Individual Details

Robert Lynn "Butch" FURR

(25 Dec 1943 - 13 Apr 2024)

Long after Butch Furr’s grandfather Robert Houston Peacock died, Furr found a diary the World War I veteran kept during his time overseas. Furr, 74, said his grandfather, a private first class in the war who worked as a barber when he returned to Tulsa, never talked about his service. But the Tulsa man does have childhood memories of attending American Legion post dinners with Peacock and attending the downtown Veterans Day parades with him. Reading the diary — a copy of which he recently gave to American Legion Post 1 — provided Furr with a new perspective on his grandfather. “They went through an awful lot to protect us,” Furr said. World War I had been underway for a few years when a group of men in Tulsa decided to serve their country. More than 100 men began meeting at the Chamber of Commerce in March 1917, making preparations to join the U.S. forces overseas. Those men eventually joined the 111th Engineer Regiment, 36th Division — known as the “Tulsa Engineers,” according to the American Legion’s website. “There was a call to arms, and the city rose up for that call to arms,” Davis said. According to Peacock’s diary, the men from Tulsa set sail for France on the USS Antigone in July 1918. They saw their first “real battle” that September, according to Peacock’s writing, when they attached to the First Army and met German soldiers on construction roads. The U.S. forces took 25,000 German prisoners as a result of that encounter. On Sept. 16, 1918, Peacock described some of the scenes he had witnessed in one week’s time: “Our boys strewn over the battlefield, tank blown up by mines, Germans chained to machine guns. … French civilians released after four years bondage and returned to their homes at Thiacort. Their gratitude for deliverance was very touching.” Throughout the fall and winter, Peacock described the group’s various jobs, often working on roads and in rock quarries. They were involved in the final offensives of the war: St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne. On May 30, 1919, Peacock and company arrived in New York City, and a few weeks later, their return to Tulsa was honored with a parade and celebration, according to the American Legion. The snow stayed away for that parade.

Events

Birth25 Dec 1943Tulsa, Tulsa County, OK
Marriage2 Jul 1963Patricia Kay KILLOUGH
Death13 Apr 2024Tulsa County, OK
BurialWoodland Memorial Park Cemetery, Sand Springs, Tulsa County, OK

Families

SpousePatricia Kay KILLOUGH (1946 - 2019)
ChildLiving
FatherRubert H. "Preach" FURR (1925 - 1993)
MotherEmma F. "Babe" PEACOCK (1925 - 2004)
SiblingLiving

Notes

Endnotes