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'Every community needs a George Mills': local veteran, community leader turns 100

Decatur Daily - 5/23/2021

May 23—He's a "hero of the community." He's "the last Southern gentleman." His memory is "as sharp as a tack." These are all things said by people who know retired U.S. Army Sgt. George Flavious Mills, a lifelong Decatur resident who turns 100 years old today.

Mills, whose birthday will be subdued because of an illness, is revered as a World War II veteran who was captured by German soldiers as a prisoner of war in 1944 and liberated in 1945, but Decatur citizens say they know him best as a centerpiece of the Decatur-Morgan County area because of his career as a salesman as well as involvement in local service organizations and military groups.

A double date

Born in 1921 in Spencer, Tennessee, Mills recalled growing up during the Great Depression in a significantly smaller, less-developed Decatur when his family moved here when he was a young child.

"The streets were all gravel back when I first came to Decatur," he recalled earlier this month. "Nobody had anything, nobody working; you could have been at work for 25 cents all day if you had a quarter, but nobody had a quarter."

As a teenager, he worked jobs for Western Union delivering telegrams nightly and for Forbes Piano Co., the latter of which he would eventually take up as his career.

Mills graduated from Riverside High School, which later became Decatur High, in 1939 and enlisted in the U.S. Army in May 1942. He served in Company E, 109th Infantry, 28th Division and fought in the Battle of Normandy and Battle of the Bulge among other conflicts under the leadership of Gen. Omar Bradley.

On Dec. 18, 1944, Mills was captured with about 240 other prisoners of war defending the Luxembourg border after his company was down to six rounds of ammunition, and Nazi soldiers forced the men to march to the Czechoslovakian border with no food. Retired Lt. Col. Michael Snyder, JROTC senior army instructor at Decatur High School and a friend of Mills, said Mills set out with around 600 other captured men but was only one of around 200 when American soldiers liberated them on April 13, 1945.

Upon arriving home, Mills found that selling pianos wasn't profitable, but selling paint was after a surge in homebuilding. For the next two years, he took up work for Sherwin-Williams, which had a distribution center in Florence at the time, according to Snyder.

"(Mills) figured out what builders need is Sherwin-Williams plaster repair kits, and (they) were a good product because some builders ... needed 'x' amount," Snyder said. "He ordered all that and got it shipped. He was resilient."

Soon thereafter, Mills had a friend arrange a blind date with a woman in Austinville, Charles "Charlie" McDoura, after some prodding from the friend to go on a double date one night.

"He said, 'We'll get you (a date),'" Mills said. "He called his date and she said, 'Everybody could call Charlie.' We called her and she said she was washing dishes and couldn't go, so we helped her with the dishes."

That was the night Mills found his future wife in Charlie, marking the start of a 65-year relationship. Mills was with her until the end, taking care of her in their home despite her diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease.

After his gig in paint sales, Mills went back to what he knew best — selling pianos — working for Traylor Music Co. in Huntsville for nearly 30 years. There, he gradually became one of the top salesmen of Baldwin brand pianos in the nation after taking business night courses.

"He's beaten out New York, Chicago, Los Angeles," Snyder said. "He knows where to put flyers, he has a network of piano teachers, a network of ministers of music. He's outfitted whole brand-new churches with pianos. All across the Tennessee Valley, he has pianos."

Disaster relief volunteer

Over the years, Mills found himself participating in numerous local clubs: Rising Sun Masonic Lodge No. 29. Shriners. American Legion Post 15. He was a founder of the Finis J. Self Chapter 2212 Military Order of the Purple Heart, where he still serves as the chapter's senior vice commander. Walls in his home today are covered in plaques, certificates and photos from his involvement in various groups.

Mills even ran a Corvette owners' club for a time after becoming enamored with the line of sports cars following his first model purchased in 1957, which he later exchanged for a Corvette Z06. At its height, the club included 60 other Corvette enthusiasts who developed driving routes members would follow each month.

"I guess I'm one of the oldest Corvette owners in Decatur," Mills said. "It was a big club. We ran it until Charlie and I started traveling."

He said he was most proud of a 1978 pace car he once owned. The club came to an end as interest waned and Mills and Charlie purchased an RV in 1983 to celebrate Mills' retirement, with which they set out to travel North America, visiting 48 states and Canada. Of all their getaways, Mills said his favorite was their trip to Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada.

For a long while, Mills volunteered for Southern Baptist Disaster Relief as a head cook, preparing free meals for those displaced by hurricanes and tornadoes. He served meals to hundreds of people affected by Hurricane Katrina in Louisiana and Mississippi in 2005.

Age didn't become an obstacle for Mills, who continued into his 90s to speak to high school cadets in Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps programs at public schools in north Alabama. Snyder said Mills has handed out over 140 JROTC awards to students.

"If the school wants him to be there, he'll be there," said Clifford Gissell, commander of the Finis J. Self Chapter 2212 Military Order of the Purple Heart. "It's exceptional he can still do that."

Mills also has routinely prepared community breakfasts on behalf of the Masonic Lodge on the first and third Mondays of each month, and he is involved with the local Kiwanis club. Maurice Means, 93, met Mills in the 1970s when Means joined the Masonic Lodge, and the two have remained close friends ever since. He said it's often that Mills must find time to meet with people because of his personal schedule.

"Somebody would ask him about if he could be somewhere or if he could come and talk and he'd say, 'Well, I'll have to check and see,'" Means said. "He'd had to look at his (pocket calendar)."

Meeting FDR

Everyone who has met Mills over the years seems to have their own stories to tell of his impact on the community as well as stories to share involving snippets of Mills' life the centenarian has recounted.

Maurice Means' son Bill, 73, learned many stories last year when he and his father had lunch with Mills after Sunday church services early into the COVID-19 pandemic. One such story comes from Mills' formative years before the war involving his first automobile, a Ford Model T, which Mills said he purchased at 14 years old at a cost of $10, paying the previous owner weekly installments while the vehicle remained at the home.

"George would bring his buddies by after school ... and he'd show them his car, taking the wrap off (and) the cover off," Bill said, grinning. "Finally, he was getting in the guy's way and the guy said, 'Why don't you just go ahead and take this car and pay me?'"

Another story involves Mills meeting then-President Franklin Roosevelt when Mills was working his stint for Western Union. Roosevelt received a telegram during a whistle stop reelection tour that saw him pass through Decatur, and Mills received the opportunity to hand the telegram off to the president.

"One of the Secret Service people said, 'I'll take it to him,'" Bill Means said. "George said, 'I can't let you take it to him, I'm a Western Union employee; I have to deliver it to the person it's addressed to, and it's addressed to President Roosevelt.'"

Snyder met Mills in 2011 while chair of the military science department at the University of North Alabama. He, too, has received his fair share of stories from Mills throughout the course of their friendship.

Mills confided in Snyder an anecdote from his and Charlie's travels in which Mills, Charlie and Mills' sister Elizabeth faced a near-death experience with their recreational vehicle in Minnesota. As Mills and his wife prepared for breakfast one morning outside the camper, the vehicle exploded on account of a gas leak, sending Mills flying back 60 feet. Elizabeth was still inside in the bathroom as the vehicle was aflame.

"All the gas had gone into the bathroom, and (Mills is) asking 'Where's Elizabeth?'" Snyder recalled. "He goes and gets Elizabeth, it's burning in there and melting plastic. He grabs the door (and) it's so hot it burns his hand."

The incident left his arms severely scarred, but the 80-year-old Mills rescued Elizabeth and Charlie and smothered the fires that engulfed the three of them.

Another longtime friend, Bobby Joe Smith, 78, met Mills after moving to Decatur in 1971 and volunteered alongside him washing pots for Southern Baptist Disaster Relief. Smith said he remembered a trip the two took to Raleigh, North Carolina, with a third friend, AJ, after a hurricane struck the East Coast.

"We only had one sleeping bag and it was cold, so they had to share the one sleeping bag in the back of the car," Smith said with a laugh.

'Exemplary service'

Mills' birthday this year has come with some new accolades for the 100-year-old. On April 15, the Morgan County Schools Foundation welcomed Mills into the Morgan County Leadership Hall of Fame among its 2021 class of inductees. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, formally recognized Mills on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on May 12.

"George Mills' exemplary service to America and his local community is emblematic of what makes America a great nation," Brooks said. "I wish George the very best as he and his family celebrate his 100th birthday."

Mills said despite all his and Charlie's travels across the country, the thought of moving away from Decatur never crossed his mind. Between friends, family, his church and clubs, it would mean leaving too much behind, he said.

David Breland, a retired judge who serves as the historic resources administrator and a tour coordinator for the city of Decatur, said Mills "gets better and better and more important to this community" with the passage of time, transcending his military achievements.

"Every community needs a George Mills," Breland said.

tim.nail@decaturdaily.com or (256) 340-2437. Twitter @timmnail

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