Obituaries

Earl Pete Vowell

Photo of Earl Pete Vowell Photo of Earl Pete Vowell
Earl "Pete" Vowell, age 98 of Little Rock, Arkansas. He was born Earl P. Vowell, on December 2, 1920 - received orders for a permeant change of duty station on September 13th, 2019. He was born in the farmhouse on a share cropping farm, the ninth of eleven children born to Henry and Donie Vowell in Winston County, Ms. He joined the CCC [Civilian Conservation Corps] in 1938, stationed in a logging camp at Two Sisters, Oregon where he was the camp cook when not fighting forest fires. He joined the US. Army, Infantry, in September, 1940 at Vancouver Barracks, Washington. During WWII he served with the 3rd Infantry Division and survived the amphibious invasions of North Africa; Sicily; Salerno, Italy; Anzio, Italy and Southern France. The Anzio beachhead lasted four months. When the 3rd Division fought their way out of the beachhead, only he and one other man in his company that made the initial invasion had survived the four months. At the invasion of Southern France his assault boat struck .a mine, of over forty men on the boat only Pete and twelve other GI's made it to shore alive. He received three Purple Hearts in WWII, the Silver Star for "gallantry in action", presented by Gen. George Patton, at Anzio and four Bronze Stars, earned in combat. After WWII he served in the occupation of Germany and Japan. While serving in the occupation of Japan, at the start of the Korean War, in July, 1950 his unit was the first unit transferred from Japan to Korea. He received one Purple Heart in the Korean War. During the Viet Nam war he served a tour of duty in 1966-67 and a second tour in 1969-70. He retired from the army in 1972 with the rank of Command Sargent-Major. In 1945 he was married to Jeanette "Net" Lessel in Indianola, Ms.; from 1945 to 1972 they spent less than ten years together, with him being stationed away from home the other years. He dropped out of school in the 4th grade to help on the family farm. He received his GED at Ft. Knox, KY in 1959 and his BA from UALR in 1980, with the double major of Political Science and Criminal Justice, with a minor in Radio and TV Production. To "stay in shape" he worked refurbishing apartments until his wife made him retire when he was 90 years old. He is survived by his wife of 74 years Jeanette Vowell, his son, Mike Vowell and daughter in law Jeanenne Vowell of Little Rock, Grandson Marcus Vowell of Scottsdale, AZ, granddaughter Jessie Vowell, future grandson-in-law Joseph Beaty and great-grandson Asher Vowell of Little Rock. A visitation will be at Griffin-Leggett - Healy and Roth 5800 W 12th St, Little Rock on Monday September 16th from 6-8 p.m. there will be a grave-side ceremony at Forest Hills Memorial Park, 10201 Hwy 5, Alexander, Arkansas on Tuesday starting at 2 p.m. Please share your love and support with the family and sign the online guestbook by visiting our website at griffinleggetthealeyroth.com.

Published September 15, 2019

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