Published April 3, 2000
Hendersonville Times-News

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A life of patriotism and dedication

By Pete Zamplas
Argie Taylor joined Gen. George S. Patton’s fight against Adolf Hitler when he was 17.
Fifty-six years later, Taylor thinks of World War II veterans daily. Taylor, one of the most visible veterans in Henderson County, honors deceased veterans as the local Honor Guard commander.
Taylor, 73, is also an Army veteran of the Korean and Vietnam wars. He retired as a sergeant major, the top enlisted rank.
“I take pride for having served the country during a time of need and as part of what’s been called the ‘Great Generation,’ ” he said.
Taylor, eldest of six children, enlisted in 1944, before he turned 18. He had to get permission from his parents, Ellie Taylor Cheatwood, now 90, and the late Harley K. Taylor, a textile worker. Some local veterans joined as young as 15, he said.
“Young people thought it was the right thing to do. They did what they were asked to do (in the service). No one objected to that war.”
He served in the infantry with Patton’s famed Third Armored Division and arrived in Germany a few days before the European war ended.
“We didn’t know how long the war might go on,” he said, noting the Battle of the Bulge had prolonged the conflict in the 1944-45 winter.
His first few days in combat, he saw many German prisoners go by, shipped by rail. There were few guards with them, and he worried prisoners might jump from the train and attack him.
Then he saw their surprisingly pleasant looks and realized the war was near an end.
“Every prisoner stood up and hung on to the sides. Most looked happy. They’d rather be in prison than in the war, knowing it’d be over soon.”
The European Theater ended May 8. Taylor and other GIs, en route to link up with the Third Division, patrolled the forest. Nearing their compound, Taylor saw troops rush out and fire gun shots into the air.
“Everyone was saying, ‘It’s over, it’s over, it’s over!’ ”
He was willing to go to the Pacific. Instead, Taylor worked with allies of several countries policing postwar Germany for six months. He guarded patrol tanks and prevented looting in towns. He also handled German prisoners and refugees from Nazi-held nations who were slave laborers in Germany. He won two promotions in six weeks.
There was some resistance to the Occupation. He was careful not to go out alone, because “you might get your throat cut or be thrown into the river.”
Taylor was in Mannheim, Germany, on Dec. 12, 1945, the day of Patton’s fatal jeep accident, but he did not witness it.
“The troops thought a lot of his pride, although he was sometimes arrogant,” he said of “Old Blood and Guts.”
Taylor, a Henderson County native whose ancestors fought in the Revolutionary and Civil wars, wears ribbons from his 28 years of service in the military. He worked another 20 years in civil service in social and mental health services. He retired in 1991 and since has focused on veterans activities.
He is a familiar face in parades and military funerals for leading the 30-member local Honor Guard and Memorial Team of American Legion Post 77, Veterans of Foreign War Post 5206 and Chapter 14 of Disabled American Veterans.
He is past commander of the local Legion and VFW posts and is on a state commission that tracks war prisoners and soldiers missing in action.
He is equally proud of his Honor Guard colleagues, volunteers who are mostly World War II and Korean veterans age 60 and older. They participate in scores of events each year, including parades and military burials.
They explain patriotic traditions such as their uniform colors, drills and the Pledge of Allegiance to students and other groups.
“You just don’t see the later generations show that kind of patriotism and dedication to the cause of veterans,” Taylor said. “It takes a complete dedication and a commitment to be there when the service is scheduled, above recreation, even work.”
He is saddened that so many World War II veterans in the county have recently died – nearly one every other day in February.
“It becomes very emotional when you do military burial services for them and for veterans of Korea and even Vietnam,” he said. “It’s chilling to hear taps.”
Taylor was in postwar Korea as an adviser to the South Korean Army in MASH hospitals in 1963-64. He did orphanage work.
And in the Vietnam War, Sgt. Major Taylor commanded a combat support battalion along the Laos-Cambodian border in 1969-70. Operations against the enemy were secret then.
His closest calls came when enemy mortars hit near him at an Air Force base near Te-Nem. One shell lit up black powder in an ammunition dump.
“You watched for others who saw the rockets first hitting ground or hiding under something.”
He extended his tour beyond 18 months. He finished college on the GI Bill in 1971, getting a business administration degree, then headed to Army advanced logistics training for two years in Fort Jackson, S.C.
Taylor and his wife, Ann, have two children and two great-grandchildren, who all live in the county.