Three Sherrill brothers among those who served with honor

Sherrill Park honors the Sherrill family who attended Corpus Christi Cathedral. Mary Cottingham, South Texas Catholic

Warren Joseph Sherrill

In a brief meeting held shortly before noon on March 20, 1943, the Corpus Christi City Council voted to designate the block of land on Shoreline just south of the USO building (today’s Art Center) as Sherrill Park in honor of one of the first Corpus Christians who died in World War II—Warren Joseph Sherrill, a young Catholic whose family attended the Corpus Christi Cathedral.

It was not the city’s last gesture to memorialize fallen heroes. Veterans of south Texas celebrated when the new high school to be built in Corpus Christi was designated Veterans Memorial High School. This was a welcomed gesture of support for both living veterans and those who died for their country. This came after the city tore down the Memorial Coliseum, originally built to honor the 393 area men and two women who died in service during World War II.

The Memorial Coliseum was dedicated on Sept. 26, 1954 as the Texas Gold Star Mothers Association–an association of women who lost a son or daughter in wars–finished a statewide four-day convention. The mothers presented a plaque with the names of the fallen men and women that hung in the Coliseum, and now is at the Corpus Christi City Hall.

Sherrill Park, along the shoreline just north of the Coliseum site, was also dedicated as a Memorial to those who died for America, and it continues to host gatherings on such days as Memorial Day, Veterans Day, the Fourth of July and the anniversary of Pearl Harbor.

Sherrill, and his twin brother John Benjamin Sherrill, were born in Republic, Kansas on Sept. 29, 1920 to K. E. Sherrill and Lora Mary Williams. As war threatened the world in 1938, the boys dropped out of high school in Corpus Christi to join the Navy. They were both assigned initially to the USS Arizona where Warren Sherrill, a young Catholic, served as a chaplain’s assistant. His brother John was transferred off the Arizona in 1940 and sent to serve aboard the naval destroyer John D. Ford in the Far East.

On that fateful Sunday, Dec. 7, 1941, Warren Sherrill was most likely helping the chaplain prepare for Sunday services. Initially his mother Lora only received word that her son Warren was missing. The Corpus Christi Times carried a photo of young Warren Sherrill on the front page of the Dec. 22, 1941 issue and noted that his twin brother John Sherrill was in China at the time while another younger brother, Koren Sherrill, had joined the Coast Guard only a week earlier on Dec. 13, 1941.

It was after the war that the remains of Warren Sherrill were returned to Corpus Christi for a Memorial service in the Cathedral and burial in Holy Cross Cemetery where his stone stands next to that of his brother Koren Sherrill. The simple white stone, provided by a grateful nation, records his rank as yeoman second class, his birth and his death on Dec. 7, 1941 at the age of 21.

Koren Sherrill was only 20-years-old when he died at the home of his mother on Second Street while on leave from the Coast Guard. His military marker reports that he was a boatswain’s mate, second class USCGR, born on March 1, 1924 and died on Nov. 18, 1944. The article announcing his death and funeral arrangements reports that Father Charles J. Aubrey of the Cathedral sang his requiem high Mass on Tuesday Nov. 21, 1944 and that he was laid to rest in Holy Cross Cemetery with military guard furnished by the Coast Guard captain of the port.

It was on All Souls Day 1947 that an article in the Corpus Christi Caller-Times Sunday edition announced that the body of Warren Sherrill had arrived in San Francisco on Oct. 10, 1947 after an overseas trip from the Pacific on the funeral ship Hondo Knot. It was then in San Antonio at the Quartermaster Depot for several weeks before the body arrived by train on Monday noon, Feb. 3, 1948 where it was met by Gold Star Mothers, Navy Mothers, Disabled Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion and city and county officials.

The body lay in repose at the Cage Mills Funeral Home until the rosary was prayed. The next day funeral services were conducted at the Corpus Christi Cathedral, followed by full military burial ceremonies at Holy Cross Cemetery by the American Legion and the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Among the three military brothers, only Warren’s twin—John Sherrill—lived to a ripe old age, dying at Columbus, Texas in March 2001 in his 80s. After military service John Sherrill served his community as a dentist.

The mother of these three boys, Lora M. Sherrill, died in December 1975. Besides her son John, she was survived by three daughters—Bonnie J. Andrews of Corpus Christi, Alice E. Gould of Las Vegas, Nevada and Dr. L. K. Sherrill-Hardin of Austin. Her obituary noted that she was a native of Bismarck, Missouri who moved to Corpus Christi in 1932 and owned a nursing home until her retirement.

Lora Sherrill also served as a member of the American Legion Auxiliary during many years. She was clearly proud of the service of her three sons, and as a Gold Star Mother she served as the local chapter’s president, secretary and chaplain over the years. After the war she travelled to Arlington National Cemetery to lay a wreath at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier during ceremonies held on “Corpus Christi Day” at Arlington—March 2, 1949. The ceremony was attended by leading civilian and military personnel, and it was heralded as “the only ceremony of the type sponsored by a city.” Lora Sherrill and other representatives from Texas then returned from Washington, D.C. by way of St. Louis where she spoke to the Gold Star Mothers there.

It was the Gold Star Mothers who provided the five-pointed star shaped wreath for the Arlington Cemetery. At the same time Lora Sherrill was placing the wreath at Arlington, Mrs. O. B. Nickelson placed wreaths on the gravestones of Warren and Koren Sherrill in Holy Cross Cemetery in Corpus Christi.

Warren Sherrill was honored by the city’s decision to designate the shoreline site as Sherrill Park, and Gragg-Sherrill American Legion Post #248 also bears the family name in honor of the three brothers who answered their country’s call to service.

On Memorial Day we are reminded of the many who joined these brothers’ noble efforts and have been called the “Greatest Generation” because of the sacrifices they made that the freedoms we value might be defended and preserved.