richard david ware, jr.
1895-1918
Life Story
Early Life in Newton County, Mississippi
Richard David Ware, Jr. was born on January 25, 1895, in Newton County, Mississippi. He was the son of Richard David Ware and Laura Cooper Ware, who raised their family on a farm in the Lawrence community of Beat 4.
Growing up during the height of the Jim Crow era, Richard belonged to a generation of young African American men who reached adulthood amid both limited opportunities and growing expectations. Like his father before him, he worked on the family farm, learning the discipline and responsibility that came with agricultural life. Census records show him living with his parents into early adulthood, contributing his labor to the family operation while helping sustain the household.
Early records describe Richard as a man of medium height and build, with black hair and gray eyes, one of the few surviving physical descriptions preserved in official documents.
Answering the Nation’s Call
When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, thousands of young men across the country were required to register for military service under the Selective Service Act.
Richard registered for the draft in Newton County on June 5, 1917, joining millions of other American men whose names were entered into the nation’s military rolls. Two months later, The Newton Record published the results of the local draft board’s physical examinations, listing Richard among those found physically qualified for military service.
On March 3, 1918, Richard officially entered the United States Army at Decatur, Mississippi. Alongside other young men from Newton County, he boarded a train bound for Camp Pike, Arkansas, where recruits received military training before assignment.
Service During World War I
Private Ware was assigned to Company A, 309th Labor Battalion.
Like many African American soldiers during World War I, Richard served in a segregated unit. Labor battalions performed essential work that supported the Army’s operations, including loading supplies, constructing military facilities, maintaining transportation networks, and carrying out other physically demanding assignments necessary to sustain American forces. Although these soldiers rarely received the public recognition afforded combat units, their labor was indispensable to the success of the military mission.
Soon after entering service, Richard’s unit was transferred toward the Port of Embarkation at Newport News, Virginia, where troops assembled before overseas deployment.
A Life Claimed by the Influenza Era
Richard’s military career lasted only a matter of weeks.
While stationed at Newport News, he contracted lobar pneumonia, one of the most feared illnesses of the early twentieth century. Before the discovery of antibiotics, pneumonia claimed thousands of lives each year, particularly in crowded military camps where infectious diseases spread rapidly among new recruits.
On March 26, 1918, Private Richard David Ware, Jr. died from the disease at just twenty-three years of age.
His death occurred only twenty-three days after entering military service, ending a promising young life before he had the opportunity to complete his training or serve overseas.
Like many American families during World War I, the Ware family experienced the heartbreak of losing a son not on the battlefield but to disease—a reminder that illness often proved as deadly to soldiers as combat itself.
Returning Home
Following his death, Richard’s body was returned to Newton County, Mississippi, where his family laid him to rest in Union Chapel Methodist Church Cemetery near Lawrence.
His burial among family members ensured that, although his military service was brief, his sacrifice would remain part of the Ware family’s history and the history of Newton County.
Legacy
Richard David Ware, Jr.’s life was measured in only twenty-three years, yet his story reflects the experiences of thousands of African American soldiers who answered their country’s call during World War I.
He left the familiar fields of Newton County to serve a nation that still denied him many of the rights enjoyed by other Americans. Assigned to a segregated labor battalion, he became part of the enormous military effort that supported the United States during one of history’s most devastating conflicts. Though he never reached the battlefields of Europe, his willingness to serve—and the life he lost while in uniform—stands as a testament to the patriotism and sacrifice of African American servicemen whose contributions have too often been overlooked.
Today, his grave in Union Chapel Methodist Church Cemetery serves as a quiet reminder that military sacrifice is measured not only by battles fought but also by lives interrupted in service to one’s country. Richard’s story honors a generation whose devotion to duty endured despite the inequalities of the era in which they lived.
Resting Place
Union Chapel United Methodist Church Cemetery
Photos/Albums
Sources
- 1900 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, Beat 4, Enumeration District 93, sheet 10B, dwelling 189, family 189, Richard Ware household.
- 1910 U.S. Census, Newton County, Mississippi, Beat 4, Enumeration District 102, sheet 6B, Richard Ware household.
- World War I Draft Registration Card, Richard David Ware, Jr., Newton County, Mississippi, June 5, 1917, Selective Service System Records, National Archives.
- The Newton Record (Newton, Miss.), August 1917, list of men examined by the local draft board and found physically qualified for military service.
- World War I Military Service Record, Richard David Ware, Jr., Mississippi World War I Service Cards; Mississippi Department of Archives and History, Jackson, Mississippi.
- Edward M. Coffman, The War to End All Wars: The American Military Experience in World War I (Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1998), 219–245.
- Chad L. Williams, Torchbearers of Democracy: African American Soldiers in the World War I Era (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2010), 69–103.
- U.S. Army Transport and Hospital Records, Newport News, Virginia; Richard David Ware, Jr., March 1918.
- Mississippi Death Certificate (or military casualty record, if applicable), Richard David Ware, Jr., March 26, 1918; burial at Union Chapel Methodist Church Cemetery, Lawrence, Newton County, Mississippi.
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