Collas Bledsoe World War II Veteran

Freedom Isn't Free. Thank You Veterans.

1918-2008
He enlisted 13 May 1941 at Camp Shelby, Mississippi

OBITUARY
Mr. Bledsoe, 90, died Aug. 11, 2008, at G.V. (Sonny) Montgomery VA Medical Center in Jackson. He was born in Brookhaven on March 1, 1918, to William Bledsoe and Ethel Smith Bledsoe. He was a former truck driver for Southern Wholesale in Brookhaven. He served in the U.S. Army. He was a member of Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church and served on the trustee board. Preceding him in death were his parents; his wife, Eudie Bell Smith Bledsoe; his sons, William and Earnest Bledsoe, his brothers, Denon, R.T., Ameal, Osborne and Burnell Bledsoe; his sisters, Wydell Markham and Gertrude Shipp. Survivors are his son, Larry Bledsoe, of Gulfport; his daughters, Collisteen Wells and Ora McKeever, of Brookhaven; his sister, Mazie Coleman, of Los Angeles; his 17 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

Collas' sister Wydell married my mother's cousin Versie Markham.
Photograph courtesy of Willie L Robinson.

Wordless Wednesday General Nathaniel Tillman Family circa 1904

Reverend General Nathaniel Tillman 1880-1947
wife Ada Bledsoe Tillman 1882-1947
son Dewitt Tillman 1903-1978

The family was from Lincoln County, Mississippi.
Maternal cousins married into the Tillman family.

Photograph Courtesy of
Lincoln-Lawrence-Franklin Regional Library
100 S. Jackson St
Brookhaven, MS 39601
601-833-3369

Ancestors of Dewitt Tillman