George Sharble, 74, is unassuming, quiet, and soft spoken with strength of character that is evident in his gait and handshake.
He is also a veteran of the Vietnam War with uncanny recall about his time there that some may consider a hardship. Sharble admits he still has flashbacks to those days but is thankful they are few and far between.
Born in Magee in 1948, Sharble moved to Corinth in North Mississippi to live with his grandmother. When she died in 1963 he returned to Magee to live with his mother, who worked at the Mississippi Tuberculosis Sanatorium, now known as Boswell Regional Center.
Sharble enrolled in McLaurin School, which was housed in the old Magee Elementary School, when he was called up. “They sent me a letter, report to active duty. I was in the army, listed as a combat engineer,” Sharble said. He received basic training at Fort Gordon, Georgia, and engineering training in St. Louis, Missouri.
According to www.usacd.contentdm.oclc.org combat engineers “built ports and depots, carved airfields and airstrips out of jungle and mountain plateaus, repaired roads and bridges, and constructed bridges. Because of these efforts, ground combat troops with their supporting engineers were able to fight the enemy from well-established bases.”
“We were so far out there in the jungle fighting with the Vietnamese, that was our home day and night. We lost a lot of people. It was a rough go. We made friends when we got there of those who didn’t get hurt, didn’t get killed. We lost a lot of them because we were in the combat zone. Every night we would get hit, rounds would come in on the compound where we were…night and day. It was pretty regular,” Sharble recalled.
Sharble spent all of 1968 in Vietnam before coming home in 1969. He fulfilled his remaining six months of duty at Fort Hood, Texas, and then returned to Simpson County, where he has been ever since.
“I came out as an alcoholic and had real bad problems when I came home. I could hold down a full time job but I was drinking pretty heavy. I had to go to jail quite a bit for being drunk. One month cost me $500; that was a lot of money and that rocked on for a long time. I quit cold and I haven’t been back.”
Once back home Sharble found employment at the Sanatorium hospital working in housekeeping and as an orderly. He also went into business for himself as an auto body repairman. Sharble has been working on cars since 1965.
He recounts how he found his first location across from the Sanatorium in a building owned by Jake McAlpin. “McAlpin had a vacant building there and I asked him about it. I was working for the Sanatorium taking care of patients from 7-3. I asked him, ‘You want to rent that building?’ He said, ‘Yea, I’ll rent it.’”
All McAlpin wanted was $50 a month. “I jumped on it! I stayed there a good while and then moved down here; I don’t know what year it was.” Sharble’s current building is on MS 149 near the Magee Co-op.
George and his wife Charlene have been married 53 years and have four children: Tanya Funchess, Terry Holloway, Napoleon Sharble and Kim Hayes. He was a no nonsense father where his kids were concerned. “What I told them…when you finish high school if you’re not going to college, you’re going military. Those are the only two options you got. Now we not going to be working for McDonald’s. I said we’re going straight on in and do the time. They took heed on me and they were very successful.”
Napoleon was an aviator engineer in the Navy and served in Desert Storm. He has a master’s degree in education from Belhaven College and teaches in California. Terry Holloway graduated from Jackson State University Cum Laude with a bachelor’s in criminal justice and as a 2nd Lieutenant. He served in the military police during Iraqi Freedom. Tanya Funchess is a professor at the University of Southern Mississippi and has a master’s degree in public health and a doctorate in healthcare administration. Kim is a gifted artist who lives here in Magee. The couple has 13 grandchildren.
George and Charlene attended college simultaneously but at different schools. George earned certification in auto body and fender repair from Hinds Junior College, attending night school for 18 months. Charlene went to Jones Junior College during the day and obtained an LPN license. George said they owned one used car between them that never let them down. He also received training in welding.
Charlene returned to school a second time and got her RN degree. George shared a memory of a recent visit to Apex Physical Therapy. “I was taking treatment not too long ago up there by Piggly Wiggly that center right next door to it. The woman in there saw my name and asked if I was kin to Charlene Sharble. I said, ‘Yea, that’s my wife.’ She said ‘You have a heck of a wife. She will call those doctors’ hands in front of anybody and everybody. She got some nerve!’” George stated with pride. Charlene worked at both Magee General Hospital and Simpson General Hospital and retired after 40 years.
Sharble is retired now but still goes to the shop he has owned for so many years. When he is there and the doors are open friends stop by, pull up a chair and they visit.
“All the flashbacks from the war, that’s a heavy load to pull. It was devastating. You have good days, you have bad days. It’s not as bad as it used to be.”
He continued, “We had a reunion before all this went bad around here. I went to a reunion in St. Louis. It was a wonderful thing…all the faces that were there. It was really enjoyable.”
Sharble had many close calls but no physical injuries while serving in Vietnam. But he does remember the reaction when he returned home to the protests. “We were not welcomed; called us baby killers and all that. We survived; got through all that but a lot of people didn’t make it back.”
