Beech Tree News Network

She was sixteen and he was twenty two.  Charles & Eunice Cottrell had been married two years before by Brother Grimes at the Riverside Missionary Baptist Church.  The same church where she was a member and in later years where he was ordained to preach the gospel and where they are buried side by side, today.  Yes, she was only fourteen when she married in August of 1916.  However, this was a century ago and it was not uncommon to be a young bride.

It was now late summer of 1918.  The war was raging between Germany and France.  Germany invaded France and on July 28, 1914, President Wilson and Congress along with the United States entered the fight for freedom.  It is remembered how deadly the battles were, with the enemy using mustard gas.
Charlie and Eunice had been farming and he was also working in the log woods.  They were adjusting to married life, with very little money but, they were very happy.  Even now, the war that was to end all wars, still raged.  America was overcome by the flu.  Charlie was inducted into the U.S. Army, leaving from Greenville, KY to Camp Breckinridge in Breckinridge County.  The camp is no longer there.

In the meantime, back at the Riverside Community his little bride was helping her father Grandpa Nathan Arndell, care for the family who were all down with the flu.
Charlie, at the camp, was taking the flu.  He quickly went to the commissary and purchased Vicks Salve, horehound candy cough drops and other flu fighting medicines.  He went back to his tent and rubbed the Vicks Salve on his chest, throat and in his nostrils, drank some of the cough syrup and covered up from head to toe.  He sweated it out until early next morning.  Before dawn, he awoke, made his cot to look as if he was still asleep, slipped under the tent and started for home to check on his little bride.
He stayed and helped Eunice as much as he could, more importantly, he saw she was o.k.  He hurriedly made his way back to the camp.  Arriving after dark, he slipped back under the tent and onto his cot.  He wasn’t caught “missing”. Unknown to him, he didn’t have much longer at the camp since Armistice was declared on November 11, 1918 at 11:00 a.m.
A few years ago, I had the army portrait of Charlie, my father, redone.  Eunice was in her eighties and in the nursing home.  I took the picture to her and when I removed the cover, held it up and asked, “Mother, do you know who this is?”  She tearfully said, “Yes, that is my sweet husband!”   She proceeded to tell me the above story.  When she finished, a big smile came on her face and she said so sweetly, “Wasn’t he smart?”  Yes, I most certainly agreed with her.
Now, let me tell you the remainder of this story.  Eunice always remained his “little” bride even after eight children.  She was 49 when Charlie died, but never remarried.  That would have been untrue to Charlie.  Today, if you walk into the foyer of the Huntsville Missionary Baptist Church, you will find a portrait of Eunice and Charlie, because he pastored there in the early 1930’s
I have often remarked, “Between God and Eunice, my beloved father became a Godly man!”
Written by his youngest daughter, Mary C. Elder – Veterans Co-Chairman of the Green River Chapter NSDAR