Dotson Duke was born in Cullman County, Alabama on March 17, 1917. He was the youngest of 4 brothers and 2 sisters. They later moved to Birmingham, Alabama and that is where he met his wife Grace. They were married in January 1940, their first daughter Jamie was born in September, 1940. The second daughter, Madelyn was born in December, 1942. Dotson was very proud if those two girls !

Dotson was drafted on March 22, 1944, at Draft Board 8. He was sent to Ft. McClellan, Anniston, Alabama for 17 weeks of basic training. That base was located about 60 miles from the place where his family lived. During that period, Dotson managed to visit them a few times. Even when the Red Cross turned down his leave, because Madelyn was very sick with the chicken pox Dotson managed to go home for a couple of hours.

After being away for the 17 weeks of basic training Dotson only had 10 days of home leave before he was sent overseas. He left in September, 1944, sent to Fort Mead, MD, then port of embarkation being New York. His ship landed in Scotland. Dotson finally ended up in Germany where he was with the 1st Army, 1st Division, 16th Infantry Regiment, Company "G" ... the "Bloody Red" under General Hodges.

As so many others, Dotson had never even handled a rifle before going into the Army. There, he was given a M1 rifle. In Aachen, Germany he was sent into action once, came back saying that it wasn't as bad as he thought it would be. The next time he was sent out ------ he didn't come back. The shelling was so intense that no one could get to him. Two soldiers later told his family that he was in or near a foxhole and it was a very fierce battle! When they finally could get to him it was too late. They said his last words were "Tell Mama not to grieve and tell my wife that I love her". This happened on November 20, 1944 ... thousands of miles away from Grace, Jamie and Madelyn ...

Dotson Duke was buried in Henri-Chapelle (Belgium). His grave was "adopted" by a Belgium family. They took care of it & placed flowers there. Three years later in November, 1947, his body was shipped back to the United States to be reburied in Elmwood Cemetery, in Birmingham, Alabama.

Grace Duke never did remarry and she did her very best over the years raising Jamie and Madelyn alone. Even through difficult financial times she managed to raise her's and Dotson's daughters ... Dotson will be proud ...