By JORDAN THOMAS HALL
At 92, William Hicks sits on his porch in Carrie and fondly remembers his early life.
Before seeing military action overseas William was a shoeshine boy at the age of five in his father Virgie’s barbershop in Hindman. This would serve him well later in life. When the Army noticed how well he shined his shoes he was given a $6 raise.
William Hicks, Knott County’s oldest veteran. (Photo by Jordan Thomas Hall)
William grew up with Carl Perkins and they played often as boys. Carl’s mother Dora would always have him sit down to supper where he adored her fine cooking. He wasn’t the only one; at the table he’d watch Carl “eat as hard as he could.” “Carl said once that he would like to be president one day and he got close!”
To help with his family, William dropped out of high school at the age of 15. He then joined “the 3 C’s” (Civilian Conservation Corps), a government- funded organization that operated between the Great Depression and World War II, and employing boys ages 17-23 to manual labor jobs such as building roads and bridges. During the 1937 flood in Knott County he was sent to save people and their property in exchange for two sandwiches a day: one a peanut butter, the other cheese and bologna….
See this week’s newspaper for more.
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