SPRING HILL CEMETERY, MAURY COUNTY TENNESSEE

Elijah Hanes Ayers, III (or Jr.) 1913 - 1943. Left to Right in the military various poses and last photo - as a Vanderbilt Grad.

AYRES, Elijah Haynes III,  1913 - 3 Feb 1943. "Son of Elijah Haynes Ayres & Hattie McGavock Ayres. He was killed in action over the waters of the North Atlantic by a German U Boat in WW II. His body was buried at sea along with many other soldiers/sailors from the ship they boarded. A memorial for him and another 6,000 others is located  in Battery Park NY and was dedicated in 1963, by J.F.K. not long before he was assassinated. Burial site in the North Alantic Ocean near Greenland GPS 59.38 X 48.70

Elijah Hanes Ayres was a casualty of World War II. He was killed on 3 Feb. 1943 when the USS Rochester Warship he was on was torpedoed by a German U boat U-223. The ship was headed to Greenland. When they were hit they were in the North Atlantic Ocean near Greenland at: Lat. 59" 23' N - Long. 48" 42' W converted to decimal 59.38 X 48.70. His body was buried at sea along with many other soldiers/sailors. Burial site North Alantic Ocean near Greenland.

No stone exist in this the Spring Hill cemetery. If it did it would be considered a Cenotaph. The family has recently decided to dedicate a military Cenotaph to his memory which is soon to be unveiled.

His father also Elijah Haynes Ayres opened the first bank in Spring Hill around 1901. The Ayres family lived just down the street from the bank. EH III was a teller in his dad's bank at the time of WW II.

Although he was really EH the third, after his grandfather EH b. 1853 passed away, he actually began going by Jr. As opposed to III.

Record of this family in the 1940 Federal Census:
Name: E Haynes Ayres 3rd
Age: 26
Estimated birth year: abt 1914
Gender: Male
Race: White
Birthplace: Tennessee
Marital Status: Single
Relation to Head of House: Son
Home in 1940:Columbia, Maury, Tennessee
Street: West Seventh Street
Inferred Residence in 1935:Spring Hill, Maury, Tennessee
Residence in 1935:Spring Hill, Maury, Tennessee
Resident on farm in 1935:No
Sheet Number:1B
Occupation: Teller
Highest Grade Completed: College, 4th year
Hours Worked Week Prior to Census: 48
Class of Worker: Wage or salary worker in private work
Weeks Worked in 1939: 52
Income: $1,200
Name Age
E Hayner Ayres 54
Hattis Ayres   50
E Hayner Ayres 26
Hariette Ayres 20
Alberta Hittal 22

Family History of Hanes Ayers b. 1913

Elijah Hanes Ayres, Sr. was born 13 June 1853 in VA and died 8 June 1926 in Spring Hill. His parents were Matthias Leake Ayres and Martha Rebecca Hanes. Sr.. EH Ayres was married 23 Nov. 1876 in Buckingham, VA to Lela May Thomason. Their son, Elijah Hanes Ayres, Jr. was born 12 Mar 1885 in Dresden, Weakley, TN and died 4 Oct. 1965 in Kinston, Lenoir, NC. He was married to Harriet "Hattie" McGavock (6 Apr 1884 - 28 Jul 1955). They married at CARNTON in Franklin, TN 30 Apr 1908 in the same house where Hattie was born. Both are buried in Mt Hope Cemetery, Franklin, Tennessee. Elijah Hanes Ayres the third is listed on a memorial dedicated by President John F. Kennedy in New York not long before his assassination.

Apparently after Sr. b. 1853 passed away, the original Jr. stopped referring to himself as Jr. but after his son, Elijah Hanes Ayres, III was born in 24 April 1913 began referring to him b. 1913 as Elijah Hanes Ayres, Jr. (which is the official way he was referred to when he enlisted in the military). (Reference WWII Enlistment document).

Elijah Hanes Ayers b. 1913 was nicknamed "Buddy". His nephews called him "Uncle Bud". He graduated from Branham and Hughes Military Academy's last class before the school closed in 1932. He went to California for a short time and attended a Community College. When he returned he enrolled in Vanderbilt University and graduated in 1936. He had applied for a commission to Officer's Commission School which was in the works when he was drafted 8 April 1942 and sent to Ft. Oglethorpe, GA. He was in training to be a navigator on a bomber and was on his way to England on the USS Dorchester when it was torpedoed near Greenland 3 Feb 1943. A few years after his death one of his shipmates came to see Hanes' dad to tell him how his son had perished. He was not injured in the torpedo incident but ended up in the water where he was picked up in a lifeboat from another ship that was in their convoy. He was cold and wet when picked up and died in the lifeboat shortly after being picked up. At Ft. Oglethorpe he was an assistant leader and would have been a radio man on a B-17 Flying Fortress or a Gunner on a Liberator.


    The  War record as it appears in Ancestry.com


Hanes and his Dad in front of their home on West 7th St. in Columbia Tennessee.

NEW BUILDING TO REPLACE OLD BANK
"They called it the Hole-in-the-Wall Bank," laughs Mrs Wharton Cheairs, recalling the beginnings of the old Spring Hill Bank.
The original bank building in Spring is scheduled to be torn down soon and since word got out a stream of people have been by to photograph the building.

The Spring Hill Bank was founded in 1901 by E. H. Ayres Sr. b. 1885. Mrs. Cheairs' father. Until a building could be erected business was conducted in a small building in the same block, a spot so small
that local wags called it the hole-in-the-wall.
But in 1903 a new two-story brick structure, costing $5,000, was erected on the old hitchyard lot at the corner of Depot and Main Streets. For many years a bank was located in this same building,
but in the past few years other business ventures have occupied the spot.
Mr. Ayres had come to Spring Hill at the suggestion of W. C. Branham head of the Branham and Hughes School and opened the bank with a capital stock of $15,000. The first of officers were:
Walter Bailey, president: John S. Odil, vice-president; E. H. Ayres, cashier; and Lawrence T. Ayres, assistant cashier. Other early members of the board included W. E. Martin, Allen Campbell, J. R.
Buckner, J. S. Brown, J. A. McMeen, F. P. Brumbach, E. P. Chapman, A. W. Beckwith, Jr., R. L. Hays, and William Hughes. Later E. H. Ayres. Jr. (our subject) became assistant cashier here.
Mrs. Cheairs remembers the bank dinner held the first Saturday in January each year. "The wives of the directors did the cooking. My mother usually cooked a turkey and a ham. Mrs. Henry Pointer
always made a Lady Baltimore cake and a Prince of Wales cake for the occasion," she says.
The dinner was held in the bank directors room and just about everyone in Spring Hill came. Dinners were sent to those who were ill and unable to come, and plates were always taken to the
telephone operators in the branch telephone office located in the second story of the bank. A huge coffee pot was kept on the stove in Odil's Store next door throughout the day of the dinner. These
annual dinners were discontinued about the time of the first World War (II).
The burglar alarm was installed by Mr. Ayres and he turned it on one day so everyone in town would know what it sounded like.
"One night we were in church." recalls Mrs. Cheairs, "when a man came in hurriedly and whispered something to my brother, Hanes, who left immediately. Then another came for my
Daddy, who also left the church. Filled with curiosity, other men left the service to see what was going on. Finally the minister dismissed us early so everyone could see what the excitement was
about. The bank burglar alarm had sounded. Men surrounded the bank, armed with rocks, sticks, guns, axes, and anything handy to catch the bank robbers.


Walking down West 7th St in Columbia Tennessee to embark to Fort Oglethorpe. The face of Hattie Ayers says it all (concerned mother to left)
Hattie & Hanes Ayres. Hanes was off to war or training - never to return.




The above image was translated next:
Years later - after the War, a young man went to the bank looking
for Daddy and told him he knew exactly how Hanes had died. Since they
had been together during all the Army days and together when Hanes
died, he wanted to tell Mother and Daddy if they'd like to know. So,
Daddy took him home to Mother and he told them his almost unbelievable tale.

He had been with Hanes when the ship was struck. They jumped
together and made it to a life boat. After an hour of more during which
time Hanes led the singing, and helped try to keep everybody's spirits'
up, he suddenly asked his friend if he really thought they'd be picked
up. The other boy said he was hopeful, and with that, Hanes emitted a
loud "Oh" and slumped over, dead from a heart attack. His buddies buried
him at sea. (A beautiful monument to those nearly 6,000 men who lost
their lives in the North Atlantic has been erected in Battery Park, here
in New York City - looking out toward the Statue of Liberty). Hanes'  name
is easily found. It's the last "A" on the first column on the right
side.  Rod and I were invited to the dedication. President Kennedy
dedicated it himself which was on May 23, 1963 and he was assassinated
on November 22, 1963.
From the Ayers family records (public now) as transcribed by C. Wayne Austin from a type letter sent from Elaine Warren Miller  17 Aug 2014



A Publicity Photo he used for Mule day Columbia Tennessee. Hanes sits in his 1937 Packard talking with a lady friend on one of the mules of the times.

A photo of the East Coast War Memorial in Manhattan Island, N York City.  The Eagle is pointing toward New York harbor and the Statue of Liberty. This Blackstone monument has Elijah Hanes Ayres, Jr.'s name inscribed in the "A" section. His name is one of the 6,000+ serviceman who lost their life in the near North Atlantic Ocean during the World War II conflict.

Photos and Info gathered and supplied by Elaine Warren Miller 29 Jul 2014. Revised to add most of the above 8 Aug 2014 & more 17 Aug 2014