Meeker, Francis M. (Frances Marion)

Francis Meeker, born 1912 in Bonifay, Ala., served as a sergeant in the 6th Armored Division of the U.S. Army during World War 2. He drove and commanded a tank on the Allied drive into Germany after D-Day. He received the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. Meeker's twin brother, Denny, was killed in the North African campaign. After World War 2, Meeker and his wife, Elsie, married in Dothan, Ala., where they and another Meeker brother owned a grocery store until retiring in the 1980s. In 2003 and 2004, the Meekers participated in the Veterans History Project of the Archives of Wiregrass History and Culture by providing interviews and allowing the Archives to digitize 187 documents related to Francis and Denny Meeker's service. Francis Meeker died in May 2006.