Sponsored by:

Navy Federal Credit Union
Greene
Willis
Strother
January 29, 1892

–

July 12, 1981

Cemetery:

Oconee Memorial Park and Mausoleum

Raised a Southern Baptist, Greene Strother served as a chaplain’s assistant in World War I, earning the Distinguished Service Cross for capturing 14 Germans. After the war he returned home to college, finishing his education in Pineville, Louisiana. He taught school and was principal of a school in Oak Grove, Louisiana. After studies at the Baptist Bible Institute in New Orleans, he pastored a church in Greenbay, Alabama. He was subsequently appointed a missionary to China by the Southern Baptist Foreign Mission Board. He came home in 1932 to continue studies at the Seminary in New Orleans, and returned to China in 1932, receiving an award from Generalissimo Chang Kai Shek for his work with refugees after Japan invaded China. During World War II he served as a chaplain to the famed “Flying Tigers.” In 1946 he returned to the United States, but returned to China the following year. Then, after a brief return home, he continued missionary work in Penang, Malaya. He retired in 1957, and pastored a church in Maryland.

Awards Received

  • Distinguished Service Cross

    Service:

    United States Army

    Rank:

    Corporal

    Regiment:

    11th Infantry Regiment

    Division:

    5th Division, American Expeditionary Forces

    Action Date:

    September 12, 1918
    War Department, General Orders No. 37 (1919), Amended by Supplement 1

    The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Corporal Greene Willis Strother, United States Army, for extraordinary heroism in action while serving with Company G, 11th Infantry Regiment, 5th Division, American Expeditionary Forces, near Vieville, France, 12 September 1918. Although on duty with the regimental chaplain, Corporal Strother requested and was granted permission to accompany the first wave. Aided by a fellow soldier, he successfully accomplished the capture of 14 prisoners and their machine guns.