SOURCE: Shelbyville (TN) Gazette, 24 Sep 1942, pg. 6:
"Furlough Unites Soldier With Sister After 25 years"
A furlough is always welcome to a soldier, but for Sgt. Clinton Stidham of Fort Jackson, S.C., this one had an extra attraction. It was a reunion in Murfreesboro with the sister who he had not seen for more than 25 years and who until July 29 had not known that he existed."It's the most wonderful thing that ever happened to me - finding out I have a brother, said Miss Linda Marie Mitchell, 28 of Decatur, Ala. Miss Mitchell, who was adopted at the age of 18 months by Mr and Mrs James Mitchell of Decatur, got a vation from her duties as clerk in the Decatur Office of Civillian Defense to join her brother in their native town.After the death of their father, L.D. Stidham, Miss Mitchell and another sister, now Mrs. Buck Harris, were placed in the Tennessee Childrens Home, while the brother and another sister moved with their mother to Bedford County.
The third sister died, and the brother found work at various jobs, serving for a time in the merchant marine before entering the Army. Miss Mitchell accidentally found her adoption papers when she became 21 years of age, and asked her foster mother about herself. By degrees she was able to piece together the facts. A newspaper story brought more information from relatives, including Mrs. J.H. Puckett, an aunt, near Rover. The mother had long since died.
The climax was the meeting in Murfreesboro last week. It would have been, that is, had the other sister been present. She was last traced to Mayfield Ky., but moved and left no address.

OCCUPATION:: merchant marines (bef 1941)

MILITARY: US Army, Sgt.. Stationed at Fort Jackson, SC in 1942. Rank when discharged: SGT BTRY B 230 FA BN SC INF DIV FA

MILITARY: Private, US Army, World War II; enlisted 24 Sep 1942, Fort Jackson, Columbia, South Carolina, residing in Rutherford Co., Tennessee; civilian occupation, truck driver; education, grammar school; not married - Source: National Archives and Records Administration. U.S. World War II Army Enlistment Records, 1938-1946 [database online]. Provo, Utah: MyFamily.com, Inc., 2005. Original data: Electronic Army Serial Number Merged File, 1938-1946 [Archival Database]; World War II Army Enlistment Records; Records of the National Archives and Records Administration, Record Group 64; National Archives at College Park, College Park, MD. (from Ancestry.com)

MILITARY: Sergeant, BTRY B, 230 FA BN, SC INF DIV FA, - ref. National Cemetery Administration. "Burial & Memorial Benenfits." "Nationwide Gravesite Locator." (http://gravelocator.cem.va.gov).

He is probably the Clinton Stidham, age 28, b. Tennessee, who was an inmate at the Chandler County (Georgia) Convict Camp in 1930 (ref. 1930 Chandler Co., Georgia census, Mil. Dist. 1685).

MILITARY-BIRTH-DEATH-BURIAL: National Cemetery Administration. Nationwide Gravesite Locator.

GRAVE: Sec. P, site 6384, Stones River National Cemetery (or is it P-6247?)