Arther Encil Hicks
Sex: M
AKA: Art 37
Individual Information
Birth: 21 Sep 1926 - , Beaver, PA 927,928
Christening:
Death: 22 Jan 1995 - Houston, Harris, TX 927,928
Burial: in Houston, Harris, TX 37
Cause of Death:
Events
• Soc Sec Num: 284-20-9703, , , OH. 928
• He appeared on the census in 1930 in Cross Creek Twp, Jefferson, OH. 929
Encil Hicks, head, Land $7000, age 45, married at age 40, b. WV, f. WV, m. WV, coal miner at steel works
Minnie, wife, age 23, married at age 19, b. WV, f. WV, m. WV
Arthur, son, age, 3 6/12, single, b. PA, f. WV, m. WV
Opal, dau, age 2 1/12, single, b. OH, f. WV, m. WV
Olaf, dau(s/b son), age 10/12, single, b. OH, f. WV, m. WV
Baker, Ollie, brother-in-law, age 21, single, b. WV, f. WV, m. WV
Baker, Gladys, sister-in-law, age 17, single, b. WV, f. WV, m. WV
• Military: PFC, U.S. Army. 37
Parents
Father: Encil Morgan Hicks (1883-1953)
Mother: Minnie Baker (1907-1989)
Spouses and Children
1. *Annabelle Margaret Conger (24 Nov 1932 - 30 Nov 1997)
Marriage:
Children:
1. Richard Morgan Hicks (1950-1958)
2. Robert Jay Hicks (1951-1958)
3. Barbara Ann Hicks (1952-1958)
4. Roger Lee Hicks (1954-1958)
5. Christina Marie Hicks
6. Ronald Michael Hicks (1957-1958)
7. John Allen Hicks
8. Michael Lee Hicks
9. Scott Morgan Hicks
10. Cathy Ann Hicks
Notes
Death Notes:
He died in the VA Hospital in Houston, TX.Burial Notes:
He is buried in the VA Cemetery at Houston National Cemetery.General:
Biography North Houston resident Arther Hicks was 14 when Pearl Harbor was bombed 45 years ago, but he remembers it clearly. "It was on a Sunday, and I never will forget it. We were sitting in the front room when it came on the radio. At that time, I was a kid, though, and I didn't really understand what it meant," he said.
Hicks grew up quickly. A year and a half later, he ran away from home and lied about his age to join the Merchant Marine. The 15-year-old Hicks was assigned as a deckhand on a ship transporting GIs overseas. "We left out of Norfolk, Va., in one of the biggest convoys of ships heading out," said Hicks. He remembers some of the action, including being torpedoed in the Mediterranean. "They used to come at us out of the sun where we couldn't see them, and they did get some of our guys," he said. A lot of it was frightening, he said, but "with a lot of stuff you're not scared until after it's over."
While he saw a lot of action in the service, it was inaction at one time that may have saved Hicks' life. "One of my buddies who was in training with me, we came home on leave together, but I stayed home a couple of days longer than I should have," Hicks said. The ship his friend was on, the one Hicks also was to have returned on, was attacked and his friend was killed. "If I'd gone back on time, I'd have been on the same ship," he said.
After a stint with the Merchant Marine, Hicks joined the Army at the age of 18 and was assigned to a tank outfit in Europe. "The war was just about over then," he said. "It doesn't seem very long ago," said Hicks of his wartime activities, but as he holds a copy of a Dec. 6, 1942 Pittsburgh paper commemorating the bombing, and as he looks at photographs of old friends, he is surprised at how much time has gone by. "I say, 'Lord, have mercy, was it that long ago?'" he said.
Hicks underwent heart surgery at the Veterans Administration Hospital a year and a half ago, and said he saw other old soldiers there. "You look around and see all old guys, then you look in the mirror and you see how the time flew," he said. "So many people nowadays forget all about what those boys did."
(Article in Houston Chronicle, titled "Pearl Years pass quickly for World War vet", written by Beth Hutko, Assistant Editor; date unknown) 930