Grady Mabry
| Date and Place of Birth: | July 29, 1911 Rome, GA |
| Date and Place of Death: | December 26, 1944 Italy |
| Baseball Experience: | Semi-Pro |
| Position: | Unknown |
| Rank: | Private First Class |
| Military Unit: | Company F, 366th Infantry Division, 92nd Infantry Division US Army |
| Area Served: | Mediterranean Theater of Operations |
Grady Mabry was the first African-American from Rome (GA) to be killed in World War II.
Grady G. Mabry was born on July 29, 1911, in Rome, Georgia. Probably employed at a local
textile mill, Mabry played baseball with the Colored Lindale Dragons.
While the Northwest Georgia Textile League thrived with all-white teams,
black workers - with support from their employers - formed their own
teams and a fierce rivalry existed between the mills.
Mabry was among the first men drafted in the area after Pearl Harbor in
early 1942, and served with Company F of the all-black 366th
Infantry Regiment attached to the 92nd Infantry Division in
Italy. When a massive German assault was launched on the windswept
Italian mountain village of Sommocolonia on December 26, 1944, a scant
two platoons of American infantrymen were dug in there. For twenty
critical hours, the tiny complement of 70 GIs - all of them black - held
up a major German offensive. When it was over, most of the GIs were
dead, including Private First-Class Mabry.
Grady Mabry was the first African-American from Rome to be killed in
World War II. His remains were returned home in 1948, and originally
buried at Callier Springs Cemetery, before his body was exhumed in 1956,
and placed at Shadyside Memorial Gardens, Rome, Georgia.
Grady Mabry American Legion Post 506 is named in his honor.
Sources
Rome News-Tribune July 7, 1996
Rome News-Tribune May 26, 1998
Rome News-Tribune March 14, 2001
Rome News-Tribune May 29, 2007
Rome News-Tribune August 26, 2007
Date Added February 26, 2013. Updated November 18, 2017
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