Saturday, October 14, 2023

Troy A. Hargis

The Legion of Merit

Name	Troy Alvis Hargis
Gender	Male
Race	White
Age	21
Relationship to Draftee	Self (Head)
Birth Date	19 Mar 1919
Birth Place	Martinsville, Texas, USA
Residence Place	Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches, Texas, USA
Registration Date	16 Oct 1940
Registration Place	Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches, Texas, USA
Employer	Ben T Wilson
Height	5 10
Weight	150
Complexion	Light
Hair Color	Blonde
Eye Color	Gray
Next of Kin	Thad A Hargis

U.S., World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946

Name	Troy A Hargis
Race	White
Marital Status	Single, without dependents (Single)
Rank	Aviation Cadet
Birth Year	1919
Nativity State or Country	Texas
Citizenship	Citizen
Residence	Nacogdoches, Texas
Education	4 years of college
Civil Occupation	General industry clerks
Enlistment Date	15 Mar 1941
Enlistment Place	Houston, Texas
Service Number	18042448
Branch	Air Corps
Component	Regular Army (including Officers, Nurses, Warrant Officers, and Enlisted Men)
Source	Civil Life
Height	69
Weight	151

roy Hargis was born on March 19, 1919, in Martinsville, Nacogdoches County, Texas, USA.. The son of Thaddeus Hargis and Annie Kendrick. Troy grew up in Nacogdoches County and graduated from Nacogdoches High School. He received a bachelor's degree from Stephen F. Austin State University and his master's degree in business from the University of Pittsburgh. Troy entered the Army Air Corp. in 1940, he trained at Hemet Field and Moffett Field in California, He served in the Pacific. He was awarded the Asian Pacific Operations medal. of Japan as a pilot. He graduated from the Aviation Program in 1941 in Hemel, Calif. He also went to language school at Yale University to learn Japanese in order to work as a liaison for the U.S. Air Force through the Military Assistance Group in Tokyo. After the war, he served in Germany. When he came back stateside, he worked for two years at the NASA Manned Space Center in Houston as a liaison officer for the Air Force working with the astronauts at that time. After 27 years of military service, Troy retired from the Air Force in 1968 as a command pilot and received the Legion of Merit award for his service to the United States. Troy went on to become a teacher of business at SFA for 20 years. While teaching, he ran his ranching operation near Black Jack. He retired from SFA in 1992, but continued ranching until his health declined. Ranching was his life. He was a member of Calvary Baptist Church in Nacogdoches. Col. Hargis passed away on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013, in San Antonio, Baxar County, Texas. He is buried at Black Jack Cemetery in Black Jack, Nacogdoches County, Texas.

Troy A Hargis Senior in Highschool Class of 1935

Troy A. Hargis 1936

Troy A. Hargis 1937

Troy A. Hargis 1939 Senior at SFASU

Troy A. Hargis 1970

Troy A. Hargis 1978

Troy A. Hargis 1980

Troy A. Hargis 1984

Troy Hargis Obituary

Funeral service for Col. Troy A. Hargis, 93, of Black Jack, Texas, will be held at 2 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 24, 2013, at Laird Funeral Home with Bro. Paul Sevar and Bro. Don Chumley officiating. Burial will follow at Black Jack Cemetery. Col. Hargis passed away on Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013, in San Antonio. He was born on March 19, 1919, in Nacogdoches to the late Thaddeus Hargis and Annie Kendrick Hargis. Troy grew up in Nacogdoches County and graduated from Nacogdoches High School. He received a bachelor's degree from Stephen F. Austin State University and his master's degree in business from the University of Pittsburgh. Troy served his country in the United States Air Force during WWII and participated in the Pacific Occupation of Japan as a pilot. He graduated from the Aviation Program in 1941 in Hemel, Calif. He also went to language school at Yale University to learn Japanese in order to work as a liaison for the U.S. Air Force through the Military Assistance Group in Tokyo. After the war, he served in Germany. When he came back stateside, he worked for two years at the NASA Manned Space Center in Houston as a liaison officer for the Air Force working with the astronauts at that time. After 27 years of military service, Troy retired from the Air Force in 1968 as a command pilot and received the Legion of Merit award for his service to the United States. Troy went on to become a teacher of business at SFA for 20 years. While teaching, he ran his ranching operation near Black Jack. He retired from SFA in 1992, but continued ranching until his health declined a month ago. Ranching was his life, and he and his grandson, J.T. Mervin, managed the ranch together. He was a member of Calvary Baptist Church in Nacogdoches, and he and his wife, Norma attended evening services at Springhill Baptist Church. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and friend to many in the community. Troy is survived by his loving wife of 14 years, Norma Johnson Hargis of Black Jack; his daughter, Jodie Hembree and husband Roger of Las Vegas, Nev.; son-in-law, Jim Mervin of Martinsville; and two step-daughters, Barbara Gattis and husband Ed of Burnet, and Joce Dunagan and husband Earl of Lindale; grandchildren, J.T. Mervin and wife Connie of Nacogdoches, Tobie Roberts and husband Pearson of Asheville, N.C., and Jennifer Hembree of Las Vegas, Nev.; great-grandchildren, Thad and Cade Mervin of Nacogdoches, and Brenna and Olivia Madalone of Asheville, N.C.; as well as numerous other extended family and great friends. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his first wife, Kathryn Marjorie Hargis and daughter, Linda Mervin. Pallbearers will be Roger Henbree, Ed Gattis, Earl Dunagan, Larry Poe, Joe Langford and Bubba Green. Honorary pallbearers will be J.T., Thad, and Cade Mervin, and Pearson Roberts. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Black Jack Cemetery Association, 217 CR 350, Nacogdoches, Texas 75961. To offer condolence or to sign the register book online please log onto www.lairdfh.net. Laird Funeral Home.

Troy Alvis Gargis Find A Grave

Troy Hargis

BIRTH: 19 Mar 1919
Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County, Texas, USA
DEATH: 20 Jan 2013 (aged 93)
San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, USA
BURIAL: Black Jack Cemetery
Nacogdoches County, Texas, USA

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The Flag of the Kingdom of Spain 1519 to 1821

The Spanish Flag of Castile and Leon flew over Texas for three hundred years. Spanish involvement in Texas began with Alonzo Alverez de Pineda's mapping of the Texas coast in 1519. Then, in 1542 Luis de Moscoso came to Nacogdoches and East Texas with the remnants of the Hernando de Soto expedition that had begun four years earlier in Florida. Spain's claim to Texas went back to the DeSoto-Moscoso Expedition, which claimed all of southeastern United States as Spanish Florida. Spain's occupation of Texas began in 1690 with the founding of Mission San Francisco de los Tejas on the Neches River. It continued in 1716 with the founding of six missions from the Neches River to Los Adaes in Western Louisiana, and 1721 with the founding of Presidio Nuestra Señora de Pilar de los Adaes----near present day Robeline, Louisiana. Los Adaes was the first capital of the Province of Texas. Texas was under the Spanish flag until Mexico gained its independence from Spain in 1821. Interestingly, the first flag used by the Spanish to claim Texas was not the familiar flag of Castile and Leon; it was a banner that had the Virgin of Guadalupe on one side and the crucified Christ on the other.

The Flag of the Kingdom of France 1685 to 1689

France's claim to a part of Texas went back to 1682, when Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, explored the Mississippi and claimed all the land in its drainage for France. For some mapmakers and politicians, this included Texas. He named this land Louisiana. La Salle came to Texas in 1685, after he accidentally sailed past his destination at the mouth of the Mississippi. He established Fort St. Louis and a French settlement on Garcitas Creek off Matagorda Bay. The settlement was ill fated from its beginning. LaSalle was murdered by his own men near Navasota in 1687, and the settlers and soldiers who remained at Fort St. Louis were killed or captured by the Indians in 1689. The Spanish found Fort St. Louis and burned it to the ground in 1690. This French intrusion into Spanish territory caused the Spanish to begin the occupation and settlement of East Texas to prevent further French invasions.

The Flag of the Gutiérrez-Magee Expedition 1812 to 1813

Bernardo Gutiérrez and Lieutenant Augustus Magee flew their green flag of the new Republic of Texas over the Stone Fort in Nacogdoches in August of 1812. The Republican Army of the North, as these filibusters called themselves, had come from Natchitoches to Nacogdoches to recruit and train troops with the help of Samuel Davenport. They stayed for two months, drilled an army of over five hundred men, and then marched on to capture Goliad and San Antonio. Magee died at Goliad, and his place was taken by Samuel Kemper. Kemper and Gutiérrez captured San Antonio and issued a Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Texas on April 6, 1813. This brief time of Texas Independence was over when the Spanish general Joaquín de Arredondo destroyed the remains of the Republican army at the Battle of Medina on August 18, 1813. Augustus Magee and Samuel Davenport, who were in charge of the militia in Nacogdoches, were both Irishmen. That might have governed their choice of the Emerald Green flag as the Republican army's standard.

The Flag of the Dr. James Long Expedition 1819 and 1821

Some Americans believed that Texas was part of Louisiana as claimed by LaSalle in 1682 and should have been included in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803. One of those was Dr. James Long of Natchez, Mississippi, who came to Nacogdoches in June of 1819. Dr. Long proclaimed himself the president of his newly declared Republic of Texas. Dr. Long's red-striped Lone Star flag flew but briefly over the Stone Fort and his Republic of Texas. The Spanish caught Long when he went to Galveston, where he was seeking the assistance of pirate Jean Lafitte. There they defeated him and his meager army and chased him back to Louisiana. Dr. Long returned to Texas with a small army in 1821 and quickly captured the poorly manned garrison at Goliad. However, he was soon under siege by Spanish troops from San Antonio, who recaptured Goliad and took him captive. Dr. James Long was taken to Mexico City, jailed, then freed, and then murdered under mysterious circumstances by a Mexican soldier.

The Flag of the Mexican Federal Republic 1821 to 1836

Spanish Nacogdoches came under the Mexican flag in 1821, when Mexico finally won its independence from Spain. Mexico, in order to prove its ownership of Texas, began settling its eastern parts with the Anglos as early as December 1821. In that year Stephen F. Austin was allowed to bring the first of his Old Three Hundred Settlers into his grant on the Brazos. Thereafter, Americans poured through Nacogdoches, the Gateway to Texas, in search of cheap land. By the time of the Texas revolution in 1836, Anglos greatly outnumbered the Spanish-Mexican population. The Mexican flag that flew over Nacogdoches and still flies over Mexico was adopted in 1825. It has three vertical green, white, and red fields of equal width. In the center of the white field is the Mexican eagle sitting on a nopal cactus holding a snake in its beak. In Mexican legend, this was a sign to the Aztecs that they had reached the land that was to be their home.

The Flag of the Fredonia Rebellion 1826 to 1827

For a brief while, the flag that flew over Nacogdoches was the red-and-white banner of Haden Edward's thirty-seven-day Fredonia Rebellion. Edwards had obtained a grant from Mexico to settle eight hundred families in East Texas in the Nacogdoches area. Unfortunately for him, most of the land had already been settled---legally and illegally---by the early Spanish, by Indians, and by Anglo squatters. His intrusion caused such a disturbance that the Mexican government revoked his grant. Disappointed over the loss of his grant, on December 16, 1826, Haden and his brother Benjamin rode into Nacogdoches, planted their flag in front of the Stone Fort, and proclaimed the Republic of Fredonia. They had formed an uncertain alliance with the Cherokees, thus the reason for the red and white colors of the flag. The flag carried the words "Independence Freedom and Justice" and the Signatures of sixteen of the original Fredonians. The Fredonian army consisted of no more than thirty men, the Cherokees never joined them, and Stephen F. Austin raised a militia to put down the East Texas rebellion. The Fredonians gave up their cause on January 22, 1827, and retreated eastward across the Sabine.

The Flag of the Republic of Texas 1836 to 1846

Mexican Texas became the Republic of Texas after Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna on the plains of San Jacinto on April 21, 1836. The first official flag was a white upside-down star on a blue background with T-E-X-A-S written between the points of the star. This flag never flew. The second flag of the Republic was adopted by the first Texas congress in December 1836. It bore a single, large gold star on a blue field. This flag was the same design as the "Bonnie blue flag that bears a single star" that was so popular among the Southern troops during the Civil War. The Lone Star flag that we now use was designed by Texas Senator William H. Wharton and was officially adopted by the Senate under President Mirabeau B. Lamar in 1839. The new flag kept the white star on the blue field, but now the blue field was a vertical stripe which occupied one-third of the flag, and it was balanced by horizontal white and red stripes, on the other two-thirds. This Texas flag has been prominently displayed for over 150 years.

The Flag of the Confederate States of America 1861 to 1865

For four years, the Stars and Bars flew over Nacogdoches and Texas. After years of conflicts of interest between the North and the South over states rights, slavery, and the right of secession, the Civil War began in March of 1861. Texas seceded and joined the Confederate States of America. It sent its Texas brigades into battle, and suffered for four years with the rest of the Confederacy before General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Courthouse on April 9, 1865. The most enduring of the Confederate flags during the War was the Stars and Bars with the square of blue holding a circle of the seven original seceding states. Texas was the seventh star. Because the Confederate Stars and Bars and the Union Stars and Stripes were easily confused in the heat of battle, General P. G. T. Beauregard introduced a Confederate battle flag. This was a square red flag with a white-bordered blue cross running diagonally from corners to corners. The cross contained thirteen stars representing the eleven Confederate states plus Kentucky and Missouri. This battle flag became the flag most closely identified with the Southern cause. The Confederate Stars and Bars came down in Texas after April 1863 and Appomattox, and the United States Stars and Stripes have been flying over this State ever since.

The Flag of the United States of America since 1846

On February 19, 1846, the Lone Star flag was lowered over the Texas state capitol in Austin, and the Stars and Stripes was raised. The Republic of Texas had become the State of Texas. From the beginning of the Republic in 1836, the majority of the Texians, most of whom had come directly from the States, had wanted Texas to join the Union. But many in the Union did not want Texas in the United States. Some did not want one more Southern slave-holding state, and some were afraid of causing a war with Mexico. Nevertheless, on July 4, 1845, the Texas congress voted to accept the articles of annexation offered by United States President James K. Polk, and on December 29, 1845, the congressional resolution proclaiming Texas as a state in the Union was signed by President Polk. The Old Glory that was raised above the Texas state capitol on the following February 19, 1846, had twenty-eight stars in four rows of seven stars each. Except for the four years of the Civil War, 1861 to 1865, these Stars and Stripes have since 1846 flown over the State of Texas.

Nacogdoches Texas USA

Nacogoches