Cecil J. Alvey

Cecil Alvey was the son of Claude and Emma Alvey of Tell City, Perry County, Indiana – their house at Number  41, 9th Street was just feet from the Ohio River, and the border with Kentucky. He was the second of four Alvey children, and prior to the war worked as a waiter at a local restaurant.

Alvey enlisted in the first months of 1942, and immediately after completing boot camp was retained as a Drill Instructor. Although only a private when he took charge of his first recruit platoon, Alvey began rising through the ranks at an astronomical rate, earning an additional stripe every three months. By July 1943 – about one and a quarter years after enlisting – he had the three chevrons and rocker of a platoon sergeant.

In the late summer of 1943, Alvey was transferred to the Fourth Marine Division. He crossed the country to Camp Pendleton, California and became a section leader with Company C, 24th Marines. He fought with them in the battle of Namur in February 1944, but the following month was transferred to the regiment’s Headquarters and Service Company.

The rest of Alvey’s combat career was spent with headquarters; on several occasions he served as acting First Sergeant, and received a promotion to Gunnery Sergeant. In the summer of 1945, he was detailed as Sergeant of the Guard to a Marine Corps air station in Hawaii, and when the Japanese surrendered was senior gunnery sergeant of Company G, 24th Marines. He was honorably discharged on October 29, 1945.

Following the war, Alvey returned to his family in Perry, Indiana. He was employed for a time as a sheet metal worker before his death in 1968.

Cecil Alvey is buried in Greenwood Cemetery, Tell City, Indiana.