transferred to Service Company.  The morning report for Service Company that month is unavailable and his name did not appear again in 508th records.

Retired Lt. Col. Paul W. Lavendar passed away on Tuesday, June 24, 2008 at Memorial Mission Hospital in Asheville, N.C., while on vacation.

Funeral services were held at 3 p.m. on Sunday, June 29. A private entombment was held in Parkhill Cemetery in Columbus, Ga. on Monday, June 30.

He was born on July 20, 1921 in Old Fort, N.C., to the late Alfred W. and Cordelia E. Lavendar.

Retired Lt. Col. Paul W. Lavendar had a distinguished career in the Army, serving his country in World War II, Korea, and Vietnam. Following his military retirement in 1970, he served as technical advisor and chief coordinator for all phases of the US AIB test mission until his retirement from civil service in 1990. On Dec. 10, 2002 he was inducted into the U.S. Army Operational Testers' Hall of Fame at Fort Hood, Texas.

He is survived by his beloved wife of 67 years, Lois Moore Lavendar of Columbus, Ga.; two daughters, Patricia Smith and her husband, Ralph, of Decatur, Ala., and Paula Norton and her husband, Robert, of Mountain City, Tenn.; a granddaughter, Christy S. Talley and her husband, Rick, of Decatur, Ala.; a great-granddaughter, Anna Kate Talley of Decatur, Ala.; two brothers: Robert Lavendar of Old Fort, Frank Lavendar of Marion; and a sister, Inez Anderson of Old Fort. Paul Lavendar's life was exemplary to the 320th B Battery motto: "Best by Test."