25 Combat Missions

THE PARIS NEWS, Mon., Oct. 28, 1996, p. 5A: '(Picture) Roy Margel Ballard, 75, died Sunday Oct. 27, 1996, at his home in Roxton. Services will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29, at Fry and Gibbs Funeral Home Chapel with Nolan Butler, minister of College Church of Christ, officiating. He will be assisted by Earl Smith and Jerry Amsler. Burial will be in Evergreen Cemetery. The family will receive friends from 7-8 p.m. Monday at the funeral home and at other times at their home in Roxton. Mr. Ballard was born May 29, 1921, in Howland, Lamar County, Texas, a son of James Roy (Jack) and Mary Essie Ballard. He graduated from Paris High School in 1938. In July 1942 he enlisted in the United States Air Force and graduated from Harlingen, Texas Gunnery School where he was awarded the Silver Wings of the Aerial Gunner and promoted to the rank of sergeant. He was a ball turrett gunner on U.S. bombers with the 95th Bombardment Group and flew more than 35 missions in France, Germany, Africa and England, receiving the European-African-Middle Eastern Air Medal with one Bronze Star, Good Conduct Medal with three Bronze Clusters, one Overseas Bar and the Distinguished Flying Cross. In October 1945, he received his honorable discharge at Randolph Field, Texas. In 1947, he was one of the first to enlist when the Texas National Guard was organized in Lamar County. He served with the 49th Armored Division at Port Polk, LA, during the Berlin crisis and served as administrative assistant to the division surgeon until his retirement in 1981 with the rank of major. He was owner and operator of Ballard Trucking Co. many years. Mr. Ballard was a 25-year member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks No. 2433, serving the organization as Exalted Ruler from 1977-1979 and from 1984 until the present. During his tenure the lodge increased its membership from 200 to 1,200 and is the largest lodge in membership in Texas. He married Barbara Thompson April 27, 1947,

Evergreen Cemetery
Paris, Lamar County, Texas, USA