William Faulkner, a Soldier of Lafayette County, Mississippi

Abstract

NOTES AND DOCUMENTS GERALD W. WALTON University of Mississippi, Emeritus William Faulkner, a Soldier of Lafayette County, Mississippi IT IS WELL KNOWN THAT WILLIAM FAULKNER TRIED TO ENLIST IN THE Aviation Section of the Signal Corps of the United States Army and was rejected because of his height and weight. Biographers have agreed that Faulkner, in letters and later in oral accounts, exaggerated his experience and that he was actually a cadet for pilot with the rank of private who never flew solo and of course never saw combat during World War I. Nevertheless, after he returned to Oxford he took pleasure in wearing a British officer’s uniform, with lieutenant pips, RFC wings, and a cap suggesting overseas duty—all of which he ordered and paid for.1 Members of the David Reese Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution “in the spring of 1921 . . . decided to gather in one place accounts of the various forms of activity of Lafayette County in the World War.” It was “Filed as a public record of Lafayette County Mississippi, this the 7th Day of April AD 1926.” The work included “Records of the Soldiers of Lafayette County, Mississippi, Who Served in the World War, 1917-1918 AD, including the men of this County who served with the Young Men’s Christian Association and also some men born in this County who enlisted elsewhere.” Regent Mrs. Calvin Brown and a committee “Verified [the information] by comparison with the records of the War Department on file in the office of the Adjunct General at Jackson, Mississippi.” Members of the county Board of Supervisors “voted financial help to the amount of $100.00 and gave their personal assistance in collecting names of soldiers from the Beats, through sub-committees, mostly women named by them.” The work was “presented in its completed form in this Book, with the hope that it may serve its purpose.” The completed work was “accepted” by the Board of Supervisors “this 3rd day of Feby, 1926, 1 See especially Blotner 1: 205-33; Collins; and Millgate, “William Faulkner, Cadet” and “Faulkner in Toronto: A Further Note.” 522 Gerald W. Walton Fig. 1. Detail of Lafayette County Mississippi in the World War 1917-1918. 1926. Lafayette County Historical and Genealogical Society. Image supplied by the author. 523 William Faulkner, A Soldier of Lafayette County, Mississippi and is ordered by them to be kept in the Office of the Chancery Clerk as a part of the permanent records of the County.” Among the list of “some men born in this County who enlisted elsewhere” is William C. Falkner (Fig. 1). While there is no way of verifying who provided the information on Faulkner, it seems likely that it was Faulkner himself rather than the War Department office in Jackson. If it was indeed Faulkner who provided the information, he did not include the “u” in his surname as he did when he enlisted and while he was in military service for five months; he showed his “Camp” as the Royal Flying Corps, which had actually become the Royal Air Force in April 1918. He did not list any battles or wounds and did not indicate whether he had served abroad. He simply listed a “Weak leg from crash while training”—nothing about “being shot down over Germany and having a steel plate in his head from his war wounds” (Hamblin 25) or flying through the roof of a hanger upside down and intoxicated (Blotner, 224-25, 232)! Works Cited Blotner, Joseph. Faulkner: A Biography. 2 vols. New York: Random House, 1974. Collins, Carvel, “Faulkner’s War Service and His Fiction.” MLA Annual Convention. New York. 28 Dec. 1966. Address. Daughters of the American Revolution; David Reese Chapter (Oxford, MS). Lafayette County Mississippi in the World War 1917-1918. 1926. Lafayette County Historical and Genealogical Society. Hamblin, Robert W. Myself and the World: A Biography of William Faulkner. Jackson: UP of Mississippi, 2016. Millgate, Michael. “Faulkner in Toronto: A Further Note.” University of Toronto Quarterly 37.2 (1968): 197-202. —. “William Faulkner, Cadet.” University of Toronto Quarterly 35.2 (1966): 117-32. ...